Non-Christian Images in the Catholic Home

[blessedstar]

I’m glad you have found peace with this and that you are going to take your Priest’s advice.

In my prayers

 

[BarbaraTherese]

edrubbra2:

I have been told by several devout Catholics that having non-Christian images or statues (such as a Buddha or Chinese money dragons) prevents Jesus from entering our home and gracing it. They told me that these inages only allow Satan to influence the home, and serve to keep God out.

They told me to destroy a pair of Chinese dragons I bought purely for decorative reasons and until I did so, our home would be under the influence of Satan and God would be kept out.

To be sure, we have had many adverse things happen to our family (domestic violence and terminal illness: my wife is ill with terminal cancer… and these things happened since I got these Chinese dragons.

Today I threw them out.

Is there any truth to what my friends are telling me about having non-Christian images in your home?

Hello Edrubbra2…Well I have Egyptian ‘god’ images along with other Egyptian cultural statues in my home which is consecrated to the Sacred Heart simply because I am interested in Egyptian culture…I very much doubt, aboslutely do not think, my interest in Egyptian culture would keep The Lord away from my home. These images stand more or less shoulder to shoulder with very Catholic images.
I also have items of Red Indian culture and religion and our Australian Aboriginal culture and religion because of my interest in them…and I think them aesthetically beautiful, all of them.
These peoples are His every bit as much as I am. I profess Catholicism probably because I was exposed to it from birth and God’s blessing on me…I cannot explain why these peoples were not, but do not doubt I shall meet them in Heaven.

Methinks that whoever told you that such images would ‘inhibit The Lord in any way from your home’ reeks of superstition and against the teachings of The Church. It is in fact attributing to images a power that they do not have and a form of idolotary in reverse.

To be sure, we have had many adverse things happen to our family (domestic violence and terminal illness: my wife is ill with terminal cancer… and these things happened since I got these Chinese dragons.

This is simply a remote link, not a direct link, to the images in that ill fortune indeed has come your way and after you obtained the images. To suppose otherwise is superstition. A superstition about pagan images having power.

Barb

 

[Wammy101]

If you set flowers in front of it or a peach or a bowl of rice as offerings, that’s a problem

I have trouble seeing why this is a problem?!?!?!?!?

 

[Linnyo]

edrubbra2:

Thank you all, my friends for your helpful thoughts. However, my friend reminded me that the dragon in the Book of Revelation is named as Satan, and as I mentioned, this family has had a very tragic fortune since I brought these dragons into the house. The youngest stepson has been in jail for domestic violence, and the other two children seem to me to be lost to Jesus as they appear to have no spiritual life.

Then my wife ws diagnosed with inoperable cancer last year and is now terminally ill. There have been so many adverse crosses to bear that I wonder when our family will get a break from all this. It would be easier to understand if one believed that Satan had a foothold in our home. In any case, our parish priest has ben visiting to administer the Eucharist to my wife, and I will ask him to bless the home.

My other friend who warned me about having Buddhas in the house reported severely adverse happenings in her house until she got rid of the Buddha. Then and only then, she told me, did peace come into her house. My wife bought a small wooden Buddha from a friend about a year or so ago but I cannot find it.

Thanks again so much for your kind words and thoughts, but to me, pagan images seem to be a hazard for the Catholic home.

Mike

Santa is an anagram of Satan but I still let him come down my chimney evary year. I think if you give credence to such beliefs about curses, you are providing ways in which the devil can get in. Our God is bigger and better than any false Gods or curses. Place your faith in him.

I’ll pray for you wife. Please don’t feel that dying is a curse. It is a call to go home cos you’re wanted by God.

 

[Island_Oak]

I’m afraid it sounds as if the very real challenges you have faced of late have led you to doubt God’s power over all evil and fall into superstition.

Remember that while God never brings evil to us, He may allow sorrow, pain, illness and death, but use even these things for good. Don’t allow your fear to overwhelm you and become irrational or waver in your faith. There is absolutely nothing that can separate us from union with God if we desire to be close to Him.

 

[Wammy101]

Linnyo:

I’ll pray for you wife. Please don’t feel that dying is a curse. It is a call to go home cos you’re wanted by God.

I feel that dying is a curse damnit

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Wammy101:

If you set flowers in front of it or a peach or a bowl of rice as offerings, that’s a problem

have trouble seeing why this is a problem?!?!?!?!?

Hi there Wammy101…if its heavy and fell on my foot, then that would be a problem…or if it was expensive and got broken, then I guess that could be something of a problem if a really like it…

But other than scenarious like that, I have trouble seeing any problem too…

If however any item in my home in any way made me feel uncomfortable etc. it wouldn’t stay, but not because I attributed any power to it or because of it in any way…simply because I no longer felt comfortable etc. with it…

Barb

 

[Christus_Rex]

Wammy101:

If you set flowers in front of it or a peach or a bowl of rice as offerings, that’s a problem

I have trouble seeing why this is a problem?!?!?!?!?

Because why would you make offerings to a Buddha statue? Is a porcelain Buddha God? NO! It would be idolatry.

 

[Annunciata]

edrubbra2:

I have been told by several devout Catholics that having non-Christian images or statues (such as a Buddha or Chinese money dragons) prevents Jesus from entering our home and gracing it. They told me that these inages only allow Satan to influence the home, and serve to keep God out.

They told me to destroy a pair of Chinese dragons I bought purely for decorative reasons and until I did so, our home would be under the influence of Satan and God would be kept out.

To be sure, we have had many adverse things happen to our family (domestic violence and terminal illness: my wife is ill with terminal cancer… and these things happened since I got these Chinese dragons.

Today I threw them out.

Is there any truth to what my friends are telling me about having non-Christian images in your home?

I would be more afraid of the “possessions” that some of us worship…

 

[slyboots]

I wonder what these same folks would say if they visited our home. We have Native American art some of what depicts religious elements.
However, since Jesus Christ is the head of our home, I believe the art and artifacts will remain beautiful pieces of the human imagination. The house was blessed with them in place. Still, there are some things that do not get entry our home.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Annunciata:

I would be more afraid of the “possessions” that some of us worship…

Jolly good point Annunciata…and it took me back and made me think…thank you:wave: …and not only of my material “possessions”…but it took a swipe, albeit completely unintentinally , at my spiritual pride! I do admire the truly gifted with few words! One of those occasions where a simple phrase made me take a big breath and a long pause and in an area I really would rather not visit!

All we have are gifts from God and not ours in the first place …do I get 10 out of 10, or have I still missed something in that truly inspired, concise post!

Barb

 

[ReflectHim]

If this was a part of one’s culture then would it be a problem? Or even a question of debate?

If I were from a tribe in africa but converted to your church but kept items in my house that were passed down from my tribe…then…

just hypothetically thinking here…

 

[striving]

Okay, I don’t often reply, but Godfrey is right on this one. Obviously, something didn’t sit right with you regarding these objects, thus the thread. I remember walking into a family member’s home where she had a buddha displayed with a rosary wrapped around it. In love, I explained how this mixing of spiritualities dilutes our faith and insults Our Lord. It might be the New Age influences that are infiltrating our culture, and the church! (Just today, before my daughter had surgery, the chaplain, a nun, came into the room and prayed for healing energy…PUHLEASE). Thank goodness, she has now left all of that behind, her spiritual advisor, a very good priest, told her to get rid of all New Age influences (yes, this includes Buddas, American Indian images, gargoyles etc.) Why Risk It???

 

[Milliardo]

Well, here’s the thing: we have a statue of Buddha in our livng room as decor. Would this be problematic as a Catholic, or is it okay to have such a thing as decor? We bought it from Thailand when we went there way back in 1994.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

ReflectHim:

If this was a part of one’s culture then would it be a problem? Or even a question of debate?

If I were from a tribe in africa but converted to your church but kept items in my house that were passed down from my tribe…then…

just hypothetically thinking here…

Hello there ReflectHim…I think you went straight to the core of matters. The image, any image, is completely neutral and neither bad nor good…it is one’s attitude to it that is the moral area of right or wrong, good or bad. Especially it seems to me in the western world we can appreciate the beauty in the artwork form all kinds of images including from other culture’s relgion. This is simply an appreciation of art, nothing to do with right or wrong, good or bad as a moral issue…and nothing whatsoever to do with idolatory or anything remotely connected to it.

Barb

 

[Whiggamore]

Aside from the Eucharist almost all tangible aspects of the Catholic faith have their roots in paganism. The rosary… hindu prayer beads. A church building… the Jewish temple. The cross… a method of execution. The phoenix… an Egyptian myth. We should take these objects and make them captive to our Catholic faith. That is proper evangelism. Make these dragons captive. Make the image of buddha captive. To do otherwise, to think that these simple things have legitimate power, is negative superstition and that is a mortal sin.

 

[Hastrman]

Whiggamore…Nanya yuten nen omae?!?!?
Or in other words, What?
The Rosary is either an original invention, possibly inspired by the abacus, of St. Dominic, or else it borrows from Islamic Asma’ul-husna (99 Names of Allah) beads. It is not Hindu! Not only that, but there are no Hindu prayer beads; those are Buddhist, and used as memory aids when reciting the Sutras.
Second, Jews aren’t pagans, and we adopted the temple because the sacrifice of the Mass is the perfection of the sacrifices instituted by Moses.
I think they should get rid of the images for two reasons. One, they may pose a temptation. Buddha is not an Egyptian god, he is the founder of the only religion that can even hold its head up in the presence of Christianity. And it is very much alive, as are his teachings. Having the image of what is, in essence, a false prophet (good, but false–Buddhism is a perfectly decent pagan religion) may bring something of the opposite effect of having a saint’s image around: it will make you think of Buddha and his teachings, not Christ and His Church. The money dragon is worse, since it is nothing more than a lucky charm. Two, it is disrespectful to use the image of a man others regard as holy–and Buddhists do regard Buddha as holy–for decoration. How do you feel when atheists use Christian imagery for decoration? How do you like the fact Notre Dame de Paris is essentially a museum? Well, don’t make Buddhists feel like that; it’s uncharitable.

Now, there have been images of, not Buddhas, but Bodhisattvas (don’t worry about it) used by Christians. There is a representation of the Merciful Goddess Guan Yin (Kannon) that shows her holding a baby; crypto-Christians in Japan would carve crosses unobtrusively on them, and use them as images of Mary and the Christ Child.

 

[Scott_Waddell]

Today I threw them out.

Is there any truth to what my friends are telling me about having non-Christian images in your home?

You ended up doing the right thing in spite of the fact that your friends used some rather lame arguments for it.

The fact is, there was discord. Otherwise you would not have bothered asking in a forum about it. Take it from me who, sad case that I am, allows much discord in my life and I rationalize it rather than doing the prudent thing and eliminating the source of the discord. But good for you.

However I would remain on guard because doing the right thing might stir up resentment. As in “silly goody-two-shoe busybody friends!” or something like that.

 

[Whiggamore]

Whiggamore…Nanya yuten nen omae?!?!?
Or in other words, What?
The Rosary is either an original invention, possibly inspired by the abacus, of St. Dominic, or else it borrows from Islamic Asma’ul-husna (99 Names of Allah) beads. It is not Hindu! Not only that, but there are no Hindu prayer beads; those are Buddhist, and used as memory aids when reciting the Sutras.

You’ve got it all wrong brother, all wrong. The Dominican Rosary may have been an original development in prayer beads, but their use in Christendom far pre-dates St. Dominic… and even Islamic tasbih. The earliest form of prayer beads are the Hindu Japa Mala; this is where Buddhist prayer beads come from.

Second, Jews aren’t pagans, and we adopted the temple because the sacrifice of the Mass is the perfection of the sacrifices instituted by Moses.
I think they should get rid of the images for two reasons. One, they may pose a temptation. Buddha is not an Egyptian god, he is the founder of the only religion that can even hold its head up in the presence of Christianity. And it is very much alive, as are his teachings. Having the image of what is, in essence, a false prophet (good, but false–Buddhism is a perfectly decent pagan religion) may bring something of the opposite effect of having a saint’s image around: it will make you think of Buddha and his teachings, not Christ and His Church. The money dragon is worse, since it is nothing more than a lucky charm. Two, it is disrespectful to use the image of a man others regard as holy–and Buddhists do regard Buddha as holy–for decoration. How do you feel when atheists use Christian imagery for decoration? How do you like the fact Notre Dame de Paris is essentially a museum? Well, don’t make Buddhists feel like that; it’s uncharitable.

Now, there have been images of, not Buddhas, but Bodhisattvas (don’t worry about it) used by Christians. There is a representation of the Merciful Goddess Guan Yin (Kannon) that shows her holding a baby; crypto-Christians in Japan would carve crosses unobtrusively on them, and use them as images of Mary and the Christ Child.

When Pope Clement I took the phoenix captive to the Church, using it to demonstrate Christ’s resurrection, he did worry that paganism, which was very much alive at the time, could hold its own in the presence of Christ; nor did he counsel it would cause us to think more on pagan teachings than Christ’s.

Unless we oft invite Buddhists into our homes we need not worry about using another religion’s holy symbols as holy, for they are not. Of course, one could be offended by the use of Christian symbols, for many are truly holy, but we must also remember were they came from and where they could possibly go. The swastika, for example?

I’m afraid I don’t see the difference of using a Bodhisattvas rather than a Buddha. Sooner or later this image will have to be taken captive by Christendom, won’t it?

 

[scapularkid8]

Peace be with you,

I think that the objects are only a “gateway” to Satan if you let them be and you become all nervous that they’ll “get you”. He’ll take advantage of that and just think “oh if they think its a gateway then i’ll just use it as one and humor them”. Stay strong in what the Spirit tells you through your Priest. God’s voice overpowers all of our’s tenfold so just follow your Priest’s advice and ask questions if you aren’t shure! It’s the Priest’s job to speak for Christ in the world and he would be happy to clear up any doubts you may have.