I give tours each month of our church here in Utah and so many ask “it seems like Catholics focus more on the suffering Christ than the resurrected Christ”
http://utahmission.com/pages/Tour.html
My eyes get wide, my heart expands a bit and I let em have it, ……. in a loving way.
My favorite part of the tour is when we are standing under our life size and very real looking Crucifix. We had a group of young women come through from the LDS church just last month. While they were looking at the Crucifix I asked them “How does it make you fell looking at that?” On said “I feel depressed” and another responded “it should!” I responded “very good” and the others did not have a clue I believe. I overheard one girl say “this Church is beautiful, not like ours”
Not having the Cross is one of ways they separate from us. It was a bad choice to do so as the message of the Cross is the message of Jesus. When you think about it Protestants have the cross but shy away from the Crucifix so that’s were it began to get watered down, to get distorted. The focus for the Mormons became the resurrected Christ keeping them in a perceived state of happiness disregarding the suffering, having to delve into their own sin, keeping it at arms length. The Protestants have the empty Cross, the Mormon went a bit further in the decent to having no crosses at all. Although they did in their beginning but it made them look too much like Catholics to bear it, the one thing needed for salvation….Christ’s death on a cross.
On the next tour I will have those cards!!!
From no Cross at all, to the empty Cross, to the Crucifix, to life
Or from the Crucifix, to the empty Cross, to no cross at all, to death
There is an important message here unless I am missing something
In Christ
Rich
