Rituals - where is the line drawn?
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the pope washing 12 men on a Thursday Mass (read it here )
and in the Philippines, devoted Christians even go to the extent of whipping themselves with rope until their backs bleed. Some even go and re-live the scenes of Christ being crucified with nails really going through people's hands on a cross. (view it here).
Not so long ago, I was speaking to a catholic friend and they fast on Ash Wednesday in order to remember Jesus fasting for the 40 days in the dessert.
From my understanding, rituals in the old testament days are there for people to follow (most importantly with their heart without doubt) in order to show their reverence and obedience to God.
Today we no longer need to practice in rituals. We are freed through the death of Christ. We show our reverence in God by whole-heartedly submitting ourselves to Christ, acknowledging that he is our one and only Lord and Saviour.
But what is the extent of remembering Christ? In protestant churches, there is communion so that we may remember that Christ paid the ransom for our sins through his own blood and flesh.
What about fasting on Ash-Wednesday, washing the feet of 12 men, or re-living the crucifixion of Christ? Are they legitimate forms of remembering God's unconditional love for us?
Where is the line drawn between a ritual (religious practice) and something merely to remember Christ?
Read about the discussion here
and in the Philippines, devoted Christians even go to the extent of whipping themselves with rope until their backs bleed. Some even go and re-live the scenes of Christ being crucified with nails really going through people's hands on a cross. (view it here).
Not so long ago, I was speaking to a catholic friend and they fast on Ash Wednesday in order to remember Jesus fasting for the 40 days in the dessert.
From my understanding, rituals in the old testament days are there for people to follow (most importantly with their heart without doubt) in order to show their reverence and obedience to God.
Today we no longer need to practice in rituals. We are freed through the death of Christ. We show our reverence in God by whole-heartedly submitting ourselves to Christ, acknowledging that he is our one and only Lord and Saviour.
But what is the extent of remembering Christ? In protestant churches, there is communion so that we may remember that Christ paid the ransom for our sins through his own blood and flesh.
What about fasting on Ash-Wednesday, washing the feet of 12 men, or re-living the crucifixion of Christ? Are they legitimate forms of remembering God's unconditional love for us?
Where is the line drawn between a ritual (religious practice) and something merely to remember Christ?
Read about the discussion here
What is the purpose of the Pope washing feet of 12?
a) Showing how Christ-like he is with the action he does
b) an religious acts... doing it because the founder of the religion did it... passed down as tradition.
c) doing it because it would look nice if he did it
d) showing the disciple that we should watch each other's feet as said by Jesus... but obviously it didn't come out that way in the article.
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:20 pm, April 09, 2007
I have been really lazy lately about not posting bible verses.
John 13:14-15
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
If the Pope was to demonstrate an act of Catholics washing each others' feet, it would surely shows the humbling, serving and good teacher of the Pope. However, by doing it himself and letting the news knows about it only shows his passionate about his religious act.
Matthew 6:5
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.
Posted by
Anonymous |
10:43 pm, April 09, 2007
To answer the question... Where is the line drawn between a ritual (religious practice) and something merely to remember Christ?
The obvious line draw on this is the purpose of the religious practice itself. As an outsider, we shouldn't judge someone else whether this is barely a religious practice or not because we never know the purpose of the act.
What purpose should we have then?
Are we loving God or ourself when we are practicing it?
Are we loving others when we are practicing it?
Are we extending God's kingdom when we practicing it?
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:06 pm, April 09, 2007