Why are so many churches today refusing to preach on the blood of Christ and the power of the Cross?

[painter49]

Try this on for size. Suppose you have God-like powers. Now suppose that you are boiling water and you tell your child, “Do not go near the stove or you’ll get burned.” So, of course, as soon as your back is turned, your child races over, tips the pan and gets scalded in the face so badly that she ends up permanently disfigured and losing sight in one eye. Your first reaction is to curse the child so that every one of her descendants is born with a disfigured face and one blind eye. Then you kick her out of the house and leave her on the streets to fend for herself. Of course you keep an eye on her and her children but you only talk to them whenever they have done something wrong and then you blame her children for not being good enough to live in your house while at the same time telling them that you really long for them to be whole and pure enough to live with you.

That's basically how Christians view human history.

As for judgment - that's ridiculous. If God knows what is going to happen there's no need for judgment. According to your story, he made everything and everyone knowing full well what the outcome would be. What kind of sicko would create beings that he knows he is going to torture in Hell for eternity? I think not.

Sorry I posted the wrong Quote earlier ... what I said was meant for slavetosix
I do feel he will suffer for his reproach to God and the church .... God is'nt blind....
...tom

 

[ayani]

Tom ~

well, i can't say i disagree with you. but at the same time, if someone has an honest question, even if it's phrased angrily, it's a good idea to answer.

i used to not be able to make heads or tails of Christians faith.... like slave, i found in bizarre and offensive. i demanded answers to my questions, and got lots of sound answers i had no intention of believing or agreeing with.

but so long as people ask, it's good to answer. take it as a chance from God to share what's right with love, conviction, patience, and clarity. even if people don't get it, you've shared the Bible's take on the question at hand.

we're not saved because we're theologically bright and able to innately understand the things of God. we're saved by faith and His grace.

 

[Vile Atheist]

Because Jesus' blood has no power and neither does the cross. As I have demonstrated to devout Catholics that consider me to be demon possessed, their holy water and crucifixes are only effective to those that submit to the delusion. Someone like myself, however, who doesn't care about their ritual behavior will be unaffected by the "power" of these things.

Wow. You've just summed up my feelings on Catholicism quite nicely there. And this from a former Roman Catholic. Frubals.

 

[painter49]

um, Tom. you're talking to a Biblical, evangelical Christian here.

i'm trying to explain Biblical truths and concepts to non-Christians in more easily understandable terms.

I am sorry, I just saw what I did !!!!
I clicked on the wrong quote button... I do understand your position!!!!

please forgive my error....
.... Tom

 

[ayani]

no, that's ok. it was kind of bafflingly funny for a few minutes there. like "dude, i didn't think my theology was *that* bad!"



no hard feelings, mate.

 

[snow duck]

I like painter49's painting and post, I get it.

 

[Katzpur]

...I started posting my paintings on secular art sites opening myself up to ridicule ... this was 6 months ago ... the ridicule did'nt come, Imagine my surprise... And to my dismay I am beat to death on the religious sites... not the secular art sites that I had been posting on..... BUT THE RELIGIOUS SITES.... The ridicule I've undergone lately is from sites like this !!!

Well, I do hope you don't experience any ridicule here on RF. I know what you mean about the "religious" sites, though. It's a sad commentary about the lack of tolerance some religious people have for any beliefs that differ from theirs. Anyway, I absolutely love your art!

 

[e2ekiel]

More and more the church as a whole apears to be moving towards mainstream teaching and is discounting the value of the blood that was shed on that hill called Golgotha ...

I think you underscore the reason why churches are leaving the Cross out of their teachings. They do it to drawing in the mainstream crowd and build up their membership numbers.

Without the Cross, the church is just a bunch of Christians chattering about the weather and whateverelse the mainstream crowd talk about.

 

[sojourner]

Why are so many churches today refusing to preach on the blood of Christ and the power of the Cross?

Because the church needs to remain relevant, and it cannot do that utilizing a tradition that is outmoded, based upon classical thinking, and desperately crying out for revision.

 

[JacobEzra.]

Isn't this thread from 09?

 

[sojourner]

Isn't this thread from 09?

Isn't Vatican II from 1965?...

 

[JacobEzra.]

Isn't Vatican II from 1965?...

Vatican II is not a thread online. Its not open to necroposters

 

[-Peacemaker-]

Because Jesus' blood has no power and neither does the cross. As I have demonstrated to devout Catholics that consider me to be demon possessed, their holy water and crucifixes are only effective to those that submit to the delusion. Someone like myself, however, who doesn't care about their ritual behavior will be unaffected by the "power" of these things.

So you find it impossible to believe Jesus died on a cross to pay the penalty for man's sins but you find it easy to believe that you're a member of a chosen people that God started through one infertile couple like 5000 years ago. You also find it easy to believe and that you're Messiah will becoming down from Heaven sometime in the future to reestablish Israel as some great kingdom, something it hasn't been in about 3000 years.

 

[sojourner]

Vatican II is not a thread online. Its not open to necroposters

Neither is the cross, yet here we are...

 

[JacobEzra.]

Neither is the cross, yet here we are...

So neither are these things, Vatican II or the Cross able to be even closely related to a significantly unimportant thing such as a thread from 09.

But considering I am guilty of necroposting to, since you pretty much "egged' me on, I should as well contribute somewhat to the topic.


Reflection on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ +

The agony in the garden was really the agony in His mind. He suffered the passion in His mind before He suffered it in His body—to the point of actually affecting the latter by sweating blood. But from then on, it was His bodily suffering that affected His mental suffering.

At the base of all His suffering was the one thing that human beings dread the most: rejection. He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all the rest of His Apostles; those He had hand picked as His closest intimates. He was most rejected by those who put Him to death. They not only wanted Him dead, they wanted Him to suffer. They not only considered Him to be worth nothing, they considered Him to be worth minus nothing! This significance was not lost on Him. He felt fully the rejection as each physical agony reminded Him.

So we thank Him for joining us on our human journey and actually choosing to experience what we fear the most.

We thank Him for enduring the arrest and the cruelty of the guards and the Sanhedrin. We thank Him for enduring the cruelty of Pilate who allowed Him to be executed rather than risk his own political ruin—and for the cruelty of Herod who wanted to be entertained by having Him work a miracle. We thank Him for all the time He spent satisfying their preoccupation with themselves, just delaying His ultimate death. We thank Him for the anxiety of that night in a cell.

The next morning He was brutally scourged with such intensity and violence that He became as an aged man in a matter of minutes. His multiple wounds bloodied His entire body. The loss of so much blood not only severely weakened Him; it also caused a severe, throbbing headache that remained with Him for the duration.

We thank Him for this and for the mockery He received when they put a purple cloth on His shoulders and pushed a crown of thorns down into His head which intensified His headache. They blindfolded Him and slapped Him, insisting that He ‘prophesy’ who had hit Him. They spat on Him and beat Him.

He stood at the praetorium in utter disgrace according to the attitude of the crowd—while in reality, He stood in utter glory: almighty God, being present to every person who has ever suffered rejection, joining them in their moment of pain. It was there that He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Physically, He was utterly miserable. He revealed to St. Bernard that carrying the cross was His most painful agony. He was so weak, He could hardly walk. Nauseous and thirsty, He found the weight of the cross on His shoulder almost unbearable. It most likely dislocated His shoulder. It is not surprising that He fell down on the stone streets that were filthy with animal dung—with the cross on top of Him. And He got up each time.

It was only with the help of Simon of Cyrene that He made it to the top of Calvary. There they drove the nails into the carpal tunnels of His hands, causing pain throughout His upper body. The nail in His feet registered great pain through all the sensitive nerves there. When the cross was righted, His up-stretched arms squeezed His lungs and He began to pant for lack of oxygen. So He had to push down on His crucified feet to push His body up in order to fill His lungs with air. This took great effort because He was so weak. Yet He managed to maintain such effort for three hours of agony which increased gradually as He became weaker moment by moment. By the end of the third hour, His agony was at its peak

He had come to the point where His lack of strength simply was no match for what is known as Sepsis, where the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria, and in this eternal moment He died, giving us His life. Transcending time, this moment of divine love is present to us in the tabernacles of the world. Thank you, Lord. We adore you O Christ and we praise you. By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

 

[sojourner]

So neither are these things, Vatican II or the Cross able to be even closely related to a significantly unimportant thing such as a thread from 09.

But considering I am guilty of necroposting to, since you pretty much "egged' me on, I should as well contribute somewhat to the topic.


Reflection on the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ +

The agony in the garden was really the agony in His mind. He suffered the passion in His mind before He suffered it in His body—to the point of actually affecting the latter by sweating blood. But from then on, it was His bodily suffering that affected His mental suffering.

At the base of all His suffering was the one thing that human beings dread the most: rejection. He was betrayed by Judas, denied by Peter and abandoned by all the rest of His Apostles; those He had hand picked as His closest intimates. He was most rejected by those who put Him to death. They not only wanted Him dead, they wanted Him to suffer. They not only considered Him to be worth nothing, they considered Him to be worth minus nothing! This significance was not lost on Him. He felt fully the rejection as each physical agony reminded Him.

So we thank Him for joining us on our human journey and actually choosing to experience what we fear the most.

We thank Him for enduring the arrest and the cruelty of the guards and the Sanhedrin. We thank Him for enduring the cruelty of Pilate who allowed Him to be executed rather than risk his own political ruin—and for the cruelty of Herod who wanted to be entertained by having Him work a miracle. We thank Him for all the time He spent satisfying their preoccupation with themselves, just delaying His ultimate death. We thank Him for the anxiety of that night in a cell.

The next morning He was brutally scourged with such intensity and violence that He became as an aged man in a matter of minutes. His multiple wounds bloodied His entire body. The loss of so much blood not only severely weakened Him; it also caused a severe, throbbing headache that remained with Him for the duration.

We thank Him for this and for the mockery He received when they put a purple cloth on His shoulders and pushed a crown of thorns down into His head which intensified His headache. They blindfolded Him and slapped Him, insisting that He ‘prophesy’ who had hit Him. They spat on Him and beat Him.

He stood at the praetorium in utter disgrace according to the attitude of the crowd—while in reality, He stood in utter glory: almighty God, being present to every person who has ever suffered rejection, joining them in their moment of pain. It was there that He was sentenced to death by crucifixion. Physically, He was utterly miserable. He revealed to St. Bernard that carrying the cross was His most painful agony. He was so weak, He could hardly walk. Nauseous and thirsty, He found the weight of the cross on His shoulder almost unbearable. It most likely dislocated His shoulder. It is not surprising that He fell down on the stone streets that were filthy with animal dung—with the cross on top of Him. And He got up each time.

It was only with the help of Simon of Cyrene that He made it to the top of Calvary. There they drove the nails into the carpal tunnels of His hands, causing pain throughout His upper body. The nail in His feet registered great pain through all the sensitive nerves there. When the cross was righted, His up-stretched arms squeezed His lungs and He began to pant for lack of oxygen. So He had to push down on His crucified feet to push His body up in order to fill His lungs with air. This took great effort because He was so weak. Yet He managed to maintain such effort for three hours of agony which increased gradually as He became weaker moment by moment. By the end of the third hour, His agony was at its peak

He had come to the point where His lack of strength simply was no match for what is known as Sepsis, where the bloodstream is overwhelmed by bacteria, and in this eternal moment He died, giving us His life. Transcending time, this moment of divine love is present to us in the tabernacles of the world. Thank you, Lord. We adore you O Christ and we praise you. By your holy cross, you have redeemed the world.

Beautifully said, and a wonderful counter to the OP. but I think the OP would disagree with you. I think I might, too, but for vastly different reasons.

 

[JacobEzra.]

Beautifully said, and a wonderful counter to the OP. but I think the OP would disagree with you. I think I might, too, but for vastly different reasons.

Thank you for your comment. I should make it known, that the reflection I posted is not mine.

Anyway, you can not truly speak for the OP, but you can tell me why you disagree.

I think, the Catholic church, preaches the blood of Christ and the power of the Cross. Especially when one properly understand the Eucharist in the Catholic faith, then there is no denying such. And every Mass we proclaim "the mystery of our faith" in which we state "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again", and the other responses in the acclamation are all proclaiming the death and Resurrection. As well as recite the Nicene Creed in which we say " ...For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;he suffered, died, and was buried..."

Of course you could possibly argue that ritualistic responses can become mindless and ineffective, as well as the knowledge of the Eucharist and what it means in the Catholic context is not necessarily known by all. But that is the personal responsibility of the person.

 

[crocusj]

And to my dismay I am beat to death on the religious sites... not the secular art sites that I had been posting on..... BUT THE RELIGIOUS SITES.... The ridicule I've undergone lately is from sites like this !!!
I am truly dismayed
.... Tom

Well, and this does come from the stating the bleedin' obvious handbook, but surely you would expect more of a problem on a religious site than a secular one. Not everyone on here agrees with each other! If you state something that is ridiculous then you will be ridiculed, we all are. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO CARE. And you don't have to accept that what you have said is ridiculous just because somebody else says it is. Have some faith. On the other hand, this is a debate forum so you should not expect nor should you get a free ride. Sometimes its just drunk people prattling (me!) and sometimes it's more than that but it's still just people. Don't be dismayed, be connected.

 

[no-body]

Isn't this a good thing? Revelation and all that. Be happy that people think your beliefs are barbaric and off putting.

(also I never knew Christ had downs syndrome)

 

[sojourner]

Thank you for your comment. I should make it known, that the reflection I posted is not mine.

Anyway, you can not truly speak for the OP, but you can tell me why you disagree.

I think, the Catholic church, preaches the blood of Christ and the power of the Cross. Especially when one properly understand the Eucharist in the Catholic faith, then there is no denying such. And every Mass we proclaim "the mystery of our faith" in which we state "Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again", and the other responses in the acclamation are all proclaiming the death and Resurrection. As well as recite the Nicene Creed in which we say " ...For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;he suffered, died, and was buried..."

Of course you could possibly argue that ritualistic responses can become mindless and ineffective, as well as the knowledge of the Eucharist and what it means in the Catholic context is not necessarily known by all. But that is the personal responsibility of the person.

While I agree with at least the surface theology of what you've said here, I don't think that's what the OP had in mind with regard to "preaching the power of the blood and the cross." We all know there is a VAST difference between the evangelical Protestant view of that subject and the RCC view of that subject. What I take issue with is the emphasis that is placed on the crucifixion as informing the whole of Xy. While it is undeniably part of the Jesus Event, and while it is important, I don't believe it is the overarching paradigm for that Event.