Because of the lost... I found something!

Philippines
February 17, 2013 7:30am CST
I was watching this documentary a while ago about a lost 400 year old wooden figure of baby Jesus which was bought by an antique collector for almost 1 million pesos. The said wooden statue originated from Romblon, a province here in the Philippines. The collector will be returning it the people of Romblon and the people in the said province are now rejoicing and celebrating for the return of the baby Jesus (Santo Nino, as we call it here in the Philippines) wooden figure. I am a catholic and I pray every day to our Lord. But I just can't reconcile one thing about catholics... why do we put so much effort in figures and icons? We also have saints. Why? Is it not much simplier for us if we put our faith to a much simplier form, like prayer to Jesus without the humbug of going through so many rituals? I read the bible as often as I could and i think that we have omitted one sacred ritual that our Lord Jesus Christ performed when He was with us and that is the Passover. The last supper as depicted in so many movies and pictures was a celebration of the Passover. Now, going back to the wooden figure, I know for sure that the return of that statue will be a business opportunity for some, and I say this because whenever something happens that is related to catholics, people tend to sell images and all sort of knicknacks that relates to the event. I think that the Roman Catholic leaders should not tolerate this for it just shows that we use God as a means for us to profit and not to strengthen our faith. This is only my opinion and I mean not to harm the faith of anyone.
1 person likes this
4 responses
• United States
18 Feb 13
A lot of things got started in the Catholic church in order to raise money. We should be willing to give to God's church without thinking we need to receive something in return. We shouldn't even have to have bake sales in order to raise money for the cause of the church. We are suppose to give freely.
• Germany
18 Feb 13
I am sure that the questions of faith and God are belong to the most complicated ones. I think that God is in everybody. We must believe and we must strengthen our faith. It should be done because it is the basis of our existence in the world.
@kenshin2143 (1880)
• Philippines
17 Feb 13
I am a Catholic too and I feel you in questioning on our traditions of having those statues, symbols and idols however we should be thankful that they are there. Let us be reminded that saints are people who have great relationship and passion in terms of following Christ's footsteps. In our journey through life, we will really encounter many problems and frustrations and it is pretty helpful to draw inspiration to those saints we have. By having such figures, we can somehow have this so called "sensing the sacred" as well as the sense of God. That is my opinion though.
@Raine38 (12257)
• United States
17 Feb 13
I am also a Catholic, and like you I also do not place that much significance on man-made statues or symbols or idols depicting the saints and our Lord. I do respect what it symbolizes but I will not kneel on it or worship upon it. I will kneel in prayer to our Lord, but never to a man-made craft. But I do not have this belief that they must be destroyed. We have crucifixes in our house as a symbol of our faith, and I own some rosaries. But I do not worship them, I worship the Lord that is being symbolized in these.