Why?

This isn't really a post about politics, it's about religion, but since you should discuss neither in mixed company, I'll do like W and lump them together.

As I was driving through the South this past week, I kept seeing all these roadside crosses. I don't mean the little ones left by grieving loved ones that you see at crash sites; I mean the big ones that seem to sprout up like telephone poles when you get close to the Mason-Dixon line. In high school, I went to Kentucky every year with the Diocese on mission trips and we'd see groups of three crosses every 30 miles or so. The were probably 15' tall and looked like the were made of some type of piping. A local told us that someone who had passed away left money in his will to put up and maintain the crosses perpetually.
Well, on this trip, I saw at least 5 crosses that had to be about 50-60 feet tall, about 35 feet wide and 7 or so feet in diameter. The looked like they were covered in house siding on a wood frame. And they were nice,as crosses go.
What bothered me about this was the waste. I don't mean that faith or Christianity are a waste, but think of the time and money that went in to making those things. I think it could have been better spent. I know that there is a scene in the NT of the Bible where Mary washes Jesus' feet with her tears and then anoints them with expensive perfumes; while Judas' bitches and J the C tells him she does what she does out of love, and that the poor "will always be with you", so lay off. But this seems different to me. What Mary did was an act of love done out of piety and humility, these things smack of ostentatiousness, more like the man who wails and gnashes his teeth in front of the neighborhood instead of simply going to a quiet, away place to pray.
That money, and that time, could have gone to a local youth center, or to a food pantry, a homeless shelter, a senior center, medical research, an animal shelter or whatever. I know that it was that individual's right to do what he or she wanted with it, I just wish they'd have chosen better.
And, before you ask, yes I am in the process of reading "Lamb" which is what I was thinking about as I kept seeing these things.

edited for poor grammar
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"Jesus... is NOT a zombie... I shouldn't have to tell you that."

- "Bones"

Jesus wasn't "the christ" until about 300 years later, when a Council decided to give him the job description. When Mary was washing his feet, he was just a guy with a foot problem.

But to your post: People do a lot of things ostentatiously. We always have Jim and Tammy Baker as fine examples of that.
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"Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind; it doesn't take you anywhere, but it tones up muscles that might." Pratchett

I know, but to put it as JC makes it look like it's His last name and it drives me bonkers when people do that.

Ahhhh, the PTL, good times...good times
God doesn't say a lot about gay marriage or saying "fuck" but He does tend to go on at great length about hypocrites, to paraphrase the AG
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"Jesus... is NOT a zombie... I shouldn't have to tell you that."

- "Bones"

From what I understand, "Christ" is not Jesus' last name, but a title (in Greek, "o khristos" = "the annointed one").

Which really confuses me, because in the NT Jesus refers to "those who are called in my name," or some such. His name was Jesus (Joshua, Yeshua, etc.), not "Khristos," so, you'd think that, after these 2000-odd years, his followers would be calling themselves "Jesusians," or something like that, rather than Christians. (I suppose "Jesuit" is pretty close.)

I've seen the three-cross erections around, when driving from where I live in the Mid-Atlantic to the west, through West Virginia especially. (Maybe the word "erections" is not the best choice, but, you know...) IMHO, it's displays nothing better than an attempt to brownie-points with the All-might-he.

In any case, if those so inclined are going to erect such things, and make them so BIG, at least make them useful: let them carry telephone lines or other utility cables. (I've meant to doctor a real photo of a 3-cross display and add lines to the image to do just that, but haven't gotten around to it. )
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Last edited by mllefifi on Wed Oct 03, 2007 4:02 pm; edited 2 times in total

"Christ" is for lack of a better phrase, a job title. If Jesus were to have used a last name, it would have been "of Nazareth."
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"Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind; it doesn't take you anywhere, but it tones up muscles that might." Pratchett

deb wrote:

"Christ" is for lack of a better phrase, a job title. If Jesus were to have used a last name, it would have been "of Nazareth."

The Nazareth-angle is what Bulgakov uses in Master and Margarita: "ha-Notsri", if I recall correctly.
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"If you allow yourself to be offended, then you're a bit of [a] nitwit."
(Christopher Moore)

anyone ever been to Pigeon Forge, TN and seen the cross there that's at least 7 stories tall? I'm still wondering why. Was Jesus a giant?
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Vahlee wrote:

anyone ever been to Pigeon Forge, TN and seen the cross there that's at least 7 stories tall? I'm still wondering why. Was Jesus a giant?

When I hear "Pigeon Forge" and "giant" in the same thought-continuum, I can think of only one thing (or is it two?):

DOlly PartOn.

Quote:

anyone ever been to Pigeon Forge, TN and seen the cross there that's at least 7 stories tall? I'm still wondering why. Was Jesus a giant?

Maybe they're gonna use it for the Big Butter Jesus, or the giant Jesus in Rio de Janiero (sp?)...
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Quote:

Which really confuses me, because in the NT Jesus refers to "those who are called in my name," or some such. His name was Jesus (Joshua, Yeshua, etc.), not "Khristos," so, you'd think that, after these 2000-odd years, his followers would be calling themselves "Jesusians," or something like that, rather than Christians. (I suppose "Jesuit" is pretty close.)

Maybe to denote themselves as the "annointed"? Jesuits is actually a nickname. A Jesuit monk (or priest) is a brother in the Society of Jesus, that's why it will say something like: Brother/Father Charles Asher, SJ.
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"Jesus... is NOT a zombie... I shouldn't have to tell you that."

- "Bones"

Shows ya how out of touch I am... I thought it would have been Joshua bar Joseph.
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Avoid being normal -- John Lennon

I haven't seen any of the gigantic crosses...mostly they're small, maybe 2-foot tall ones on the side of the road where people died in car accidents. I havent' heard of people leaving money for a giant cross to be put on the road.

It's actually illegal in Alabama, but the troopers just ignore it. Maybe that's why there aren't any of the gigantic ones.
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Everyone loves a smart girl....

It's pronounced Aw-Bee if you were wonderin.

I, too have wondered about these crosses as I drive from Norfolk VA to Waverly, OH, through W.VA. On one hand they sort of piss me off, as I cannot abide people who wear their religion on their sleeve, as if to say, `I am right, you must follow me.` But, freedom of speech and all that, so I am okay with it. So now I just think of them as a totally boring Totem Pole. No imagination, no aesthetic. Blah.

Lisa M wrote:

[...] So now I just think of them as a totally boring Totem Pole. No imagination, no aesthetic. Blah.

Let's go find some of them and add some Halloween decorations. I get dibs on a scarecrow!
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"If you allow yourself to be offended, then you're a bit of [a] nitwit."
(Christopher Moore)

_________________
"Jesus... is NOT a zombie... I shouldn't have to tell you that."

- "Bones"