Posts by Donna

Awake 6/8/2001, p. 12, Cathedrals?Monuments to God or Men? Cathedrals?Monuments to God or Men? BY AWAKE! WRITER IN FRANCE IN Moscow a resurrection of sorts has taken place. Christ the Savior Cathedral, razed by Stalin in 1931, has been rebuilt, its golden domes gleaming against the Russian sky. In the city of Évry, near Paris, workers have put the finishing touches on the only cathedral built in France during the 20th century. This comes just a few years after the consecration of the cathedral of Almudena in Madrid. Not to be outdone, New York City has the cathedral named St. John the Divine. Having been under construction for over 100 years, it has often been called St. John the Unfinished. Even so, it is one of the world?s largest cathedrals, covering over 120,000 square feet [11,000 sq m]. Throughout Christendom, huge cathedrals dominate the landscape of many cities. To believers, they are a monument to faith in God. Even nonbelievers may cherish them as works of art or as studies in architectural brilliance. Nevertheless, the existence of these elaborate and often outrageously expensive houses of worship raises serious questions: Why and how were they built? What purpose do they serve? ................. Costly Yesterday, Costly Today One writer describes cathedral building projects as ?bottomless financial abysses.? How, then, were these buildings?maintained even now at spiraling costs?financed in the past? In some cases prelates, such as Maurice de Sully in Paris, paid for them out of their own pockets. Sometimes political rulers, such as King James I of Aragon, footed the bill. By and large, though, it was the revenue of the bishopric that financed the cathedrals. This money consisted of feudal taxes and income from property. In fact, the Bishop of Bologna in Italy possessed 2,000 estates! To this was added religious income from collections, indulgences, and penalties for sins. In Rouen, France, those who purchased the right to eat dairy products during Lent paid for the cathedral?s so-called Butter Tower. ................. ?An Error of Priorities? These ?beautiful and thus costly structures,? as Pope Honorius III put it, caused controversy from the start. Voices within the church were raised against the work and the phenomenal sums involved. Pierre le Chantre, a 13th-century prelate of Notre-Dame de Paris, declared: ?It is sinful to build churches as is done at present.? Even today the cathedral at Évry, to name but one, provokes harsh criticism. As reported by the French newspaper Le Monde, many people feel that cathedrals reflect ?an error in priorities? and that the churches ?should invest in people and in evangelization rather than in stones and decoration.? ................. No doubt many who shared in the building of these vast edifices had a sincere love of God. Such ones clearly had ?a zeal for God,? but it was ?not according to accurate knowledge.? (Romans 10:2) Jesus Christ never suggested that his followers construct elaborate houses of worship. He urged true worshipers to ?worship with spirit and truth.? (John 4:21-24) In spite of their beauty, Christendom?s mighty cathedrals stand in contradiction to this principle. They may be monuments to the men who built them, but they fail to glorify God. ===================================

Donna

Posts by Donna

WTBS' Financial Empire...the tip of the iceberg!

Donna