Christian Religious Jewelry

Q: Christian Symbols -- WORMS? I know that's the reason given often, but a former pastor at our church had studies - the brushed stainless steel common cup was safer even than the individual shot glasses. Any reaction?

A:When I was too little to escape going to church/Sunday school, I seem to remember being told several different things. One was that any physical representation of Jesus would be blasphemous, because no matter how artistic or beautiful it was, it couldn't possibly be correct, and mis-representing Jesus was blasphemy. Another was that *any* representational art used for devotional purposes was "making graven images", which was not only prohibited in the Ten Commandments, but was also idolatry (somehow that was a separate sin as well). Another was, as you said, that we ought to celebrate Jesus' life, or his ministry, or the miracle of his resurrection - but we should *NOT* celebrate his death. So not only did the sanctuary contain only an abstract geometric cross, but if we were to wear any religious jewelry, we should just stick to a small, chaste gold cross, with no dead guy on it, on a gold chain. And many, many years before Mel Gibson's movie, my first High Priestess used to refer to the kind of crucifixes worn by many Catholics, the kind with an exquisitely detailed sculpture of the tortured, bleeding, suffering Jesus on them, as "S&M fetishes"...

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