So, I’ll probably be blasted for this. But I don’t mind the burning down of Notre Dame. In fact, I think it shouldn’t have existed. Christ taught his followers to shun materialism and help those in need. So to me the bigger and fancier the church the more its clergy ignores these teachings. I also remember a story where he destroyed a church and chased people with whips because they were trading and doing business inside it. So by Christ’s logic, big fancy churches shouldn’t exist at all. They are monuments to Christian hypocrisy.
I’m not a history professor, but I think around the time Notre Dame was built, it was a time of war, poverty, and disease. The money that went into the church could’ve been used to feed the poor. Just wasteful. And that same logic applies today, really.
I can see what you’re getting at. However, God had his people build temples and monuments through out the Old testament, just like you would build and concecrate a place of worship for any other god or spirit.
Culturally speaking though, fancy cathedrals were more a thing and status symbol of the time, especially after Christianity amassed as many followers as it did during its infancy. You weren’t gonna pack that many people into tents and small houses. Church then was like our pop concerts now.
All people, regardless of which particular faith, invest in what they find spiritual- whether it is time, money. labor or devotional study to its teachings. A Medieval Cathedral in France filled with people’s devotions to their religious practice through, time, effort, money, labor, art, etc. is no different than what we place and invest in our own practice, as in time devotion, money, labor, etc.
We are not of the same practice in faith and have much conflict with their beliefs. It is still a shame when there is loss. Notre Dame, however much angst we all may have with the infamous Roman Catholic Faith and practice, was and still is an incredible testimony to time and a treasure, to all, regardless of faith.
I’m still looking at it through an ideological perspective. I know what you mean, but I still think a church shouldn’t come before people. Flint Michigan needs clean water, for example.
“Wow, this church is beautiful! Too bad I only have weeks to live and can’t afford the surgery that would save my life. Wait, I’m not even allowed in?”
It does disprove your argument. Cathedrals spawned more out of necessity, despite it actually being apart of Jewish culture to erect monuments in reverence of God. You’re wrong.
Meh. I was never much of an iconclast. I have always been more of an iconodule.
There will always be those who scream that we need to melt down the gold from the chalices and sell off the icons, break the silver chains from the priests necks, all in the name of saving and helping the poor. Amusing that the Catholic faith has more hospitals globally than all the nations combined, and most take everyone in emergency care regardless of insurance. Sure we hear the horror stories, but most are made up on the spot to prove a point.
I used to scream foul too until I found out most of the treasures were made or donated out of their faith, not out of making their priests or the Vatican rich. In the Orthodox Churches, we find most of their treasures were crafted and given- donated by the families. Mostly icons, months to years spent in fasting and mystic meditative trances focusing through Hesychasm as each stroke of the brush invokes an image of the Heavens, a window to the Other world.
So I do have a hard time demanding these things be torn down, as it is the poor themselves who placed their devotions, time, money and labor into their faith. It would be comparable to complaining that you should not spend your money on books and altar pieces because that could go to the poor or for a surgery. There is no difference.
It’s build on top of a pagan temple. I guess you could call it karma, divine retribution. If you believe in that sort a thing. I don’t, but still find it an amusing thought. *smirk
The followers of the ancient Hellenic religion express their condolences for the loss of a monument of the human history and they want to remind and encourage all the civilized and sensitive for those disasters humans that other, older and thus more importand monuments of our history got destroyed and funds must be raised to be restored, in countries that are not so rich as France, such as the ancient Temple of Baal in Palmyra.
They always do that. “The witches, warlocks and demon worshiper’s caused the fire!” Dont you know we have time in our busy lives to commit arson and first degree murder.
I read about how the roof was made of these huge old trees and the lumber had to be specially treated over many many years. I guess I feel bad for the tree that had to be chopped down to make this church. Those big trees took so much longer to grow than human lives, and I just feel awful that people cut them down even though it was hundreds of years ago.
You tellin me they needed gold statues to pray? No matter how you look at it. The church wasted money during a time they should have followed their own doctrine and fed their people
Again. You dont think the notre dam was excessively decorated for being built during war times?
The size of the building is irrelevant. They adorned it is the problem. Ill bet thats why it got burned down. Citizens remember when their governemt ignores their needs
