Weird worship
Apr 21, 2014, 12:00 PM | Updated: 12:00 pm
I guess we can call this Easter Monday.
Did you and the family celebrate yesterday … big dinner, hunting for eggs, maybe an annual visit to church? Those are the Easter things I understand.
But there are some practices that quite simply lose me. For example, I heard a news story from the Philippines about some of their faithful crucifying themselves to recognize the suffering of Jesus. I mean real nails through the hands and feet. That doesn’t say happy Easter to me.
I had a hard time getting through that Mel Gibson movie on the same subject. But it’s not just Filipinos who practice that kind of extreme fervor.
Even today there are charismatic priests and nuns in Europe who believe that self-flagellation of whipping themselves will bring them closer to God. It’s done symbolically in the worlds of Islam and Judaism … Indian holy men pierce themselves.
Sorry! I’m over in the camp where we are told to respect our bodies as temples of God.
For my Easter, only the cream gets Whipped and then put on top of pie.
I’m Pat McMahon.