Do Protestants Venerate Saints?
What does veneration mean, in a religious context? It means to give someone honor, to pay someone respect, etc. As human beings, we can't do this gnostically, just unthinkingly sending invisible respect beams to one another.
At little Johnny's birthday, we don't just stand around meditating about his positive attributes. No, we sing to him while he merely listens. We give gifts to him while he simply receives, opens, and responds. We prepare specials foods and decor. We designate an entire day to what is, in material terms, nothing more than a common obstetric procedure.
Catholics can catch a lot of flack for venerating Saints. It is Obviously Idolatry to many unfamiliar with it.
Except for Anglicans, most protestants don't have "Saints" in the Catholic sense. But they do have what are sometimes called "heroes of the faith" or "great figures of the gospel". There are sermons preached on them, books written about them, etc.
[ snark ] Now, I looked on some websites and tried to find out how these super-spiritual protestants are elevated to such a position. Who decides who gets to be Always-Quotable Heroes of the Gospel? There are two main ways:
1. The Magisteria of book publishers decide which biographies will sell.
2. Individual pastors decide which men agree with them and quote them in their sermons. Why do they quote Jonathan Edwards, puritan and not Ralph Toney, Baptist preacher and auto-mechanic? Because they've created an unbiblical adoration of fallible men! [ / snark ]
That totally tongue-in-cheek comparison probably doesn't work on every count, but it can be easily done if I assume that protestants are being disingenuous or un-biblical.
At little Johnny's birthday, we don't just stand around meditating about his positive attributes. No, we sing to him while he merely listens. We give gifts to him while he simply receives, opens, and responds. We prepare specials foods and decor. We designate an entire day to what is, in material terms, nothing more than a common obstetric procedure.
Catholics can catch a lot of flack for venerating Saints. It is Obviously Idolatry to many unfamiliar with it.
Except for Anglicans, most protestants don't have "Saints" in the Catholic sense. But they do have what are sometimes called "heroes of the faith" or "great figures of the gospel". There are sermons preached on them, books written about them, etc.
[ snark ] Now, I looked on some websites and tried to find out how these super-spiritual protestants are elevated to such a position. Who decides who gets to be Always-Quotable Heroes of the Gospel? There are two main ways:
1. The Magisteria of book publishers decide which biographies will sell.
2. Individual pastors decide which men agree with them and quote them in their sermons. Why do they quote Jonathan Edwards, puritan and not Ralph Toney, Baptist preacher and auto-mechanic? Because they've created an unbiblical adoration of fallible men! [ / snark ]
That totally tongue-in-cheek comparison probably doesn't work on every count, but it can be easily done if I assume that protestants are being disingenuous or un-biblical.
posted by Chad Toney at
7:00 AM
