www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall New billboard depicts Virgin Mary holding a pregnancy test

Haven't you heard? Being Christian has nothing to do with dogma, worship, reception of the Holy Mysteries, the keeping of commandments, the struggle to practice virtue, and undergoing repentance. How annoying and burdensome. What a drag - what a chore. That kind of Christianity is such a downer...

Being Christian merely means you're a "nice" person who may or may not believe in some kind of supreme being. It means feeling good about yourself and, perhaps from time-to-time, partaking in exuberent, exciting, exhilarating gatherings where soothing ditties are sung and the Deity might be referenced.

I find it refreshing that someone trashed this piece of garbage and has the attitude, "Yeah, I did it. Whacha gonna do about it because I don't care. God comes first."

At least, that's the way I read it. Sometimes I think that Christians have been too much mixing up being charitable with being spineless milktoasts of the worst kind. I get the feeling from some that we are never supposed to fight back at all.

Of course, if that were the case, Lepanto would never have happened and we'd all be speaking Arabic now.

Hi,

I find the image of the pregnancy test funny and not offensive at all.

The one about "Christmas Theology" is also funny, mildly offensive, but vey poor taste.

People: You need to get out more. There is a whole world out there and we are called to preach the Good News to it, not just condemn it.

That's what I think.

Shalom,
Deacon Memo

Words fail me....

Alexandr

Fr. Deacon,

It is in poor taste. That said, why anyone is surprised by anything anymore is beyond me. That a church would sponsor it disappoints me, but again nothing Anglican shocks me anymore. And while we need to preach the Gospel there is nothing wrong with registering our displeasure at the cheap treatment of our sacred persons and things.

Memo,
If you were a layman, I would probably just shake my head and let it pass, but you are a deacon, and in accordance with your rank, supposed to be an example for the laity. So forgive me, but I will hold your feet to the fire on this one. Do you really believe it is appropriate to mock the Mother of God? Do you really find this humorous? Now I realize that you live in the cesspit that is Southern California, and when one lives in Gomorrah, it can be understood why one might start to think like a Gomorrahian, but how, in your diaconal rank, approve of this blasphemy?
As a clergyman, you are in the public eye. And believe me, people are watching. And for all the good work being done with building a relationship between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, it just takes one priest performing a Barney Mass, or one deacon publicly approving of mocking the Theotokos, to undo years of hard labor being done by sincere Catholic clergy in the name of building better relations with the Orthodox. So I am asking you, not only in the name of ecumenical relations, but in the fear of the wrath of the Most High, to please consider publicly retracting your approval of this trash.
And no, we do not need to "get out more". Some people need to get out less, and to seek the approval of God, and not of mammon.

Alexandr

I totally agree with my brother, Alexandr.

When it comes to God, we seek theosis--to reach UP to God and become holy, not to bring God, who is holy, down to our profane and sinful levels.

I can tell you that NO Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox OR Jew that I know, atleast in my generation,( and I grew up in NYC, so the argument about 'getting out more' doesn't hold here) would find any of this funny.

I am really disappointed in your statement, Deacon Memo.

Kyrie Eleison!

Even as we disagree with him please remember Fr. Deacon Memo is a deacon and address him as such as is forum policy.

Whilst "Poor Joseph, God was a hard act to follow" is clearly blasphemous, to me the most troublesome part of the image shown is that Mary is depicted as surprised or troubled by the result - were a pregnancy test available or conducted, given the Annunciation, I don't think there would be surprise involved, though there certainly was trouble - as an unmarried, pregnant woman her position in society was anything but secure. This may well have given her cause for fear at one time or another.

One thing that seems to be absent from the discussion here is that Mary definitely was pregnant with a true human child, and the image is a stark reminder of that reality in some respects - she was truly pregnant with Jesus Christ our Lord, and certainly would have registered as such on any test. There is an unfortunate tendency in pietistic culture at times to ignore the reality of her pregnancy. She was fully pregnant, just as Christ was fully human.

In a strange and completely unintentional way (as far as its authors were concerned), what this image actually does for me is fill me with awe of the incarnation, that Christ descended to be fully human and to be born as all other human beings are.

Granted most people in a secular society will view this image as humorous, but for me my response is different - to me the pregnancy test image is a thought provoking reminder of the realities of the mystery of the incarnation.

If one can get past outraged kneejerk reactions, I think that this image might actually have something to say to us as Christians about how we still sometimes shrink from all of the biological and social implications of what the Incarnation entailed for the Mother of God, despite the fact that the Gospel is quite clear on the disgrace she faced in her society.

Mary was pregnant, and gave birth. She was (till Joseph did the honourable thing, that she not be "put away quietly") an unwed mother. Regardless of the context in which it appeared, or how others might see it, to me the image invokes awe and compassion and a deep respect for the realities in which Mary found herself.

I think if we are willing to disconnect this image from partisan concerns, it might invoke the same thoughtful response in others.

This is true, but on the other hand it is equally true that God did come down to our sinful, profane and human level, and therefore will always be a part of it. Sometimes we like to forget that, but it's what the incarnation is all about, and if it didn't happen we wouldn't be having this discussion.