Chocolate Jesus

[Socrates]

[quote name='dairygirl4u2c' post='1223425' date='Mar 30 2007, 09:53 PM']i'd find that funny too. i found the hat comic of muhammed funny. there isn't much that offends me though. i guess if you were to start posting dead bodies and babies and horrible things to them, and glorifying torture and such, i would be offended. things i don't even want to go to. which must be what you think of chocolate jesus? i simply do not understand. and yes i do consider myself a christian.
if someone were purposefully trying to offend me wihtout something worthy of being offended of in and of itself, beyond simply their malice, i wouldn't even humor htem with being offended. that's what seems to be going on here. except here it's not even clear it's meant to be offensive, yet people are offended anyway.[/quote]
Most serious Christians (and people of other religions too, for that matter) consider it blasphemy for their God to be mocked.

And it is quite evident that the point here is to deliberately offend Christians. It's an old game now in the "modern art" world. What else would the point of this be?

[dairygirl4u2c]

also. i would find if it was more heinous what they did to jesus to be offensive. things i don't even want to think about oo much or talk about. i'd find it offensive if they did it to other religions too. i'd be more offensive if it was things about jesus. and even mary, particualry given my catholic background.

i don't know what his intention was. it'd be speculating to say for sure. there's good reason to think it's meant to offend, given the liberal art style that does that sort of thing. but, then it could be an expression of jesus in his humanity. the chocolate stuff could be jesus in his humanity and the commercialization of easter from what it's meant to be. that's the best one i got, though i could figure out some more if i tried. i would be like what does that suppose to mean if i saw it with no reference to what people are telling to be mad about.

Edited March 31, 2007 by dairygirl4u2c

[KnightofChrist]

[b][url="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyid=2007-03-30T185605Z_01_N30244192_RTRUKOC_0_US-USA-CHOCOLATE-JESUS.xml&src=rss&rpc=22"]N.Y. gallery cancels naked chocolate Jesus exhibit[/url][/b]

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan art gallery canceled on Friday its Easter-season exhibit of a life-size chocolate sculpture depicting a naked Jesus, after an outcry by Roman Catholics.

The sculpture "My Sweet Lord" by Cosimo Cavallaro was to have been exhibited for two hours each day next week in a street-level window of the Roger Smith Lab Gallery in Midtown Manhattan.

The display had been scheduled to open on Monday, days ahead of Good Friday when Christians mark the crucifixion of Jesus. But protests including a call to boycott the affiliated Roger Smith Hotel forced the gallery to scrap the showing.
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"Your response to the exhibit at the Lab Gallery is crystal clear and has brought to our attention the unintended reaction of you and other conscientious friends of ours to the exhibition of Cosimo Cavallaro," Roger Smith Hotel President James Knowles said in a statement addressed to "Dear Friends."

"We have caused the cancellation of the exhibition and wish to affirm the dignity and responsibility of the hotel in all its affairs," the statement said.

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights had called for a boycott of the hotel, writing to 500 religious and secular organizations.

"This is an assault on Christians during Holy Week," said Kiera McCaffrey, director of communications for the league, which describes itself as the largest U.S. Catholic civil-rights group. Continued...

[cmotherofpirl]

One must have actual standards to be offended, so obviously that leaves many people out of the loop, doesn't it.
Like I said I dare him to make a statue of Mohammed and invite people to nibble. But its expected in Lent that the childish types look for a method to insult Chrsitans, it happens on a yearly basis.

[iggyjoan]

[quote name='StThomasMore' post='1223310' date='Mar 30 2007, 08:11 PM']I think making a chocolate statue of Christ is disrespectful and blasphemous.[/quote]


yeah i'd feel a bit funny eating my savior...

[jeffpugh]

[quote name='Mr.CatholicCat' post='1223106' date='Mar 30 2007, 03:44 PM'][b]Maybe off topic[/b] but I have always seen chocolate crosses at the store but I always wondered what would happen if they put chocolate crucifixes? How would you eat it? Would you leave the body alone or would you start at the legs? (Sighs) This thought process only goes even worse after this but this is what the topic reminded me of.[/quote]

I think the best way to break down this "artistic depiction" is to solemnly melt it. Just so it doesn't have form any more... re-mold the stuff into plain shapes or something after. Don't waste it.

[quote name='StThomasMore' post='1223310' date='Mar 30 2007, 08:11 PM']I think making a chocolate statue of Christ is disrespectful and blasphemous.[/quote]


[quote name='Raphael' post='1223316' date='Mar 30 2007, 08:20 PM']Bingo.[/quote]

Yar.

[iggyjoan]

lol what does 'Yar' mean?

[Red Knight]

[quote name='dairygirl4u2c' post='1223383' date='Mar 30 2007, 09:30 PM']and we all know those bits are naughty. evil. should not be seen nor spoke of, except for procreational purposes when we need to fulfill our duty to copulate. or wait...

why are we upset with this statute again?[/quote]

The "naughty bits" aren't naughty!

"Body bad, spirit good" is heresy!

I just think the basic idea of a chocolate crucifix is stupid. The idea of not draping a loin cloth on our Lord is, in fact, more historically correct. Jesus would have been stripped naked before being crucified. Therefore, all present would know him to be Jewish, adding emphasis to the King of the jews statement. In case your wondering, they would know him to be jewish by the fact He was circumcised.

Makes one wonder, does it not?

[Budge]

Everyone here read Hebrews 6:6

[quote]think making a chocolate statue of Christ is disrespectful and blasphemous[/quote]

Maybe someone should tell these people too..

[img]http://www.wnd.com/images2/ChocolateJesus.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.re-location.org.uk/alaunch70.jpg[/img]

[img]http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/chocolate_jesus.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/images/2006/04/08/ale_porter_chocolate_2_350x470.jpg[/img]

I hope you are all consistent on this...

[LouisvilleFan]

[quote name='Budge' post='1223396' date='Mar 30 2007, 10:49 PM']Course I think crucifixes are wrong, to show "Jesus" always hanging there dead, when Jesus is ALIVE and RISEN on the right hand of the father.

Hebrews 6:6 pretty much sums it up for me.

Why is Jesus always shown as being DEAD with his head slumped over on Catholic crucifixes, yes i know they have the rare ones of the "risen Lord" but the majority show Jesus dead and bloody...[/quote]

"Keep your eyes on the crucifix,
for Christ without the cross
is a man without a mission;
and the cross without Christ,
is a burden without a reliever."

-Archbishop Fulton Sheen

The reality is, for Catholics, we experience the Risen Lord in a very real way through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. So the crucifix may show a "dead" Jesus, but in the tabernacle He resides full of life and we leave Mass, each person both a spiritual and physical tabernacle of the Lord going out into the world.

---

Now, as for the chocolate Jesus, the best commentary I've heard about it is that the artist (who I heard is Catholic) was likely using artistic sarcasm to make a point about the commercialization of Easter. We have no problem with the secular world's "celebration" of the high point of the Church calendar, but what the world is doing isn't so much different than turning the real crucifix, the real Jesus, and real faith into something chewy and sweet that goes down easy. So instead of getting offended, perhaps we should ask ourselves how much we've already let society sell out our God.

That was a good point someone made earlier that Jesus' nakedness on the cross would've only emphasized the fact that he was Jewish. While it can only be speculation, I've always figured he was actually naked, but for the sake of common decency it isn't necessary to portray Jesus that way in our churches. But it also illustrates even further the degree of humiliation he suffered in being completely vulnerable with nothing, not even the slightest bit of decency, held onto for himself. Pretty powerful, I think.


That said, I can't help but offer my sarcastic commentary on this sarcastic work of art: Seeing as Jesus was from the Middle East, between Africa and Europe, neither a vanilla nor chocolate Jesus is quite accurate. I'd rather is a vanilla-chocolate swirl Jesus. And I think the artist could manage to get a corporate sponsor to replace "INRI" with "DQ."

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote]Why is Jesus always shown as being DEAD with his head slumped over on Catholic crucifixes, yes i know they have the rare ones of the "risen Lord" but the majority show Jesus dead and bloody...[/quote]

That is because Catholics, unlike some Protestants, do not see the crucifixion as an isolated event that only belongs in the history books. It still has vital urgency and relevance for us today. Fulton Sheen summed it up best. Jesus' death, resurrection, and future coming are inextricably bound up, as we proclaim at Mass:

Christ has died,
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again.

Catholics don't select one of these happenings to focus on and decide that the other two just aren't current. That would be like trying to play a Mozart sonata on a violin without strings.

Regarding the chocolate Jesus, the thing that disturbed me most is that the artist was encouraging people to eat the chocolate Christ. That is a sick perversion of the Holy Eucharist. The timing of the exhibition made it doubly insensitive. How could anyone plan to show such a sculpture when we're so close to Maundy Thursday?

That said, the sculpture does have a powerful Christian message of its own: we can understand a small fraction of what Jesus' followers must have felt when they saw Him being mocked by the crowds at Golgotha. If that artwork had been shown, the gallery would have been the perfect place to pray the rosary.

Edited April 2, 2007 by Cathoholic Anonymous

[dairygirl4u2c]

Where did you hear that it was about easter's commercialization and that the artist was Catholic? That theory was exactly what I predicted could be the case. (minus that the artist was even Catholic to boot) You weren't referring to my statements earlier speculating that much were you?

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Budge' post='1227095' date='Apr 2 2007, 10:58 AM']Everyone here read Hebrews 6:6
Maybe someone should tell these people too..

I hope you are all consistent on this...[/quote]
I think making any image of God out of chocolate is disrespectful, be it for "artistic" reasons or commercialization.

[jeffpugh]

I think some more excellent points were brought up... too much commercialisation here and not enough Jesus... still... its inappropriate so close to Maundy Thursday. What should we all do this Easter? go and proclaim the Resurrection in some way.

[kujo]

[quote name='Mr.CatholicCat' post='1223106' date='Mar 30 2007, 03:44 PM'][b]Maybe off topic[/b] but I have always seen chocolate crosses at the store but I always wondered what would happen if they put chocolate crucifixes? How would you eat it? Would you leave the body alone or would you start at the legs? (Sighs) This thought process only goes even worse after this but this is what the topic reminded me of.[/quote]

The easiest thing to do: DON'T BUY OR EAT A CHOCOLATE CROSS.

[quote name='iggyjoan' post='1226544' date='Apr 1 2007, 10:48 PM']yeah i'd feel a bit funny eating my savior... [/quote]

The Eucharist.

[quote name='Red Knight' post='1227087' date='Apr 2 2007, 12:50 PM']The "naughty bits" aren't naughty!

"Body bad, spirit good" is heresy![/quote]

I think she was using "naughty bits" as a euphemism for his penis. Nice to see that modesty and discretion are being torn to pieces by people who are just looking to argue.

[quote name='Budge' post='1227095' date='Apr 2 2007, 12:58 PM']Maybe someone should tell these people too..

[img]http://www.wnd.com/images2/ChocolateJesus.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.re-location.org.uk/alaunch70.jpg[/img]

[img]http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/chocolate_jesus.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/images/2006/04/08/ale_porter_chocolate_2_350x470.jpg[/img]

I hope you are all consistent on this...[/quote]

I am offended by every single one of those pictures. STOP MOCKING MY LORD!!!!!