The Cross, the Nativity, and Iconoclasm

Today I was reminded of the emphatic need to examine myself in what I believe. "Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourself." (2 Corinthians 3:5) It's amazing how many Christians have a different perception of what the truth is, and what interpretation they use to examine and test as genuine faith. And today, all it took was a small box with simple stamps of simple Nativity caricatures to highlight this notion. 

Today, my beloved, hard-core Protestant, wife of a minister, grandmother said, "That of the Nativity is satanic." When she uttered such nonsense, my stomach churned and a taste of intense disgust emerged in my mouth. You might wonder in what context she uttered such blatant blasphemy? Let me convey to you the general context of such a comment. 

The women in my family have an immense love for thrift stores. And whenever we get together, the possibility of going thrift shopping is without fail. Today was no exception. However, on this occasion, I decided not to go. We were visiting family out of town, and near their house, downtown, one can find a few Christian Protestant thrift stores where Christian material is abundant. My mother, my aunts, and my grandmother went to scout them out while I stayed back at my relative's house. An hour later, they came back to the house, we said our goodbyes, and then departed back to our house. 

On our way back home, my family commenced to talk about their shopping, and my mother commented that in a box that my grandmother bought with stamps contained icons. "Icons?" I asked surprised, looking up from a book I was reading. My mother chuckled (she is one of the few people in the family who knows about me exploring Christian Orthodoxy), and said, "yes, icons." I paused and asked, "grandma, can I see?", hoping to see some elaborate handiwork of Christian Orthodox icons. My grandmother paused (she doesn't know about my interest, at least I don't believe so...) and said, "what for?" I persisted, and she reluctantly handed me the box. 

I opened the box, eager to find maybe an icon of some sort, expecting really Roman Catholic icons, as it would be highly unusual to find Christian Orthodox icons in the area where I live. But I found nothing of that sort; just stamps of the Nativity scene of individual cartoon-like characters of the Three Wise Men, the shepherds, the Nativity Star, and among these unrelated but Christian stamps as well as a stamp of a simple Cross.

"Grandma, these aren't icons..." I said bewildered, closing the box, and handing it back to her. "They are!", she said emphatically. "They are just stamps of the Nativity scene..." I said, as she took the box back. "It doesn't matter. There is a Cross in there too. I'm going to burn them.", she answered as she placed the box next to her. My heart literally jumped. Burn them?!, I thought to myself, incredulous. And then, with a voice of displeasure, she said,

"That of the Nativity is satanic." 

I looked up sharply, my eyes widening in disbelief at the back of her head as I was sitting in the back seat. Satanic? The Nativity? Even my mother turned her head to the side to look at her mother, and said, "Satanic? Mom, there is nothing wrong with celebrating the Nativity. In fact, we should celebrate it every day, not just Christmas..." The conversation trailed off into the background as I frowned and shook my head in disgust at the audacity of my grandmother's comment, and went back into my own world of musings, and wondering how my grandmother, who says she is a Christian, would find it ok to burn a stamper of the Cross? 

Of course, I know that those stamps are actually icons, because they are images in themselves. But when I think of icons, I think of images of the Saints with elaborate symbolism embedded in them, conveying holiness. Not a child's box with simple stamps of cartoon characters of the Nativity scene, which even so in a sense hold a holy significance because of what they represent in their simplicity. Even before I started learning about Orthodoxy and getting the gist of the beauty of icons, I don't believe I have ever had such a negative view of images conveying Biblical truths 

So, to hear such words come from my own grandmother's mouth shocked and displeasured me. To me, in that instance she desecrated something that is holy by saying she will burn those icons, along with the Cross, and topped it off with calling the Nativity satanic. From where will I now draw my respect for her? Obviously, I will continue to respect her, but believe me when I say it will be harder to take her seriously in regards to the spiritual.   

Iconoclasm is prevalent in my family. And the foundation for such virulent belief comes from the Ten Commandments,

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God... "
-Exodus 20:4-5 (ESV)

Never mind that icons have a profound and special place in the Bible, and that their place in the history of the Church has been for centuries. Never mind that it was a Christian practice to have icons of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the Saints. Never mind that the illiterate learned from such precious images. Images are forbidden in the Bible, it's satanic! And that's that! (Please note, sarcasm...)

How to test yourself if you are in the faith when you think that the Nativity is satanic? And go as far as to say that because of icons? It's not in my place to contemplate what that could possibly mean for my grandmother as I know that I too have a sinful heart that needs to be cleaned. But it is alarming and scary to have heard those words come from my own grandmother's mouth.

And I ask myself now, "What will grandma say if one of her grandchildren reverted back to what she considers pagan?" Good question. Let's not think about that now.