Skip to main content

church ettiquete

What exactly are the rules when you are a tourist in a cathedral. I suppose that there are no formal rules written anywhere, but I am wondering if it is rude to take pictures? Is that rude, or is it only rude if you take pictures of people in the church? I decided to visit the oldest church here in La Serena. I pass by it everyday and I know a little of the history of it, but I have never actually gone inside to experience it. So today I went and sat inside the beautiful church. I thought about all the years that people spent there. It takes my breath away, the dedication and the love for the practices. And as I was sitting there in this building where so many people dedicated their lives to rituals, I saw the dark alluring side of religion. It is like the Pharisees who loved the law more than the Truth. I think if I had lived during the reign of herod in Israel, i would have been a Pharisee (well, married to one at least). It is true, the rituals and blessings, and all that is involved with religion is very tempting to love. We have to be careful with religion. I think it is one of the blessing we are supposed to have from God that Satan uses to distract us from the Truth. But that is so sad, becuase it was created (yes, God created religion) for a good purpose. The beauty of the cathedrals here in Chile and all over the world are supposed to reflect the beauty of God. Anyways, my thoughts on this seem scattered and almost forced this morning so sorry.

Comments

Kallie said…
Well, offically it is considered rude to take pics of the insides of churches when people are using them as places of worship. A lot of people do it anyway, but generally it does go against church etiquette. Some catherdals do have like postcards and stuff you can buy that can be a nice alternative to the touristy picture taking, but usually that's only in big and/or famous churches, so you'll probably have to use your own discretion. The amount of work that goes/went into those buildings is amazing though isn't it?! I can definitely see how people begin to worship the material, instead of the living God and the draw of such religion. Yet, at the same time, I am overwhlemed by how much loving worship must have gone into the craftsmenship of such places.
8:23 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

a good sign

I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
62 comments
Read more

la musica de chile

For a moment I would liek to ponder the music of Chile. You see, I listen to just about everything (except non-live jazz). Even country, although in this category I limit myself to Dixie Chicks and The Judds (only the old stuff). Here in Chile there is really only a few types of music. One, the corny romantic music that belongs on programs like "Delilah at night". Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I love this type of music. Another type of music is Reggaton (not sure about the spelling, but do I ever spell words correctly?). This is Latin America´s response to Hip Hop. Very good for dancing. I also love the fact that most Reggaton is in Spanglish, my favorite language. There is this other type of music that I like to call the "Corny Electric Piano Musica". Too corny for me and I can only take so much electric piano in one song. I am amazed at how much Englsih music is played here. And people sing to it. they actually know the words, but they have no clue what t
18 comments
Read more

murderous thoughts for cats

I got home from work today, exhausted, only to face the horrible whining of the neighborhood cats outside my window. They used to be really loud, and then in the cold of the winter they disappeared. But now they seem to have returned in full force. I sure hope I can sleep tonight!
9 comments
Read more