Fire(s) At Glasgow School of Art Punishment For Desecrated Bible?
From the Editor…
I have received the following email from Paul Mansbacher, a Protestant gentleman who lives in Ayr – it is self-explanatory. Share your thoughts on the symbolism of the desecration of a Bible in the cause of “art” to raise money for students at Glasgow School of Art in the context of the two hugely damaging fires at that same iconic School of Art in Glasgow. Would this be likely to anger God and perhaps result in these two extremely damaging fires? Read Paul’s email below and then share your thoughts…
This Saturday morning we awoke to the news that another devastating fire, the second in five years, has extensively damaged the Glasgow School of Art building – click here. One wonders whether there could be a connection to what happened on the evening of Saturday, 5th December 2009.
On this date, a 200 year old Bible, deep freid in batter, was sold as a work of art at a public auction to raise money for students on the Master of Fine Art course at Glasgow School of Art (see above picture). There was a small protest outside, handing out tracts …warning that people should be concerned and quoting the following Bible verses:
“Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed …” – Proverbs 13:13
“Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them:” – Isaiah 5:20-21 & 24-25a
Were these words not prophetic? Should those who despise the Word of God not now be concerned?
This desecrated Bible was bought by a concerned lady, who still has it in her possession, wrapped up in the box in which it came. ENDS.
Comments (44)
That really is astonishing and I would be inclined to vote Yes in the poll except – and I hope this doesn’t sound bigoted – but wasn’t the bible already desecrated when Martin Luther removed several books (was it 7?) to make sure key Catholic doctrines were put into doubt. That makes me wonder if God would be angry. I’m really not sure on this one and look forward to reading what others think. I’ve withheld my vote for now.
We should thank God though that there were no casualties or even injuries as far as I know, caused by either of these fires. That’s a huge mercy because the School of Art is right in the centre of town. .
Laura,
I was just coming on to say exactly the same thing. Would God be angry at the desecration of a Protestant Bible? I don’t know.
I would say that not only did Martin Luther remove seven books, certain bible phrases have been altered to reflect Protestant theology.
Petrus,
Could you tell us which bible phrases have been altered to reflect Protestant theology? I didn’t know that.
Josephine,
Good question! The one that springs to mind is this Genesis 3:15. This is a foretelling of Our Lady’s triumph over the devil. The Douay Rheims bible states:
“I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.”
The Protestant King James Version has this verse as:
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
I think the difference is significant. Part of the problem was when the King James Bible was translated in the early 17th century, the translators had little, to no Hebrew. The King James Version is extremely suspect and not a trustworthy translation.
Laura,
Our posts went up together – you make an excellent point. The Protestant Bible has already been desecrated! I would be tempted, in that case, to look for a spiritual cause elsewhere. Has this School of Art, for example, repeatedly provided offensive, sacrilegious or blasphemous material to local fringe festivals, or other “alternative” venues?
It’s been my repeated experience that religious Protestants, though they sometimes get sidetracked by silly apocalypse theories, are much better at connecting the dots than are most Catholics.
I don’t know anything about the character of Art Schools in Bonnie Scotland, but here in the States such schools are centers of narcissistic navel-dwelling whose students and faculty invariably produce creations that can only be described as perverse and incomprehensible. And occasionally sacrilegious and blasphemous (except to Muslims, that is).
That is not surprising, however, when you consider that these schools are typically populated by a high percentage of degenerates and freaks, with butchered haircuts, tattoos and nose-rings on full display, and a dominant LGBTQRSTUVWXYZ presence. In short, the avant-garde of the Brave New World.
But perhaps I’m being overly stereotypical??
RCA Victor,
stereotypical ? Thee?
You gotta be kidding me (don’t yo just LOVE my American twang? 😀 )
Laura,
YOU gotta be kidding ME – stealing my twang… Except I’d have gone the whole hog and written “y’all” and not a mere ‘yo’… 😉
Keep practising girl – you’ll get there!
Editor & Laura,
Your imitations of American slang are very endearing, but just to be precise, more annoying than usual, and true to form as a wiseguy New Yorker, I’d like to point out that a “twang” is the somewhat distorted, provincial way in which certain words are pronounced, whereas “slang” refers to the words themselves.
You dig?
RCA Victor,
I dig! And that’s what I meant – how the words are pronounced…wiseguy New Yorker!
RCA Victor,
I used to have a friend (from overseas) who was a student at Glasgow School of Art and he was a traditional Catholic who felt very out of place in the School of Art.
I suspect anyone with Catholic values would feel like a fish out of water there. Yet, it’s a shame to allow the liberals to take control of art, as it is such an important expression of life. It’s all very sad, the state of the world and the Church. It’s hard to say which is worse!
Just wondering if that was a Catholic or Protestant bible.
Margaret USA,
I think it must have been a Protestant bible as it was the cause of protests and I don’t recall hearing anything about it in any Catholic church in Glasgow. Also, the man who contacted Catholic Truth with the news, is a Protestant as it says in the Editor’s introduction to this thread.
Josephine,
I think that’s correct. I have no doubt it would have been a Protestant bible, but the effect if not the intent, is the same since those alleged artists won’t know the difference between a Catholic and a Protestant Bible (and God knows that!) So, since the effect was to mock Sacred Scripture, I think we can take it that God is not too pleased, to put it mildly.
There is definitely something suspicious about these Glasgow School of Art fires. Rumours are abounding on social media and there seems to be a strong possibility that this fire today was started deliberately.
On the subject of the two different bibles, I think this short video is useful.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaLIN5vRMz8&w=854&h=480%5D
Suspicious, yes! Whilst I think the symbolism is noteworthy, I don’t necessarily think the two incidents are linked. I don’t think God goes around setting buildings on fire when He is offended. Of course, I could be wrong, but I think Protestants can be too quick to see a link between these things.
N O T I C E …
Contrary to previous notice, there is, apparently, Mass in the SSPX chapel tomorrow as usual. The Prior intends to make a huge effort to provide Mass.
Parking, of course, is likely to be restricted.
“Are the fires at the Glasgow School of Art likely evidence of God’s wrath?”
It would be most probably!…
I decided to have a look around the School website, and sure enough, their offerings are a heady mix of paganism and Marxist gibberish: http://www.theartschool.co.uk/
Have a look, for example, at Project O Voodoo, or this paragraph by Megan Jones on “Aggressive Anachronisms”.
“Megan Jones is a medievalist based in Glasgow. Her research interests involve the post-medieval legacy and reception of the Middle Ages and the ideological potency of the period in modern discourses. She is currently investigating the malleable forms the Middle Ages take in contemporary culture, with a particular focus on the weaponisation of the period by racist/nationalist groups. Underpinning this is an interest in how the Middle Ages are taught and sold to the public and what steps can be taken to democratise them.
Following the death and violence of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in August of 2017, the mainstream and alternative far-right’s use of the Middle Ages as an ideological tool has entered popular consciousness. As such, this discussion seeks to examine the rise of neomedieval and neo-Celtic tropes, rhetoric, and images as used by these far-right groups in post-9/11 North America, and to understand how neomedievalism and Celtic imagery are being weaponised to dismantle a multicultural future.”
Translation: Megan Jones forms her ignorant opinions by watching the BBC, and she hates Western Civilization.
RCA Victor,
Project O Voodoo… the name says it all!
Love your summary closing sentence – LOL!
The papers in Scotland are full of the news about this fire, and incredible as it seems, they had not fitted sprinklers after the last fire in 2014! You’d think they’d have made that a “first” on the list.
Also, after saying they didn’t think the school could be restored, they’re now saying the opposite, at a cool £100million cost. After spending millions already on restoring after the first fire, I don’t think so.
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/jun/17/glasgow-school-of-art-fire-rennie-mackintosh-sprinklers
Michaela,
I agree – ridiculous sums of money have already been spent on restoring the School of Art. Time to call it a day.
Michaela,
They were probably so preoccupied making pastel drawings of sprinklers that they forgot about installing some….don’t forget, these are “artists” we’re talking about here.
Newspapers replete with so called celebs and has-beens, HORRIFIED at this building fire. Celebs photographed at the burnt out building,all upset, devastated etc.
Maybe I am off beam here, but it is a BUILDING….repeat ‘building’,~ as in ‘inanimate object’.
WE CANNOT get a so called celeb,household name, member of the Royal family or whomever to speak out about abortion, least of all Churchmen,but people beat their breast about this (and of course the Royal Yacht Britannia,another inanimate object, referred to as a SHE….what happened to gender specific pronouns…it is an ‘IT’).Anyway it seems the Royals need a NEW yacht.
We can’t feed the elderly in care homes, but the City can have a £250 k, 8 miles to the gallon Rolls Royce for VIP’s to cut about in.
The world is mad.
It is like living in a Monty Python episode.
St Miguel,
One person’s inanimate object is another person’s spouse… here’s a woman who married a building…
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/43297/woman-marries-building/
What makes you think “the world is mad”?
My point is that the ‘Powers that Be’ can ALWAYS find the dosh when they want….money no object, Commonwealth games…piece of cake…Glasgow Garden Festival 1988, no problem….but elderly, sick, disabled or whatever….the word BUDGET suddenly appears….no money….all a giant illusion.
Scottish Secretary of State promising dosh right away.
St Miguel
Your mention of the Glasgow Garden Festival 1988 reminds me of my own visit to that festival, when one of my nieces disappeared and I was despatched to the Lost & Found office to see if they could help us find her. An elderly man came into the office just after me and said: “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but can you help me find my wife?” !
Happily, both his wife and my niece were found safe and well!
The world is totally mad and I just came across this piece of mad comedy and for some MAD reason it made me think about the DUBIA.
St Miguel,
Sorry, it didn’t make me think of the dubia but I was never a Monty Python fan!
My thought was that Cardinal Leo Burke and his fellow cardinals did not even get the opportunity to hit Pope Francis with ‘the soft pillows’ or force him in to the ‘comfy chair’…gutless wonders !
Editor,
I’m surprised the old man didn’t tell the office to “Take my wife – please!”
RCA Victor,
LOL! Hilarious!
The Kaye Adams show on BBC Radio Scotland at 9.a.m . this morning is going to be discussing whether or not the Glasgow School of Art should be restored / rebuilt “at any price”.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b055jkys
I think no, it shouldn’t. Better to demolish it and build a reasonably priced car park!
Any price?…any price !…..what a disgrace…any other building would be pulled…it just does not look safe.
Facade looks like it could fall over in the wind…..lives at risk..all based on a capricious whim of the lefty artistic fraternity who can’t seem to comprehend a Risk Assessment or health and safety for Joe Public.
Meanwhile, as I said, we can’t look after the elderly or disabled…every scandal sums up to ‘what can we learn from this’ blather…..OK here’s an idea….divert the money put aside for the discredited Name Person scheme and use it for this….oh I thought we had no money! You can’t afford both.
As regards a car park…..the shops are all shutting anyway, Sauchiehall St AND Argyle St are the pits these days, so not worth a browse.
20 MPH limits in the city centre, LOW Emission zones coming, being policed by ANPR cameras, no diesels older than a 2015 plate and petrols older than a 2006 plate and plans (kites being flown) about charges for the cars that CAN go into the city centre anyway!
Very soon the car parks, which are extortionately high priced will become ghost car parks, no one will go.
Most people go to the other out of town malls with FREE PARKING.
The BBC has reported that Renfrew Street is among those affected by the fire which will be out of use for the foreseeable future: Police Scotland has confirmed a cordon put in place following the fire will remain “for the foreseeable future” The roads affected are Sauchiehall Street, Hill Street, Dalhousie Street, Renfrew Street and Garnethill Street. Access to business premises within the cordon will not be allowed until the area is deemed to be safe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-44517304
A reader alerted me to this report, suggesting that it would be very much in the spirit of Pope Francis if the Archdiocese of Glasgow were to allow the SSPX to borrow a church until it is possible to safely access the chapel in Renfrew Street.
And so say all of us?
And why not?…..A small mercy, a very noble gesture and why not even a ‘time slot’ in St Andrews Cathedral, very convenient for for SSPX parishioners.
This would put them on the spot, as they can accommodate just about anyone in any Ecumenical situation and could really be seen as a pathfinder to full Ecumenism…..
Most up to date news just there, is that the GSA buildings will have to come down..if the streets are cordoned off, then business and people need to go about their business and streets cannot be cordoned of indefinitely.
St Miguel
That’s a very good idea. I suggest you ring Carluke and ask for Father Wall. I have a feeling he might be receptive to the idea – OR you could phone the archbishop and suggest that he takes the initiative by offering a slot in St Andrew’s cathedral. Papa Francis would – without doubt – look benignly on such a merciful gesture. And for once, I’m NOT being sarcastic 😀
The snag is trying to get a church with altar rails, a proper altar with a Tabernacle in the centre.
T’would be rather churlish if the Archdiocese did not rise to the occasion and offer to assist their fellow Catholics.
It’s always possible to keep the front pew row for kneeling for Communion in modern churches, so that is do-able.
No use me asking – I could ask them if I could donate my [next] lottery win and they’d – more likely than not – refuse! Or am I being unkind? Rhetorical question!
Editor, it is an interesting scenario, if the Archdiocese ‘would’ actually help, somehow I doubt it, what the reasons could be, I wonder.
‘That they may be One’ was the mantra a while back…I would like to see the Moderator of the Church of Scotland take part in a a Rosary, or the Stations of The Cross as a gesture of goodwill at a service in St Andrews Cathedral. All people genuflecting where required, because after all we are all supposed to be Jock Tamson’s Bairns in the end….or so we are led to believe.
Is it the case that St Andrews SSPX in Renfrew St is now inaccessible until further notice ?
.
Is it the case that St Andrews SSPX in Renfrew St is now inaccessible until further notice ?
Looks like it.
Just a thought there, given that the Dental Hospital is opposite and the staff have their own car park, I cannot see how the Dental Hospital can now function. It would be ludicrous for an important NHS facility to be out of bounds for any length of time.
St Miguel,
The Dental Hospital car park has been back in use for the past week, at least.
Comments are closed.