Carrying the cross: a profane act or religious act?
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The procession of the Way of the Cross is an important Catholic tradition, so any criticism of a transgender person taking part in such a procession can only be based on the person's gender identity. However, it is possible for Christians to object to participation in an actual mock crucifixion, and the evidence for this is mixed.
Crucifixion in the Philippines is a devotional practice held every Good Friday, where the custom is said to be strongly discouraged by the Catholic Church in the Philippines. How 'strongly' is unclear, since the Church has not stamped out the practice even in urban centres.
A school in Brazil has had very young children enact crucifixions for Holy Week complete with fake wounds and a crown of thorns. Although the children suffered no physical harm, the practice has been condemned by some as akin to manipulation, but the story has also attracted many Facebook 'likes'. What is interesting here is that this kind of play-acting by children can only encourage adults to act out crucifixion, yet there is no evidence the Church hierarchy has condemned it.
The bishops of Brazil have, however, condemned a Brazilian sports magazine for printing photo-shopped photos of famous soccer star Neymar, in which he appears to be crucified. Their concern seems to be more with the inappropriate use of religious images than with the inappropriateness of mock crucifixion.
A symbolic reenactment of the crucifixion of Christ performed in Brazil at World Youth Day, attended by Pope Francis, can only encourage those who believe these reenactments have papal support.
The news item suggests that even the gay parade itself drew condemnation. There is no suggestion that those taking part were not as sincere as other Christians taking part in Way of the Cross parades on Good Friday, so the objection appears to be to gays openly parading their Christian faith, rather than a suggestion they were mocking the faith. The actual reenactment by a transgender person drew a strong response, including a death threat. If there were evidence that others who have taken part in reenactments in Brazil have been denounced in the same way, then we could say the objections were grounded on objections to profane performances, but this is not the case.
The position of the Catholic Church is ambiguous. On the one hand, Filipino bishops frequently object to reenactments in the Philippines, on the other hand, we are told that a crucifixion reeneactment was part of the entertainment at a World Youth Day attended by Pope Francis, in Brazil.
The Baptist and Presbyterian Churches are not so well represented in Brazil, but here we see a fairly casual non-denominational parade that takes place in Australia every year. Churches participating in the Walk for the Cross were St. Giles Presbyterian Church, The Seventh Day Adventist, St. John The Baptist Anglican Church, St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, and St. Matthew Wesley United Church. There is no suggestion that the Walk ends in a mock crucifixion.
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From a Baptist point of view this display is wrong on two levels. Firstly there is the fact that the people who do these acts are self harming which we are told not to do.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 "19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
The second level of wrongness is that it is a mockery for any LGBTQ to perform this act. If you believe The Bible to be the Word of God, these passages make it clear that it is done in mockery since it is the LGBTQ community who did the specific event you are talking about since they are reprobate.
Romans 1:27-28 "27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient."
For a definition of "reprobate" we find it in the OT:
Jeremiah 6:30 "30 Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the LORD hath rejected them."
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Carrying the cross is not a profane act. Carrying the cross is just a religious act. Why?
When you think of an act as being profane, you are no different than any other sinner. Why?
Because you treat the act with irreverence or disrespect - that's profanity. Whenever you treat something or somebody with irreverence or disrespect, you are no different than Adam and Eva after they ate the forbidden fruit.
Think about it. When you treat something or somebody with irreverence or disrespect, you give nutriment to the sin you inherited from Adam and Eva. What sin? The sin of differentiating good and bad. Whenever you differentiate good and bad, you are sinning. And what determines good and bad in this case? Your ego. Whenever you judge things from the point of view of your ego, you are a sinner.
That's why you have to let go of your ego. When you will let go your ego, good and bad will vanish; the devil within you will be destroyed. When the devil within you will be destroyed, you will forgive the sins of others. When you'll forgive the sins of others, God will forgive your sins. When God will forgive your sins, you'll live in paradise on planet Earth. When you'll die, you'll be born in heaven.
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