Holy Stairs, Batman!

[Stuckinthebush]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/holy-stairs-believed-to-have-been-climbed-by-jesus-unveiled-in-rome/ar-BBVRYj3?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=DELLDHP

Holy Stairs believed to have been climbed by Jesus unveiled in Rome

After more than a year of restoration, the 28 steps that make up the "Scala Sancta," or Holy Stairs, of the Pontifical Shrine in Rome were unveiled on Thursday, just in time for the thousands of people who will flock to Rome and the Vatican for Easter.

The steps were believed to be part of Pontius Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem and are the same steps Jesus climbed before being tried by the Roman governor and sentenced to crucifixion.

It is believed that Emperor Constantine's mother, St. Helena, brought the steps from Jerusalem to Rome in the fourth century once Christianity became the Roman Empire's main religion. They are now housed in a building that contains part of the old papal Lateran Palace, across from the Basilica of St. John the Lateran in Rome.

All I can say is, "Jesus Christ, people are gullible..."

[Historic NY]

1. Yikes, someone can get hurt on them....

[Faux pas]

2. How does that old song go...

'fairytales can come true' if you work really hard to fool half the people all of the time?

[RussBLib]

3. that is sad

to see all those people groveling and kneeling and crawling up the stairs....smh

[Cartoonist]

4. What else did she bring?

Did she bring the rest of the palace, or just the steps? Will they call them the official stairway to heaven?

[Stuckinthebush]

7. Stairway to Heaven!

Perfect. I can see the merchandising now.

“Grandma climbed the stairway to Heaven and all I got was this t shirt!”

[DetlefK]

5. I don't get the toxicity about this archaeological treasure.

Pontius Pilate, the governor of Israel, is a well-documented historical person. He definitely existed and we know this because he was an oppressive tyrant who forced the people of Judea to build gaudy buildings for him whose ruins stand to this day.

And even though there is no archaeological evidence for the biblical Jesus, there must have been a historical person who founded the christian sect that split off from Judaism.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Toxic? That might be a harsh word

It illustrates the desperation of some religious individuals to connect to their myths. Yes, PP is an historical figure as was Richard the Lionhearted. But these stairs were rumored to have been brought to Rome by Constantine’s wife. Early 300s - some 300 years after the undocumented death of an undocumented man. Oh, and the wife of the ruler who made Christianity the state religion is rumored to have acquired the stairs. Let’s say she did (although knowing the romans it would have been well documented). Would there be any ulterior motive to have a supposed religious symbol moved to Rome? What are the odds this was fabricated by her, or more likely, someone centuries later? Quite good. Those steps are likely as authentic as a bow used by Robin Hood in the 12th century.

Toxic? Debatable. Silly? Definitely.

[Cartoonist]

8. In addition

Europe is filled with churches that have nails and pieces of the cross. Enough to build another church.

I asked earlier, what about the rest of the palace? Is it still there? Does it want its steps back? Bringing back the steps would have required money and labor. If you're going to the trouble, wouldn't something besides steps be a better choice?

[lindysalsagal]

15. Toxicity? Like when people disown their gay children, and

Then some commit suicide? Or when women and doctors are threatened with murder charges for terminating an unwanted pregnancy, which might have been the result of rape or incest? You mean the toxicity of priests sexually assaulting innocent children and using the law to hide from prosecution? You mean that kind of toxicity?

I don't see that kind of damage in this thread. And, no, it's not a treasure .

[Iggo]

18. No reason a made-up story can't use a real head of state as a character.

Sorry, I didn't realize how old this thread was.

[Freelancer]

9. Jesus was a carpenter...

Constantine's mom should have looked for an end table or bird house by him -- easier to bring back to Rome.

[RussBLib]

10. yeah, maybe they could dig up Jesus' handmade coat rack

or, rag holder

the guy was a carpenter and not one hand made item has been discovered?

What a slacker!

[Freelancer]

11. Hard profession to be in if you have an aversion to nails :-O -nt

[Freelancer]

12. Always seemed odd all the parables and metaphors were so agrarian

I mean... he was supposed to be a carpenter who was preaching mostly in cities that were in the Roman Empire, right? That was the most advanced civilization in the world, maybe apart from China. Why all the stuff about vineyards and fields and flocks and fishermen and shepherds? He wasn't talking to shepherds and he wasn't one by trade.

You would think there would have been a lot more about the importance of strong footings, about building on bedrock instead of sand, how an intricate structure needs buttressing -- carpenter talk about the right wood for this or that. People in cities could have related more to that, I'd suspect.

That stuff probably wound up on the cutting room floor. Maybe it'll make it into the director's cut.

[Iggo]

14. Constantine's Mom.

That'll be my Band Name Of The Week.

[lindysalsagal]

13. Group Masterbation

That's what I always think of with these "I'm gonna suffer like jesus" scenarios. Same as the "stages of the cross" is see as small crowds shuffle with their bibles and candles, mumbling crap they don't even understand.

Group Masterbation.

[reACTIONary]

16. This is NOTHING compared to...

... the staff of Moses on display at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.

I had to exercise some self control during my visit.

[Farmer-Rick]

17. The Emperor made his own mother a saint?

What an unbelievable piece of propaganda. Psychopaths are so freaking arrogant.