1/13/03
By
J. Parnell McCarter
Puritan News Service
The
character of a nation is displayed in its symbols. One prominent American symbol is Lady Liberty. She is known as the ‘Goddess of Liberty’
atop the Texas State Capitol, the ‘Statue of Freedom’ atop the U.S. Capitol,
and the ‘Statue of Liberty’ in New York harbor. Below is information to help us understand the symbol better.
I
might first refer you to website
http://www.tmm.utexas.edu/events/past_events/goddess/godhist.html :
"Hoisted by workmen to the top of the Texas
Capitol dome in late February
1888, the monumental zinc statue known as the
"Goddess of Liberty"
remained on the building nearly 98 years. During
that time, the
white-painted sculpture holding aloft a gilded Lone
Star intrigued
literally millions of visitors to the Capitol. Standing nearly sixteen
feet tall, and weighing just over 2000 pounds, the
statue probably
represents Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of
wisdom, justice, and arts
and crafts. Athena, later called "Minerva"
in Roman mythology, served as
the protectress of the democratic city-state of
Athens. A lack of
information about the statue's origin created an
aura of mystery which
surrounded the Texas Goddess of Liberty for decades,
but which has
lifted as recent investigations have helped
chronicle the statue's
history. Probably inspired by the statue of Freedom
placed on the dome
of the National Capitol in 1863, and by publicity
about the Statue of
Liberty under construction in New York harbor during
the 1870's, Texas
State Capitol architect Elijah E. Myers of Detroit
designed the statue
as the crowning element of the Texas Capitol. His
early 1881 competition drawings for the Texas
Capitol show the statue represented much as we know
her today."
Weisberger
wrote a definitive history of the statue of liberty. Here's a quote:
"The
world at large is totally ignorant of the occult symbolism which lies behind
the famed statue of liberty which sits astride the harbor of New York,
symbolizing its true inner character and purpose. The sculptor who made the great statue was Italian. His name was
Auguste Bertholdi. His work was greatly influenced by the ancient sculptor
Phidias who made gigantic statues of the ancient goddesses, particularly
Athena, the "goddess of wisdom" and Nemesis (another name for Venus),
a goddess who held a cup in her right hand. Before beginning the statue of
liberty project, Bertholdi was seeking a commission to construct a giant
statue
of the goddess "Isis," the Egyptian Queen of Heaven, to overlook the
Suez canal. The statue of Isis was to be of "a robed woman holding aloft a
torch" (Statue of Liberty: 1st Hundred Years, Bernard Weisberger, p.30,
quoted in Beyond Babylon, James Lloyd, p.103).
It
is no accident that these goddess of liberty (queen of heaven) statues proliferated
when they did in the 1800s. It was
associated with official proclamation of the immaculate conception of Mary,
queen of heaven, our Lady. And America
gave our Lady the honor she was due, just as any nation corrupted by Romanism
should.
But
worse than the statue itself, is the wicked view of liberty the statue
represents and that most Americans adore.
It is **not** liberty as the Bible defines it, but liberty free of
obedience to Christ and Christ's Law.