The Cross Stabbed the Sheep-Looking Creature!

[freeatlast]

I have pondered how we ended up making the cross the symbol of Christianity.

The cross was a cruel instrument of death.

If Christ had been beheaed would we wear a Gilotine on a chain or a Roman soldier swinging an axe on a medalion around our neck?

Would we put a hangmans noose on the wall behind our pulpits?

If Christ had been executed in an Electric chair would we set one of those on our platform?

We sing of the cross? We should be singing of and to the savior that was willing to be executed in our stead.

[Hoovie]

Originally Posted by freeatlast

I have pondered how we ended up making the cross the symbol of Christianity.

The cross was a cruel instrument of death.

If Christ had been beheaed would we wear a Gilotine on a chain or a Roman soldier swinging an axe on a medalion around our neck?

Would we put a hangmans noose on the wall behind our pulpits?

If Christ had been executed in an Electric chair would we set one of those on our platform?

We sing of the cross? We should be singing of and to the savior that was willing to be executed in our stead.

Yeah I hear you, but it's too late to change that one - even Paul spoke of affectionately of the work of the cross.

[freeatlast]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

Yeah I hear you, but it's too late to change that one - even Paul spoke of affectionately of the work of the cross.

agreed....it was just a thought I had one day. seems a little strange how it came about.

Anyone know the history of how he cross became our symbol of Christianity?

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Stephen Hoover

Yeah I hear you, but it's too late to change that one - even Paul spoke of affectionately of the work of the cross.

Exactly. The cross is what Paul said he gloried in. The cross is an indication of the entire concept of why Christ died and what His death accomplished. It's not the criss-cross beams we are supposed to consider, but the meaning behind what His death accomplished. I do not believe crosses are supernatural and good-luck charms made into religious talismans, but the idea of the "cross" in the Bible is very prominent and the salvation work of God is often encapsulated simply by referring to "the cross".

Originally Posted by freeatlast

Anyone know the history of how he cross became our symbol of Christianity?

It is because of the words Paul used in the New Testament. He spoke of the cross all the time. Same principle. He never meant wear a cross, but the principle in why he said it is repeated in why people wear them. Just like yourself asking why it became a symbol, people lost the meaning of what the reference to the cross stands for in the Bible, and they look at it as jewelry Christians wear.