Question About The Holy Cross - With All Respect

[native3]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

 

[GiantHouseKey]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

Greetings, I know i'm not a christian and have never claimed to be, but I take a lot from christian and biblical philosophy so I think I have an answer.

The crucifixion represents the most important event in history to almost all christians I have ever asked. When christ died on the cross, he died for the sins of the world. All of humanity was forgiven their sins, and meant that through atonement and repent, mankind could once again join God in heaven. It meant that the original sin was forgiven.

What an act of love and obedience that is! It is for this reason that christians choose the crucifix as their holy symbol, not because it represents pain, but rather because it represents Jesus' and God's love for mankind, and means that we can once again enter the kingdom of heaven.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness

GhK.

 

[lunamoth]

GHK is right, the self-sacrifice of Christ out of love is represented by his death on the cross.

The cross symbolizes more than this, but all related to that same central concept.

It represents God's glorification of Jesus (John's Gospel).

It represents God's emphatic 'Yes' to Jesus and life, where the world said 'no.'

It represents our own death (and rising) with Jesus.

It represents the victory of God over sin and death, met by God's own suffering and death. A meeting of sin and death head-on, thus exhausting its power.

It symbolizes our own choosing of the way of Christ, the way of the Cross, through death into new life, each day.

 

[misanthropic_clown]

I do believe the previous posters have explained very well why the majority of Christians hold the cross as a symbol very dear to them, despite it appearing to be a rather morbid fixation on the surface. But as with most symbols, the things it represents can be much more complex and powerful than could be expected at first glance.

From a personal perspective, my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) elects not to use the cross as a symbol. I don't think there is a particularly strong reason why this is the case, and I can certainly respect why most Christians do hold the symbol of the cross very dearly. I think our church simply likes to focus on the fact that Jesus is a resurrected being - he defeated death and so the means by which he was executed seems rather trivial. However, as I said before, I do respect why other Christians elect to use the cross as an important symbol.

 

[Mister Emu]

To add... it is supposed to remind us of the pain Jesus went through for us as well...

 

[Katzpur]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

Hi, Native. It's true that most Christians use the cross as a symbol of their faith in Jesus Christ. My denomination does not. You will not find a cross in any of our churches, nor do we wear a cross as a piece of jewelry. The reason for this is that our focus is on the living, resurrected Christ, the Christ who conquered death and reigns in Heaven today. It is not on the dying, tortured Christ. From what I have learned in studying the subject, the earliest Christians did not use the cross as a symbol either. Can you imagine the Apostles or Mary using the cross as a piece of jewelry?

 

[Muffled]

That is the whole ideaof the cross to picture what sin will do to you. No man ever chooses to give up his life until he realizes he can't get free of sin by himself. And no man is willing to give up sin until he sees what sin is doing to him. The suffering on the cross embodies what sin does to us.

I sometimes wonder about the snake on a stick in the old testament. Was the idea to get the image of what a poisonous snake looks like because if one bites you, you will die? Jesus said He would have to be lifted up the way Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert.

How bad is your sin? Do you wish to avoid it as you would avoid a poisonous snake?

 

[Renji]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

Hello! Well, the cross symbolizes punishment(damnation) and death in Jesus time but it is on the Cross that Jesus defeated sin and death (physical and spiritual death). So, it does not symbolize any painfull memories anymore but victory over sin and salvation of mankind. Jesus' cross is not about a death symbol but symbol of life and forgiveness.

 

[Freelancer7]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

I see your point, but please native3 understand the ressurection is the most important part of understanding the Cross. I agree it is abad to continue to see JC hanging on the cross when he was raised by the Father after he was taking down from it. One of my biggest points of sacrifice is by JC in his day was to leave the Ones he loved behind after ressurection to find a place new, a place for reincarnated souls to meet (the camp of saints and martyrs) where the saints ans martyrs would meet up at a further date down the road. I love Mohammed from a personnal point of view for his love for Allah and for keeping faith in the Lord Almighty strong, even though a little ruthless himself from a personnal point of view. Native3 sometimes you can look back on your life and say to yourself something like, 'Blimey, i kicked that dog that time?!',' I betrayed the InteLligence of Life' but understanding ones man sacrifice in the first instance to help those that go into mental melt down after realising they betrayed or sinned in someway is understanding why Christ came in the name of Sin. I also believe you can still teach about Christ on the cross but as above, understanding the ressurection and the greater sacrifice that he took in his day by leaving his loved ones behind at the time after ressurection is understanding half the truth and perhaps a better way of relating to the story is actually a statue at the family grve of Elvis Presley http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m472/Thelovingtree/Chist.jpg

I hope it might help you in understanding a little.

 

[dawny0826]

Hai Friends

i have a Question about THE HOLY CROSS of the Christians not to sound Disrespecful of course....

i need to know whats the Significance of this Cross Exactly is... actually Christ was Crusified on a Cross which he carried himself will his Crusification... and all i know is the The Cross Represents the Same thing... and even i see Jesus Christ Crusified in a Cross with will be there is almost every chruch...

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

The Cross represents salvation. Christ carried our sins on His back (through the cross) and shed His blood to cover our sins on the cross. The cross continues to serve as a reminder, that freedom has already been bought by a precious proce and if we wish to embrace this freedom, we need to pick up our cross and follow Him.

 

[MidnightSun]

It represents and reminds us of the pain and suffering Jesus went through for our sins...And we should be sorry for our sins.

 

[native3]

well atleast i got many answers to my questiong which i have been looking forward to clear....

i am not a christian with which is really dont know many things in them even though i have studied it with other religons from quite a time....

but one thing i got it now...the Holy Cross represents the Conquer of sins and Evil on the Cross by christ for new life and goodness for mankind....

sorry if i have hurted the feelings of my beloved christian buddies here.... i just tried to clear myself with the questions hauting me when i have started to study Christianity....

thanks a lot for the answers....

evertime i used to go to the church with my fellow Christian and also Non-Christian friends who believe firmly that anyone christian or not who prayes devotedly at Jesus Christ he accepts them all....

but when i used to see the Cross with Jesus Crusified on it i always used to get a feeling that why would they pray in front of the Holy Master crusification cross.... but now if i go to the church i feel its there for a Reason for a very very good reason...

once again thank you all...

 

[rstrats]

What if the means of execution had been the electric chair. Would certain sects make the sign of the electric chair and would there be electric chairs on the top of churches and on chains around one’s neck?

 

[Kathryn]

I think we are discussing two separate things here - there is the CROSS (empty) and there is the CRUCIFIX (with Jesus still hanging from the cross). Both images have their own powerful message to me and I am comfortable praying in the presence of either.

The empty cross represents both Christ's death in atonement for our sins, and his triumph over death and sin by his resurrection.

The crucifix reminds us of His suffering, and to me is a reminder that Jesus empathises with us even in the most hopeless situations. There is nothing I can suffer that He can't understand.

Some Christians have a problem with the crucifix - they think that it somehow negates His resurrection, by "keeping Him on the cross" or focusing on His death rather than His gift of eternal life.

I don't see it that way - the crucifix symbolizes one act in His life, one event and to me, it reminds me that I can cast all my burdens on Him.

Great responses to this post by the way - I really appreciate the respect that non Christians have shown to this topic, and to this most beloved ancient symbol of the Christian faith.

 

[Charity]

When I see the cross I am reminded of the pain and suffering that Jesus endured for us. Most of all though I am reminded of the love that God had for us by sending His son to atone for our sins.
It gives me a sense of peace when I think of the grace that has been bestowed on all of God's children and by faith I am free.
When looking at the empty cross it is just that "empty". Jesus had victory over the cross, death, hell, and the grave........Is now alive and sitting at the right side of His Heavenly Father.......

 

[CaptainBritain]

It may be of interest to note that the Tabernacle was camped on each wall by by the various tribes of israel for many years, north wall, south wall, east wall and west wall, certain tribes were instructed to camp at there alloted side ie north, south, east or west.

If you check out the book of numbers you find the the smallest group of people camped to the north, two larger groups camped east and west, and by far the largest to the south, the numbers of each tribe and which side they camped on are all in numbers, do the math and you find out that the nation of Israel sent many years in a crucifix formation, they just lacked an aircraft to notice it.
Bare in mind they camp north, south, east and west in strict observance.
A coincidence this maybe, but to my mind its one of Gods many signs and wonders, a Crucifix of massed Jews with the Tabernacle in the center.
Signs and wonders.

 

[idea]

But my Question is why would Christianity Preists Choose anything so Deeply hurting Concept as their Holy Symbol of their Religion.. well i mean it represents the Crusification of Jesus... will it wont remind you of the Painfull memories of The Crucification Ceromony everytime you see it or wore it or pray under it...

its just another thing i cant understand..

I am Christian, and we don't have crosses in or on our church for that reason. we celebrate the life of Jesus.

 

[Alceste]

I have noticed that apart from the imagery of the crucifixion, there is often also graphic depictions of the exact manner of the deaths of numerous Christian saints. Is this symbolic of a belief in life after death, or the concept that salvation is achieved through the endurance of incomprehensible suffering without the loss of faith in everlasting life?

 

[Katzpur]

I have noticed that apart from the imagery of the crucifixion, there is often also graphic depictions of the exact manner of the deaths of numerous Christian saints. Is this symbolic of a belief in life after death, or the concept that salvation is achieved through the endurance of incomprehensible suffering without the loss of faith in everlasting life?

Good question! I've always found paintings of this sort very discomforting. I've always wondered about their purpose.

 

[CaptainBritain]

We could be more half and half about it I suppose, show the bright side of the event more, a statue of Christ risen on ever alter as well as the cross