As a Christian, I’ve always found that stupid, so I don’t do that and don’t attend churches that do. The second commandments says:
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.
I’m pretty sure a cross counts here. I also believe Jesus taught a higher law, meaning the 10 commandments are outdated, and the only thing Jesus said to do to remember him is breaking and sharing bread and sharing wine (Communion in many churches). That’s it, that and “feed my sheep” (teach and help others).
I don’t get where everyone is getting the “wear and rub a crucifix for luck” idea. A silent prayer should be a lot more effective than directly violating the second commandment.
I choose to remember Jesus’ life. His death was an event, his life was full of teaching and wisdom, so I focus on how he treated others instead of how others treated him.
I like your perspective and wish Christianity aligned more with your post than whatever it’s doing now.
I’m not Christian, but I have observed that the worship of the cross and Christ’s death is directly tied to the theological idea of salvation, especially with evangelicals. If his death is the single most important part of your faith, then the cross becomes a symbol and reminder that you’re saved and not going to hell. It was primed to become a symbol and eventually an idol.
I also think historically the cross as a symbol for Christianity comes from the Greek letter chi (x) in the spelling of Christ. “X-tians” was a shorthand form way before the “taking Christ out of Christmas” nonsense.
But to the original point of the Klan burning the cross: I’ve read that they argue that cross burning is a medieval European affirmation of faith, something that is doing double duty of arguing that it’s an expression of their faith and connecting them to their “racial” roots.
Yeah, I think modern Christianity has really lost the plot. The most important part of Jesus’ life is certainly debatable, but surely him rising again is more important than his death? So if we want a symbol to remember being saved, surely the empty tomb with the rock rolled away is the better symbol.
But the only symbol Christ recommended is the last supper. That is how we’re supposed to remember him, and that’s why we go to church.
And Jesus never said we’re saved just because be died, otherwise why would he go around forgiving people manually? Surely that wouldn’t matter if they’re going to get saved unconditionally anyway. No, we need to actually change ourselves to be in line with his teachings. Love others unconditionally, give to the poor, and multiply the gifts God gave you for the benefit of others.
but surely him rising again is more important than his death?
Depends on how fixated a faith is on the “sacrifice of the Lamb.” There’s one interpretation that Jesus’ suffering and death is what appeased God and fulfilled the prophecy and ended the law of Moses. If you’re the kind of person that buys into God being the sort of deity that wants to kill himself in order to satisfy his own bloodlust, then yeah, I could see Christ’s death being the more important part.
Surely the resurrection should be emphasized as the result, but the death is what God demanded to atone for the sins of the world. The resurrection was just proof that he held up his end of the bargain.
I think that the Christ story suffers from the audience knowing details about the story that the characters don’t to the point that the big miracle at the end falls flat. Everyone just ends up focusing on the mechanics of Christs death rather than its purpose.
There’s one interpretation that Jesus’ suffering and death is what appeased God and fulfilled the prophecy and ended the law of Moses.
I agree with that (with caveats), but I still don’t see how that impacts the average Christian. How salvation is possible isn’t really important, the important thing is what we need to do.
If all we need to do is recognize Jesus, what’s the point of his ministry? Surely it all wasn’t strictly necessary to be bait the Jewish people into killing him.
Everyone just ends up focusing on the mechanics of Christs death rather than its purpose.
Exactly. It’s certainly important, but Jesus spent years teaching and setting an example and only a few days dying and resurrecting. That needed to happen, but it doesn’t replace everything else he told us to do.
If we claim to follow Jesus but fall to live the second commandment he gave (love others as ourselves), surely we’ll have issues getting to heaven. Likewise, if someone who has never heard of Jesus follows his commandments anyway by living another philosophy, surely they’ll be better off, no?
It’s all BS and they’ve completely missed the plot. Claiming to be saved just because of something Jesus did is the other side of the coin from the Pharisees, who claimed to be saved because they followed the letter of the law. It takes a little more effort than singing along at church…
As a Christian, I’ve always found that stupid, so I don’t do that and don’t attend churches that do. The second commandments says:
I’m pretty sure a cross counts here. I also believe Jesus taught a higher law, meaning the 10 commandments are outdated, and the only thing Jesus said to do to remember him is breaking and sharing bread and sharing wine (Communion in many churches). That’s it, that and “feed my sheep” (teach and help others).
I don’t get where everyone is getting the “wear and rub a crucifix for luck” idea. A silent prayer should be a lot more effective than directly violating the second commandment.
I choose to remember Jesus’ life. His death was an event, his life was full of teaching and wisdom, so I focus on how he treated others instead of how others treated him.
I like your perspective and wish Christianity aligned more with your post than whatever it’s doing now.
I’m not Christian, but I have observed that the worship of the cross and Christ’s death is directly tied to the theological idea of salvation, especially with evangelicals. If his death is the single most important part of your faith, then the cross becomes a symbol and reminder that you’re saved and not going to hell. It was primed to become a symbol and eventually an idol.
I also think historically the cross as a symbol for Christianity comes from the Greek letter chi (x) in the spelling of Christ. “X-tians” was a shorthand form way before the “taking Christ out of Christmas” nonsense.
But to the original point of the Klan burning the cross: I’ve read that they argue that cross burning is a medieval European affirmation of faith, something that is doing double duty of arguing that it’s an expression of their faith and connecting them to their “racial” roots.
Yeah, I think modern Christianity has really lost the plot. The most important part of Jesus’ life is certainly debatable, but surely him rising again is more important than his death? So if we want a symbol to remember being saved, surely the empty tomb with the rock rolled away is the better symbol.
But the only symbol Christ recommended is the last supper. That is how we’re supposed to remember him, and that’s why we go to church.
And Jesus never said we’re saved just because be died, otherwise why would he go around forgiving people manually? Surely that wouldn’t matter if they’re going to get saved unconditionally anyway. No, we need to actually change ourselves to be in line with his teachings. Love others unconditionally, give to the poor, and multiply the gifts God gave you for the benefit of others.
Depends on how fixated a faith is on the “sacrifice of the Lamb.” There’s one interpretation that Jesus’ suffering and death is what appeased God and fulfilled the prophecy and ended the law of Moses. If you’re the kind of person that buys into God being the sort of deity that wants to kill himself in order to satisfy his own bloodlust, then yeah, I could see Christ’s death being the more important part.
Surely the resurrection should be emphasized as the result, but the death is what God demanded to atone for the sins of the world. The resurrection was just proof that he held up his end of the bargain.
I think that the Christ story suffers from the audience knowing details about the story that the characters don’t to the point that the big miracle at the end falls flat. Everyone just ends up focusing on the mechanics of Christs death rather than its purpose.
I agree with that (with caveats), but I still don’t see how that impacts the average Christian. How salvation is possible isn’t really important, the important thing is what we need to do.
If all we need to do is recognize Jesus, what’s the point of his ministry? Surely it all wasn’t strictly necessary to be bait the Jewish people into killing him.
Exactly. It’s certainly important, but Jesus spent years teaching and setting an example and only a few days dying and resurrecting. That needed to happen, but it doesn’t replace everything else he told us to do.
If we claim to follow Jesus but fall to live the second commandment he gave (love others as ourselves), surely we’ll have issues getting to heaven. Likewise, if someone who has never heard of Jesus follows his commandments anyway by living another philosophy, surely they’ll be better off, no?
It’s all BS and they’ve completely missed the plot. Claiming to be saved just because of something Jesus did is the other side of the coin from the Pharisees, who claimed to be saved because they followed the letter of the law. It takes a little more effort than singing along at church…