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So why a cross, anyway?

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Blackjack Gabbiani

Blackjack Gabbiani

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Why is a cross the symbol of Jesus? With tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands, killed in the exact same manner, wouldn't early followers have wanted something a little more specific to Jesus himself? Like the multiplying fish and bread miracle or something?
 
The cross is sort of a abbreviation for *the* cross, which is completely unique in the writing: Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm

Since you can't really write that on necklaces and such, it doesn't work too well, so I guess a simple cross has to do. I *do* see an awful lot of INRI crosses when the letters can fit, though
 
The cross is used because it symbolizes the most significant event of Christianity: the death of Jesus to redeem humanity. All the other events of his life are considered minor next to this. And a cross makes a much better and more recognizable visual symbol than, for instance, an open tomb.
 
Meh. Many people have suggested that the whole Jesus thing has only propagated BECAUSE he was killed - for the same reasons that artists who die when they're young (IE River Pheonix, Kurt Cobain) are sometimes more cherished and remembered than artists who live out their lives. Human beings remember tragedy and death more easily than fading into age and obscurity.

In which case, it would only make perfect sense to focus on the "shocking" aspect of the myth - IE the death - rather than anything else Jesus may have been involved in. For more on this viewpoint of Christianity - See: Mel Gibson.
 
Because the death of Jesus, according to Christianity, was what God intended.

Jesus dying for the sins of mankind was his destiny, so of course his death is the most important part of his life. Oh, also that whole resurrection thingie.
 
...and of course, sin continued to exist. And people continued to be tortured and murdered, many by the Christians themselves. Seems like "God's intent" fell flat.
 
Because the death of Jesus, according to Christianity, was what God intended.

Jesus dying for the sins of mankind was his destiny, so of course his death is the most important part of his life. Oh, also that whole resurrection thingie.
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So all of those "teachings" and crap are worthless? Wow. God should've just hit Jesus with a lightning bolt the moment he was born! Would've saved everybody a lot of trouble!
 
What I've never understood is why you would want to celebrate anyone by focusing on their death. Isn't the cross equivacol to remembering JFK by carring around a miniature gun? Isn't it a little...macabre? Or if not macabre, then just in poor taste?
 
A few thoughts on the historical origin of the cross:

“Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples .*.*. The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times and among non-Christian peoples may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship.”—Encyclopædia Britannica (1946), Vol. 6, p. 753.

“Various figures of crosses are found everywhere on Egyptian monuments and tombs, and are considered by many authorities as symbolical either of the phallus [a representation of the male sex organ] or of coition. .*.*. In Egyptian tombs the crux ansata [cross with a circle or handle on top] is found side by side with the phallus.”—A Short History of Sex-Worship (London, 1940), H. Cutner, pp. 16,*17; see also The Non-Christian Cross, p.*183.

And I agree with what GrnMrvl13 posted. I was going to ask similar questions: How would you feel if one of your dearest friends was executed on the basis of false charges? Would you make a replica of the instrument of execution? Would you cherish it, or would you rather shun it?
 
Barb said:
And I agree with what GrnMrvl13 posted. I was going to ask similar questions: How would you feel if one of your dearest friends was executed on the basis of false charges? Would you make a replica of the instrument of execution? Would you cherish it, or would you rather shun it?
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That's just it. In the Christian mythos, the death of Jesus was not a defeat or tragedy, but rather the moment of greatest triumph.
 
Also consider that the crux, or cross, as represented today, might not have been the actual instrument of Jesus' death:

The Greek word rendered “cross” in many modern Bible versions (“torture stake” in NW) is stau·ros´. In classical Greek, this word meant merely an upright stake, or pale. Later it also came to be used for an execution stake having a crosspiece. The Imperial Bible-Dictionary acknowledges this, saying: “The Greek word for cross, [stau·ros´], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. .*.*. Even amongst the Romans the crux (from which our cross is derived) appears to have been originally an upright pole.”—Edited by P. Fairbairn (London, 1874), Vol. I, p. 376.
 
But that raises the question: When exactly did the crucifix come into the Christian religion? Obviously, it was prior to the split between the Catholics and the Greek Orthodox (because, while it's slightly different, the shape is found within both sections). But that still leaves a good...what? 500 years? 1000? Frankly, I don't feel like looking up the date right now. Partially because I may be going out on a limb that doesn't exist.
 
By the middle of the 3rd century*A.D., the churches had apostatized from the original Christian faith that Jesus taught. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system, pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ.

Added to this was the vision that emperor Constantine received in 312 AD, when he supposedly saw a vision of the ‘heavenly sign’ of the cross, which he believed to be a "divine pledge of his triumph.” Thereafter, Constantine promoted the veneration of the cross and it became widely accepted in the early churches.
 
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