Why do Christians use the cross?

[mee]

some people wonder why Jehovahs witnesses do not use the cross in their worship, even though they are christians .​

i like what this says in the watchtower mag of 3/1 08​

Why Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Not Use the Cross in Worship? ​

Jehovah’s Witnesses firmly believe that the death of Jesus Christ provided the ransom that opens the door to everlasting life for those who exercise faith in him. (Matthew 20:28; John 3:16) ​

However, they do not believe that Jesus died on a cross, as is often depicted in traditional pictures. It is their belief that Jesus died on an upright stake with no crossbeam.​

The use of the cross can be traced back to Mesopotamia, to two thousand years before Christ. Crosses even decorated Scandinavian rock engravings during the Bronze Age, centuries before Jesus was born. ​

Such non-Christians used the cross “as a magic sign . . . giving protection, bringing good luck,” wrote Sven Tito Achen, Danish historian and expert on symbols, in the book Symbols Around Us. ​

It is no wonder that the New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The cross is found in both pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures, where it has largely a cosmic or natural signification.” ​

Why, then, have the churches chosen the cross as their most sacred symbol?​

W. E. Vine, respected British scholar, offers these hard facts: “By the middle of the
3rd cent. A.D. . . . pagans were received into the churches . . . and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, . . . with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted.”—Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.​

Vine further notes that both the noun “cross” and the verb “crucify” refer to “a stake or pale . . . distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.” ​

In agreement with this, Oxford University’s Companion Bible says: “The evidence is . . . that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle.” Clearly, the churches have adopted a tradition that is not Biblical.​

Historian Achen, quoted above observes: “In the two centuries after the death of Jesus it is doubtful that the Christians ever used the device of the cross.” To the early Christians, he adds, the cross “must have chiefly denoted death and evil, like the guillotine or the electric chair to later generations.”​

More important, no matter what device was used for the torture and execution of Jesus, no image or symbol of it should become an object of devotion or worship for Christians. “Flee from idolatry,” commands the Bible. (1 Corinthians 10:14) ​

Jesus himself gave the real identifying mark of his true followers. He said: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:35.​

In all matters of worship, Jehovah’s Witnesses, like the first-century Christians, strive to follow the Bible rather than tradition. (Romans 3:4; Colossians 2:8)
Because of this, they do not use the cross in worship.​

 

[Thomas]

The use of the cross can be traced back to Mesopotamia, to two thousand years before Christ. Crosses even decorated Scandinavian rock engravings during the Bronze Age, centuries before Jesus was born.

The use of the watchtower as a sacred symbol likewise stretches back into pagan history. So what lets you off the hook?

Why, then, have the churches chosen the cross as their most sacred symbol?

Because it is the symbol of our salvation, and the sign of our allegiance to Him: "Let him take up his cross, and follow me"

+++

Vine further notes that both the noun “cross” and the verb “crucify” refer to “a stake or pale . . . distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross.”

The cross and crucify are latinate terms, and crucifixion was a style of execution used by the Romans — and invariably a vertical and horizontal beam, as Roman historians testify.

And likewise the Greek stauros has a number of meanings. In Classical Greek (5-4th century BC) it can mean stake, in Koine Greek, the language of the New Testament, it can mean cross ...

Acts 5:30 says: "The God of our fathers hath raised up Jesus, whom you put to death, hanging him upon a tree."
The word for tree is xylon and can mean something made of wood, a beam from which any one is suspended, a gibbet, a cross, a set of stocks in which head and hands were clamped, ditto for the feet, a cudgel, stick, staff or other wooden weapon, or a tree.

Your JW translation gets it right when the context is of a club or cudgel (ie Matthew 26:47), or precious woods (eg 1 Corinthians 3:12) or the tree of life (eg Revelations 22:14) ... but wrong when used of the crucifixion, translating xylon as stauros — two different words — not only misrepresenting Scripture, but completely missing the symbolic significance of the Tree in Genesis, the Tree on which Christ hung, and the Tree in Revelations ... curious, eh?

Historian Achen, quoted above observes: “In the two centuries after the death of Jesus it is doubtful that the Christians ever used the device of the cross.” To the early Christians, he adds, the cross “must have chiefly denoted death and evil, like the guillotine or the electric chair to later generations.”

Wrong. The cross features in the anti-Christian arguments of the Octavius of Minucius Felix, chapters IX and XXIX (late 2nd/early 3rd century), and by the early 3rd century it was so widely used that Clement of Alexandria (d c211) used the phrase τὸ κυριακὸν σημεῖον "the Lord's sign" to mean the cross.

Tertullian spoke of Christians as crucis religiosi, "devotees of the Cross". In his De Corona, written in 204, Tertullian tells how it was already a tradition for Christians to trace repeatedly on their foreheads the sign of the cross.

Thus by the year 200, 'the sign of the cross' was a widely used symbol by which Christians might reveal themselves, as well as ward off evil spirits, and call blessings upon others. Probably considered too secret and too sacred to be used as decorative device. This sign was hidden within the symbol of the anchor, the tree, and other devices.

More important, no matter what device was used for the torture and execution of Jesus, no image or symbol of it should become an object of devotion or worship for Christians. “Flee from idolatry,” commands the Bible. (1 Corinthians 10:14)

Christ is not an idol, is He?

Furthermore, the sign is prefigured in Ezekiel:
"And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (9:4)
The Hebrew word for mark is tav (which some correspond to the Egyptian tau) but is a recognisable cruciform mark.

In all matters of worship, Jehovah’s Witnesses, like the first-century Christians, strive to follow the Bible rather than tradition.

Utter tosh and nonsense. Do you profess a tripartite Baptism, as they did? Do you confess your sins, as they did? Do you celebrate the Eucharist, as they did?

Thomas

 

[wil]

In all matters of worship, Jehovah’s Witnesses, like the first-century Christians, strive to follow the Bible rather than tradition. (Romans 3:4; Colossians 2:8) Because of this, they do not use the cross in worship.

Namaste mee,

First century Christians...hmmm prior to the year 100. Now we know there was no Bible at that time. There were booklets, of differing authors, writings that were distributed locally, but no book called the bible.

So what books would that limit your faith to?

Now if you look at Galatians or Colossians or any of Pauls letters, they were written to that church, to that people...how long would it have taken to get those copied and distributed widely where a number of Christians would be reading them?

But you would have been reading some of what today is called apocrypha huh? So that is JW texts?

After all the Catholics put together your bible mee did they not? And not till hundreds of years later?

So what did those first century JWs use that you use today?

 

[Quahom1]

some people wonder why Jehovahs witnesses do not use the cross in their worship, even though they are christians .​

i like what this says in the watchtower mag of 3/1 08​

​

​

​

Don't know either, because at the time of Jesus' death, the Romans favored using the cross as a most excruciating method of executing those deemed worthy of death. And it was a Tao cross. Reason being was that arms outstretched cause a great deal more agony than arms straight up over the head. And they wanted the sufferers to die within 3-4 hours up to 3-4 days, but not any longer.
Second reason is a practical one. Anyone with arms directly over their heads, could use their weight to rip the binding/nails from their wrists, and fall foward...making the Romans have to re-secure the condemned. Arms outstretched on a cross piece would prevent the condemned from concentrating his/her weight in one area in order to dislodge from the cross. It was a very practical application of torture with minimum effort on the part of the Romans to ensure the condemned stay on the cross.

If they wanted them to stay hung to a pole, the Romans would have simply impaled them on pikes. But balancing pikes took to much time and effort. Besides, it took away from the pleasure of crucifying someone.​

 

[17th Angel]

I'm not going to get into the olde "it's a pagan symbol... go tell it to the mountains go tell it to nimrod..."

I just want to pass this thought out there instead.....

If this was the time of jesus..... and instead of a cross... He got a cap to the face... Would you wear a glock 7 around your necks? Or say they cooked him? Would you decorate your "holy" building walls with eletric chairs?

Said it before, say it again even if he was or wasn't the real deal or if or if he didn't exist... I think it is morbid to remember him for how he died and not how he lived... And to have idols of tools of punishment and death.... *shrugs* just me I guess....

 

[mee]

TORTURE STAKE

​

​

​

An instrument such as that on which Jesus Christ met death by impalement.


(Mt 27:32-40; Mr 15:21-30; Lu 23:26; Joh 19:17-19, 25) ​

In classical Greek the word (stau·ros′) rendered “torture stake” in the New World Translation primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.​

The book The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons, states: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross. . . . it is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as ‘cross’ when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting ‘cross’ in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros without carefully explaining that that was at any rate not the primary meaning of the word in the days of the Apostles, did not become its primary signification till long afterwards, and became so then, if at all, only because, despite the absence of corroborative evidence, it was for some reason or other assumed that the particular stauros upon which Jesus was executed had that particular shape.”—London, 1896, pp. 23, 24​

 

[mee]

I'm not going to get into the olde "it's a pagan symbol... go tell it to the mountains go tell it to nimrod..."

I just want to pass this thought out there instead.....

If this was the time of jesus..... and instead of a cross... He got a cap to the face... Would you wear a glock 7 around your necks? Or say they cooked him? Would you decorate your "holy" building walls with eletric chairs?

Said it before, say it again even if he was or wasn't the real deal or if or if he didn't exist... I think it is morbid to remember him for how he died and not how he lived... And to have idols of tools of punishment and death.... *shrugs* just me I guess....

very true , and bringing it up to date ,if a loved one of mine was murdered with a gun or knife, would i have a little gold or silver gun or knife round my neck I DONT THINK SO

but you already said that

 

[mee]

There is no evidence that for the first 300 years after Christ’s death, those claiming to be Christians used the cross in worship.


In the fourth century, however, pagan Emperor Constantine became a convert to apostate Christianity and promoted the cross as its symbol.

Whatever Constantine’s motives, the cross had nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

The cross is, in fact, pagan in origin.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The cross is found in both pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures.” Various other authorities have linked the cross with nature worship and pagan sex rites.


Why, then, was this pagan symbol promoted?

Apparently, to make it easier for pagans to accept “Christianity.” Nevertheless, devotion to any pagan symbol is clearly condemned by the Bible. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)

The Scriptures also forbid all forms of idolatry. (Exodus 20:4, 5; 1 Corinthians 10:14)


With very good reason, therefore, JEHOVAHS WITNESSES do not use the cross in worship​

 

[iBrian]

mee, I let this thread stand because I thought it would make for an interesting discussion, but you'll need to address points raised.

Thomas already seems to have challenged the use of xylon as stauros, plus he has directly countered the assertion you make that there is no reference to use of the cross in the first three centuries.

Therefore rather than repeat the same assertions, you'll need to try and counter the objections raised for your argument to stand up.

It's also interesting that you focus on the Tau symbol - yet early Christianity did not use the Tau symbol so far as I'm aware, but instead used the Chi-Ro symbol:

 

[mee]

I notice that the image has the good luck horse shoes there as well ,the God of good luck i am thinking , lots of things going on there i think


The apostate Jews in the time of Isaiah were involved in worshiping “the god of Good Luck”

Isa 65:11, 12. but it was not good in the eyes of the most high was it?

 

[mee]

Why​

do Watch Tower publications show Jesus on a stake with hands over his head instead of on the traditional cross?​

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.​

 

[mee]

What​

were the historical origins of Christendom’s 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.​

 

[Will be]

mee, I let this thread stand because I thought it would make for an interesting discussion, but you'll need to address points raised.

Thomas already seems to have challenged the use of xylon as stauros, plus he has directly countered the assertion you make that there is no reference to use of the cross in the first three centuries.

Therefore rather than repeat the same assertions, you'll need to try and counter the objections raised for your argument to stand up.

It's also interesting that you focus on the Tau symbol - yet early Christianity did not use the Tau symbol so far as I'm aware, but instead used the Chi-Ro symbol:

That symbol is awesome! I have been working on ones very much like that recently. This morning, before I got up had an image of leaf shapes leaving a box on the wall, wooden, leaf cutouts sanded and designed hanging on threads. Cool! I gotta go sketch this one out. Thanks.

 

[iBrian]

I notice that the image has the good luck horse shoes there as well ,the God of good luck i am thinking , lots of things going on there i think

It's not the best example - but those are not horseshoes - but instead the left and right symbols are alpha and omega respectively.

Do you have a comment regarding early use of the cross as Thomas stated?

 

[Will be]

I love the solar/lunar aspect to the piece, wheel-like, nature oriented harvest cycle, basic early symbol for God. Can you imagine the time? They had to use stone tools back them. Wow.

 

[17th Angel]

Can you imagine the time? What to produce that image? They should of taken much longer That Omega symbol sucks lol and as Mee said.. It looks like two horse shoes lol.

 

[Will be]

I like it, it so basic, but I really like the flowered wreath. It's mine! Oops, sorry.

 

[Thomas]

In classical Greek the word (stau·ros) rendered “torture stake” in the New World Translation primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.

The Christian Greek Scriptures are not Classical Greek, as I pointed out, it's Koine Greek — 'koine' meaning common or vernacular — so effectively yours is a mistranslation.

The book The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons...

Follows in the same error, and also is obviously polemical. As I have shown above, there is ample evidence to show the cross was just that, a cross, and not a stake.

Thomas

 

[wil]

The Christian Greek Scriptures are not Classical Greek, as I pointed out, it's Koine Greek — 'koine' meaning common or vernacular — so effectively yours is a mistranslation.


Follows in the same error, and also is obviously polemical. As I have shown above, there is ample evidence to show the cross was just that, a cross, and not a stake.

Thomas

Namaste Thomas,

Just a question.

As you have accused me of seeking to undermine others beliefs. And think it wrong when I point out mistranslations or additions or errors in the bible. All the time my goal is to show that while our old persian carpet is worn, threadbare, has some mistakes and issues, it is still beautiful and usable today. But we can't continue to say it is sparkling and without issues, we must open our eyes. But you claim this is wrong on my part.

Please to explain the difference here in your desire to do the same with mee.

 

[holysmoke]

The above picture shows the typical Roman "low" Tau crucifixion cross. The Christian cross is derived from the cross of Mithra familiar to Constantin and his mother who were the ones who really established the Christian cross we associate with Christian believers. Earlier Christian worship sites seemed to favor the astrological sign of the fishes to identify Christians.

Since I've found out about the esoteric or Gnostic meaning of the cross I no longer use the Christian cross to identify myself as a Christian but the Egyptian ankh cross which I now believe to be spiritually in synch with the teachings of Jesus who must have known all about ankhs as anyone living in Egypt would, including the Gospel writer John-Mark whom the Coptics claim as their founder of the first Christian church in Egypt. Jesus several times insists that those of us who would follow him carry our crosses but no one can carry a 230 lb. Roman crucifixion cross. However, they can carry the ankh crosses just like the pharaohs and gods of ancient Egypt did who received the knowledge of resurrection to eternal life.

"And he (John the Baptist) preached, saying, 'There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose." Mark 1:7

"Ankh" was also the Egyptian word for "sandal strap" and it contained an esoteric meaning within the symbolism of the sandal strap loop and straps that referred to the "Knot of Isis" which when "loosened" gave the person knowledge of resurrection to eternal life.

I believe the historical Jesus to be Yeishu ben Pantera who was killed by Jewish authorities in the Jewish manner: he was stoned to death and then his body hung on a tree which Paul refers to in Gal 3:13. I cannot give reverence to pagan Constantin's cross of death but I can give reverence to the cross that has always represented the Key to Life.