Why is the crucifix so important to Christians?

Question

Don't you idiots know that crucifixion was the punishment du jour back then? It wasn't just reserved for Jesus.

Answer 1

Exactly. A divine being submitted himself to the most ordinary set of circumstances and lived among everyday folk. When he fulfilled the prophesy, he fulfilled it by dying according to the normal law of the land.

But are you forgetting this? Matthew 27:51-53 "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people."

Did THAT happen for everyone else who died on a cross?

Answer 2

Can't answer your question directly. (And is the punishment du jour represented well in a cross... the Bible talks of a torture stake, which, according to those times was just a single beam or had a much smaller beam towards the very top. Not quite what crosses look like in churches today.) Can only add that not all Christians place such importance on the crucifix. Actually if you follow the Bible it instructs us not to use or make images for our worship and yet that's what different churches are doing when they mount a cross, wear a piece of jewelry of a cross, etc.

I understand that some will say it is a physical reminder of what Jesus suffered for our sins. I can only say that we shouldn't need those physical reminders. Instead meditating on Jesus' last days should suffice.

Answer 3

To cherish the instrument on which Christ died does not make sense; it is utterly incongruous.

Rather than being venerated it should be loathed and abhorred.

Who would think of kissing the revolver that had been used by a murderer to kill one’s loved one?

It is just as senseless to bestow affection on the instrument on which Jesus met a cruel death.

Thus Maimonides, the Jewish scholar of the twelfth century, tells us that the Jews viewed the torture stake as a disgusting thing.

(Exodus 20:4-6) 4 “You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. 5 You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation, in the case of those who hate me; 6 but exercising loving-kindness toward the thousandth generation in the case of those who love me and keep my commandments. . .

THE cross is loved and respected by millions of people. The Encyclopædia Britannica calls the cross “the principal symbol of the Christian religion.” Nevertheless, true Christians do not use the cross in worship. Why not?

An important reason is that Jesus Christ did not die on a cross.

The Greek word generally translated “cross” is stau·ros′. It basically means “an upright pale or stake.” The Companion Bible points out: “[Stau·ros′] never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle . . . There is nothing in the Greek of the [New Testament] even to imply two pieces of timber.”

In several texts, Bible writers use another word for the instrument of Jesus’ death. It is the Greek word xy′lon. (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24) This word simply means “timber” or “a stick, club, or tree.”

Explaining why a simple stake was often used for executions, the book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, states: “Trees were not everywhere available at the places chosen for public execution. So a simple beam was sunk into the ground. On this the outlaws, with hands raised upward and often also with their feet, were bound or nailed.”

The most convincing proof of all, however, comes from God’s Word.

The apostle Paul says: “Christ by purchase released us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: ‘Accursed is every man hanged upon a stake [“a tree,” King James Version].’” (Galatians 3:13)

Here Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, which clearly refers to a stake, not a cross. Since such a means of execution made the person “a curse,” it would not be proper for Christians to decorate their homes with images of Christ impaled.

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, true Christians do not use the cross in worship.

Answer 4

First of all Christians are not idiots. Second of all, the crucifix is important to us because it is a symbol of what Jesus did for all who will believe in Him and seek out a relationship with Him. It represents His perfect sacrifice as His death and resurrection as the only sinless man was the blood atonement that saves us from our sins. It also represents His love for us in that He died to save us even though we dont deserve it.

Answer 5

The Crucifix is discovered greater in Catholicism than in Protestantism. i'm Catholic, and we decide on the Crucifix to remind us of the poor value that our sins value our Lord and Savior. It keeps the value of our salvation continually formerly us and for that reason discourages us from committing sin. Protestants desire the common flow as an illustration and memorial of Christ's resurrection from the lifeless. It reminds them (and us) that Jesus rose from the lifeless and is now reigning in glory. with or devoid of the corpus, the flow is on the guts of our Christian faith as a silent testomony to God's love and mercy in giving us His in basic terms Son as a organic and holy sacrifice for our sins.

Answer 6

Crucifixion was a manner of execution.
Jesus died for our sins by that method.
So, what's the problem?
A crucifix depicts Christ on the cross.
A simple cross reminds us that Christ is now longer on that cross for us, the propitiatory work of the cross is complete.
That's why crucifixes and crosses are so popular with Christians.

Answer 7

Because he lived a perfect, sinless life and the cross is where he overcame and defeated the devil, because the devil was continuosly trying to trip him up and make Jesus sin, and Jesus didnt, right to the point of death, He did it Gods way, and thus defeating the devil, and this is why God has given all power and authority to him, over every power and principality in the universe. First thing God did was to raise him to life again, after the cross, and then he gave him all the power, and thats why if you accept him he gives to you !

Answer 8

Cuz they don't remember the part in the Bible where God states to Moses that "thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." I don't say they are wrong because it is not my place to judge. It's bad enough I have to judge my own actions. But when we realize that we don't need a material to worship or an object to feel secure in to keep our faith. When this is realized I believe it will be good. That is all my input on this subject.

Answer 9

Yes but Christ rose from the dead after being crucified....so flashing the cross everywhere is a Christians way of say ha ha to all that persecute them.

Answer 10

Yes, we are quite aware of that. But it reminds us of what He suffered for our sakes, and it helps us remember who we are and where we came from. It is His death (and resurrection) that saved us.

I think it's pretty self-explanatory why that would be important. We don't know exactly what Jesus looks like, but we know what a cross looks like. It's a signpost; a reminder.