Why do Christians use the cross as their symbol??

Question

I know Christ was killed on the cross which leads me to this reasoning. If my son was killed by a gun, I sure wouldn't want to wear a tiny gun on a necklace. Make sense???

Answer 1

it's not the symbol of His death, but of His sacrifice and His victory, an empty cross shows He lives!. It's the personal sacrifice made by my personal Savior, that's why we wear the cross..

Answer 2

To really explain this... we will have to look at the history of Israel just before Christ was born. Jerusalem was probably a key city for world trade at the time. The Romans wanted control of Jerusalem but Israel had a strong army and had the coast well defensed. So the Roman army devised a plan to attack from the north. They raided a defenseless town called Nazareth and hung all the men of the town on crosses. The story got to Jerusalem of this horrifying event and Israel surrendered without much more of a fight...Now the Romans were now in control of the region.

Now after Jesus came along and it came time for his death all the things surrounding his death made no sense at all. The people of Israel hated anybody from any culture to be killed this way. That is why when Pilate asked the Jews what to do with this man they had arrested he was very puzzled when they demanded that he crucify him. The cross is the symbol that reminds the believers how Christ died

Answer 3

The cross is one of the earliest and most widely used Christian symbol. In the most broad sense it symbolizes the religion of Christianity. More specifically, it represents and memorializes Christ's death. A great variety of crosses has developed, some with specific symbolic meaning and others that have simply become culturally associated with certain groups.

The simplest and most common cross is the Latin cross. It may not have come into use until the 2nd or 3rd century. The empty cross, usually favored by Protestants, reminds Christians of the resurrection, while the crucifix, with Jesus on it, favored by Catholic and Orthodox churches, is a reminder of Christ's sacrifice.

The Greek cross, with arms of equal length, is the most ancient cross.

The cross of Calvary or Graded Cross has three steps leading up to it, which can represent the hill of calvary or faith, hope, and love.

The Celtic cross is distinguished by the circle around the cross bar and intricate designs throughout.

The Russian Orthodox cross consists of three bars, the lowest bar low and slanted. The top bar represents the "INRI" sign placed over Jesus' head. The meaning of the slanted bar is not known for sure, but probably represents St. Andrew's cross (which looks like an X). St. Andrew is believed to have introduced Christianity to Russia. The crosses in the above right picture sit atop the domes of the Kremlin. Note that they have a slightly different lower bar.

The papal cross is the official symbol of the papacy, and may be used only by the Pope. The three bars of the cross most likely represent the three realms of the Pope's authority: the church, the world, and heaven.

The baptismal cross has eight points, symbolizing regeneration (see Numbers). It is formed by combining the Greek cross with the Greek letter chi (X), the first letter of "Christ" in Greek.

The budded cross is a common form of the cross. Its trefoils represent the Trinity.

The conqueror's or victor's cross is the Greek cross with the first and last letters of "Jesus" and "Christ" on top, and the Greek word for conquerer, nika, on the bottom. The lines over the top letters indicate that they are abbreviations.

The triumphant cross with orb represents Christ reign over the world. It is often shown atop Christ's scepter in Christian art.

An inverted cross is the cross of St. Peter, who, according to tradition, was crucified upside down because he felt unworthy to die the same way as Christ. As Catholics believe the pope to be a successor of St. Peter, the inverted cross is frequently used in connection with the papacy, such as on the papal throne and in papal tombs [photo]. It also symbolizes humility because of the story of Peter. The inverted cross has more recently been appropriated by Satanists as a symbol meant to oppose or invert Christianity.

Answer 4

The cross is a well-loved ancient symbol. Many world cultures used it.

The cross that Jesus died on was not cross-shaped, but rather ‘T’-shaped, or even pole-shaped. Jesus’ cross wasn’t a cross.

The Christian Roman emperor (and former Pagan), Constantine the Great, was fond of many Pagan things and the cross was one of them. A golden cross he saw in the sunlit sky inspired his insignia, the Chi-Rho, which is revered by the Vatican.

Interestingly, Constantine’s Pagan soldiers were cool about using cross emblems on their shields, for they saw it as a familiar sign, their Pagan symbol!

The Holy Roman Church adopted the much-loved Pagan cross.

A few ancient world crosses:

The pre-Christian Celtic Cross symbolized the tree of life.

The Norse god Odin had his Sun Cross. So did Constantine. Odin hung on a tree. Jesus died on a tree.

The ancient Egyptian god Osiris had his cross-like Ankh. The Ankh symbolized eternal life. Jesus embodies eternal life. Osiris was murdered and resurrected. Jesus was executed and was resurrected.

The cross is also a bridge between the heavens, the earth and the underworld, as seen in the Celtic Cross; as well as the human, yet godly nature of Jesus.

Answer 5

The cross is actually a very ancient symbol of life and death. Christians use it because it symbolizes both our death in sin and the new life offered us by Jesus's sactifice.

Answer 6

For the same reason we celebrate Easter. The cross is the symbol of Christ's victory over death.

Answer 7

Such a good question. The cross was an instrument of torture, its hard to see how people give it magical holy powers now, but there you are--proof that the human mind is superstitious, not logical.

Answer 8

But we Christians use the empty cross as a sign of victory.

Answer 9

It's a dramatic, guilt-inducing symbol that became popular in the sixth century.

Answer 10

The cross points from east to west, as well as from north to south. It symbolizes Christ's earthly ministry (east to west) and his heavenly ministry (north to south). It is a symbol of his death and of his resurrection.