In Catholic churches, why is Jesus still on the cross? In Methodist churches, Jesus is not on the cross?

Question

Help me understand this difference please!

Answer 1

The MOST important thing that Jesus did for us was die for our sins to give us the gift of everlasting life.

He did rise from the dead but rising from the dead did not open the gates of heaven for us, dying for our sins did. The crucifix in no way denies the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the MOST important point in all of history.

The crucifix reminds us of this moment.

The following Scriptures even suggest that Jesus wants us to lift up his image:

Numbers 21:8-9 states: And the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and if anyone who has been bitten looks at it, he will recover." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he recovered.

And in John 3:14-15, Jesus says in correlation: "And just as Moses lifted up the [image of a] serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

Because Jesus on the cross is the story of our salvation. A cross by itself is just a piece of wood, an ancient device of execution. Of course one can argue that the empty cross indirectly suggests the Resurrection. However you cannot have the Resurrection without the Crucifixion. It's all too easy to emphasize the glorious and to ignore the hideous. However, the act which brought about our salvation was hideous, and Catholics believe we should not lose sight of that fact by forgetting the price Jesus paid for our salvation, without which the grace of forgiveness and the grace of resurrection would not be possible. Christ came as Savior - no other reason. The cross is our salvation.
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Answer 3

It's mostly a matter of tradition. Catholic Church traditionally have a crucifix (cross with the body of Jesus on it) displayed in their churches while Protestants (including Methodists) traditionally have a "plain" cross displayed.

Theologically, it's not terribly different. Ideologically, many people feel that a crucifix puts too much emphasis on the death of Jesus and not enough on the resurrection. Catholics do, btw, hold the resurrection as dear as Protestants do... we're just still stuck in tradition and love our crucifixes. (I do know of some Catholic churches that have simple crosses or a cross with the figure of the Risen Christ in front of it.)

Answer 4

Protestant churches frequesntly forget that before we could have Easter Sunday- the empty cross- we first had to have Good Friday.

As Catholics, we are required to have a cross with Christ crucified on it in our churches....it is a remnider to us that Christ had to die for our sins- each of our sins individually.

When you meditate upon the Crucifix, when you look at the Savior of the world hanging there or your sins...well, it sure makes your sins impact you much more- and also makes your petty little problems seems a whole lot less.

It puts things in perspective.

You just don't get that looking at an empty cross!

Answer 5

At the risk of over-simplyfying the answer:
The Roman Catholic Church keeps Jesus on the Cross to sustain the need for its followers to feel guilty and go to confession. The Methodists, and other Protestan faiths, have the bare Cross to signify Jesus' Resurection and forgiveness through grace.

Answer 6

each time the catholic church serves communion, they believe that the bread/wine actually turns into the flesh of Jesus/blood of Jesus... therefore sacrificing him over and over on that cross. Other churches (methodist, UCC, etc) do not 'resacrifice' Jesus.... He came down off that cross having only to die once for us and we remember Him thru the communion table, and do not actually 'eat of the flesh' but remember what He did to save us.

They get stuck on the 'Cross" and keep trying to reach the resurrection

Answer 7

The catholic beliefs stop with Christ's death on the cross. What I mean by that is that they believe that they have to do good works in addition to Christ's death in order to get to heaven. Methodists and Baptist are very similar in some regards (I am Baptist), and our crosses don't have Christ hanging there, because the cross is just a symbol of what he did, not where he is. Christ rose again on the third day, bringing us new life. We can not add any works to Christs sacrifice.

Answer 8

I am sorry I can not help you with regard to why He is not on the cross in Methodist churches ,but in regard to catholic churches he is there to remind us of the suffering he endured in order to save us from our sins and to show us the magnitude of his love for us

Answer 9

Seeing Jesus on the cross reminds us of the single greatest act of love that any man did in all of history. Jesus' resurrection did not make atonement for all of our sins, His death did.

Jesus' death on the cross also reminds us of our need to be totally obedient to the will of God, even if it means we lose oour life.

Catholics are not squimish about being reminded of what Jesus did for us or what we may be called to do for God.

Answer 10

Guilt.

The focus for Catholics is typically the guilt they feel or ought to feel about their sins being the reason for Christ's crucifixion. In addition, the reverence they show for the object of the cross with Jesus hanging (kneeling and crossing themselves before it) borders on idolatry.

Jesus not on the cross reminds us of his suffering and death, but also reminds us that he came down from the cross, was buried, and rose again. The cross frees us from our guilt; freeing us not to become guilty again, but to be righteous and holy (despite our sinful tendencies).