Could reverence of the "Cross" be Idol Worship?

Question

Recently I have been persuaded to believe that kneeling or praying before a likeness of the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified, or placing one on yourself or in your church, may be considered by God to be a form of idol worship. Following are a couple of the reasons why I have come to believe this:

Various images of the cross have been used throughout history among pagan cults (Egytian, Celtic, Babylonian, etc.) prior to the crucifixtion of Christ.

Biblical references to the cross by the apostles do not focus upon the cross as having any inherant importance; instead they refer to the "cross" to highlight the saving work of Christ.

Although biblical references to the cross use it as a symbol for Christ's suffering, I'm not sure that it was intended for use as a visible iconic reminder. Though I do not believe that churches or their members intend to worship crosses themlves, it seems a risky business to have them where worship could be misdirected to them.

Is there a difference between reverence of a "symbol" and worship of an idol? Isn't an idol just a "symbol" of a pagan god? Wouldn't reverence of a cross with a corpus depicting Christ be in violation of the 1st Commandment? Something to think about.

Answer 1

i practise RasTafari, and stongly believe that worshipping of the cross, or saints as in the christian religions, is idolatry, and distracts from the true purpose of worshipping God, or Jah,as the emphasis shifts from Him, to the icon you are kneeling in front of.As you said, the cross was used thousands of years before Christ, and has merely been used as an attempt by the early catholic church to pacify the enforced converts once thier land had been raped and pillaged and thier communitities trampled, by allowing them to continue to worship thier existing icons, by placing a new, christian meaning on them. look at Yule, and the equinox, for example, both, have been replaced by so called christian festivals, christmas, and easter. also, why would you pray to a lesser being like a saint, if you believe that God is omnipotent? i mean, why go to the secretary, when you can talk to the boss Himself?
i also believe it is wrong to pray in a group, but this is a personal feeling,and not nessercarily shared by my Ras bredren, as any conversation i have with my Father is between us, and for His ears only. Matthew 6 talks about praying like hypocrites in front of others, and says you should pray privately, for God knows that how you live in secret is the true nature of your heart.

Answer 2

In the Santeria cult of San Simon, some of the images of the folk saint have bundles of spiritually-charged objects within the images, and these bundles are thought to contain the true essence of the saint. This clearly makes the images idols.

If a religious symbol is only a representation of a larger idea, it isn't an idol.

Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica also employed the cross as a religious symbol, and it is still used the same way in indigenous cultures. However, the mesoamerican cross has a completely different meaning than the Christian cross, so how can this example of a pre-Christian or a non-Christian cross have any bearing on the meaning of the Christian cross for Christians?

Answer 3

Definitely. Jesus Christ needs no inanimate object to represent him. It is the "message" of the cross, that is the power of God, NOT the cross. Jimmy Swaggort is a big fan of the cross of Christ, claiming that it, the cross, is the power of God. Replacing Christ with any object, including the cross, is idol worship. Clinging to, loving, cherishing a cross rather than Or including with Jesus Christ is wrong. Yes, Jesus was nailed to a cross, but so were thousands of others. This device of death was not only used to hang people on until they died, it was also to cause humilation of the condemned person. It was prophecied that Jesus would hang from a pole, tree, cross, depending on which version of the Bible you read. The word "symbol" is used as an attempt as a loop hole as also with emblem etc. The Biblical fact is, is that nothing can stand in the place of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by God's grace through faith in Jesus that saves us, nothing there about the cross.

Answer 4

The cross is only one Christian symbol. I prefer to reverence the open tomb.

A brazen serpent was made by Moses at God’s command to be a sacramental means of healing for the Israelites in the wilderness (Num. 21: 9). It seems to have been carefully preserved, and became an object of superstitious worship (2 Kgs. 18: 4); it was accordingly destroyed by Hezekiah, who called it Nehushtan. The “lifting up” of the serpent in the wilderness is referred to by the Lord as a type of his own “lifting up” upon the cross.

Answer 5

i think it can easily be considered "idol worship" by some people and it does seem like just a stones throw away from it, but praying infront of the cross isnt really idol worship because the cross isnt god. an idol in the relgious definition is a relic or something of that nature that you believe to be god or god manifested as this thing. christians dont believe that the cross is god or that the statue of jesus is really jesus. its a representation of god. i hope this helped, i tried my best but i could be wrong

Answer 6

The Cross was the symbol of the sun god that Emperor Constantine turned into the symbol of Christianity. For me, the cross represents an instrument of torture and I would no less worship it than worship the knife that killed my mother.

Answer 7

It is possible!! Make sure you know what that cross represents in your life there are other ways of worshiping God other then using the cross symbol.

Answer 8

I'm going to focus on a word you used:reverence. To revere anything or anyone other than God himself is wrong because only he is worthy of reverence or worshipful honor. Note Revelation 4:11

Answer 9

I don't believe venerating the cross is in any way Idol worship. It's the instrument on which our Lord Jesus Christ surrendered his human self for the forgiveness of our sins. By wearing a cross, kneeling before a cross to pray(TO JESUS not to a piece of wood) and by displaying crosses in our churches we are reminding ourselves what it was that our Lord Jesus did for US...for ALL of us. I personally have always found a cross with a corpus depicting the actual crucifixion to be a very powerful and moving experience. Reminding me with a visual reminder of how much God loves me personally that he was willing to undergo such a painful death just to set me free from the bondage of sin.

Answer 10

The thing to remember is Christ death on the cross (Landmark event described in Acts 3:1); not the cross itself.