If you have a celibate Hanged God, doesn't that mean you worship the very symbol of Death?

Answer 1

essentialy yes

Answer 2

Firstly, not all Christians believe that Jesus is God. Matthew 2:11 shows that he was being worshipped even before he was killed. Most of the disciples and apostles had fled by the time Jesus died. They worshipped him on other occasions, but not that one in particular.

Jesus told people to worship the Father. John 4:23 - "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks."

The other choice for worship is idols. People tend to idolise their phobias so that they can keep a good eye on them.

What's better - to worship a shiny memorial or to worship triumph unto death? Ecclesiastes 7:1 says: "A good name is better than a good ointment, And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth."

Besides that, Jesus was "like a man" when he died.

Philippians 2:7, 8 says:
Rather, he (Jesus) made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a human being, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death — even death on a cross!

The word translated "likeness" here is homoioma. It is derived from "homoioo" derived from "homoios" which is found in Matthew 13:24, 44 which talks about the kingdom of heaven being like (homoios) a man and like (homoios) a field.

The word translated appearance is "schema", which means "the habitus, as comprising everything in a person which strikes the senses, the figure, bearing, discourse, actions, manner of life etc."

Although in English "homo" is related to "humble", in Greek homoios is one word, but "tapeinoo" is the word translated "humble". It means "to level, reduce to a plain, or rise not far from the ground."

The word translated "cross" is "stauros". I'm interested in the meaning of this because the metaphor for Satan's work is a dragnet - he's a-dragon' people through his dragnet of "endless genealogies" (cladistics, evolutionary tree, mythological importance of being in the 'right' family) of 1 Timothy 1:4. The necessity of binary nodes to represent growth seems at odds with the importance of light that is from God (John 1:1-4). The first mention of this word "stauros" in the New Testament is at Matthew 10:38. Why would Jesus be mentioned a cross in the context of instructing his disciples even before he was killed on it? And if it was foreknowledge of his manner of death, how did the Romans think of it when it actually happened? Considering that the gospel was written after the fact, what was Matthew trying to tell us?

A late addition (c. 1600) to the generation of our modern use of the word "cross" raises the question of the use of crosses with sailing ships. The 'finding of the True Cross', a la a 1380 Agnolo Gaddi painting, seems analogous to the keeping of various romantic keepsakes by the lead character's new friend and protege in "Clueless".

Why would you carry a cross, if it wasn't something to do with ships? The apostle Peter was a fisherman. Fish did die in fishing nets. Maybe carrying your own cross means taking on the responsibility for negotiating "soul-savers" yourself, instead of on-selling it to your local real estate agent, for example, who can sell you a house impervious to Jehovah's Witnesses. (I'm not making a comment about Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm making a comment about the lengths people will go to to on-sell their cross.)

Answer 3

If he had stayed dead, then he might be a symbol of death. But when he raise from the dead, it made him a symbol of Life instead.

Answer 4

it would have been, but jesus rose from death! so we look up the symbol of resurection and victory, and follow the one who died and rose for me! and you! jesus christ died, went to Hell defeated satan and rose again on the 3rd day for Me and YOU!

Answer 5

Resurrection is erection in a love direction.

Answer 6

Well, radical change, yes.