Do Jehovah's Witnesses make a distinction between a utility pole and a utility "cross"? Read question.

Question

Since Jehovah's Witnesses insist on saying that a cross can't be called a pole, what do you (or they) call a utility pole when it looks like a T shape because it has a crosspiece? Do you refuse to call it a utility pole?

Hannah & Achtung

Unless you know someone who worships utility poles, idolatry is not an issue, as regards this question.

If you don't want to answer the question, then just don't answer at all. I would appreciate your deleting your answers.

Answer 1

As I never heard of a "utility cross", I call it "it" or pole.

JWs only bring it up because of cross worship. Worship of an idol from pagan religion, certainly having nothing to do with true worship. People need to be aware true Christians of the 1st century never worshiped a pole or a cross or any instrument that killed Jesus. To do so is mixing true and false religion; something forbidden in the Bible.

Answer 2

The point that Jehovah’s Witnesses have learned and wish to share with people is, first of all, that well before the Christian era, crosses were used by the ancient Babylonians as symbols in their worship. The use of the cross spread into Egypt, India, Syria, and China. Crosses come in various and sundry forms – even the swastika – now abhorred by most – is a type of cross. Is it acceptable to use the swastika – put it on buildings of worship and wear it around the neck? If not, why not? Is it because of the images and memories it conjures up? Is it because of the reprehensible way it was used by an infamous individual? What about the infamous way crosses have been used since their beginning? What about the pagan origin of crosses centuries before it was adopted by the “professed Christian” church?

What about the instrument used to put Christ to death? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John use the Greek word stauros when referring to the instrument of execution on which Jesus died. See Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30; Luke 23:26. The word stauros refers to an upright pole, stake, or post. This is no doubt what you have in mind as respects the discussions of Witnesses. Did Witnesses make this up? Consider please the book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons, which explains: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross.”

Acts 5:30 reports the apostle Peter using the word xy′lon, meaning “tree,” as a synonym for stauros, which denotes, not a two-beamed cross, but an ordinary piece of upright timber or tree. A pole, as you mentioned. It was not until about 300 years after Jesus’ death that some professed Christians began to promote the idea that Jesus was put to death on a two-beamed cross. However, it comes from the tradition and misuse of the Greek word stauros. It is noteworthy that some ancient drawings depicting Roman executions feature a single wooden pole or tree.

What is the issue? The issue is one of idolatry. What is the propriety of venerating the instrument used to kill Jesus? Whether it was an upright single torture stake, a cross, an arrow, a sword, a dagger, or whatever. Should the instrument of execution be used in worship? From a scriptural viewpoint, is it acceptable to use it as part of true worship?

Hannah J Paul

Answer 3

"Since Jehovah's Witnesses insist on saying that a cross can't be called a pole,"

Really? Where did you find such a statement?

I think you are off a little here.

By the way, the last time I looked, the utility pole out back DOESN'T have a crossbar.
Sorry.

Answer 4

Note the feelings of the apostle Paul regarding idols:

(Acts 17:16) Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit within him came to be irritated at beholding that the city was full of idols.


Like Paul, Jehovah's Witnesses do not distract from the message of the good news by going around denouncing the worshipful use of the cross and other idols. Instead, Witnesses believe that the bible plainly forbids idolatry of any kind, including the worshipful use of icons such as crucifixes.
http://watchtower.org/bible/1jo/chapter_005.htm?bk=1jo;chp=5;vs=21;citation#bk21
http://www.watchtower.org/bible/ac/chapter_017.htm?bk=ac;chp=17;vs=29;citation#bk29

(1 John 5:21) Guard yourselves from idols.

(Acts 17:29) We ought not to imagine that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man


The exact shape of Christ's instrument of death is hardly a central doctrine of the faith, but Jehovah's Witnesses do happen to believe that Jesus was almost certainly impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create a cross, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

The bible most assuredly does NOT offer any proof that the stake was actually a cross of two intersecting beams. The actual facts of the bible may be enlightening to examine...

You may be interested to see how your own copy of the bible translates Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, and Acts 10:39. The King James, Revised Standard, Dyaglott, and Jerusalem Bible translate the instrument of Christ's death simply as "stake" or "tree" because the original wording simply does not support the idea that this was more than a piece of upright wood. The English word "cross" is an imprecise translation of the Latin word "crux". Note this image of crucifixion performed with a "crux simplex", such as seems to have been used to execute Jesus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Justus_Lipsius_Crux_Simplex_1629.jpg

It is also eye-opening to examine how the first-century Christians felt about idols of any kind, much less one that glorified an instrument of death.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/200604a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/20050508a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19960715/article_01.htm

Answer 5

seriously...is this a major theological issue to them?

wow...WAY to much time on their hands...