Jehovah's Witnesses: how does one actually "use the cross in worship"?

Question

"Besides, the use of the cross in worship is no different from the use of images in worship, a practice condemned in the Bible. "

"First-century Christians, however, held the sacrificial death of Christ in high esteem. Likewise today, although the instrument used to torture and kill Jesus is not to be worshipped, true Christians commemorate Jesus’ death as the means by which God provides salvation to imperfect humans."

The Bible is centered around Jesus Christ, whose completed work on the cross reconciles evil men to God, washing them clean 'by his blood'. Jesus' death opened the way for relationship with God and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on repentant people. It's the central message that the Apostles preached throughout Acts and in Paul's messages to the early churches. They go around persuading people that it was necessary for Jesus to die and rise again for the forgiveness of sins.

it is possible to worship the cross, or at least its image. it is not the cross that is the object of worship but who died there. Jesus calls us to follow him, and to give our lives over to the Father's will.

our lives shoud be centered around Jesus' death and resurrection because we forget so easily with the pressures of this world.

that is, however, very different to using the cross in worship.

so my question remains: how does one actually use the cross in worship?

True worship is defined in Romans 12:1-2

Answer 1

Hello. I am a Jehovah's Witness and I have noticed people that wear the cross on a necklace grab the cross from time to time and kiss it. Some people bow down before the cross and pray. Make the cross gesture across their chest.

The cross is on a rosary.

Answer 2

There are some obvious forms of cross worship which are condemned by the bible.

(Exodus 20:4-5) You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them


Since there is no evidence that the early Christians venerated any icon, 'using the cross in worship' likely refers to practices which imitate the manner in which pagan false worship used the cross and other idols. Some merely displayed the cross as a reminder to themselves and others than they venerated the god Tammuz or some other. By contrast in fact, the bible actually makes it rather plain that a true Christian would altogether reject the use of all religious icons and idols.

(1 Corinthians 10:14) Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.

(1 John 5:21) Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

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 3

The very fact that the cross is one of the most common of all pagan religious symbols should make us doubt that it could also be the symbol of the pure Christian worship of Jehovah God. And so also should the extremes to which some have gone in times past in venerating the cross. Thus the Catholic writer Didron tells that “the cross has received a worship similar, if not equal, to that of Christ; this sacred wood is adored almost equally with God himself.” Once the honoring of the cross began it went to such extremes that the pagans accused professed Christians of being idolaters. “It is plain that the great mass of Christians,” says a religious authority, “attached a magical value to this sign. At all events they used it as a form of exorcism and a means of warding off unclean spirits.” “Soon the cross came to work miracles of itself. People went to the length of marking cattle to protect them from disease." So There...

Answer 4

The Bible’s Viewpoint
Did Jesus Really Die on a Cross?
http://www.watchtower.org/e/200604a/article_01.htm

THE cross is one of the most recognizable religious symbols known to man. Millions revere it, considering it to be the sacred instrument on which Jesus was put to death. Roman Catholic writer and archaeologist Adolphe-Napoleon Didron stated: “The cross has received a worship similar, if not equal, to that of Christ; this sacred wood is adored almost equally with God Himself.”

Some say that the cross makes them feel closer to God when they pray. Others use it as an amulet, thinking that it protects them from evil. But should Christians use the cross as an object of veneration? Did Jesus really die on a cross? What does the Bible teach on this subject?
What Does the Cross Symbolize?

Long before the Christian era, crosses were used by the ancient Babylonians as symbols in their worship of the fertility god Tammuz. The use of the cross spread into Egypt, India, Syria, and China. Then, centuries later, the Israelites adulterated their worship of Jehovah with acts of veneration to the false god Tammuz. The Bible refers to this form of worship as a ‘detestable thing.’—Ezekiel 8:13, 14.

The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John use the Greek word stau·ros′ when referring to the instrument of execution on which Jesus died. (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30; Luke 23:26) The word stau·ros′ refers to an upright pole, stake, or post. The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons, 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.”

As recorded at Acts 5:30, the apostle Peter used the word xy′lon, meaning “tree,” as a synonym for stau·ros′, denoting, not a two-beamed cross, but an ordinary piece of upright timber or tree. It was not until about 300 years after Jesus’ death that some professed Christians promoted the idea that Jesus was put to death on a two-beamed cross. However, this view was based on tradition and a misuse of the Greek word stau·ros′. It is noteworthy that some ancient drawings depicting Roman executions feature a single wooden pole or tree.

“Guard Yourselves From Idols”

A more important issue for true Christians should be the propriety of venerating the instrument used to kill Jesus. Whether it was an upright single torture stake, a cross, an arrow, a lance, or a knife, should such an instrument be used in worship?

Suppose a loved one of yours was brutally murdered and the weapon was submitted to the court as evidence. Would you try to gain possession of the murder weapon, take photographs of it, and print many copies for distribution? Would you produce replicas of the weapon in various sizes? Would you then fashion some of them into jewelry? Or would you have these reproductions commercially manufactured and sold to friends and relatives to be venerated? Likely you would be repulsed at the idea! Yet, these very things have been done with the cross!

Besides, the use of the cross in worship is no different from the use of images in worship, a practice condemned in the Bible. (Exodus 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 4:25, 26) The apostle John accurately reflected the teachings of true Christianity when he admonished his fellow Christians with the words: “Guard yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21) This they did even when it meant facing death in the Roman arena.

First-century Christians, however, held the sacrificial death of Christ in high esteem. Likewise today, although the instrument used to torture and kill Jesus is not to be worshipped, true Christians commemorate Jesus’ death as the means by which God provides salvation to imperfect humans. (Matthew 20:28) This superlative expression of God’s love will bring untold blessings to lovers of truth, including the prospect of everlasting life.—John 17:3; Revelation 21:3, 4.

Answer 5

The instrument of Jesus’ death is noted in Bible passages, such as at Matthew 27:32 and 40. There the Greek word stau‧ros′ is translated “cross” in various English Bibles. But what did stau‧ros′ mean in the first century when the Greek Scriptures were written? An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W. E. Vine, says: “Stauros . . . denotes, primarily, an upright pale or stake. On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun [stau‧ros′] and the verb stauroō, to fasten to a stake or pale, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed cross. The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt.”

Another Greek word, xy′lon, is used in the Bible to refer to the instrument upon which Jesus died. This word helps to show that stau‧ros′ was an upright stake without a crossbeam. As The Companion Bible states: “The word [xy′lon] . . . generally denotes a piece of a dead log of wood, or timber, for fuel or for any other purpose. . . . As this latter word [xy′lon] is used for the former stauros, it shows us that the meaning of each is exactly the same. . . . Hence the use of the word [xy′lon] . . . in connection with the manner of our Lord’s death, and rendered ‘tree’ in Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Galatians 3:13; 1 Peter 2:24 [King James Version].”

Constantine was the Roman emperor who convened the Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E. and influenced it to adopt the unscriptural doctrine that Christ was God. He did this to solidify his empire of pagans and apostate Christians. Of him The New Encyclopædia Britannica says: “On the eve of Constantine’s victory over Maxentius in 312, he saw a vision of the ‘heavenly sign’ of the cross, which he believed to be a divine pledge of his triumph.” It also says that thereafter Constantine promoted the veneration of the cross.
However, would God give a sign to a pagan leader who was not doing God’s will, and a pagan sign at that? Jesus rebuked his own countrymen for wanting signs. (Matthew 12:38-40) Furthermore, this pagan ruler was shedding innocent blood with carnal weapons for political supremacy and, in political intrigues, arranged the murder of relatives and other associates. In contrast, Jesus said: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought.” (John 18:36) That is why he commanded Peter: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.”—Matthew 26:52.

Even if we ignore the evidence and assume that Jesus was killed on a cross, should it be venerated? No, for Jesus was executed as a criminal, like the men impaled alongside him, and his manner of death misrepresented him in the worst way. First-century Christians would not have viewed the instrument of his execution as sacred. Venerating it would have meant glorifying the wrong deed committed on it, the murder of Jesus.

If your dearest friend were executed on false charges, would you make an image of the instrument of execution (say a hangman’s noose or an electric chair or the rifle of a firing squad) and then kiss that replica, burn candles before it, or wear it around your neck as a sacred ornament? That would be unthinkable. So, too, with the adoration of the cross. The fact that the cross is of pagan origin only makes the matter worse.

The veneration of the cross is not Christian. It does not show love for God or Christ but mocks what they stand for. It violates God’s commandments against idolatry. It reveres a pagan symbol masquerading as Christian. (Exodus 20:4, 5; Psalm 115:4-8; 1 Corinthians 10:14) To consider a pagan symbol as sacred violates God’s command: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? . . . ‘Quit touching the unclean thing.’”—2 Corinthians 6:14, 17

The churches say that practices such as venerating the cross are part of “sacred tradition.” But when tradition conflicts with God’s Word, those who love God reject the tradition. What we really need for true worship is already included in God’s Word. As Paul wrote Timothy: “From infancy you have known the holy writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through the faith in connection with Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

Answer 6

JWs don't use crosses or false idols for worship. They just pray straight to Jehovah.

Answer 7

JW's have no crosses or idols in their worship ,they stick strictly to bible principles.

Raised a JW but not one now.

Answer 8

If your son got killed by means of a gun, would you wear a gun around your neck?

Answer 9

Ask those who use it as such.