OK, I’m a sensitive guy.
Really.
But this whole ultra-sensitivity thing that’s been going on the past decade or so is driving me bonkers. This week, I read a story that was reminiscent of some peoples’ reaction to The Passion of the Christ, complaining about the violence and dubbing it The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre.
It seems that a crucifix, which has been on display at St. John’s Church in West Sussex (GB) since the sixties has been removed by the church. Why?
‘The crucifix expressed suffering, torment, pain and anguish. It was a scary image, particularly for children.
‘Parents didn’t want to walk past it with their kids, because they found it so horrifying.
‘It wasn’t a suitable image for the outside of a church wanting to welcome worshippers. In fact, it was a real put-off.
Yes, the cross is frightening to people, particularly children.
Rev Ewen Souter said the traditional Christian symbol was frightening children and that it would be replaced with a modern, stainless steel cross.
I’ve often wondered at how sanitized we’ve made the cross, and how much of the punch of what it represents gets lost on us, as a result. What if we, instead, had little guillotines on our necklaces? Or an electric chair in the spotlights on the front of our church buildings? Or polished bronze syringes & needles above our baptistries? Or little gallows figures on top of the communion tray covers?
According to Rev. Souter
‘We’re all about hope, encouragement and the joy of the Christian faith. We want to communicate good news, not bad news, so we need a more uplifting and inspiring symbol than execution on a cross.’
In one sense, I will agree with Rev. Souter – I think that all too often we Christians become so obsessed with the cross (Jesus’ death) that we forget the true “uplifting and inspiring symbol” given to us by Jesus – the empty tomb. Perhaps, instead of adorning our churches with empty crosses – literally and sometimes figuratively – we’d be more accurate by decorating them with a stone that has been rolled away…
![Image of The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31Jl6fhDLxL._SL75_.jpg "The Prodigal God (An Unabridged Production)[2-CD Set]; Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith")
9 Comments(+Add)
The cross is a symbol of death and pain, and the cross is offensive and foolishness, as Paul Stated.
We are to be reminded of the price paid for our sins, but I think the empty cross symbolizes for me both death and victory…No?
The term “empty cross” seems like an oxymoron to me. You can make it look as neat and tidy as you want, but if you separate Christ from the cross you lose the meaning of the cross as a symbol. The cross is a symbol of perfect love.
I’ve always liked the symbolism of the “rolling stone” as well. Maybe we should keep the crosses in the churches though; and just take them out of the cemetaries.
Not many people object to the steady stream of violence on TV, or the UFC, or cartoons, or pictures of the Iraq war.
The cross is an offense, and viewing a dying Jew on a cross is meant to elicit both revulsion and spiritual questions.
Funny I agree with PB on this… though I think that sometimes we need to sanitize some things for children. I remember seeing a promo at a church for TPOTC and a child was asking his mother, “Why are they doing that to that guy?”
On the surface that seems a great question… yet the tone of the child was that of horror… he was not seeing Jesus, but the violence and blood.
Though I think that the Cross as pictured is not as gruesome as TPOTC I would not let my children see TPOTC yet… they are too young to understand what is going on… They get Jesus died for their sin and rose again… but violence is just too graphic.
I will add that I would recommend TPOTC to anyone above the age of 8 as they can process the images better than my 3 an 5 year old.
iggy
Besides which, we’ve got the shape wrong -
1) It was a capital “T”, not a lower-case “t”.
2) The top of a cross was held in place by the body attached to it and to the stake. Without a body on it? Not really a cross…
3) Crucifixion was at eye-level (as it was as much a tool of political statements as of law and order), but I digress
Chris L,
I had heard someone try to use the “T” versus the “t” argument to disprove Christianity.
Yet, in scripture it also stated that there was a sign posted above Jesus stating He was “King of the Jews” would for the top of the “t”.
I heard Chuck Missler state that the words on the sign itself may have formed the acronym YHWH.
Though some seem to dispute that…
iggy
Igs,
The body slumps down enough, suspended by the arms, that the cause for crucifixion was nailed to the point where the cross-beam and the stake unite. In some cases, the nail used to hold the sign was also used to hold the cross-beam in place….
Example:
Yep as I stated… notice the sign is above the horizontal beam? That forms the upper part of the “t”.
While I will not that the lower part of the cross does not make the upturn…
Also, it is really hard to tell by a drawing what was reality back at the time of Jesus… But I see it more like this.
The top of the cross is where they nailed the sign to the top beam… it was not part of the cross but still formed the top of the “t” image.
Overall I think it really does not matter… I used to witness to JW’s and they would fight to the death that it was a pole… I would sidestep that and ask them if they agreed that Jesus was crucified and died and in a way that symbolized the tree the bible spoke of and they would agree… we then moved on to Who Jesus was and we did not get bogged down in the technicalities of what the Cross looked like.
iggy
Warning: Vomit-inducing Christian radio speak ahead.
It seems that Souter wants a religion that’s “safe for the whole family”.