The Cross...What Is Our Fear Of It?

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Five recent events...

1. A very close friend asked me how I feel about the cross...she asked because she is a Catholic who coveted to Mormonism and wears a cross her mother gave her as a gift. She asked because others have questioned her wearing it. I told her, "I love it (I grew up Baptist) and that if she wanted too she should wear it..

2. We have an outspoken older member who meets with High Priests and he often talks of how Jesus healed him while in the hospital. Some of my fellow High Priests roil their eyes...of course it could be from repetition.

3. Someone recently questioned why we have a cross on the front door of the Rome Temple.

4. A former Bishop of mine said that "even if the BoM were not true he would follow Joseph Smith". We have not spoken much since I told him he should be following Christ.

5. While teaching a Gospel Essentials" class, I talked about the fact that the atonement being taken place in the garden and on the cross. Hen he tried to correct me, I told him that comment came from the manual written by the Church for that class.

I know some have problems with the cross as a symbol of our faith...WHY?

Sometimes we go too far and belittle what many feel is sacred.

I know Mike Reed and someone else wrote a book about the "Cross and Mormons".

Is it time to be a little less critical about "The Cross"?

Edited June 29, 2012 by Bill “Papa” Lee

[bryan11]

I think that the church doesn't have a problem with the cross it is that the church teaches the Living Christ and is wary of the cross being the symbol that represents his death ( not that it wasnt part of the atoning sacrifice).

The intention isn't to belittle people for wearing them but understanding that it isn't somthing that should be a sacred thing to people in the same way that garments are or the scriptures are

[cinepro]

http://www.lds.org/new-era/1996/09/qa-questions-and-answers?lang=eng

I have a friend who is a member of another religion and who asked me why we don’t wear crosses or have crosses on our buildings. Why don’t we?

New Era

We do not use the cross as a symbol on our chapels, temples, or on our scriptures or in jewelry.

President Gordon B. Hinckley explained the reason in a talk delivered in general conference. He told about talking to a Protestant minister following a temple open house. The minister had asked why there were no crosses anywhere if we say we believe in Jesus Christ. President Hinckley answered, “‘I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ.’

“He then asked, ‘If you do not use the cross, what is the symbol of your religion?’

“I replied that the lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship” (“The Symbol of Christ,” New Era, Apr. 1990, p. 4).

President Hinckley further explained, “On Calvary he was the dying Jesus. From the tomb he emerged the living Christ. … Because our Savior lives, we do not use the symbol of his death as the symbol of our faith. But what shall we use? No sign, no work of art, no representation of form is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the Living Christ. He told us what that symbol should be when he said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (John 14:15)” (pp. 6, 7).

Even though we do not believe in using the cross as a symbol in our Church, we do not criticize others for wearing or using the cross in their religions. We should understand that the cross is significant and sacred to them. In fact, the 11th article of faith says,

“We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.”

We focus on the great atonement of our Savior, his sacrifice for us that makes eternal life possible. We think of his life and sacrifice every Sunday during the sacrament. Our testimonies become the precious things that we bear, along with our obedience, to show we are true followers of Christ.

[Thinking]

No cross, but beehives everywhere!

[David T]

http://www.lds.org/n...nswers?lang=eng

I do find these statements ironic in light of the explicit use of crucifixion imagery in the Temple narrative.

[ERayR]

The cross can be a very nice piece of jewelry for some to wear. To me there is no Problem.

[cwald]

Is it time to be a little less critical about "The Cross"?

Yes.

What do you get when you put a C in front of the cross, and a R behind it?

[DBMormon]

Christ even before his death implied that others need to carry their cross. Cross wasn't ashamed by it neither should we be. We do not adorn our buildings with it and we do not make the cross the highlight but the Living Christ and his mercy and grace.

[DBMormon]

C cross R

[cwald]

C cross R

Try again.

[Tacenda]

Ctr

[mrmandias]

_{Christus T. Rex?}

_{Mormons originally came out of a radical protestant background that eschewed ornamentation and imagery. And as we assimilate in a number of ways, we try to hang on to symbols of our distinctiveness, like eschewing the cross.}

[Ron Beron]

Is it time to be a little less critical about "The Cross"?

I don't think that as a rule we are critical about the cross except that its use is both irrelevant and meaningless to the goals of the gospel message, i.e., the good word of the resurrection of Jesus and all that entails and not his death. Secondly, the use of the cross by early Christians was not unique to them, but had been in use by varying sects and adherents of differing pagan religious groups for centuries before Christianity. Since the Egyptian ankh, the anchor, the fish, etc., was used as a symbol of devotion then why not use them? I think the purpose in using the cross today would be more of either a fashion statement or a remembrance of personal memory peculiar to the wearer. Other than that it hasn't any artefactual or protective meaning to LDS.

[David T]

I don't think that as a rule we are critical about the cross except that its use is both irrelevant and meaningless to the goals of the gospel message, i.e., the good word of the resurrection of Jesus and all that entails and not his death. Secondly, the use of the cross by early Christians was not unique to them, but had been in use by varying sects and adherents of differing pagan religious groups for centuries before Christianity. Since the Egyptian ankh, the anchor, the fish, etc., was used as a symbol of devotion then why not use them? I think the purpose in using the cross today would be more of either a fashion statement or a remembrance of personal memory peculiar to the wearer. Other than that it hasn't any artefactual or protective meaning to LDS.

It could be argued that Endowed members do wear the cross. It just happens to be divided into pieces.

Edited June 30, 2012 by David T

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I think that the church doesn't have a problem with the cross it is that the church teaches the Living Christ and is wary of the cross being the symbol that represents his death ( not that it wasnt part of the atoning sacrifice).

The intention isn't to belittle people for wearing them but understanding that it isn't somthing that should be a sacred thing to people in the same way that garments are or the scriptures are

But his death and what he did for us is the entire purpose of the Sacrament. Edited June 30, 2012 by Bill “Papa” Lee

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I do find these statements ironic in light of the explicit use of crucifixion imagery in the Temple narrative.

True

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

Yes.

What do you get when you put a C in front of the cross, and a R behind it?

The Cross

[CASteinman]

I know some have problems with the cross as a symbol of our faith...WHY?

You might profitably take a moment to read the words of Gordon B Hinkley on this subject:

http://www.lds.org/new-era/1990/04/the-symbol-of-christ?lang=eng&query=cross+%22the+symbol+of+christ%22

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

You might profitably take a moment to read the words of Gordon B Hinkley on this subject:

http://www.lds.org/new-era/1990/04/the-symbol-of-christ?lang=eng&query=cross+%22the+symbol+of+christ%22

I have, I do not see it as anticross. Maybe it is...maybe having served with David O, could have been the engine that drove this sermon. Edited June 30, 2012 by Bill “Papa” Lee

[Glenn101]

The cross only becomes a problem when someone makes it so.

Glenn

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

The cross only becomes a problem when someone makes it so.

Glenn

Many do...

[CASteinman]

Is it time to be a little less critical about "The Cross"?

I know, that for people who revere it in the general Christian world, the Cross does not have a negative meaning. I respect their interpretation of what they consider they are showing when they display the cross.

But for me, personally, the cross is a more horrible image than an electric chair or a guillotine -- both of which are relatively efficient and limited in the sensible pain that they induce. To me the cross is an execution device on par with say, the Iron Maiden or the Rack out of the middle ages. When I realize how it was used and how horrible a device it was, it does not hold for me the same feeling that it does for those who reverence it. (I consider such reverence mistaken, but I do not criticize it because intent is so much more important that show). Because of the way I recognize and perceive it, I could never hold it in personal esteem so that I would wear it or display it with pride -- any more than I would consider a torture chair to be wonderful emblem of joyful faith and love.

So I would not wear it, but I do not criticize those who do - even the very few I have seen wear them in the Church. However, I would -- if I were a General Authority and saw it becoming commonplace, speak out against it.

[The Nehor]

I don't criticize the symbol of the cross. I don't think much about it at all.

The only time it comes up is when contemplating the death of the Savior in detail. I don't do that often. When I am in awe of the atonement I rarely have pictures in my head.

[The Nehor]

Okay, I may not criticize it but I do recoil from it. The cross, garlic, holy water, the sun......they all make me uncomfortable.

[DonBradley]

There is much to be said for identity markers, things that mark the boundaries between groups. Historians and social scientists have observed that the Word of Wisdom acquired this function for Mormons after we were no longer marked off from the larger population by other peculiar practices, such as polygamy. While the Word of Wisdom started as something less than a commandment--just a word to the wise--it became something much more vital.

However it got started, LDS non-use of the cross has similarly come to serve as a boundary marker between us and other Christians. And the distinction between our faiths and communities is an essential one.

For as long as Latter-day Saints don't become prolific users of the cross, which I expect will be indefinitely, Church members will probably continue to offer reasons why we don't use the cross.

There may very well be other, more intrinsic reasons why we don't make much use of the cross. But even if there aren't, I think this one alone is quite enough.

I can't see why this would mean we need to be intolerant or disrespectful to others. I would hope that while fully respecting the boundaries between us and the practices that mark them, we can also respect what others' religious and cultural practices mean to them.

Don