If Jesus was burnt at the stake, Would you pray before a box of Matches?

Why do Christians pray before a Cross?

This seems to me, to be a sick cruel joke, mocking your Messiah

If Jesus was burnt at the stake would you wear a matchstick necklace?



If Jesus died of stab wounds, would you wear a knife Knecklace?



If Jesus was stoned to death would you wear a stone knecklace?



Christians, please help me understand.

I find your post humorous.

I bet their prayers would be answered at about the same rate.

It is an iconic symbol of Jesus death and resurrection. Most Christians I know do not pray to or before a cross.

Being Protestant, we pray...that's all. We tend to stay away from the graven images.. ie cross, statues, relics.

On the other hand... some feel closer to Christ by being near a symbol of Christ such as a cross... but no more so than a symbol of a fish... or a Bible.

Most churches have a cross near, at, or above the altar. Christians are called to make a public profession of faith and go forward to the altar... where there is usually a cross displayed. It is the altar and not the cross that is the location of the public profession of faith, a personal prayer to God for forgiveness, and is an act of submission to God before all others.

The answer is yes. Gullible people will always be (for the most part) gullible people.

The cross has many complex meanings, most of them occult. The choice of the cross as the symbol of Christianity has much deeper significance than just a reference to crucifiction. An example would be the cross of the compass surrounded by the 12 signs of the zodiac(apostles) with the sun(son) at the center. A google search would yield a lot of info on the subject. I understand that you are addressing the issue on a certain psychological level, questioning the sadism of the image, and I agree that it's sadistic(especially as used by the Catholics), but it's important to consider levels of meaning and the difference between exoteric and esoteric teachings.

I don't really think that the Cross is just the cross of crucifixion.

That question arises a few times, and I always tend to point out that way before Christianity, several different crosses were used. Christianity cross may be the simplest of the crosses.

Before Christians used the cross widely, the staurogram was the prefered symbol, and it is still used a lot.

Going back a bit, you can find that the Anhk (Egypt) and the Swastika (Hindu) can relate a lot with the cross.
Another obvious example would be the Celtic Cross.

The Cross symbol was used a lot by the so called Pagans, mostly representing the Sun.

I'm pretty sure that someone here has more detailed info or more time to dig some good quotes or links.
(past 3am here, too sleepy to even maintain a steady typing. hehe)

I'll probably check this thread again tomorrow, as I do find this topic (Symbolism and Symbol Evolution) really interesting.

That's just plain silly. Why would anybody do that?
If Jesus was burnt at the stake it wouldn't have been started by matches because they didn't exist yet.

Besides the analogy is all wrong.

Jesus was nailed to a cross and stuck with a spear ~ the cross he was on is worshiped.

If he was burned at the stake, the stake would be worshiped not the fire .......

you are not looking for understanding, you are mocking another persons faith

I am not christian, but I can spot BS just like anyone else

lock/dump

Well, the KKK burns a cross.

It's been done.

Bill Hicks made a similar observation in the 1990s in a not so long-winded way (as the OP).

"A lot of Christians wear crosses around their necks. You think when Jesus comes back he's gonna want to see a cross? That's kinda like going up to Jackie Kennedy Onassis with a rifle pendant on."

If an Athiest had no Christians to berate, would they shut the hell up.........

These posts are getting rediculously stupid.........they have nothing to do with "denying ignorance" and everything with religious intolerance....

The Nazis made similar statements....education with no moral compass still results in barbariansim.

OK. Let's talk about ordinary people, the commoners.

If a loved one died in a car crash, would you wear a car necklace to remember them.



If a practice is ridiculous, then it deserves mocking.

To quote Christ:Matthew 10:38

"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Some Christians take it literally, and drag crosses everywhere--yes, it's out of context, but I don't find it something to argue with my brothers and sisters over. They are being obedient as best they understand.

Really devout Jews, to this day, have these little boxes that they tie to their foreheads and hands called phylacteries. In it, they put a verse or two of the Law (some piece of the first 5 books of the OT). Why? They were told to.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-9

6 "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 "You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Then there's communion: drink the blood and flesh of Christ.

Why? About the same reason why people carry lucky rabbit's feet (superstitions), or plaster ribbons on things (causes), or have alarms for certain times of the day (regulation of life). The categories are far wider than this, but the root cause of such behaviors is because we're creatures of habit. 21 days to actively make or break a habit--and it's this quick only when we're being really active about it.

If we're not in the habit of actively involving ourselves in the things we believe in, we cease to dwell on them, and often forget to live by them. In the instance of something like moral boundaries, it's better for human nature to constantly think on what is good or bad for society. It would certainly help ease hypocrisy, at the minimum.

The more amusing part, to me, is that when we no longer care about something like, oh, hygiene, it's not something that goes south all at once. It's usually, "Oh, I can skip today!" then "Two day's won't leave me that bad off!" then there comes the day when your smell is so bad, people can't be around you without throwing up in their mouth a little. By that time, you likely can't smell yourself because you've acclimated to what you are doing to your body.

So, now back to this praying at a cross, which to me feels like "God in a Box", and drives me batty. We are supposed to be remembering that there was a sacrifice, for our sake. There are expectations, and an offered relationship that comes with this--as well as a way out of whatever mess we've made out of our lives. Not a "no more consequences" in this life, mind you, but definitely a "get out of Jail, free" card. A physical piece can help with focusing on why we pray, and remind us what chain we're yanking on.

So, there are benefits.

***********************************

That being said, if you carve yourself a little fetish, a spirit guide, a small god, and pray to it, what are you literally doing? You made this thing, what power does it have over your life? When Christians point out the silliness of praying to an object that holds no power, and we keep iconography, we're asking for people to think we're a bit daft. The God of the OT did not want images carved, to be worshiped. It really wasn't addressed in the NT.

But a lot of Christian symbolism was used as more of an underground communication system when they were not in favor. If it ever got back to that, since most of our iconography is so well known, we'll have to make more.

reply to post by Pedro4077

But some people do. Ridiculous or not, people use images that make no sense to anyone but them.


Edit:

The issue with this analogy is that The Cross wasn't permanent.

If I had a friend who was dead from a car wreck for 3 days (to the point where the blood was separating into "blood and water" when poked with a scalpel, yet got up out of the morgue days after being poked, alive? I'd wear that car, and tell people the story of how my buddy should be dead, but isn't.

Oh, besides, it's natural to do this:

Dolphin carrying dead baby.
Baboon carrying dead baby.

Oh snap! You hit the nail on the head.
How would you feel if you gave the greatest gift to mankind ever and it was continually summed up by a symbol and not an action?

Naw, they'd pray to the stake, not the match. (Stake is to Cross, as Match is to Nail)

You're getting your metaphors all mixed up buddy.

reply to post by Pedro4077


We don't.

Originally posted by OpenEars123
The answer is yes. Gullible people will always be (for the most part) gullible people.

And I guess you proved it.
That says enough and did not need a second line.
I don't pray to any idol or graven image. I am taken straight to the throne room when I pray.

I was in Israel about 1988, I went to Cyprus on holiday and took a few days out to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem etc by ship....

When I was there and this is no word of a lie, some of the shops were selling Action Man dolls with long hair and wearing a loin cloth nailed to wooden crosses and people were queueing up to buy them.....

I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing.......