Monday, April 9, 2012

The Cross

Last weekend I watched the Ten Commandments. I was amazing on how good the special effects were. Having the water part or the fire come down from the sky was cool for it's time. I can only imagine if they made that movie today with our technology today.

In the movie after crossing the red sea, Moses went up to get the commandments. While up there the people made for themselves a golden calf. In the ten commandments itself it brings up images or idols. Notice what Deuteronomy chapter 4 verses 15 through 18 mentions in the New World Translation and it reads:

And YOU must take good care of YOUR souls, because YOU did not see any form on the day of Jehovah’s speaking to YOU in Ho′reb out of the middle of the fire, that YOU may not act ruinously and may not really make for yourselves a carved image, the form of any symbol, the representation of male or female, the representation of any beast that is in the earth, the representation of any winged bird that flies in the heavens, the representation of anything moving on the ground, the representation of any fish that is in the waters under the earth;

The King James version reads this way:

15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 The likeness of any beast that [is] on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that [is] in the waters beneath the earth:

The good news bible version reads this way:

15 "When the Lord spoke to you from the fire on Mount Sinai, you did not see any form. For your own good, then, make certain 16 that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all - whether man or woman, 17 animal or bird, 18 reptile or fish:

Looking at each bible and verses it clearly states not to make graven images. The question then becomes this. Show me the verse in the bible, in any bible where it says that it's ok to make the Cross? Show me where it states that the Cross is the only image that is approved by God to use in worship.

You won't find it because it's not there. So if God tells you not to create images and yet you create images doesn't that mean that you aren't listening to God? If you say the cross isn't an image used in worship, then why have the cross at all. If the bible said it was ok then I can understand but it's no where.

None of his followers wore crosses. So if it's not in the bible how did crosses get started? Well, In the 4th Century, it was Constantine who went to battle using crosses as symbols.

He believed that it was the crosses that allowed them to win the battle, and therefore soon declared Christianity to be the religion of the land. The shape of the [two-beamed cross] 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.

By the middle of the 3rd cent. A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the cross of Christ. This info can be found in the Encyclopædia Britannica (1946), Vol. 6, p. 753.

Historians and researchers have found no evidence to validate the use of the cross among the early Christians. Interestingly, the book History of the Cross quotes one late 17th-century writer who asked: “Can it be pleasing to the blessed Jesus to behold His disciples glorying in the image of that instrument of capital punishment on which He [supposedly] patiently and innocently suffered, despising the shame?” How would you answer?

Worship acceptable to God does not require objects or images. “What agreement does God’s temple have with idols?” Paul asked. Notice 2 Corinthians 6:14-16. Nowhere do the Scriptures suggest that a Christian’s worship should include the use of a likeness of the instrument used to impale Jesus. —Compare Matthew 15:3; Mark 7:13.

Think about it. If your son died on a cross, would you really wear around your neck or have in your home that very item that you son died on? It would be weird if you did. So there you go and I'm sure you can find more info on how crosses came into play with religion.