Why the Cross?
Deborah Venable
October 2, 2010
Symbolism
is one way humans have of conveying a long message in a short sign. Most symbols are instantly recognizable as
standing for many explanatory words to convey feelings and truths of a certain
message. For most Christians this
symbol of truth is the simple cross.
Why
was the cross chosen for the symbol of Christianity? Because all at once a simple cross can evoke feelings of hope and
sacrifice, love and suffering, life and death.
Such was the purpose of Jesus Christ.
He was born to die, as are we all, but He was born to inspire a hope
like mankind had never known and undergo a sacrifice that few would willingly
endure. He was born to live in the
hearts and minds of humans as a constant reminder of the need for atonement and
a need to strive toward living a good life in a sometimes evil environment. What else could have been chosen to relay all
of that hope and love through the very symbol of excruciating suffering and
death?
The
symbol of the cross also reminds us that our lives are individually
important. While we may choose to
gather for various reasons into groups for worship or even for war, we each
must bear our own cross for our actions.
That is how we will be judged in the end. Anyone who thinks he can earn a “free pass” into any kind of
eternity – including peace on earth – but especially anything that comes after
physical death is simply not being honest with himself. If you believe in the whole concept of good
and evil, then you know that both exist in every group.
Some
claim that there are many paths to salvation.
Some claim to have an exclusive “corner” on that market. Religious arguments are thrown around like
so many bets on a roulette wheel. No
one has real proof for the answer, but many are willing to bet their lives on
being “right.” Is it faith or luck that
will decide in the end? Is it knowledge
or human audacity that is more likely to determine how a human lives a good or
bad life?
Hypocrisy
is the most dangerous enemy of all organized religions. It drives free thinking people away from
their collective houses of worship in astounding numbers, even as it offers
righteous shelter to troubled souls that may find false security within these
hypocritical flocks. Atheists are not
born – they are carefully molded by the actions and hypocrisy of believers and
fired in the kilns of disturbed disbelievers.
Church
leaders who try to swathe their message in the unquestionable robes of their
various holy texts come off trying to sound like gods themselves instead of
humble messengers of their “revealed” religions. They ignore or rationalize anything in those texts that smacks of
violence or questionable tenets, but these things exist non-the-less. These are easy marks for anyone leaning
toward atheism. Some of the good and
rational purpose of the texts is lost in the fear and loathing also sparked
there.
Unless
you have done a good bit of reading of various holy texts, you may not know
exactly what I mean, but if you have, the truth cannot be ignored. Then there is the obvious problem of
translation. How accurate and
trustworthy is the language in the modern versions? The age-old argument in the Christian religion, for example, is
whether or not to “take the Bible literally.”
I heard that argument as a child and wondered what it meant. As an adult, I understand all too well what
it means.
I liken it to the way governments pervert the rule of law. The laws of right and wrong exist within each human soul, because that is how we are created. But by the time various all-knowing human textual communicators got done putting it all in writing, the texts ended up looking more like the laws that come out of Congress these days – convoluted, contradictory, awkward language that takes too many words to express immediately questionable rules. Government is just one more religion after all.
Most
atheists had rather take their chances with modern malleable governments of men
and science than accept that they may have a Creator to answer to. It is somehow easier for them to believe
that everything just happened than to grasp the concept of faith as just good
old common sense. They want scientific
proof of the existence of a “higher power” but they willingly accept
theoretical postulations of the fragility of the environment they inhabit –
postulations that are products of human brains, which use only a tiny fraction
of their capabilities.
No
matter how much one studies or utilizes the human ability to think, a large
portion of the human brain goes unused, untapped even, for the entire lifespan
on earth. Why would that be so unless
there is a “higher purpose” for those abilities when physical life is
done?
The
people who worry about human overpopulation of the earth cannot grasp how empty
their own argument is. Humans could not
possibly utilize all the resources the earth has to offer, much less all the
space. It is truly an empty-headed
argument. (The comparison with the
utilization of the brain should not be ignored.)
The
most difficult social problems to overcome arise when too many people try to
operate within conflicting constraints and remain uncommitted to any individual
beliefs. Fence sitting is an
uncomfortable existence. One might even
say that it is ultimately unsustainable.
The need to have your feet planted on solid ground coupled with the
overall discomfort of trying to remain above it all will eventually lead you to
one side of the fence or the other.
Some may even find themselves jumping back and forth across the fence to
stand for a while on either side. (This
happens a lot in modern politics.)
This
comes from refusing to listen to the sharpest sense that any human has – that
part of individual being that dictates right from wrong. Not the kind influenced by the so-called
“consensus” of others, but that simple common sense component that evolves
through simply living life – that is our strongest sense. It is that little piece of the Creator in us
all, whether or not we call ourselves religious enough to even believe in such
a Creator.
That
is our cross to bear, all by ourselves.
We suffer because of it, and we are hopeful and joyous when we embrace
what it tells us. It can be our
salvation or our downfall. No one can
truly touch it, no matter how much they preach or lecture in opposition or agree
with our stated positions. It is our
only governor and we can choose to engage it or ignore it for a time. We can hang ourselves on it or marvel at the
simple direction it can point us to. It
has a left side, a right side, an up side and a down side – and the ends are
not suddenly jagged in another direction, as in the Nazi cross. The ends point the way precisely.
Symbolic? You bet!
Why the cross? (After all, some
say that Jesus was crucified on a T - not a cross.) If this were the case, His heard surely would have broken the top
plane as He struggled to stay alive, thus forming the top of the cross. Even more apropos, if you ask me. The symbol of Christianity is that cross,
and it is the only religion that adequately illustrates the ability of human
beings to know what is right and the freedom to make personal choices. I just wish I could hear those chosen
ordained “leaders” adequately illustrate that truth.