Why is there a replica of an instrument of execution...

..

 

I've wondered that since I was 15.

 

Yah, quite cute, huh?...

 

Personal sacrifice I 'spose.
A reminder what one man went through for us all (apparently).

 

Perhaps the image of a man relaxing in a soft armchair would be more appropriate.

 

It's not a symbol of torture. It IS all about Jesus' response to that torture, about Jesus' absolute refusal to let his behavior be influenced by the absolute physical, social and spiritual injustice of the Crucifixion. It is Good in the face of evil.

Try to think of it as an existential Koan. The Western variation of the Yin/Yang symbol.

Peace and Love

 

"The crowning experience of all for the homecoming man, is the wonderful feeling that, after all he has suffered, there is nothing he need fear anymore-except his God." - Viktor Frankl

 

I'll agree with that.

 

Well yeah, along the lines of Varuna, the Cross is seen as a vehicle through which god's love transformed the world.

I don't but the electric chair analogy. Hanged, Christ would be hanged because that is what is a humiliating death now...

 

Ahh the irony.
Because today, a man relaxing in a soft armchair may well be spending his time lunched out in front of a violent DVD - 'the passion of the christ' maybe...

 

Exactly. It's a symbol of the triumph of the spirit over a painful and humiliating torture devised by the earthly powers of the day. Execution, persecution and injustice are realities of life in the world today. Why is it odd that we still have a need to remind ourselves of that and the need to rise above them?

 

Because its about using freaky images in the name of supporting a cult mentality.

 

So are you against all images, or just the ones you think of as "freaky"? What strikes a person as "freaky" is pretty subjective, not to mention the questionable notion that "freaky" is a bad thing (Obviously, I don't think it is, or I'd be using a different signature). A freak is usually unusual, and it's hard to see how the symbol of the largest world religion could be considered that. You also seem to be using the term "cult" somewhat loosely. Is any organized group with a common set of symbols or doctrines a "cult"?

 

Any group that indoctrinates based on fear and terror is a cult. period.

 

There are plenty of Christian churches that don't do that.

 

Okie there are tons of churches nowadays that don't do that. Most people unfortunately had experience with the "other" churches though and due to these harsh experiences and trauma lump all of us together and say "EVIL". While I of course think this is stereotypical and biased we are partially to blame for not stepping forward and putting a halt to all of these literal terrorists who took our Savior and made him look like some sort of spiritual mercenary.

 

from these 2 scriptures here it looks to me, like God does not approve of crosses..

Exodus 20:4 “You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth.

and then also this one
1 Corinthians 10:14 Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry

 

In response to the idolatry quotation, is the cross worshiped? No, then it isn't idolatry.

In response to the Exodus, don't the Hebrews blatantly break this an celebrate breaking in for the Arc of the Covenant that has images of cherubs?

The issue of icons is something I will tackle, cause many people don't get it. Icons are not worshiped (ditto the saints), the signify something beyond.

In response to Okie and Portalguy, it isn't Churches, or cults, or religions that indonctrinate with fear, it is people that do such things. I know the term church is conventional, but there i a strong distinction. It is like when people say "the Church is evil". how can an inanimate concept teach something or be something...

 

Every other one seems to be.

Most societal values are imbued by fear of the alternative. We do right by one another because we fear the consequences (punishment by authority, social isolation, the same thing one day happening to us) of not doing so. Christianity actually preaches against that, in many traditions. Attrition, the confession of sins out of fear of retribution in this world rather than out of love for God, is seen as bad by the Catholic church. So the impression given by many on-line of Christianity as promoting its message through the instillation of fear of non-compliance is at least ideologically incorrect. As for the practicalities, what religion can be expected to control every aspect of its followers' lives? A cult, perhaps?

I'm not just playing Devil's advocate here. By your definition, Christianity isn't a cult, and by pretty much every other non-vague definition of the word I know of, Christianity is not a cult. This doesn't mean it's brilliant or that I don't think anything bad has ever been done in its name. It just means that something can be bad and not every bad thing.

 

another shot at group

missed by non beleivers

lets load another one up