Play along.

Assume Christ was who he said he was.

Assume that the accounts from the Bible are real.

If Jesus had lived during a different period, what would we wear around our necks? Miniature guillotines? Nooses?

Don't try and use the "God has a time for everything" argument. Arguments are typically based on fact, and anything that your respective religions teach you is not proven fact, no matter how much you'd like to believe so. Just discuss the topic and don't act like yourselves.



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Baby Mama's Drama

...yeah. I fail to see the larger point here, though. It has never been implied that the cross has some sort of magic power or significance beyond being used to crucify Christ. Christians wear crosses in rememberance. If your point was to somehow show how this is ridiculous well, then, bully for you. You have successfully mocked the religious customs of a belief system different from yours. What are you looking for here?

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Dark, Darker, Darko

RIP Madaventor: God bless you.

I'm really just curious. It has nothing to do with mocking. Part of my curiosity stems from a Vacation Bible School I attended when I was younger.

On one of the last days we had arts and crafts time, and that day was clothing day. We could make t-shirts or hats, decorated with something that we felt represented our beliefs. I decided to make a hat. Being as young as I was, certain things hadn't been explained to me. Knowing that Christ had been crucified on a cross, my first instinct was to make a design with burning cross. Needless to say, it didn't go over very well. My intent was, "Cross killed Christ, I kill cross," but apparently intent doesn't matter.

It just strikes me as odd that we'd wear the instrument of death on our persons. If it hadn't been a cross, would things still be the same?

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Baby Mama's Drama

It's not so much an instrument of death for Christians...that is, it is and it isn't. Yes, it's in rememberance of Christ's death, but moreover it's a symbol of what Christians believe to be His ultimate sacrifice on our behalfs. It's a rememberance that death was necessary due to our sins symbol.

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Dark, Darker, Darko

RIP Madaventor: God bless you.

But back to the question; if it had been during a different time period, a period when crosses weren't used for execution, what would the Christian world be like? Would people sport guillotines in their dooryards? Would people wear nooses around their necks?

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Baby Mama's Drama

You're not supposed the kill the cross. The Cross symbolizes shameless self sacrifice.

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A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk I have a workstation...

It could be. Wearing a cross at the time of the early church was about the equivalent of doing so.

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Dark, Darker, Darko

RIP Madaventor: God bless you.

Wearing a noose around one's neck would be interesting...

That's actually pretty interesting. How would Christ's death be symbolized if he were killed by a diferent appartatus? Something to think about

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I'm not an actor. I just play one on TV.

My friends and I talked about this once. We all decided that crossed rifles would be an interesting religious symbol.

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Roach - Caught in the war of hemispheres.
0 of 14.

Electric chair? that'd be a bulky one to wear...

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WOOSH|-----@%

Probably just a syringe if he was killed by the state today. Suddenly shooting up wouldnt be so immoral.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

[This message has been edited by Spork (edited May 04, 2004).]

dragunov

edit- hahaha or flamethrower haha

[This message has been edited by GHORG (edited May 04, 2004).]

The cross is a silly symbol to idolize, when it's the demise of your religious massiah. It may represent something else, but when it comes down to it, you're wearing the ultimate end of your creator/massiah.

JediKirby

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"I was driving along listening to the radio, when Judas Priest comes on. It was 'You've got another thing coming.' All of a sudden, I enter 'VICE CITY RAMAGE MODE' and nearly ran some guy over"
- ]-[ellequin

What if he were stoned to death instead of crucified?
At least a little stone wouldn't be as hard to sybolize something as a medieval instrument of torture. Heh...

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To artificial life, all reality is virtual.
HTP
babble, babble, b!tch, b!tch, rebel, rebel, party, party.

Can I have my brain cells back, please?

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www.MentatMM.com (status = down :/)
Napalm Death Squad (status = alpha)

Personally, I don't think a cross is a good symbal for christians to wear. I mean, yes he died on the cross, but hey, tons of other people died on it too. People wear fishes. I guess that's better. I dunno.

I also think that Christ was sent to that time period in this world because that was the cruelest time and they had the worst ways of execution. It means more if he payed the ultimate price with the ultimate death.

I mean, really, would anyone accept that he payed for our sins if he had just gotten leathal injection.


Exactly.

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"Did you just say.....Birthday Party?...."

However, according to our beleif, he died to save us, and was ressurected three days later. Thats not what id call an "ultimate end"

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"It's OK for us to randomly attack people!"
-BV

You realize the Romans could have had this exact same conversation 2000 years ago? Wearing a cross around your neck was about as crazy back then as wearing a noose around your neck is now. If it had been a noose (which it couldn't have been because Jesus had to die by Crucifiction) then the noose would have become just as symbolic as the cross did.

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BV's rendition of Titanic: Let's have sex. I won't let go. I don't need this stone.
The End.
~ Wolfy

How about blindfolds?

Yes,
and if he had been born in Russia mel Gibson's movie would have been accused of anti russian-ism(or whatever that word is for that)
The point is not how but why.

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On a Swedish chainsaw: "Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals."


Grace is the Pleasure of God to magnify the Worth of God by
enabling sinners to delight in God without compromising the Glory of God.
-J. Piper

Had he been executed differently, chances are we would probably have remembered him for something other than the instrument of death. Therefore, the jewelry that spawned from it would not have been made.

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Do you have stairs in your house?

no, you're wearing the path your creator took to your salvation and his ressurection.

if you're christian.



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Saberopus: omfq musical genuis j00 >mozart
Thrawn42689: Mozart = n00b

I was about to suggest the chi-rho, but if Jesus was not killed in a time when Greek is a common language, you would not see it. Same thing with the little fish.

Who's to say that the cross is to be in eternal vogue among the Christian crowd? At one time the pentagram was a very Christian symbol. Christianity certainly isn't dying out (for good or for bad) and it seems to be steadily evolving.

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Superstition brings bad luck.
-Raymond Smullyan, 5000B.C.

I hate crosses. If some thug shot your son with a pistol, you wouldn't hang that around your neck, would you?

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Have a good one,
Freelancer

I believe the pertinent question is would we wear someting similar to a cross at all had Jesus come about at a different time. The cross not only symbolizes the death of the Messiah but also serves to remind christians of the horrible treatment he recieved at the hands of those who hated him. Crucifixion was the cruelest and most inconvinient way to excute a criminal, the time it takes to watch them die.

Had Christ been executed another way I'm quite sure another symbol would have been used, but I wouldn't believe it has to be an instrument of death or demise.

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A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk I have a workstation...

Way to troll there, bucko. I hope this whole "Using the internet" thing pans out for you.

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A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops.
On my desk I have a workstation...

not following you... he simply stated that he thinks a cross isn't a very good representation of the christian faith or something...

unless you're assuming that he's equating 'jews who crucified christ' to 'thugs', which is a silly accusation.



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Saberopus: omfq musical genuis j00 >mozart
Thrawn42689: Mozart = n00b

I'd guess that a different symbol would have been used. I think the cross was chosen to represent Christianity because of it's simplicity (in addition to Christ's death, of course). Had he been in another time, I doubt the thing used for execution would have been used.

If Christ had been executed in modern times by lethal injection, I don't think a needle would be a good idea to represent Christianity.
"Is this a Christian website, or a site for heroin?"
...Although, maybe more heroin addicts would know about Christ.

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Genesis 22:2-5 - And God said unto Abraham "You must kill your son, Isaac." And Abraham said "What? I can't hear you! You'll have to speak into the microphone." And God said "Check, check, check, check. Jerry, can you pull the high end out. I'm getting some hiss up here."
Valuable Life Lesson: Frog + Potato Gun = Blindness

Catalog of Electronic Components - Complete IC data sheets
National Electrical Code® (NEC®) Online - Legal requirements for wiring projects.

I'm a christian, and I don't wear a cross around my neck...

[This message has been edited by Delphian (edited May 05, 2004).]

Most don't.

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Genesis 22:2-5 - And God said unto Abraham "You must kill your son, Isaac." And Abraham said "What? I can't hear you! You'll have to speak into the microphone." And God said "Check, check, check, check. Jerry, can you pull the high end out. I'm getting some hiss up here."
Valuable Life Lesson: Frog + Potato Gun = Blindness

Catalog of Electronic Components - Complete IC data sheets
National Electrical Code® (NEC®) Online - Legal requirements for wiring projects.

...you're not a Christian if you don't wear a piece of metal shaped into a symbol around your neck?

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Life is a sexually transmitted disease and the mortality rate is one hundred percent.

-R.D. Laing

I think the simple dependancy on symbolism is what makes religions so comical to me. When it comes right down to it, stripping off your cross, your bible, your sundays, your church, your opinions, your coffee and conversation every tuesday, your mission trips, your fish, your songs, your prayers. When it comes right down to it: Are you living the life your religion wants you to? Saying that the above IS the way your religion wants you to live is saying that your religion is just a sybolic representation.

JediKirby

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"I was driving along listening to the radio, when Judas Priest comes on. It was 'You've got another thing coming.' All of a sudden, I enter 'VICE CITY RAMAGE MODE' and nearly ran some guy over"
- ]-[ellequin

The only cross I wear around my neck is iced out, frosty, worth 1 million, and has no purpose but to be an item of jewlery. It rhymes with BING BING.


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In Tribute to Adam Sliger. Rest in Peace

10/7/85 - 12/9/03

[This message has been edited by Ubuu (edited May 05, 2004).]

HANG HIM AT THE GALLOWS! BURN HIM AT THE STAKE! FRY HIM IN THE CHAIR!


I picture little nooses, a flaming gold stake, an electric chair, a needle, or a bullet... Or a laser gun.

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"A tiger? In Africa?!"

"True as toasted toads!"

No, not necessarily symbolic representation. Just having a Bible, going to church or knowing prayers doesn't mean anything. It's reading the Bible, saying the prayers (and meaning them), going to church for a specific purpose (worship of the Almighty) that makes them important.

And although your argument is complete nonsense (stripping anything of all its special items or practices will basicly nullify it) , I will try to give you a good answer. Even without those things you mentioned, one can still be a Christian. The purpose of Christianity is to follow, worship, serve, and ultimately please God. While going to church and reading the Bible accomplish these goals, daily action in your life is what seperates Christians from non-christians. True Christians try to adhere to a higher standard of moral living by refrainind from dishonesty, sexual immorality, selfishness and pride. The two most important objectives in life, to a Christian, are to love God completely, and love otherp people as much as we love ourselves. Non-religious people do not remotely attempt to obey these commands. That's the difference you're looking for.

[Bah, he went and made a new thread ]


[This message has been edited by Hellequin (edited May 05, 2004).]

Yeah, Christianity isn't just some stupid game we play on Sunday mornings; it's a lifestyle of being righteous.

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BV's rendition of Titanic: Let's have sex. I won't let go. I don't need this stone.
The End.
~ Wolfy

That's... not at all what I'm saying. But, to avoid further Hijacking, can we move THIS debate to The Religion of Symbolism

JediKirby

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"I was driving along listening to the radio, when Judas Priest comes on. It was 'You've got another thing coming.' All of a sudden, I enter 'VICE CITY RAMAGE MODE' and nearly ran some guy over"
- ]-[ellequin