Cross or Crucifix?

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I sometimes wear my Crucifix and sometimes wear just a diamond cross. Is there anything wrong with a Catholic wearing a cross instead of a Crucifix?
Of course there’s nothing wrong. The difference is just that we aren’t opposed to the concept of a crucifix like so many Protestants seem to be.
 
Why would a crucifix upon which our savior suffered and died for our sins offend anyone who calls themselves a christian:confused:
 
I’ve started wearing a crucifix - I was deeply drawn to it and can’t really articulate why. I know family and friends are going to start commenting on it, and I know also that it’s going to be along the lines of ‘Jesus isn’t on the cross any more, why are you putting Him there?’ (I know because that’s the sort of thing I used to say)

So how do I answer? Why do Catholics have Jesus on the cross when He is risen and no longer there?
My favorite response to, ‘Jesus isn’t on the cross any more, why are you putting Him there?’ has always been…

“Jesus isn’t a baby anymore, why do you put him in the manger of your Nativity Scene?”
 
My favorite response to, ‘Jesus isn’t on the cross any more, why are you putting Him there?’ has always been…

“Jesus isn’t a baby anymore, why do you put him in the manger of your Nativity Scene?”
👍
 
I’ve started wearing a crucifix - I was deeply drawn to it and can’t really articulate why. I know family and friends are going to start commenting on it, and I know also that it’s going to be along the lines of ‘Jesus isn’t on the cross any more, why are you putting Him there?’ (I know because that’s the sort of thing I used to say)

So how do I answer? Why do Catholics have Jesus on the cross when He is risen and no longer there?
biblechristiansociety.com/apologetics/two_minute#5

First of all, you would want to check out 1st Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23. Paul says, “…but we preach Christ crucified…” Why does Paul preach Christ crucified? Doesn’t he know Jesus has been raised from the dead? Of course he does! But, he knows that it is through the power of the crucified Christ on the cross that the bonds of sin and death are broken. As Paul says in verse 24, Christ crucified is the “power of God”.
1 Cor 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Again, didn’t Paul know that Jesus had risen from the dead? Of course, he did.

Paul preaches Christ crucified because an empty cross has no power. The cross that bears the beaten, battered, and bloodied body of Jesus Christ, however, that cross is the “power of God”. This is why, we “keep Jesus on the cross,” because we, too, preach Christ crucified. The Crucifix reminds us not only of God’s power, but also His love for us - giving His only begotten Son up for suffering and death.

Also, here in this life we do not share so much in the glory of the Resurrection, as we do in the suffering of Jesus on the cross; after all, we must take up our cross daily if we are to follow Jesus, as it says in Lk 9:23.

And, we must die with Christ in order to live with Him as Romans 6:8 tells us. Where did Christ die? On the cross. The Crucifix serves to remind us of these things.

One other passage to keep in mind is Galatians 3:1, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Did you catch that? Jesus was publicly portrayed, before their “eyes”, as being crucified. Sounds kind of like they may have been looking at a Crucifix, doesn’t it?
 
I don’t know what those links have to do with my question but I did notice that Pope Emeritus Benedict had on a cross without Jesus on it. 🙂
Exactly my point. If the Pope can wear an “empty cross” so can you. There’s room for both in Catholicism - consider it the classic Catholic “both/and” vs. the Protestant tendency to see things as “either/or”.

Those links are in my signature and thus appear on all my posts. They weren’t specifically listed for you.

God bless.
 
I don’t know what those links have to do with my question but I did notice that Pope Emeritus Benedict had on a cross without Jesus on it. 🙂
And just in case anyone thinks “Oh, Benedict is a modernist post Vatican 2 pope” here is Pope Leo X, died 1521:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Exactly my point. If the Pope can wear an “empty cross” so can you. There’s room for both in Catholicism - consider it the classic Catholic “both/and” vs. the Protestant tendency to see things as “either/or”.

Those links are in my signature and thus appear on all my posts. They weren’t specifically listed for you.

God bless.
Oh, ok. 🙂
 
John, 15: 12-17

This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you.

13 No one can have greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you.

15 I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.

16 You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and to bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.

17 My command to you is to love one another.

Others have said it, Christ did not show His love for us in the glory of His resurection. He showed it for us in the pain He was willing to bear. He showed it not through words, but through His actions. The crucifix, for me, is a reminder that life will not always be easy. If I truly love others, I will act, I will keep Christ’s commandment. Which means, like Him, I must be willing to sacrifice and bear the pain which may be required to love others.

Ours is an active faith as indicated in the letter of James. We show our faith through our works, keeping Christ’s commandment to love, not just telling people but showing them through our actions, even when it involves a sacrifice on our part. To live for others is to lay down our life in a way for them, putting aside our own desires to assist them.

The fruit of our faith.
 
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