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run262
Guest
In Catholic churches Jesus is on the cross, in other churches it is just the cross. I’ve heard that Jesus ascending to Heaven is the reason he is not on the cross. Can I get some thoughts, thanks.
Ed
Ed
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MichaelHowling
Guest
God is outside of time and is always healing, saving, etc etc etc.
Many protestants want to take Christ off the cross because they have a mentality that salvation is all done and this “once saved, always saved” mentality.
We need to see Christ on the cross because it reminds us of the price of sin, that Chris is “with us!” in all our muck and dirt and can sympathize with our life. That we are STILL working out our salvation in “fear and trembleing”…that it’s not done until we are in heaven.
But most importantly … it is a sign of our marriage to God, it shows us who God truly is and what we are called to be.
So many want to hide and forget this side of our faith… that our lives are the cross… in that we trust in God and hand over our ALL to Him and that we actually participate and are taken up into Christ’s passion on the cross so that we can be taken up and be with Him in His glory!
God bless
Many protestants want to take Christ off the cross because they have a mentality that salvation is all done and this “once saved, always saved” mentality.
We need to see Christ on the cross because it reminds us of the price of sin, that Chris is “with us!” in all our muck and dirt and can sympathize with our life. That we are STILL working out our salvation in “fear and trembleing”…that it’s not done until we are in heaven.
But most importantly … it is a sign of our marriage to God, it shows us who God truly is and what we are called to be.
So many want to hide and forget this side of our faith… that our lives are the cross… in that we trust in God and hand over our ALL to Him and that we actually participate and are taken up into Christ’s passion on the cross so that we can be taken up and be with Him in His glory!
God bless
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run262
Guest
When I came back to the Church 2 years ago, looking at the cross with Christ on the cross helped me feel closer to Christ. Closer than I have felt in years and I like that.
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MichaelHowling
Guest
yea, see! that’s what I’m talking about.
Christ on the cross is truly “God with us”.
Christ never said life would be easy…that he’d in effect…Take our crosses away (remember how they were telling Him “come down from the cross and prove to us who you say you are!”). He’d be with us and pour out graces into and from our crosses in life if we bear them in trust and in love for Him.
Christ on the cross is truly “God with us”.
Christ never said life would be easy…that he’d in effect…Take our crosses away (remember how they were telling Him “come down from the cross and prove to us who you say you are!”). He’d be with us and pour out graces into and from our crosses in life if we bear them in trust and in love for Him.
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JamesTheJust
Guest
1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles…
We know that Christ ascended. But what’s most important is what He did on the Cross: sacrifice Himself for our sins, and give us His Body and Blood to consume in the Mass.
We know that Christ ascended. But what’s most important is what He did on the Cross: sacrifice Himself for our sins, and give us His Body and Blood to consume in the Mass.
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MJCamp
Guest
Jesus on the cross reminds me of the new covenant he made with mankind. Without his sacrifice, Jews would still be sacrificing lambs and the gates of heaven would still be closed. He gave us the path to Heaven, in the Catholic Church. We know we aren’t alone in our sufferings and everyone will suffer at some point in their life
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ClearWater
Guest
We have artwork depicting Christ all kinds of ways. We have depicted him as a baby, in a manger, in a family with Joseph and Mary, when the Wisemen came and visited. We have depicted him at his presentation in the temple as a baby, finding him in the Temple as a youth.
We have shown him as preaching, teaching. We have images of him at the Last Supper, kneeling in prayer at the Agony in the Garden. We have images of him scourged, crowned with thorns, carrying the cross, crucified, taken down from the cross, resurrected, ascending, and in heaven.
We have shown him as a king, judge, the Good Shepherd, carrying a sheep back home.
We keep these images of his suffering, along with the glorious and joyful ones. It was actually at Good Friday that we were redeemed. We keep this as a constant reminder of how much God loves us and of the terrible price he paid for our sins. We must never forget.
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Mary_Ellen
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Judas_Thaddeus
Guest
Jesus did not save us in Heaven, he saved us on the cross.
Protestants also focus on Exodus 20:4, commandment against graven, while ignoring
Exodus 20:5, which is a clarifying extension tot he prior verse, commanding us not to
“adore them” or “serve them.”
There is also a desire for Protestants to disassociate with Catholics, I believe.
Think about it. First you have Luther splitting off, where we get the Lutherans,
who are in many ways similar to Catholics. Then later came other splinters,
each more and more different from Roman Catholicism.
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jmeyer3131
Guest
I knew a priest who would point to the crucifix and say “God’s finest hour!”
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Incomplete
Guest
I knew a priest who would point to the crucifix and say “God’s finest hour!”
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Beryllos
Guest
See also this recent question and answer:
Ask An Apologist: Why do Catholics depict Jesus on the cross?
Ask An Apologist: Why do Catholics depict Jesus on the cross?
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TiggerS
Guest
I think that the above quotation (see Post here:forums.catholic-questions.org/showpost.php?p=11508679&postcount=8 ) supposedly by Clearwater may be a misquote unless I have missed something somewhere and not impossible. Clearwater did not write “rather than Easter Sunday”.
Certainly, it is through the Death of Jesus that we are saved and Heaven opened, but without The Resurrection, His Death would have been simply His Death and very possibly Christianity not gone on to the incredible heights that it has in history. The Resurrection is the sign that His Death was acceptable to The Father and that as He was baptised identifying Himself with our sinfulness’ and then died and rose again, so we too are baptised into His Death …and Resurrection.
vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a1.htm Catholic Catechism: #1227 "According to the Apostle Paul, the believer enters through Baptism into communion with Christ’s death, is buried with him, and rises with him:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.29 "
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thistle
Guest
Jesus did not rise from the Cross and did not ascend from the Cross.
He died on the Cross and that is what the crucifix represents.
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dconklin
Guest
Having the Crucifix hanging behind or over the altar defines or completes the Eucharistic celebration.
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fred_conty
Guest
Many, but not all, other churches do not believe in images…big no no. So they have a plain cross or no cross at all.
It teaches us just how much he loves us at a glance, for one picture is worth a thousand words.
And catholics do have private revelations of Jesus in which he showed himself to the saint.
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PJM
Guest
It IS TRUE That Jesus ascended back into heaven!
However that is not the ever-present message of the Cross in Catholic Churches.
Catholics too KNOW, believe and Glorify in the FACT that Christ IS RISEN!
The Crucifix [the cross with the corpus of Christ on it] is an EVER PRESENT reminder of JUST how much God LOVES US! That is WHY one ALSO finds in MOST if not all, Catholic Churches the STATIONS OF THE CROSS which depict and REMIND us what Jesus choose to do in REDEEMING all of humanity.
Theologically the difference is Profound.
The “cross” without Christ is a symbol for many Protestants [to PROTEST] that salvation is a “done deal.” …“Christ did IT” and I can’t lose my salvation no matter what, so why be morbid and remember what Christ did. Its done…
Many of them confuse the terms Redeemer and Savior, NOT understanding that Christ actions Redeemed the entire WORLD [reopened heaven and makes salvation a Conditional possibility], with Salvation which is highly conditional [John 3:5 and mt 19:17] for example; NOT an accomplished fact, and certainly not accomplished by MERELY acknowledging Christ as ones"'Personal Savior." thats a necessary FIRST STEP but will not alone get anyone to heaven.
God Bless you,
Patrick
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MorEphrem
Guest
I will concede that some Protestants refuse the usage of a crucifix for the reason you have elaborated. However, there are orthodox Churches that prefer the empty cross because of their theological focus. For in Syriac Churches there is a propensity towards an empty cross because we particularly focus on the period one might liken to Holy Saturday. However, no Syriac would say a crucifix is somehow incorrect as I’ve heard Protestants argue.
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PJM
Guest
thank you!
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johnthebaptist2
Guest
Jesus should always be on a Cross, to remined us of the suffering he went threw to save us for our sins,and he did it willing because Jesus Love us very much.
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