Making the Cross sign on your body

[water]

Ok, here is another Cross subject which many non-Catholic are against. Please let me know what is wrong with doing the Cross on my body, and what you think doing the Cross sign means.

 

[Rhonda_Renee]

I’m not Catholic and I don’t have issues with making the sign of the cross on my body… then again, I’m writing in a Catholic form . As for my friends, who are Protestant, I think it bothers them because of the “trappings” that go with it. Many associate crossing onesself with “worshiping Mary” or “praying to the dead”. So, it’s not so much the act that is offensive but the association with what they believe is heresy.
That said, I think crossing oneself shows reverence and mindfulness. I find it very useful in my prayer life.
-Rhonda

 

[water]

Thanks Rhonda Renee,

The Cross: In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

It is a powerful prayer to glorify the Trinity. I don’t see anything to do with worshiping Mary or praying for the Dead. All I see is that starting all prayer and ending with all prayer, we glorify the Lord. What can go wrong?

I just happened to listen to the radio today and heard about other non-Catholic might against it, but I did not know the reason.

I hope this discussion can help me understand what others think.

 

[tptram]

Hi Ha?i (sp?)

I was having a conversation with my mom about SOTC.
When I make it, it reminds me of the teachings:

1 - evangelizing the Holy Trinity (“In the name of …”)
2 - God’s will for human is:
a) to know Him – when your hand touch your forehead
b) to love Him – when your hand touch your heart
c) to serve Him – when your hand touch your shoulders (to put on His yokes)
3 - I hold my hand as the Eastern rite where the thumb would join with the middle and index fingers in honour of the Holy Trinity and the final two fingers would be folded down in honour of the Divine and Human Natures of Christ.

I have started to make SOTC more often since.

unicorne.org/orthodoxy/articles/alex_roman/signofthecross.htm

 

[Chipper]

Ok, here is another Cross subject which many non-Catholic are against. Please let me know what is wrong with doing the Cross on my body, and what you think doing the Cross sign means.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing the sign of the Cross. In fact this is a tradition that is traceable all the way back to the very early days of the church.

Now to answer your second question, this is what I think it means: First some bible passages.

Matthew 28:19
" Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether, then, you eat or drink or** whatever you do**, do all to the glory of God.

Colossians 3:17
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.

Summary: whatever I do, I do it in the name of the Father, then the rest of the trinity follows, i.e. the Son and the Holy Spirit.

It is a reminder of our Baptism, it is a sign of respect for the Father the trinity, it is a thanksgiving for our Baptism, and it is done in whatever we do.

 

[Melanie01]

It is a profession of Faith, think about it…Ïn the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost…

like the Doxolgy…

 

[asteroid]

Let me first say that I don’t agree with the following. It’s found on p820 of God’s Plan for Man by Finis Jennings Dake (of Dake Study Bible fame). It may also be found elsewhere - I don’t know about that but the list of “heresies” he has a few days later is about identical to Boettner’s list.

(5) The sign of the Cross had its origin in the mystic “Tau” of the Babylonian Cult. It came from the letter, the initial letter of Tammuz (Ezek 8:14), but better known in the classical writings as Bacchus, The Lamented One, who was Nimrod, the Son of Cush.

So there you go, straight from the pen of a rather atypical Protestant.

Others may have more sensible objections. I can’t see many people here taking Dake’s one that seriously.

 

[seek]

If someone knows, wasn’t the Tau a letter of the Hebrew
alphabet? And it kind of looks like a t, which looks like a
cross? OT foreshadowing?

 

[janryboy]

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

for:

…I want my self to be protected by under the mantle of protection of our Lord.

…I want evrything in me and I do be for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

…I want to profess what I believe

 

[Tietjen]

Thanks Rhonda Renee,

The Cross: In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

It is a powerful prayer to glorify the Trinity. I don’t see anything to do with worshiping Mary or praying for the Dead. All I see is that starting all prayer and ending with all prayer, we glorify the Lord. What can go wrong?

I just happened to listen to the radio today and heard about other non-Catholic might against it, but I did not know the reason.

I hope this discussion can help me understand what others think.

This is just my opinion, but I think that SOME Protestants don’t like it simply because it’s Catholic. Just as SOME Protestants get irritated at the sight of a Crucifix instead of an empty Cross. It’s not the action itself they’re against. Listen carefully when next you’re in a restaurant and pray before eating. Do you hear things spoken critically against the sign of the cross or do you hear comments like, “Catholics are so strange?” Living here in the southern US, I hear the “strange” comment more often.

 

[water]

This is just my opinion, but I think that SOME Protestants don’t like it simply because it’s Catholic. Just as SOME Protestants get irritated at the sight of a Crucifix instead of an empty Cross. It’s not the action itself they’re against. Listen carefully when next you’re in a restaurant and pray before eating. Do you hear things spoken critically against the sign of the cross or do you hear comments like, “Catholics are so strange?” Living here in the southern US, I hear the “strange” comment more often.

I am from Texas, and whenever I go out to lunch with my boss and my co-workers, I make the Cross sign before eating - my boss never says anything. I guess because she is my boss but whatever she thinks, she gets to see the picture of the Divine Mercy on my two monitors every time she goes to my office.

A family member of mine is a Protestant, but recently she has learned from my mom to make the Cross sign when she prays. - I consider that is a huge step for her.

 

[Hellisreal]

When I put my hand to my forehead: In the name of the Father

When I put my hand down to my chest: in the name of the Son

( I am thinking of how he came down to us to be with us)

and the Holy ( left side, as I think of how he overcame death)

and is sitting at the RIGHT (as I finish the cross on the right side)

side of the Father,
Spirit- the right shoulder. End. He came down from heaven, defeated death on the Cross and is on the right side of the Father, what can I say?

Its just my way of looking at it, however, there are many better saints that have spoken on this, and I will attempt to find that info and post it if I can.

God Bless you Water, you are so kind, and your posts reflect this. Forgive my words above if innacurate, they are just words I type and feel. If they contradict Catholic thought I retract them now. I am a struggling Catholic, trying to do my best.

 

[Alexius]

I originally posted the following over a month ago:

I challenged my reformed Calvinist apologetics teacher with the question, “Why do [most] Protestants not make the Sign of the Cross? It’s an ancient symbol of faith in Christ that the earliest Fathers verify?” His response was basically that “it is considered ‘Catholic,’ so Protestants don’t do it.” My response was (rather passionately): “So because it’s Catholic, it shouldn’t be done - because the Orthodox do it too.” His answer remained pretty much the same except that he added that many probably make it into a meaningless ritual after much use. However, if a Protestant makes the Sign, there is nothing wrong with it. I know in one Lutheran handbook, I read that the Sign of the Cross is a great devotional ritual. It showed a diagram of how to make the Sign. I am also sure my Anglo-Catholic English teacher makes the Sign as well as do some other parishioners in liturgical churches.

Prayers and petitions,
Alexius

 

[BlestOne]

::warning:Off topic

I am from Texas, and whenever I go out to lunch with my boss and my co-workers, I make the Cross sign before eating - my boss never says anything. I guess because she is my boss

My boss and co-workers always join me in prayer when we are at lunch… There are advantages to working with other Catholics! We also go to mass together… what an awesome perk!!!

OK… Back on topic… As a cradle Catholic I never knew Protestants had a problem with the SOTC until I was an adult… and i certainly never understood why.

 

[Todd_Easton]

Ok, here is another Cross subject which many non-Catholic are against. Please let me know what is wrong with doing the Cross on my body, and what you think doing the Cross sign means.

The only objection to the sign of the cross that I can think of:

"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1)

 

[noma]

If someone knows, wasn’t the Tau a letter of the Hebrew
alphabet? And it kind of looks like a t, which looks like a
cross? OT foreshadowing?

Tau is a Greek letter.

Teth is typically the Hebrew letter, and looks nothing like a cross.

 

[ALLFORHIM]

Hi,

I dont see a problem with it either. I have done it when at a catholic church. Im not exactly sure it means by doing it but it doesnt offend me as a non-catholic christian or bother me in the least.

 

[Mintaka]

There are sources in the early Church who see the letter tau as a forerunner of the sign of the cross. But.

These are people who often used the letter tau to represent Jesus’ cross.

They were referencing back to Ezekiel’s dream, about passing through the city and marking on a tau on the forehead of each one of the faithful of Israel, as a sign of their faithfulness. (Ezekiel 9:4) Sometimes this is translated as just “mark”, but it’s supposed to be a tau. (This was seen by early Christians as referencing the seal of baptism as well.)

 

[RachelB]

Hi. I am a protestant waiting to join RCIA next year. I work in a non-denom Christian bookstore with many anti-Catholics and former Catholics.

In answer to your question, most anti-Catholic protestants think that the sign of the cross is “just another Catholic susperstition”. It’s believed that Catholics think of it as a good luck charm, something that just gives luck. If a priest blesses you with the sign of the cross, protestants think that the priest believes he is giving you a superstitious kind of power, which protestants don’t believe he has authority to give. I hear a lot about how Catholicism is just a lot of extra religious trappings and superstitions.

I hope that answers your question!

 

[water]

Hi,

I dont see a problem with it either. I have done it when at a catholic church. Im not exactly sure it means by doing it but it doesnt offend me as a non-catholic christian or bother me in the least.

One of the meanings of making the cross is to confess our faith that we believe in the Holy Trinity. I am sure you don’t deny on that.