The "Jesus Fish"

[Jabronie]

Where did the “Jesus Fish” come from and when did people start displaying it? Why do so many Christians who are offended by our use of a Crucifix display the fish instead?

 

[buffalo]

Symbolism of the Fish

 

[Douay-Rheims]

Jabronie:

Where did the “Jesus Fish” come from and when did people start displaying it? Why do so many Christians who are offended by our use of a Crucifix display the fish instead?

Because they think they are clever and they are offended by the image of their Crucified Lord.

 

[kage_ar]

From the examples I see, when displayed on the rear of a car/van/suv it is some kind of special permit to ignore all traffic laws.

 

[Christus_Rex]

The fish is an ancient Christian symbol.

The Greek word for fish is “icthus” which was read as an acronym for “Ioesous Christos Theou Huois Soter” which means “Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour”.

This symbol may have been used by the early Christians to identify themselves as Christians but to avoid persecution (less obvious than a cross).

 

[Loren_1of6]

You have the explanation on the fish, so I’ll try to tackle the second part of your question.

Most Christians who are offended by the display of a crucifix tend to believe that their focus should be on the risen Lord. That’s why they have empty crosses in their churches. Instead of the Catholic emphasis on Christ dying for our sins, they choose to emphasize Christ’s resurrection that foreshadows our own.

At least this is the explanation I have been given several times from people of different Christian denominations.

 

[Eden]

kage_ar:

From the examples I see, when displayed on the rear of a car/van/suv it is some kind of special permit to ignore all traffic laws.

You noticed that too???

 

[Joe_Gloor]

I like to give this response to Protestants who object to the Crucifix:

John 3:14-15

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

Numbers 21:6-9

Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

Jesus on the Crucifix is being lifted up - “just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert” so that when we look upon Him we know that He died to save us from our sins.

 

[Douay-Rheims]

Loren 1of6:

You have the explanation on the fish, so I’ll try to tackle the second part of your question.

Most Christians who are offended by the display of a crucifix tend to believe that their focus should be on the risen Lord. That’s why they have empty crosses in their churches. Instead of the Catholic emphasis on Christ dying for our sins, they choose to emphasize Christ’s resurrection that foreshadows our own.

At least this is the explanation I have been given several times from people of different Christian denominations.

That is all fine and dandy, but to qoute St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” with out Christ’s death there is no resurrection.

 

[jim1130]

Douay-Rheims:

That is all fine and dandy, but to qoute St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,” with out Christ’s death there is no resurrection.

Peace.

Personally, and this is my humble opinion, the Protestants just wanted a way to keep the Crucifix without any Papal connections so they dropped the body of Christ to turn the Crucifix into a Cross and concocted some lame rational statement to justify their efforts.

After all, from the Protestant perspective Catholic=Bad?

I did think it was interesting that the symbol of the fish had origins in pagan art, something non-Catholics accuse us of all the time (paganism).

Peace.

 

[jim1130]

Jabronie:

Where did the “Jesus Fish” come from and when did people start displaying it? Why do so many Christians who are offended by our use of a Crucifix display the fish instead?

Peace.

A Baptist girl once told me that the “fish” was the way early Christians identified one another. If they met, one would draw an arc and then the other person would make a similar arc, and the two lines together made the fish.

I figured it was urban myth.

Peace.