The Sign of the Cross

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tGette

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This thread is for Christians who DO NOT sign the cross.

If you do not know…tisk, tisk…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

With the hand signing the cross from forehead, to torso, to shoulder to opposing shoulder.

I really hope everyone already knows what I am talking about…lol!

Anyways:

Why do you not sign the cross?
Theological reasons? Any explanation really…

For me…it is a very reverant thing to do. Aside from helping us remember our baptism…I love it because it is that constant reminder of the nature of God.

So when I sign, it helps me enter into prayer by first stating the nature of God and it gives me a brief meditation of the cross which our Lord died on.

Thanks!
 
:confused:
Ive not heard of any Christians (Catholic, Orthodox etc) not using the sign of the cross…
 
dolphinlove said:
:confused:
Ive not heard of any Christians (Catholic, Orthodox etc) not using the sign of the cross…
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Maybe I should have better clarified…(once again…lol)

I would hope Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglicans at least do it.

I was referring to any Protestant Christians who do not have it as part of their faith.

Sorry for not being specific enough.
 
Jesus came down from heaven (your finger goes from the top of your forehead down to your abdomen, you think of him coming down from heaven)
then the left must be the time of trial and temptation, suffering, ect…
Then the right- Jesus is at the right hand side of the Father.
We remember the cross, and other aspects of the life of Jesus this way. At least thats how I think of it when I cross myself.
Meanwhile thinking, Father Son Holy Spirit also.
I may be wrong but I think every christian should do the sign of the cross, and not be ashamed to.
 
notsmart said:
Jesus came down from heaven (your finger goes from the top of your forehead down to your abdomen, you think of him coming down from heaven)
then the left must be the time of trial and temptation, suffering, ect…
Then the right- Jesus is at the right hand side of the Father.
We remember the cross, and other aspects of the life of Jesus this way. At least thats how I think of it when I cross myself.
Meanwhile thinking, Father Son Holy Spirit also.
I may be wrong but I think every christian should do the sign of the cross, and not be ashamed to.
Click to expand...
Love it!!!
 
For unto us who are saved it is the power of God…

I was probably at my teenage years when I started making the sign of a cross to my self.
Before leaving the house, before taking my foot off the brake pedal, before my plane flies, before I lie down to sleep. It’s been my ‘mannerism’ till now.
I couldn’t remember how many times already but even when I’ve had bad dreams that I couldn’t move, I woke up instantaneously after I make a sign of the cross in my dreams.
In public, sometimes I just trace a small cross on my forehead.:signofcross:
 
I was referring to any Protestant Christians who do not have it as part of their faith.

Lutherans and Russian Baptists do it frequently.
 
bpbasilphx said:
I was referring to any Protestant Christians who do not have it as part of their faith.

Lutherans and Russian Baptists do it frequently.
Click to expand...
Russian Baptists? Wow, that’s one I’ve never heard of.
 
tGette said:
This thread is for Christians who DO NOT sign the cross.

If you do not know…tisk, tisk…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

With the hand signing the cross from forehead, to torso, to shoulder to opposing shoulder.

I really hope everyone already knows what I am talking about…lol!

Anyways:

Why do you not sign the cross?
Theological reasons? Any explanation really…

For me…it is a very reverant thing to do. Aside from helping us remember our baptism…I love it because it is that constant reminder of the nature of God.

So when I sign, it helps me enter into prayer by first stating the nature of God and it gives me a brief meditation of the cross which our Lord died on.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Many Life long Lutherans do use the sign of the Cross. I attend a lutheran Church and a number of people do the sign of the cross after the Eucharist.
 
‘I just fail to see why so many Catholics think that they are the only ones who have salvation.’

that is not true. Catholics do not believe this.

And, I don’t know how you can support your comment that catholics treat other christians like heathens. When they accept their baptism as valid, how is that treating them like heathens?:confused:
 
Russian Baptists? Wow, that’s one I’ve never heard of.

**Yes, there are Baptists in Russia.

There are also Ukrainian Lutherans who use a very protestantized version of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.**
 
bpbasilphx said:
Russian Baptists? Wow, that’s one I’ve never heard of.

**Yes, there are Baptists in Russia.

There are also Ukrainian Lutherans who use a very protestantized version of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.**
Click to expand...
Well, I knew they probably had them in Russia. But didn’t know they were so distinct as to practice the sign of the cross.
 
When I was a Baptist we never, ever made the Sign of the Cross at any kind of worship service. It was not taught as a good or bad thing. It was just never mentioned or practiced. That said, when I made a trip to Paris back in my Navy days I was able to stop by Notre Dame and for some reason when I walked into Notre Dame I – a non-Catholic – had a strong urge to light a candle, say, a prayer, and make the sign of the cross. I remember thinking later how odd it was that I would do such a thing and I’ve never forgotten that little event.

I guess the writing was on the wall that ~ 10 years later I would enter the Catholic Church.
 
notsmart said:
Jesus came down from heaven (your finger goes from the top of your forehead down to your abdomen, you think of him coming down from heaven)
then the left must be the time of trial and temptation, suffering, ect…
Then the right- Jesus is at the right hand side of the Father.
We remember the cross, and other aspects of the life of Jesus this way. At least thats how I think of it when I cross myself.
Meanwhile thinking, Father Son Holy Spirit also.
I may be wrong but I think every christian should do the sign of the cross, and not be ashamed to.
Click to expand...
I was a very bold bible only Christian for 17 years. I was never embarrassed to do or say anything profoundly Christian. But when I began my conversion or reversion back to Catholicism, even though I believed it to be true, I was embarrassed to be marked by others as “that darned Catholic”…not to be confused with the movie “That Darned Cat”. 😃

It was very difficult. Part of my own self-imposed penance for ever having left the Church was doing everything so Catholic that it got on Protestan’ts nerves…particularly anti-Catholic’s around me. I where my cross openly around my neck to show my faith. I pull out my rosary from time to time to pronounce my faith in God and my devotion to the Blessed Mother…my mother…that’s a real long story too getting past the fear factor of whether or not God would strike me dead for praying through the Blessed Mother.

Even the sign of the cross felt really embarrassing at first. I worked at it until now I cross myself in public before meals again. I transform more each day. My former anti-Catholic wife signs herself all the time now…without even seeming to think about it. Visiting MIL is going to really be interesting in the near future because even my children sign themselves for bedtime prayers. Meemaw will croak…that is because she’s the wife of a Protestant bishop.
 
notsmart said:
Jesus came down from heaven (your finger goes from the top of your forehead down to your abdomen, you think of him coming down from heaven)
then the left must be the time of trial and temptation, suffering, ect…
Then the right- Jesus is at the right hand side of the Father.
We remember the cross, and other aspects of the life of Jesus this way. At least thats how I think of it when I cross myself.
Meanwhile thinking, Father Son Holy Spirit also.
I may be wrong but I think every christian should do the sign of the cross, and not be ashamed to.
Click to expand...
I like this. This is nice. 🙂 I taught my dd that one of the reasons we make the sign of the cross is to remind ourselves of the greatest commandment that God gave us. That we are to love the Lord our God with

All our mind (touch forehead),
all our heart (touch chest),
and all our strength (touch shoulders).

Which will naturally remind you of the second greatest commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself.

I also can not understand why any Christian would have a problem with the sign of the cross. It is something that should naturally remind you of Jesus and isn’t that a good thing?
 
Next time to sign yourself, put your thumb, index finger and middle finger together to represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the same time bend your ring finger and little pinky to your palm for the hypostatic union of Christ…Both Divine and Human natures of Christ. This is the Orhtodox and Eastern Catholic way. This is what I do out of habit now.
 
vocatio said:
Next time to sign yourself, put your thumb, index finger and middle finger together to represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At the same time bend your ring finger and little pinky to your palm for the hypostatic union of Christ…Both Divine and Human natures of Christ. This is the Orhtodox and Eastern Catholic way. This is what I do out of habit now.
Click to expand...
My hand naturally went to that position when I first began making the Sign of the Cross. I was thrilled to find out it meant something! 👍
 
Just out of curiosity is there anything out of scripture that tells us to make the sign of a cross or is this just done out of tradition?
 
Sublime_Prince said:
Just out of curiosity is there anything out of scripture that tells us to make the sign of a cross or is this just done out of tradition?
Click to expand...
Good question. I dont think anything was mentioned about it in scripture because I dont think any of them expected it would be long before He came again.

The rest, who lived who were taught by those who were actually there- who saw him on the Cross- Like Mary, John, and others… maybe they showed this reverence and passed it down to all others to us to this day.

Cant say they did not. they had no commision to write about anything. And the bible only tells us about what we need to know about salvation. Not all liturgy as we have today ,all music, all devotionals, and so many other things.
 
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