Why are Protestants opposed to Crucifixes?

[AgnosTheist]

he loved us enough to die for us.

thats really nothing for a god. if anything the entire experience was more like a roller coaster ride for an allpowerful immortal. it had its scares & thrills. the ultimate role-playing fantasy fit for a god.

 

[AgnosTheist]

That doesn’t make sense… An image of the cross, with or without Christ, is still an IMAGE… so wouldn’t they, by having a cross on their meetinghouses, be committing the idolatry they accuse Catholics with, albeit with a cross-image, instead of a crucifix-image?

perhaps it had more to do with the risks involved. if its just a cross its easy to ignore as a plain symbol. if it had a jesus in it, theres a risk of ending up worshipping it.

 

[allischalmers]

And Catholics aren’t?

In order to understand this, you must realize that it was Christ’s death on the cross that saved us, not His resurrection.

Pace e Bene
Andrew

The Lord’s resurrection is a very important part of our salvation.

1Cor, 15:17 but if Christ had not been raised your faith is in vain

 

[Metaron]

thats really nothing for a god. if anything the entire experience was more like a roller coaster ride for an allpowerful immortal. it had its scares & thrills. the ultimate role-playing fantasy fit for a god.

Actually, I don’t know how you know what it’s like to be a god or God, but if I had gone throughout eternity in sublimity, and then was suddenly reduced to a mere human being, and then had to go through the horrible sensation of suffering and pain, which I had never experienced before, it would be more like “horrific” than a “rollercoaster”.

 

[AgnosTheist]

if I had gone throughout eternity in sublimity, and then was suddenly reduced to a mere human being, and then had to go through the horrible sensation of suffering and pain, which I had never experienced before, it would be more like “horrific” than a “rollercoaster”.

^ That is only true if you think the transition is PERMANENT. But if its only temperorary you might appreciate the experience.

 

[Hellisreal]

perhaps it had more to do with the risks involved. if its just a cross its easy to ignore as a plain symbol. if it had a jesus in it, theres a risk of ending up worshipping it.

This is Calvin’s ideology at play. The denial of the incarnation at work.

There can be no idolatry of images of Christ- as he came in human form to us in the incarnation.

The evils of Calvins theology have mislead many rational people into confusion over a very SIMPLE matter.

Thus- the arrogant proclamations that Icons are Idolatry as well.

There is always chance for the ignorant to abuse this-

But as I think it was Augustine who said it-

Abuse does NOT negate USE

 

[kentuckyliz]

if its just a cross its easy to ignore as a plain symbol.

I agree. A plain cross isn’t necessarily Christian. There were thousands of people crucified by the Romans, sometimes for horrible crimes like murder. Who knows? If you wear a plain cross, maybe it’s a murderer’s cross who justly received the death penalty although inhumanely administered.

For a plain cross to have a “resurrected Jesus” message, it would at least have to have bloodstains, nail holes, and the INRI sign posted on it to know it’s Jesus’ cross.

Jesus on the Cross in the crucifix is a much more powerful symbol to stick in the world’s face. I guess that’s why it has power as an object used in exorcism but plain crosses don’t. The Debbil is one smart cookie.

 

[qui_est_ce]

The Lord’s resurrection is a very important part of our salvation.

1Cor, 15:17 but if Christ had not been raised your faith is in vain

Yes, but it is the blood of Christ on the Cross which washes away our sins. It is by His death on the Cross that we are saved.

 

[qui_est_ce]

As Catholics we celebrate at Mass His passion, death and resurrection. It is a mistake to try to separate the Paschal Mystery.

This says it all “Dying you destroyed death, rising you restored life, Lord Jesus come in Glory.”

Protestant churches (Lutheran) in Europe have crucifixes in them. The cross wo corpus is an American phenomenon.

The roots of the United States are founded in antiCatholicism. There is much less antipathy between Protestants and Catholics in Europe that in the US.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Many of my Protestant friends say “but, he is not ON the cross anymore! He is risen”

I think it started by Reformers just not wanting to be “Romish”.

I presume then that they also use an empty manger in the Nativity Scene.

 

[AgnosTheist]

I agree. A plain cross isn’t necessarily Christian.

Jesus on the Cross in the crucifix is a much more powerful symbol to stick in the world’s face. I guess that’s why it has power as an object used in exorcism but plain crosses don’t. The Debbil is one smart cookie.

catholics use a lot plain crosses too. even on top of catholic church buildings. i’m sure its pretty much for the same reasons as protestants.

 

[Brian_C]

I was always told it was idolatrous by my fellow Baptists. The only place I ever saw pics of Jesus was in illustrations used in Sunday School classes.

 

[allischalmers]

Yes, but it is the blood of Christ on the Cross which washes away our sins. It is by His death on the Cross that we are saved.

Glad that you said that ! You must believe then that it is not baptisim that saves us

 

[water]

Glad that you said that ! You must believe then that it is not baptisim that saves us

I wish the Bible were that simple - one verse would say it all.

 

[Metaron]

Yeah! Having a crucifix and saying that it means we believe Christ is not ressurected is like saying showing him in the manger (Both Catholics and Protestants do this) is saying he’s still a baby!

If a lot of Protestants have no objection to having baby Jesus in a manger, then why do they say having a crucifix is wrong?

 

[AgnosTheist]

If a lot of Protestants have no objection to having baby Jesus in a manger, then why do they say having a crucifix is wrong?

its pretty obvious, protestants say crucifixes are wrong because they see catholics kissing, kneeling and praying to it.

 

[Wholly_Spirit]

I find among my Protestant friends that the reason they prefer the empty cross is because…the crucifix denotes Catholicism. This is a throw back to the beginning of the “Revolution” when all things Catholic were destroyed. The one icon they could live with, though, was the empty cross because…Christ shouldn’t be on the cross…He has risen. That’s the best they could do for a reason, nevermind that the most important thing that Jesus did for us was to offer himself as a living sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins.

The cross, whether it’s empty or not, represents His sacrifice “for” the forgiveness of our sins, but Protestants have changed the representation “as” a forgiveness of our sins. With Catholics His sacrifice is ongoing and eternal, whereas with Protestants His sacrifice was a one time occurence, which then leads to “once saved always saved”

 

[Metaron]

its pretty obvious, protestants say crucifixes are wrong because they see catholics kissing, kneeling and praying to it.

Well, for one, Catholics don’t pray to statues, as anyone with the most basic knowledge of Catholicism knows, nor do we kneel “to” the crucifix (actually toward the altar, just like the priest and the Levites knelt toward the Holy of Holies.) And as far as the “kissing” goes, I see nothing idolotrous about it. I kiss my loved ones, does that mean I worship them too? I don’t think so!

Even so (Back to the manger comment) They could just have crucifixes, just like they have mangers at Christmas time, and just not “kiss, kneel, and pray to” them.

 

[Frost]

I’ve always wondered why Protestants always have an empty cross instead of an image of the crucifix, even though Saint Paul said, “…We preach Christ crucfied…” Even Lutherans I thought had crucifixes.

We Lutherans do have crucifixes. We have nothing against it, we were them as necklaces and we place them in our churches.

Some say that the cross emphasizes the ressurection, but the cross to me represents the crucifixion, without going into the gory details like the crucifix. Besides, there was a symbolic “crucifix” in the Bible, a serpent on a cross-shaped pole that Moses made for people to look to and be saved from snake-poison. Does anyone know if they have any ligitimate objection to the crucifix?

Symbolically, the crucifix traditionally represents the crucifixion, while the empty cross represents the Lord who has risen from the dead and are not on the cross any more. At the same time, the cross does represents the crucifixion.

 

[CB_Catholic]

My Freewill Baptist daughter-in-law’s mother wears a crucifix, and she doesn’t care what her church friends say. She says it means more to have the corpus on the cross. And I’m jealous of her crucifix–it’s bigger and prettier than mine.

BTW, for those who don’t know what a Freewill Baptist is–according to my DIL, they are Baptists who don’t believe in OSAS. Hence the name “Freewill”. I found that to be interesting–a Baptist who doesn’t believe in OSAS AND wears a crucifix!