Thoughts on "the cross"

"...Why the sudden and emotional attachment to the "cross," the emblem of Christ's sufferings and death, on the part of the leadership of the Worldwide Church of God? This distinctive "about-face" in theology to the embracing of the "Christian cross" and commandment to "remember the cross" itself, whenever troubles come, or whenever sins overpower you or threaten you, instead of emphasis on thinking on CHRIST HIMSELF, AND KEEPING OUR EYES FIGURATIVELY ON HIM, smacks of traditional Catholic doctrine and "cross worship" !

Nowhere in the New Testament do the apostles ever tell us, "Remember the cross!" The apostle Paul himself says rather we should be "Looking unto JESUS, the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the SHAME, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For CONSIDER HIM [not the "cross"!] that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds" Hebrews 12:2-3).

To remember the CROSS, and to think on it, instead of Christ -- is nothing less than the worship of the lifeless item itself -- in other words, NOTHING LESS THAN MODERN IDOLATRY!

What Must We Remember?
In the first and second commandments, Almighty God commands, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee ANY GRAVEN IMAGE, or any LIKENESS OF ANY THING that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not BOW DOWN thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me . . ." (Exodus 20:3-5).

Notice! God condemns the creation of any "graven image" of "anything" as an item of WORSHIP! To use the cross, therefore, as an item of worship, to loving finger it, hold it, to use it in worship, to spend time thinking of it INSTEAD OF JESUS CHRIST OR GOD ALMIGHTY HIMSELF, is an act of blatant IDOLATRY and a clear breaking of the commandments of GOD!

Rather than remember a lifeless object like the "cross," which has no power at all to deliver anybody from anything, but is an act of IDOLATRY, God tells us in His Word the things we should REALLY "remember," and keep in our minds!

Notice! God says,
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of THEM when thou sit test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a SIGN upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deu 6:4-9).

God commands us to "REMEMBER all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a WHORING: that ye REMEMBER, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God" (Numbers 15:39-40).

Instead of "remember the cross," which is a form of idolatry, God commands us to "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD"! God also commands us to remember how He delivered our ancestors out of Egypt, the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and how He intervened and rescued and provided for our forefathers in the wilderness (Exodus Exo 13:3; Deu 5:15; 7:18; 8:2).

God warns us not to forget these things -- they are crucial to our salvation and overcoming!

In the book of Deuteronomy, God thunders in warning to each and every one of us :
"And thou shalt REMEMBER the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live" (Deu 8:2-3).

"But thou shalt REMEMBER the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant." (Deu 8:18).

The prophet Malachi, in the last book of the Old Testament, also tells us what we should remember -- and it most certainly is NOT the "cross"! God says through this prophet,

"REMEMBER YE THE LAW of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the STATUTES AND JUDGEMENTS" (Malachi 4:4).

The central theme throughout the Bible of what we are to remember, and keep in mind, is the LAW OF GOD, and GOD HIMSELF and what He has done for us! Nowhere does God tell us to "remember the cross." That is a pagan, heathen idea that has somehow wormed its way into the professing worldwide "Christian" church, including now the Worldwide Church of God!

When the apostle Paul, in the New Testament, tells us what to "remember," he says, further, "REMEMBER THAT JESUS CHRIST of the seed of David was RAISED FROM THE DEAD according to my gospel" (2Ti 2:8).

We should also, therefore, REMEMBER CHRIST, and what He accomplished for us, paying the penalty for our sins, and remember that He now sits at the right hand of God in heaven, as our eternal High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us! (Hebrews 4:14-16; Heb 7:24-25).

But the cross, on the other hand, has a distinctly pagan origin and history, and certainly is NOTHING that a true Christian and servant of the living God would want to be associated with, love, adore, worship, remember, or keep in mind, as an object! It is an IDOL! It is an object of SHAME, derision, and horror --not something we are to focus our attention on, or "remember" in times of crises, trial, or trouble! In the New Testament, the cross is nowhere regarded as an instrument or emblem of worship or adoration, nor does it have any power in itself to do good or evil. Theologically, the word stauros, "stake," or "cross," simply was used on occasion as a summary description of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and salvation, made possible by Jesus' death on the stake for us and for all mankind. We don't focus on human words of wisdom, "lest the cross [stauros] of Christ should be made of none effect" (1Co 1:17).

When Paul speaks of "the preaching of the cross" (verse 18), he is referring to the preaching of the entire Gospel, summarized by the "stake," as it is central to the theme of salvation, Christ's death being pivotal in the process. When Paul preached the "cross," he explained what he meant: "But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God" (1Co 1:23-24).

Notice! God says,
"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of THEM when thou sit test in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a SIGN upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deu 6:4-9).

God commands us to "REMEMBER all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a WHORING: that ye REMEMBER, and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God" (Numbers 15:39-40).

Instead of "remember the cross," which is a form of idolatry, God commands us to "REMEMBER ALL THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD"! God also commands us to remember how He delivered our ancestors out of Egypt, the first Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread, and how He intervened and rescued and provided for our forefathers in the wilderness (Exodus Exo 13:3; Deu 5:15; 7:18; 8:2)."

Where did the custom of crucifixes, crosses, and wearing jewellery of crosses originate? Does it trace back to early Christians and the stake upon which Christ was crucified? Or does its origin go much further back into ancient pagan customs of the heathen?

by William F. Dankenbring