If Jesus was hanged...

Fighting Irish

...would we all be going around wearing noose necklaces instead of cross necklaces?

Serious question

wolfsbane

Fighting Irish wrote: »

...would we all be going around wearing noose necklaces instead of cross necklaces?

Serious question

He wouldn't have been the Messiah then, and who would have remembered Him?
Psalm 22:

16 For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
17 I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
18 They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots.

Fanny Cradock

Do all Christians go around wearing crosses? Not sure of the point of this question.

Genghiz Cohen

Might be that it's glorifying a horrendous way to die.... (?)
The noose, take one look and you know what it means.
The cross, as an implement of torture, should it be as well known as it is?

(pretty poor questions, I'm trying to decode the OP :P)

PDN

AFAIK the Cross was not widely used as a symbol of Christianity until after it was abolished as a form of execution in the Roman Empire. The reason it was abolished was out of respect for Christ's memory.

In the earliest days of Christianity the common symbol was that of a fish. The Greek word for fish, ichthus, is an acronym for Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ ͑Υιός, Σωτήρ (Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour).

Glenster

Yes, serious answer.

I also looked into my crystal ball and saw that if Hitler had won World War Two the banking crisis would never have happened.

Soul Winner

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

Might be that it's glorifying a horrendous way to die.... (?)
The noose, take one look and you know what it means.
The cross, as an implement of torture, should it be as well known as it is?

(pretty poor questions, I'm trying to decode the OP :P)

The cross was worshiped as a symbol in many different cultures long before Christianity came along. There is a constellation called Crux or the Southern Cross which is visible in the southern hemisphere which looks like the 'Tau' (T) letter in the Sun God Tamuz's Chaldean name. This is most likely where the cross worship stems from as the influence of the Babylonian Sun worship religion spread throughout most cultures of the world including Christianity. As PDN points out, the cross was never used as a symbol of worship by the early Christians. It came in hundreds of years later when Constantine made Christianity the state religion. More a victory for Satan than one for Christianity. The church got drunk on worldy power and still staggers around as a result and cross worshiping is but one of the practices that it has incorporated into itself from the heathen religions, there are many others.

toiletduck

Fighting Irish wrote: »

...would we all be going around wearing noose necklaces instead of cross necklaces?

Isn't that the opening act of Alpha courses? Oh, or was it electric chairs.

strobe

Soul Winner wrote: »

The cross was worshiped as a symbol in many different cultures long before Christianity came along. There is a constellation called Crux or the Southern Cross which is visible in the southern hemisphere which looks like the 'Tau' (T) letter in the Sun God Tamuz's Chaldean name. This is most likely where the cross worship stems from as the influence of the Babylonian Sun worship religion spread throughout most cultures of the world including Christianity. As PDN points out, the cross was never used as a symbol of worship by the early Christians. It came in hundreds of years later when Constantine made Christianity the state religion. More a victory for Satan than one for Christianity. The church got drunk on worldy power and still staggers around as a result and cross worshiping is but one of the practices that it has incorporated into itself from the heathen religions, there are many others.

Interesting stuff SW. Could you give anymore examples of heathen practices incorporated into Christianity?

getz

Soul Winner wrote: »

The cross was worshiped as a symbol in many different cultures long before Christianity came along. There is a constellation called Crux or the Southern Cross which is visible in the southern hemisphere which looks like the 'Tau' (T) letter in the Sun God Tamuz's Chaldean name. This is most likely where the cross worship stems from as the influence of the Babylonian Sun worship religion spread throughout most cultures of the world including Christianity. As PDN points out, the cross was never used as a symbol of worship by the early Christians. It came in hundreds of years later when Constantine made Christianity the state religion. More a victory for Satan than one for Christianity. The church got drunk on worldy power and still staggers around as a result and cross worshiping is but one of the practices that it has incorporated into itself from the heathen religions, there are many others.

the christain cross came from gaul[celtic speaking peoples] constantine who was from gaul used it in war , and then introduced it as a christain symbol ,there has never been any proof so far that christ was killed on a cross ,

prinz

Soul Winner wrote: »

The church got drunk on worldy power and still staggers around as a result and cross worshiping is but one of the practices that it has incorporated into itself from the heathen religions, there are many others.

I don't know of anyone who "worships" the cross.

Morbert

I don't see any issue with wearing the cross. It's presumably a reference to sacrifice, and not to a specific means of execution.

Slav

Fish was not the only symbol of the early Church. Another widely used one was Anchor (Heb 6:19); very often it had a crossbar like this:



Depicted this way it had strong connection with Cross. Even these days we can still see this connection between Cross and Anchor:




At the same time it wouldn't be correct to assume that the symbol of Cross on its own was not used until the 4th century. In fact it was one of the earliest (if not the earliest) Christians symbols. Bellow is Herculaneum Chapel, a small room without windows with an unusual 1 meter high wooden cabinet under a cross in a niche in the wall. This chapel pre-dates Vesuvius eruption in 79 AD:



Also, I think the St Paul used Cross as a symbol in many of his epistles, for example:

"But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 6:14)

"For Christ sent me not to baptise, but to preach the gospel — not in wisdom of words, so that the cross of Christ wouldn’t be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are dying, but to us who are saved it is the power of God." (1 Cor 1:17-18)

"wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross" (Col 2:14)

...and many others.


As for the OP question, yes, it can be seen as a serious question, I think. As far as I understand it, Christians would use a symbol of sword, guillotine, revolver, electric chair, syringe, whatever, same way they use the symbol of Cross. There is nothing special in the cross itself; what makes it special is Jesus Christ who made the instrument of death to become the instrument of eternal life:

"For he is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in the flesh the hostility, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man of the two, making peace; and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, having killed the hostility thereby." (Eph 2:14-16)

So I guess if Jesus was beheaded, for example, then it would be a small sword necklaces that some Christians would wear.

But it was Cross and probably for a reason.

Xluna

Fighting Irish wrote: »

...would we all be going around wearing noose necklaces instead of cross necklaces?

Serious question

I doubt it. The fish would probably have remained the Christian symbol. The cross was a universal spiritual symbol prior to Christianity,like the swatika, so it would resonate more with pagans of different tribes to help conversion. It made sense to prefer the cross as an official symbol over the fish. A noose has no universal spiritual meaning.

Soul Winner

strobe wrote: »

Interesting stuff SW. Could you give anymore examples of heathen practices incorporated into Christianity?

Yeah sure.

Lighting candles
Wearing fish-head type hats
Prayer beads
Holy Water
Christmas and Christmas trees
Worship of the Madonna and Child
Easter
Good Friday
Ash Wednesday

There's tonnes of the stuff...

All pagan in their origin having absolutely nothing to do with New Testament Christianity whatsoever. Their practice was grafted into the Church over centuries of the Church simply letting her guard down against such contaminations. These things are not unique to Christianity either, other faiths have their own fair share of en-grafted pagan rituals too.

Soul Winner

prinz wrote: »

I don't know of anyone who "worships" the cross.

OK then revere the cross. How's that?