Crucifix

David Waffen said:

I don't think you got my post. I think religious items are perfectly fine, they are not idols. An idol can be a TV, a crucifix is not.

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I agree.

David Waffen said:

I don't think you got my post. I think religious items are perfectly fine, they are not idols. An idol can be a TV, a crucifix is not.

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To be honest, everything after the first paragraph was for the OP. I just got lazy/busy and didn't label it. Sorry!

But I think generally you are right. Anything could become an idol. But I don't think most half-decently educated Christians are in danger of idolatry - well, of religious icons, anyway.

the commandment rightly understood states we must not make not just with our hands but with our mind also any image or likeness of God - it seems most Christians construct an image of God with their minds - twinc

twinc said:

the commandment rightly understood states we must not make not just with our hands but with our mind also any image or likeness of God - it seems most Christians construct an image of God with their minds - twinc

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It would depend on the individual's image of God, How we construct him in our minds and how our minds percieve him.
Is that not a form of idolatry too?
We idolise that which we imagine, because nobody can know what God looks like.

godenver1 said:

No. I listened to a Lutheran pastor talk about the theological aspect, I'm not too worried about that now.


It's not so much the crucifix that I think is idolatry, but that I'm buying because I think it may aid me into more pure thought, however, I want to be sure that's because it is reminding of Christ and not that I'm attributing divine power to the actual crucifix. Am I reading too much into this?

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I think you are reading a bit too much into this. Anything that reminds us of God's grace encourages devotion. If your mind is wondering and you see a cross, crucifix, icon or statue that causes us to think about faith is a good thing. Here in Canada, it is not uncommon to see Mennonite and reformed protestants putting up signs with a Scripture verse on it; these serve the same purpose.

Get your crucifix and worry not about it nor what others might think.

God bless.

Thanks again guys.

About The Bible Alone quotes on the cross:


John 3, 14 - 15

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up :
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have eternal life.

In México we have a tradition, the workers of construction celebrate the Day of the Holy Cross, May 3rd, one of the most deep devotions in the catholics of México. Masses and festivals are made and a Cross with natural flowers or Paper flowers is put in the place of construction, the day of the Holy Cross is the Day of the Builders, the day when they celebrate their office:







The Crosses use to stand in the constructions for all the time it takes to build them. It is a kind of Consecration of the Building and of the Workers to the care of Lord Jesus who builds his Church with us, living stones.

As to a crucifix being a "reminder" and meditating on His suffering for our sins, it has been noted that the crucified Christ might be more appropriate today in a world that has lost its sense of sin. It's a stark reminder of the horror of sin.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once noted, Christ's blood is the ink and His skin the parchment on which was written the awful litany of sin. The crown of thorns reminds us of all our evil thoughts and desires--the sins of pride, lust, envy, hatred, anger, prejudice, betrayal; the open wounds from the scourging of the numerous sins of the flesh--impurity, drunkenness, drug abuse, gluttony, sloth; the nails in the hands and feet of the times when those bodily members have led us to sins of theft, murder, violence, reckless driving, vandalism; and the stab wound that pierced His heart of the many times that we have turned our hearts away from Him.

Sitswithamouse said:

It would depend on the individual's image of God, How we construct him in our minds and how our minds percieve him.
Is that not a form of idolatry too?
We idolise that which we imagine, because nobody can know what God looks like.

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From Your comment,

"We idolise that which we imagine, because nobody can know what God looks like."

This affirmation is not true:

John 14, 7 - 9

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

From the incarnation of the Logos, God took a form to which we could refer, and he took the form of a man, He incarnated as a man, and gave face to God. Since then the Clause of the Deuteronomy has been overruled:

Deuteronomy 4, 15 - 20

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
20 But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.



So the command in Deuteronomy 4,16 had a clause in Deuteronomy 4,15, and that clause was overruled by the quote of John 14, 7

Alonso_Castillo said:

About The Bible Alone quotes on the cross:


John 3, 14 - 15

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up :
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish , but have eternal life.

In México we have a tradition, the workers of construction celebrate the Day of the Holy Cross, May 3rd, one of the most deep devotions in the catholics of México. Masses and festivals are made and a Cross with natural flowers or Paper flowers is put in the place of construction, the day of the Holy Cross is the Day of the Builders, the day when they celebrate their office:

The Crosses use to stand in the constructions for all the time it takes to build them. It is a kind of Consecration of the Building and of the Workers to the care of Lord Jesus who builds his Church with us, living stones.

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Very interesting; My 3rd. In the LCMS Holy Cross day is Sept. 14.