Decorative crosses make me uncomfortable?

[KitKatMatt]

Am I the only one who feels this way? It sort of seems like it

Crosses are everywhere. They're fancified, they're elaborate, they're covered in fake stones and colored and put on purses and shirts and walls and cars. My grandma and everyone I know has at least six or eight of them decorating one wall of the house with several scattered about in other places.

They symbolize Christ's death and the price he paid for our sins.

But... I don't like them. I understand what they symbolize (freedom from sins/Christ's sacrifice), but I also know what else they symbolize (torture of not only Jesus but the many other humans put to death).

I've always felt uncomfortable seeing crosses, especially decorative ones, but I never knew why. Then a few weeks ago, during a Sunday School lesson, a little thing tipped me off about why I felt this way. Our teacher was taking quotes from a lesson she had heard online and said "No one ever used the cross as a decoration until the last man who saw them used had died".

It helps to finally have figured out why I feel this way, but I don't know if I'm the only one. What do you guys think?

 

[forest flower]

I feel very similar, I don't mind plain ones on believers but decorated ones are a little unsettling. However I most hate any Christian symbol being misused by unbelievers, including Catholic saint bracelets and crosses. To me it's like misusing His name.

I have a purple goldstone heart that I keep in my pocket or handbag as a reminder that He who made the stars loves me and is near.

 

[KitKatMatt]

I feel very similar, I don't mind plain ones on believers but decorated ones are a little unsettling. However I most hate any Christian symbol being misused by unbelievers, including Catholic saint bracelets and crosses. To me it's like misusing His name.

I have a purple goldstone heart that I keep in my pocket or handbag as a reminder that He who made the stars loves me and is near.

That's a very pretty stone! I like reminders like that

It doesn't bother me when crosses and other items are used as a sort of reminder or are treated with respect, but when they're all dolled up to look fancy and stuff it just... eeeh kinda skeeves me out. Like it's romanticizing something horrible (the torture and death part, not the sacrifice/saving part).

Glad to hear I'm not alone though

 

[Gnarwhal]

Am I the only one who feels this way? It sort of seems like it

Crosses are everywhere. They're fancified, they're elaborate, they're covered in fake stones and colored and put on purses and shirts and walls and cars. My grandma and everyone I know has at least six or eight of them decorating one wall of the house with several scattered about in other places.

They symbolize Christ's death and the price he paid for our sins.

But... I don't like them. I understand what they symbolize (freedom from sins/Christ's sacrifice), but I also know what else they symbolize (torture of not only Jesus but the many other humans put to death).

I've always felt uncomfortable seeing crosses, especially decorative ones, but I never knew why. Then a few weeks ago, during a Sunday School lesson, a little thing tipped me off about why I felt this way. Our teacher was taking quotes from a lesson she had heard online and said "No one ever used the cross as a decoration until the last man who saw them used had died".

It helps to finally have figured out why I feel this way, but I don't know if I'm the only one. What do you guys think?

I don't care for them just being used as bling jewelry, but if I see a pious Christian or a clergyman wearing one it doesn't faze me at all.

 

[Standing_Ultraviolet]

I don't care for them just being used as bling jewelry, but if I see a pious Christian or a clergyman wearing one it doesn't faze me at all.

Pretty much this. I'm obviously non-religious, but when a cross is being used as a religious symbol with the intention of displaying the value of faith in a person's life, it doesn't bother me. It's easy to see it as reflecting the importance that individual's beliefs have for him or her, and decorating it is meant to convey the beauty of self-sacrificing love (although there is something odd about the idea of decorating a torture device, you're right).

When someone's just throwing it around like it's a pretty necklace, though, that's a little more "nope". I can easily see that being offensive to someone.

 

[freezerman2000]

Pretty much this. I'm obviously non-religious, but when a cross is being used as a religious symbol with the intention of displaying the value of faith in a person's life, it doesn't bother me. It's easy to see it as reflecting the importance that individual's beliefs have for him or her, and decorating it is meant to convey the beauty of self-sacrificing love (although there is something odd about the idea of decorating a torture device, you're right).

When someone's just throwing it around like it's a pretty necklace, though, that's a little more "nope". I can easily see that being offensive to someone.

same here.(except for the part about being non-religious)