How would you feel?

Published on August 22, 2006 By Adventure-Dude In Religion

I know that there are many parents here on JU. I would be interested in hearing your viewpoint.

You as a parent raise your son the best that you can. Your son accepts your faith and later lives by similar convictions as your faith (or religion). Your son is a good man being kind to others and standing up for the poor and for the oppressed but as a young adult your son is falsely accused of a crime he did not commit. His sentence? To be burned in a cage. After this tragic event you see his friends and family wearing lil necklaces of a burning cage in honor of him. Would you feel that they are honoring him by carrying around the very tool of punishment that KILLED your son? How would you feel if it were you that were killed this way and you see many bowing down in front of the tool that was used to kill YOU? Have you ever thought about this when you look at the cross?

Comments (Page 1)

AngelaMarie88

on Aug 22, 2006

Yeah I'd be sickened if everyone were wearing a symbol of my son's death.

I know a worldwide church of Jesus Christ that doesn't display the cross -- ever. Unless in a reverent painting depicting the events on the hill the day he was crucified.

But they believe in Christ, teach of Christ, and strive to live by his teachings. People have asked how they can profess to belive in Jesus Christ without bearing the sign of the cross, and the general answer is that the love of our Savior is shown through our faith and good deeds.

I admit whenever I see the cross it makes me sad. Happy for the person wearing it (their faith, outward signs of devotion), but sad for the origin of the symbol in general.

Dr Guy

on Aug 22, 2006

There would be no Christianity without Judas and the Cross.

Shovelheat

on Aug 22, 2006

Lenny Bruce kinda posed the same question once: If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.

If my son died to save the world, I guess his means of death displayed for all time would be as good a symbol as any. And besides that, I don't care much for those metal fish thingys on the trunk lids of cars...

SanChonino

on Aug 22, 2006

People have asked how they can profess to belive in Jesus Christ without bearing the sign of the cross, and the general answer is that the love of our Savior is shown through our faith and good deeds.

Hey you sly girl! That's my church, too!

And besides that, I don't care much for those metal fish thingys on the trunk lids of cars...

Yeah, they just give me the gibblets. Or the willies. Or maybe a bit of both.

Adventure-Dude

on Aug 22, 2006

There would be no Christianity without Judas and the Cross.

But if something like this happened to your child how would you feel about them caring around a replica of the tool?

foreverserenity

on Aug 22, 2006

If my son died to save the world, I guess his means of death displayed for all time would be as good a symbol as any....

Shovel said it well for me.

Adventure-Dude

on Aug 22, 2006

I know a worldwide church of Jesus Christ that doesn't display the cross -- ever

Yes I have heard of this group. They have a large congregation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Thanks for your comment Angela.

Adventure-Dude

on Aug 22, 2006

it's symbology (of the ultimate sacrifice) has by far transcended the original purpose of the cross as an execution device.

Yes, I understand it's symbology but if you were a lay person and had no clue of this symbol would you not think they were glorifying the object that killed him vs significance of his death? Does it then just become a conversation piece?

Adventure-Dude

on Aug 22, 2006

Thanks Shovel and Forever for your comments.

AngelaMarie88

on Aug 22, 2006

They have a large congregation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Huh?

Adventure-Dude

on Aug 22, 2006

Huh?

You mentioned the Church of Jesus Christ. I said oh yeah I have heard of them. They have a large congregation in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (central Asia).

Dr Guy

on Aug 22, 2006

But if something like this happened to your child how would you feel about them caring around a replica of the tool?

The question is impossible to answer. I am not God.

Besides, the cross was not the tool. It was the method. The tool was the fear and hypocrisy of the day. The method is remembered so that it never happens again. But I dont think that is working.

Nevertheless, I cannot answer the question as I have not lost a son, and I am not the father of the Savior. What ifs are fun, but until you have been there, they are really meaningless. What if you had a son?

You can imagine, but you cannot know until you do.

Post WWII Jews did not hide their Tattoos. They displayed them to the younger generation in hopes it would never happen again. Perhaps I would want this display for the same reason. I dont know.

Jythier

on Aug 22, 2006

I'd rather he be remembered than not... I would tear up every time I saw it.

Trudygolightly

on Aug 22, 2006

I think it's ONE thing if one's son is accused of something he didn't do and is burned in a cage and people wear lil cages to honor him,

And totally another thing if we wear a cross that symbolizes that Christ died on the cross for us.

In the first scenario you're talking about a human being, not Christ.

While I don't know much about religion, I get it that there's a big difference between these two situations.
Enuf said

Tova7

on Aug 22, 2006

I wouldn't be around to see it....I'd go into search and destroy mode on all those who murdered my son...

But then, he's not God who can get His own justice.

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