Packer once addressed the issue of the crucifix, and addressed it well. The first problem with that statement is that Catholics are not worshipping the cross, they are worshipping Jesus on the cross. After all, they claim, Christ has been raised from the dead. I am a Catholic, and whenever I go to Mass, the crucifix is a pretty good reminder of what Jesus went through to clean me of my sins. The cross is for protestants to forget our Lord's sacrifice. Whatever Constantine’s motives, the cross had nothing to do with Jesus Christ. Crucifixes have long been a fixture in Roman Catholic worship. I am just wondering, I don't mean to offend anyone. Some christians do not want to have a carving f Jesus on the cross as they fel it is idol worship. The cross was an awful instrument of torture. They tend to focus on the resurrection and don't want to think about how our Lord suffered for them because then they would have to truly examine their … A Protestant pastor in Japan told a group of students on a field trip to his church about the difference between Catholics and Protestants: “Catholics have crucifixes because they emphasize the death of Jesus; Protestants have empty crosses because they emphasize his Resurrection.” Odious. Are they right? J.I. You are making it an idol! Protestants often are deeply uncomfortable with Catholic devotion to the crucifix, a sacramental that depicts the corpus (body) of Christ on his cross. The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “The cross is found in both pre-Christian and non-Christian cultures.” Various other authorities have linked the cross … It’s not surprising the crucifix offends many Protestants if they see it as an attempt to keep Jesus on the cross and to keep from Christians the benefits of the resurrection. Today, the cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. They don't like to think about sad things. Why do Catholics worship a cross? But he … Why do Protestants use a cross, instead of a Crucifix? Second, Protestants see the image of Christ on the cross as a violation of the command to make no graven image. It was not always so. It is not something to be revered. But in the past few years I have begun to see more and more Protestants wearing them as well, exchanging their empty cross for one that contains an image of the suffering Savior. But what they see when they look at a crucifix is not what I see, nor what Catholics through the centuries have seen. The Reformers were big on this. They want to know why Catholics don’t simply have empty crosses in their churches, as is the custom in many Protestant churches. I knew what the Protestants were thinking — I used to think the same — “CATHOLICS ARE WRONG, JESUS IS NO LONGER ON THE CROSS, HE HAS RISEN FROM THE DEAD AND IS IN HEAVEN.” Of course they think Catholics are wrong to keep Jesus on the cross as though he had not risen and ascended into heaven. So why don't Protestants have one up? Well, YES and NO. In this blog posting I will be discussing: (1) the origins of this practice, (2) why many Protestants do not cross themselves, (3) what this gesture means for Orthodox Christians, and (4) the significance of the recent interest among Protestants in this ancient Christian practice. The cross is, in fact, pagan in origin. Protestants now utilize plain crosses in their “churches,” on their walls, and around their necks, just as they have pictures of Jesus (always with soft skin and melodrama) on their walls. In the early centuries after the time of Jesus Christ, there were other symbols: a dove, a ship, an anchor and a lyre. 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