Crisses and Crosses

The cross is a known symbol of Christianity, worn on shirts, necklaces, stamped on Bibles, adorning church signs and steeples. It is something beautiful, a sign of love and religion. It is also a reminder of an incredibly painful, violent death, an instrument of torture, pain we often choose to forget.

I've heard the wearing of a cross on a necklace likened to wearing a pendant of an electric chair, the guillotine, gallows, a lethal injection needle.

The first time I heard this, it stood out to me. I'd never thought about this symbol that way, not just as a reminder of life and hope and beautiful sacrifice, but also a reminder of death and pain and the most difficult sacrifice.

But I've started to notice. Crosses aren't the only instruments of death and torture we wear as jewelry or clothing. Belts and bracelets made of old bullets, pendants shaped like guns, an arrow bracelet wrapped around a wrist. These objects that can produce such violence and terror reduced to nothing. They aren't representative of a belief or often meaningful in any manner past a fashion statement or a cool look.

A cross used to represent someone's faith or beliefs, choosing to wear a crucifix was an identifying fashion statement, placing them in the realm of people who believed in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Perhaps it was strange to wear an instrument of torture as a piece of jewelry, but at least it had meaning. If I saw someone wearing a cross, I could make an assumption about them how they identified themselves based upon their decision to wear it.

Now, crosses have been reduced to a mere fashion statement, with no statement attached. Huge and gaudy, side-ways or  upside-down, on bracelets and necklaces and giant rings across three fingers. They have become meaningless and thoughtless, perhaps even heretical.

Our culture has reduced the beautiful image of a King who loved His people so desperately He chose to die an incredibly horrific death to save their lives into a gaudy purple piece of plastic hanging sideways from a giant gold chain around someone's neck.


People don't see a cross and wonder about your decision and what you believe pertaining to it, now they just think of it as a fashion statement, a bit of color coordination, a cool design. It's a thing, instead of a symbol.

Our culture has made religion into a nice idea that could have a few good things about it, instead of the most important decision you've ever made. Let's remember what the cross means. It is so much more than a mere fashion statement to match a cute pair of earrings, it is the death of a King, a reminder of His resurrection, a representation of the greatest sacrifice ever made, and a symbol of the beautiful love of Jesus.