The Cross

Marc of Purgatorio posts frequently on the Cross and its role in our culture, harping especially on the kitsch of Christian commercialism. I praise him and his blog often and not just for the creative and origianl method of the blogging (via the medium of pictures, rather than paragraphs of text), but also for the attention drawn to the devaluing of Christianity into what C. S. Lewis called "Christianity-and-water...a boys' philosophy." However, many of his commenters, and even Marc himself, take on a role that was abandoned in the middle ages: iconoclasm.

Somehow, because the cross is a symbol in the Christian faith, the case is made that modern-day Christians are a bunch of idol-worshipping morons. Because, you know, with the cross at the front of the church, clearly we're focused on this pagan instrument of torture and death rather than Christ Himself. On his latest post on this subject, I finally got fed up with the accusation and replied thusly:

While diamond-studded crosses of gold adorn secular stars and kids play with toys made into the shape of the cross (and eat sugars molded into the shape of the cross), it makes these baubles indeed “trite.” But don’t think wearing the cross makes one an idol worshipper. It is ignorant of you, who would blast people for playing down the value of Christ.

I don’t wear a cross to show my faith or because it’s fashionable or even because it was a gift from my earthly father. I wear it because what use is Christ without the cross? The cross is the instrument by which His sacrifice was carried out. Without His death, there is no forgiveness, for there is no redeeming sacrifice for the sins of the world. Rising from the grave demonstrated His victory over death, but His death is our salvation.

What would you say to Paul, who in 1 Corinthians wrote that he was sent to preach the gospel "not by human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power" and in Galatians wrote "May I never boast except in the cross of Christ"? The cross is a vital element to orthodoxy, not as a thing of reverence or worship, but as the reality by which we are saved.

Knowing the cross was an instrument of torture makes this symbol all the more valuable and real: for what man intended for evil, God worked for good. And I won’t even bother going into the literary connection between the cross ("tree") of Christ and the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden.

We do not focus on Christ as a man. Christ is useless as someone who was merely human. Christ was God in flesh, and without the cross, that point is lost. Christ's atoning work on the cross was only possible as God.