Why I Stopped Wearing My Crucifix

For about 20 years I have been wearing a fairly ornate gold cross on a fancy gold chain. I wore it for two reasons. The main reason was that I wore it as a reminder to myself of the sacrifice that Jesus made for me, taking on the pain that I deserved to receive from the Father. The second reason was to show others that I was a committed Christian.

There were times over those years when I'd hear about how the cross was really an instrument of torture. But, I still thought "OK. But, it's important to remember what Jesus suffered." I'd go on wearing the cross anyway. However, as I have begun to read church history I realized the cross was not a symbols of the early church. It was not used for several hundred years after Yeshua's death. It was around the 4th Century that the cross begins to show up in Christian art. This was after Constantine made Christianity the state religion. Even then the image is not of Jesus dying on the cross. It's Him in front of the cross in majesty and praise. The cross is no where to be found in the catacombs (the tombs) of the early Christians. The symbol used most commonly by the early church was the fish (Icthus). Legend has it that when two Christians would meet one would make half of the fish symbol and the other would complete it. Icthus is Greek for "fish" and is an acronym for Jesus Christ Son of G-d, Savior. It's a play on word or a pun that the acronym equals the Greek word for "fish".

As I've been growing as a Christian and as a human, I am more focused on this life than the after life and on improving the world rather than assuring my place in heaven. While I acknowledge the importance and necessity of Yeshua's death on the cross (see the article "Why Did Jesus Have to Die" on this site), I am now more focused on His life and His example of how I should live, than on the circumstances surrounding His death. So, I gave up the cross and traded it in for a very simply sterling silver fish pendant.

Peace,
Brian