Question #129

What about wearing crosses? What about illegal aliens?

Is it okay to hang crosses in our homes or wear a cross on a necklace? Also, as Christians how should we view the issues pertaining to the “illegal alien” legislation? Is it okay to employee/sponsor an illegal alien?

The Answer:

Please refer to Question 111 for a discussion of the church’s responsibility to illegal aliens.

The wearing of crosses has become very popular in recent years. Some people wear crosses who don’t even realize that they are doing so because the Byzantine cross is different from the standard reproduction. Many who object to the wearing of the cross attend churches that have crosses on their building, engraved on the pews or on the table for the Lord’s Supper, on the cover for the trays used for the emblems used for the Lord’s Supper, or other places in their building. Of course, such uses do not make either those uses or the wearing of crosses right or wrong. That must be determined by the word of God.

Since there are no passages that deal directly with the wearing of crosses, our task is to determine whether there are any Biblical principles that prohibit their being worn. The first obvious question is whether the wearing of a cross constitutes idolatry. To answer this question we must determine what constitutes a “graven image” in the biblical sense. There are various Hebrew words used for image. 1. “Pesel” and “pasil,” both of which mean “idol, image.” There are derived from “pasal” which means “hew, hew into shape.” 2. “Masseka.” This word commonly refers to a drink offering or a pouring out. A more infrequent use, as in Deuteronomy 27:15, is to “pour out” or “cast” molten images. It is used of Aaron’s golden calf (translated “molten”) in Exodus 32:4. There may be others, but this will suffice for the question under consideration.

The context in which these words invariably appear is the treating of such “graven images” as idols. According to Strong’s, there are some 13 words in the Old Testament translated “idol[s].” Without delving into the Hebrew the meaning of “idol” is relatively clear – it is an object of worship other than the living God. It may be a graven image as is warned against in the Old Testament, but it may also include an attitude of the heart in which we love something or someone more than the living God. An example is covetousness, which Paul tells us is idolatry. Colossians 3:5.

Most if not all of the crosses worn today are molten (silver, gold, brass, plastic etc.) or carved (wood). If no more than this were involved wearing a cross would clearly be anti-scriptural. But more is involved. The context in which the first restrictions against graven images appear is that of false worship, i.e., the forbidding of bowing down to idols. Exodus 20:4-5; Leviticus 26:1. It is not likely that many wearers of crosses are bowing down to them and worshiping them. Thus, not treating them as gods, they are not idols, and this leads to the conclusion that it is not ant-scriptural to wear a piece of jewelry in the shape of a cross.

This, however, does not end the discussion. If one is thoughtlessly wearing a replica of a cross as no more than a piece of jewelry, does that cultivate the right attitude toward the cross of Christ. It is difficult to impossible to see how it could when it is treated as no more than decoration or “bling.”

Some may protest and claim that they do not wear their cross thoughtlessly – it remind us and to tell others that they are a Christian. Really? I have seen many wearing crosses whose conduct does not come close to that which should characterize a Christian, just as many put a fish symbol on their car and then drive like the devil. Even assuming that their claim is true, is there not a better way to remind us that we are Christian. Can we not “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly”? Can we not carry a copy of a New Testament to in memory that we are Christian and to declare it to others? If those who declare that they wear the cross to remind themselves and others that they are Christian, but they are embarrassed to carry and read in public a New Testament to do the same thing, there is reason to believe that they fall into the category of wearing their cross thoughtlessly. This is so because they will declare their Christianity only through an ambiguous method that can be taken as just “being one of the crowd” who wears it as no more than the latest popular piece of jewelry, while being unwilling to take an unambiguous stand as a Christian by carry the word of God.

But it is argued, “I can wear a cross to school and I will get in trouble if I carry a New Testament.” With such a response the argument is over. The response admits that the wearer of the jewelry cross is unwilling to suffer for the true cross upon which the Savior died.