Is the cross for the believer?
Today among many young hip hop fans and older Christian believers, the crucifix has become a staple in the lives of many.What significance does the cross play with respect to idolatry? History points to the cross as one of the oldest primitive symbols of the Christianity religion, but it was never condoned to be worn about the neck. While scripture identifies a number of things which the saints of old wore on their person, the crucifix was not one, yet many “Christians” today wear it for a variety of reasons, contrary to scripture. As a means of endorsing the cross, the following biblical passages are given in support of it, but neither scripture mentions wearing it.
Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Matthew 27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
What’s wrong with wearing a crucifix?
The cross was a Roman symbol of death which represented a curse. It was their form of modern day capital punishment. Its use was a demeaning form of death. The crucifix was a carved or sculpture piece upon which the savior was depicted, in a manner never sanctioned for adorning about the neck. Because the cross was made from a tree, the following is stated:
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:-Galatians 3:13.
Although Christ was killed illegally (not do to sin), the Old Testament tells us that it is curse to be hung overnight when put to death. (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)This crucifix was by no means a glorious symbol, worthy to be glorified.
The most shameful way to be executed for a Roman was to be crucified. Again, you would not suffer this punishment if you were a Roman citizen, which is why St Paul was beheaded and St Peter was crucified. Crucifixion was carried out in several different ways on different shapes of cross, but generally the prisoners were stripped naked, and either bound or nailed by their wrists to the crossbeam of a wooden cross. This meant that the whole bodyweight of the prisoner was supported only by their arms, which would soon lead to excruciating pain, and often lead to their shoulders and elbow joints dislocating. They would also be unable to breathe properly. It could take several days for a condemned man to die on the cross, and the whole point of the spectacle was that it was to serve as a warning by being so public, prolonged, painful and humiliating. Also the corpse would also be left on the cross to be picked clean by carrion birds, thus ensuring that the unfortunate victim also did not receive an honourable burial.
A Practice that existed both before and after the crucifixion of Christ.
Prisoners would often be crucified in great numbers after a period of civil unrest, and after the slave rebellion led by Spartacus from 73-71 BC 6,000 of his followers were crucified along the Appian Way between Rome and Capua. Also after Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD, mass crucifixions were carried out to ensure that message was taken on board that rebellion was not going to be tolerated by the Roman authorities. As the Roman guards could not leave the site of the execution until after the condemned had died, they sometimes hastened the prisoner’s end by breaking their legs with an iron club.
Despite scripture’s admonishing to bind the commands of scripture on your hand and as frontlets, people tend to gravitate toward the commandments of men.
The Latin cross, crux immissa, crux capitata. The latin word crux is derived from “cruciare”, meaning to torture. This cross since at least one thousand years has been the Western world’s symbol par excellence. It is chiefly associated with the torture and killing of Christ, and thus with Christianity.
Before the time of Christ, represented, among other things, the staff of Apollo, the sun god, son of Zeus, and appeared for instance on ancient coins.
That cross seems to have been associated with the sun and the powers that controlled the weather. In Babylon, the equal arms cross was considered one of the attributes of Anu, god of the heavens. In the mighty Assyrian empire, which seems to have 
originated as a Babylonian colony in the second millennium B.C., the sun cross in the wheel cross form of and was one of the attributes of the national god, Assur. When was used as the staff of Apollo it lost its ring, and one of its arms was lengthened to form . That seems to represent the first use of the Latin cross form in the Hellenic sphere.
Sometime during the first centuries of the Western calendar the Latin cross was adopted by the Roman Christianity ideology.
The cross or crucifix was never a symbol of righteousness or holiness. It was a pagan symbol which was later adopted by the Roman Empire used as a form of execution. The Cross does have new meaning today, but that meaning was given by the Catholic Church, not Christ. Does not God have symbols of his own? Symbols that are holy? Does he need to hijack pagan symbols that are associated with sin and take them as his own?
