The Cross

One of the questions the naturally arises from other Christians who observe the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is why we do not use a cross as a symbol of our belief in Christ.  I really like the way that President Hinckley answered this question: “I do not wish to give offense to any of my Christian brethren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals and at the altars of their chapels, who wear it on their vestments, and imprint it on their books and other literature. But for us, the cross is the symbol of the dying Christ, while our message is a declaration of the living Christ….  The lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith and, in fact, therefore, the symbol of our worship.”  I think this statement is consistent with how the Savior taught us to recognize His disciples: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).  It is how we act towards other that is the best indicator of whether or not we follow Christ, and we should be more concerned about the symbol our life is than the symbols we wear.

          That does not mean, though, that we do not embrace the cross and everything that happened at Calgary as the Savior performed His atonement.  The scriptures of the Restoration attest to the fact that we do indeed believe in the cross.  We certainly accept the meaning of the cross in all that it represents about the sacrifice of the Savior at Calgary.  At the start of the Book of Mormon, Nephi described his vision: “And I, Nephi, saw that he was lifted up upon the cross and slain for the sins of the world” (1 Nephi 11:33).  Jacob also spoke about the cross, saying, “We would to God that we could persuade all men not to rebel against God, to provoke him to anger, but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world” (Jacob 1:8).  When Christ Himself came among the Nephites He described his own experience: “And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross; and after that I had been lifted up upon the cross, that I might draw all men unto me” (3 Nephi 27:14).  Moroni also referenced the cross in his abridgement of the Jaredite record: “And the Lord commanded the brother of Jared to go down out of the mount from the presence of the Lord, and write the things which he had seen; and they were forbidden to come unto the children of men until after that he should be lifted up upon the cross” (Ether 4:1).  Joseph F. Smith also spoke of the cross in describing his great vision: “And so it was made known among the dead, both small and great, the unrighteous as well as the faithful, that redemption had been wrought through the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross” (D&C 138:35).  In the Pearl of Great Price, Enoch also had a vision that included the cross: “And the Lord said unto Enoch: Look, and he looked and beheld the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, after the manner of men” (Moses 7:55).  Clearly the scriptures of the Restoration accept the cross and what happened there as an integral part of the gospel message.  We may not use it as the symbol of our Christian faith, but we do worship the Son of God who was lifted up there and who will lift each of us up in the resurrection.