What would the Christian symbol be if Jesus was shot?

@ Itsmyship. Ah-hah, so it's an acronym. Thanks for that. ijffdrie was on to something after all. That Chi Rho sign's a pretty nice symbol as well, and I'd love to see the Church's reaction if you sent them that petition. I wouldn't vote for it though. I'd vote for the cross and keep this one as my own.

@ Darktemplar_L. Although it's an interesting video, you've kinda missed the point of this thread. This thread's about the Christian symbol being one of execution, and whether if the symbol was widely recognised as such, due to him being executed through different means, it would still be used, despite undoubtedly being recognised as such when Christianity was getting started.

In response to the video, though without meaning to start a whole discussion on religion as there are already threads for that, and keeping in mind that I'm also an Atheist, it's very loosely based on facts. All that stuff about 'mistranslations' when they're merely choosing the best word to fit their line of argument, stating that the Christian symbol is based off the zodiac when it's known that Jesus was crucified, the lack of fish references when Moses and Jews when there was a pretty clear absence of water especially when they were wandering the deserts for forty years or so, all the similarities linking Christianity and the Egyptian religion when a heck of a lot of those similarities are shared by most, in not all, religions as they're merely ways of depicting the power or these divine entities, etc, and also things like the Epic of Gilgamesh where they comment on the use of doves, where not only am I hesitant to believe that doves inhabit Mesopotamia due to the harsher, dryer conditions of that whole area, but if they do, keeping in mind that doves are the exact same kind of birds as pigeons are, and that they are one of the most diverse and populous birds in the world, it's hardly a surprise that they'd be used for both texts, and, labelling them as doves specifically, further shows how how they're just twisting words to fit what they're trying to prove. Now I'm not saying it's all wrong, and there's a fair bit of genuine information in their, but it's clearly propaganda. Besides, seeing as Judaism, Islam and Christianity, including all the different forms thereof, all believe in the same deity, stuff like this is hardly ground-breaking.

@ KuraiKozo. Firstly, just be careful grouping Atheists and Agnostics under the same category, as they're very different sets of beliefs. I myself definitely do believe that Jesus did exist, but I also believe that a lot of what happened was logically explainable. I'm mainly familiar with the explanations of the Old Testament, like the plagues, crossing the Red Sea, etc, but I definitely don't feel that the New Testament's any exception. All in all, I do 'believe' in him as a person (though I don't believe in any virgin birth and merely think of that as being someone who was most likely raped and, understandably, did not want to get stoned or anything for that happening), but definitely not in him as a messiah or prophet.

Regardless, this thread's supposed to be about the Christian symbol, being the crucifix, not about whether it's real/justifiable/authentic/etc, or not.

 

It's a proven fact that Jesus was a real man, that he was indeed crucified. Whether you believe he is the messiah, or just a man, is up to your faith. I am Aethiest like Itza. So I believe he was just a man.

Also, the cross was first and foremost, a pagan symbol, after the crucifiction, Christians jacked it. And I happen to have a Pagan friend who is very PO'd about it.

 

Eh, near every symbol that Christianity has had at one point pagan symbolism involved. It was done to help the masses ease in from paganism to Christianity.

 

Ok, but it is still used as a pagan symbol, and when ppl see it, they automaticly see it as a christian symbol. So when my friend draws it, or when he used to write it on himself when we were younger, ppl would ask, "Are you Christian". It doesn't amuse him. And it annoys me that no one knows that it was first a pagan symbol, that no one knows to see it other then a Christian symbol.

I don't remember what it means as a pagan symbol however. *calls Carl*

 

History is written by the victors, dark. That's the only reason why.

 

Victors huh? I don't see christainity as the victors here.

Sorry to say, and I don't mean to offend anyone, but I see them as ancient tyrants. They burned ppl at the stake for being witches, even though a vast majority of them weren't. Ppl were killed for having different beliefs. "Heretics" they were branded.

Christians aren't so radical now.

 

Victors as in they were the dominant force in Europe, instead of paganism, for nearly a millennium.

Tyrannical or not, you still can't deny the fact that Christianity was the one force the kept the Western world from even FURTHER going into the Dark Ages and giving, even if it was the slightest, a sense of order. It's definitely had its impact on history. Christianity's way of doing things sometimes can be comparable in a way to Sadaam Hussein: he was a ruthless tyrant that used murder, fear, and genocide to get his way, but at the same time, he educated the people, gave women far more rights than was the norm in Middle East, and kept a reasonable sense of order.

It's just one of those "do the results support the means" type of questions that don't really have a definite answer.

Anyway, people are starting to know more of how Christianity is based on large part on Pagan practices and symbols. The cross means many things. There was the Egyptian Ankh and the Tau cross used in reference to Thor as just two examples.

 

Hey guys... I have a question... If Jesus was so famous, why don't they teach about him in school? It's not religion, it's just talking about how religion got started. Yet in Social Studies/History, whatever you want to call it, we never learn one thing about a guy named Jesus. Is there even any non-biblical reference to his existence?

 

It's because there are few non-biblical sources that can be trusted. The few non-biblical sources that weren't written by his disciples or other followers were written by Greek or Roman historians who were generally negatively biased against Christians as a whole. Most of their texts don't explain much about Jesus himself, only early Christians, so there really are no unbiased, "accurate" descriptions and records of Jesus.

Personally, I learned about religions in school plenty of times, including figures such as Jesus and Muhammad and the stories associated with them. If you really haven't learned about them in school the above might be the reason.

 

Ah, the Dark Age. Good times, good times.

I don't really recall being taught much about any other religious leaders in History classes, so I don't really see why should they make an exception.

 

Yeah, well, my freshman world history class covered the basics of all the worlds five major religions. Jeudism (however you spell it), Christianity, Islam, Buddism, and Hinduism.

 

Alright then, I'll answer the question. I think that the symbol would be a gun stuck on Jesus' head. As in the gun is pointed right at his head point-blank.

Also... If they Jews, Muslims, and Christians believe in the same god, why do Muslims call the god Allah? What about Christians and Jews? They can't all be right, hence one of my reasons for being an atheist. And I still haven't found any historical evidence of Jesus besides the Bible... The Bible isn't even evidence!! Uhh... Sorry if that offended you.

 

Because Allah is how you say god in the language they speak.

 

Neither is the Jewish name for God actually "God." It's only a matter of language, nothing more. Sort of like how you would call God "God" in English and "Dios" in Spanish and so on.

 

Thank you Wlck.

 

Yep. Allah is just the way of saying "God" in the original form of Arabic. The Jewish name for god in ancient Hebrew differed through the time, at one time it was "El." and later on, it became "Yahweh." That's where the names of the angels come from in the Old Testament: Gabriel means "Voice of God", Michael means "Who is like God?" (you have to know the story to get that) and Rafael means "God heals."

I went to a Baptist school for 8 years of my life, let me tell you...no one drills the Bible into your head like fundamentalist Christians. That angel part and symbology part though I taught myself. I have quite an interest in different forms of religion. They fascinate me so much.

 

and you must admit, allah sounds way cooler then god

*agnost speaking*

 

@ Darktemplar_L. That's the point I'm trying to make. The Christian symbol is a symbol of execution, and a drawn out and painful execution at that, but it's lost that symbolism, now purely being a symbol of Christianity. If it were something like a gun, or something much more identifiable with death and execution, what would people think of it? Would people still have the same perception of the Church as they do now? It wasn't simply a question of what would their symbol be, I was commenting on the true, original meaning of the symbol they use now.

Also, yeah. As it's already been said, the Christian, Jewish and Islamic god is the exact same deity.

 

my guess is that the symbol would have been an AK 47

 

Didn't they change it again like few weeks ago?