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Why does the cross mean so much to me?
The key to understanding any symbol is to realise that it is arbitrary and works only by convention. In other words, we have to put the meaning into them. The letters of the alphabet are sound-symbols. They are shapes which only mean something because English speakers agree on it. The same goes for the sounds which make a word. They are meaningless grunts to anyone who doesn't know the language!

In the same way, religious symbols, whatever the story behind them, can be quite bemusing to someone who is new to them, but once the story is told and the lesson learned about what it symbol represents, a symbol can come to have profound importance.
Allow me to examine one which is of great significance to me - the cross of Christ Jesus. It is no more than a shape - one which could be drawn by a 3 year old child. Yet for me, having been brought up with the story of the self-sacrifice of Jesus of Nazareth to reconcile us to God the Father, it is so much more than a shape. it becomes a source of life, hope and inspiration. More than once it has been the only reason for me to get out of bed and face the world.
Yet we should not as believers assume that others will understand our symbols without explanation. The average Hindu will not be impressed by my cross any more than I will be astonished by a carved Shiva. A symbol is not a good starting point for us to understand each other, but it can be a focus for telling the stories which make them so meaningful for us. We need to remember that the primary purpose of our symbols is to serve those who already believe in them, to summarise the most precious truths in our own faiths rather than to help others to understand.

Learn more about this author, Matt Carmichael.
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