The Cross - A Symbol of the Dying Christ or the Tree of Life?

Different attitudes about the Cross

If you wanted to remember JFK, would you wear a gun around your neck?

Growing up, my father had a cross in the hallway leading to our bedrooms and a large one hanging over his bed. I remember that it was wood and that Christ was made out of a white glow-in-the-dark plastic that glowed with a green hue in the dark. Maybe this was a reaction to the spiritual attacks I encountered as a child. I’m not sure.

My aunt, who was Roman Catholic, bought me a small cross necklace as a gift when I was baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS.) I asked if I could wear it to church and was told that there was nothing wrong with it but that it just wasn’t Mormon custom to venerate the cross. Today, LDS don’t wear crosses; there are no crosses on the church steeples, and there are no crosses on or in LDS temples. The only crosses I recall seeing in LDS ward buildings are from paintings of the crucifixion, but those are uncommon.

When I asked why the LDS church didn’t use the cross, I was informed that the LDS church preferred to focus on the Savior’s life and his teachings, not his death. Then, I was presented with an analogy I’ve heard repeated many times since.¹

To the mind of an 8-year-old, this made sense, and I didn’t really think about it again until I encountered the Orthodox church. This statement made to a Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox person, however, would be shocking and baffling, to say the least.

Evolution of LDS Attitudes about the Cross

19th-century Protestants, at the time of the second great awakening, were fairly adverse to the use of the Cross. To Protestant Americans, the cross was perceived to be a strictly Catholic symbol. The campfire revival meetings that Joseph Smith and many other early Mormons attended were marked by passionate sermons and a focus on individual acceptance of religious principles, emphasizing personal salvation and a direct relationship with God rather than the veneration of religious symbols.

This attitude also existed in the LDS church as its membership drew almost entirely from other Protestant groups. However, Mormons didn’t wholly adopt the protestant aversion to the cross, and it was used frequently within the early LDS church.

It appeared as jewelry on Brigham Young's wives and daughters. It appeared in floral arrangements in funerals. It appeared as tie tacks on men's ties and watch fobs on men's vests. It appeared on cattle as the official LDS Church brand. Crosses were on church windows, attic vents, stained-glass windows, and pulpits. They were on gravestones and quilts.

Even two temples, the Hawaiian and the Cardston, Alberta, Canada Temple were described in a 1923 general conference as being built in the shape of a cross.²

So, how did we get from there to the JFK gun analogy?