| Question |
I have a good friend who is LDS, have even been to church with him and family. I admire the family values, and find many common beliefs. The hardest part I have understanding is that something that was said to me by his wife, when she noticed a cross, that I wear on a chain around my neck, and she mentioned that is something, that is, the way I understood, not acceptable by the LDS church. When I questioned why, the answer she gave me was "well look at it this way, you wouldn't wear a car around your neck if your brother died in a car, right?" I don't understand her answer. I wear a cross because Jesus is my Savior, and died for me on the cross. I know for a fact that my brother did not die for me and my sins. So help me understand a little better please.
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| Response |
Thanks for your question regarding the position of the LDS church regarding the wearing of the cross. First of all, your friend's wife's statement that the wearing of the cross is not acceptable by the LDS church, in no way represents any directive, or policy of the church. We are not offended when people of other Christian faiths wear a cross. Our prophet, Gordon B. Hinkley, was asked this very question by a group of clergymen from other religions in a meeting where he was a speaker. The following is what he said, "I do not wish to give offense
to any of my christian brothren who use the cross on the steeples of their cathedrals, and at the alters 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 Jesus, while our message is a
declaration of the living Christ".
He was then asked "If you do not use the cross, what is the symbol of your religion?" He replied: "The lives of our people must become the only meaningful expression of our faith. And because our savior lives, we do not use the symbol of his death as the symbol of our faith, but what shall we use? No sign, no work of art, no representation of form is adequate to express the glory and the wonder of the living Christ. He told us what that symbol should be when he said 'if ye love me keep my commandments' (John 14:15)"
"As his followers, we can not do a mean or shoddy or ungracious things without tarnishing his image, nor can we do a good and gracious and generous act without burnishing more brightly the symbol of him whose name we have taken upon ourselves."
"Our lives must become a symbol of meaningful expression, a symbol of our declaration of our testimony of the living Christ, the eternal son of the living God. It is that simple, it is that profound, and we must never for get it."
Tara, I hope this is helpful and that it helps you understand our perspective.
Sincerely,
Donny Osmond
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