Christians: what would you think of a forty foot guillotine overlooking your town?

First, to Answer Man:

What you will or will not tolerate is of consequence to no one or nothing outside your own mind. You control nothing; you set policy for nothing. You are equal with the rest of us. Your self-importance, is on the best of good days, mildly amusing. On most other days, like this one, it's reminscent of the kind of hubris that inspires you to dismiss someone as having a severe Napoleon complex. Friendly advice: get over yourself. What are going to do when you get tired of tolerating us lowly commoners? My money is on: "nothing."

Answer to the main question:

The central point of this question is where do you really draw the line between a symbol of torture and a symbol of hope? One person's hope is another person's cruelty. It reminds me of a quip that runs, "If Jesus had been executed in the 20th century, Christians would go around wearing little electric chairs around their necks."

It's a philosophical question and really doesn't mean anything to me, but it is fun to think about how symbols gain their meaning from time to time, and how those meanings change.

Our church DOES have a giant guillotine in front of it. If members can't answer the verse of the day correctly, off with their heads.

I am not sure I agree with your statement that other people see a cross as a device used to torture someone to death. I think they just ignore it. It's not as if anyone alive can remember cross executions. Further, all churches do not have crosses--the SDA, for example, and others, like the Orthodox Churches have such fancy crosses that they no longer bear any resemblance to the crude wooden structures used for crucifixions.

Personally, since I don't REALLY have a church, let alone one with a guillotine in front of it, I would find it a refreshing change of scenery, as long as the blade is securely inoperable.

We are the majority.

Our nation was settled, founded and has been predominantly led by Christians.

Our religion permeates the govt., its' documents and our culture.

Find a country that feels the same way about Louis and move there.

Till then, suck it up.

We will tolerate your silliness for only so long.

Also, dumb analogy. The cross is the symbol of a religious belief deeply held by the majority of our citizens. Anyone with a brain knows you can't even try to compare that to what you offer as a comparison.

Possibly a dove and a pure-robed person would be a better image. I.e something indicating the result of the cross (i.e being cleansed of sin, and receiving the Holy Spirit), rather than the cross itself. The cross does draw attention onto the act of crucifixion rather than its results. The crucifixion passages in the gospels can be tough to read emotionally at times, especially if one doesn't also read the resurrection accounts. But when I read them it makes me feel very acceptable to God, since all that pain was willingly taken by Jesus to make us acceptable to God.

A cross is not a torture symbol.

Do you get worked up over an ambulance with a red cross on it?

I think you mean a crucifix.

I would have to say that the blade of the guillotine should be fake to prevent accidents, (just kidding) when a person from other faith or lack of faith complaints at my church about the subject i'll have to talk to the pastor.

They say that in the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King. But how about in the land of the Dumb, Who is King there? And maybe they don't have a king and have a Democratic Republic of Morons!

Are you stupid or somethin'?