{"id":3123,"date":"2018-04-20T12:43:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T12:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3123"},"modified":"2018-04-20T13:35:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T13:35:16","slug":"the-cross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3123","title":{"rendered":"The Cross"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 Hi Prodigal, look at that cross!<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 Yes, I thought it was nice to have on the mailbox.<\/p>\n

Me:\u00a0 I can give you some history about the cross.<\/p>\n

Prodigal:\u00a0 I would love to hear it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is from the book\u00a0 The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Christianity, then, is no exception in having a visual symbol.\u00a0 The cross was not its earliest, however.\u00a0 Because of the wild accusations which were levelled against Christians, and the persecution to which they were exposed, they ‘ had to be very circumspect and to avoid flaunting their religion.\u00a0 Thus the cross, now the universal symbol of Christianity, was at first avoided, not only for its direct association with Christ, but for its shameful association with the execution of a common criminal also.\u00a0 So on the walls and ceilings of the catacombs (underground burial-places outside Rome, where the persecuted Christians probably hid), the earliest Christian motifs seem to have been either non-committal paintings of a peacock (supposed to symbolize immortality), a dove, the athlete’s victory palm or, in particular, a fish.\u00a0 Only the initiated would know, and nobody else could guess, that\u00a0 ichthys<\/em> (fish) was an acronym for Iesus Christos Theou Huiso Soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Proverbs 21:1<\/p>\n

The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n

www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n

www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Me:\u00a0 Hi Prodigal, look at that cross! Prodigal:\u00a0 Yes, I thought it was nice to have on the mailbox. Me:\u00a0 I can give you some history about the cross. Prodigal:\u00a0 I would love to hear it!   This is from the book\u00a0 The Cross of Christ by John R.W. Stott   Christianity, then, is … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Cross - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3123\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cross - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  Me:\u00a0 Hi Prodigal, look at that cross! 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Stott   Christianity, then, is … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=3123\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-20T12:43:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-20T13:35:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/05-21-16-160-225x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"The Cross\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-20T12:43:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-20T13:35:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123\"},\"wordCount\":245,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/05\\\/05-21-16-160-225x300.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=3123\",\"name\":\"The Cross - 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