inverted crucifix

[dave_c]

History & origins and why it was considered satanic?

[jameskelk]

Hiya... Interesting question. Cross is seen as holy, if it is inverted it signifys a reverse in its holyness i.e. it become the opposite to Goodness and turns Satanic and evil.

Ironic thing is the cross is a Pagan sign anyway. it only starts to get associated with goodness and Christianity hundreds of years after Christ when Christianity spreads and started to addopt pagan Icons and belifes from Barbarian Europe after 200AD.

First century Christians never worshiped it. It was only worshiped as a pagan Phalic sympol.

James

[Drusilla]

The cross was the Romans favoured form of execution for criminals and had been used long before Jesus was crucified. The earliest Christian symbol was a fish and not all reverse crosses are satanic. The cross of St. Peter is upside down to represent his reverse crucifiction.

[Chessman]

Actually, its a myth that the earliest Christian symbol is a fish, its believed that Jesus was a member of a sect called the 'Essnes', and while it is true that the fish was their symbol, Jesus lived and died as a Jew, Christianity wasn't around then, although I do agree with Drusilla about the cross.

[Octavius]

Crucifixion is an ancient method of execution. It was a common form of execution from the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD, especially among the Persians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, and Romans. Crucifixion has gained notoriety in Christianity as a method believed by Christians to have been used by the Romans to put Jesus to death, and the cross and the crucifix has become the main Christian symbol. Usually, the prpose of crucufixion was only to provide a particularly painful, gruesome, and public death, using whatever means were most expedient for that goal. In fact, crucifixion is only an arbitrary subset of a much wider continuous spectrum of slow and painful execution methods, which include varied forms of impalement, hanging from hooks, burning at the stake, exposure to wild beasts, etc.

Symbols were widely used by the early Christian church. Symbols were inscribed on Christian tombs from the earliest days. Maybe not a unique first, but certainly one of the most widely used in the early church was that of the fish, which derived from a Greek acrostic for Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour (see Ichthys). Interestingly the cross was not commonly used as a symbol until later.

Contd...

[Octavius]

Contd....

As mentioned above, the upside down cross is called St Peters Cross, because of the way he was executed. It has been adopted and is associated with Satanic groups as a symbol. Their take on this is that it is meant to symbolise a blaspheme or mockery and rejection of Jesus, although conversely you could really say that it glorifies St Peter(!) The symbol is actually a Christian symbol, and NOT a Satanic symbol. It has, however, been used by a number of Satanists since the Christians decided to declare this symbol a "sacrelidge." The exact date of the Christian consensus in handing this symbol to the devil is not really clear.

When Pope John Paul II held a service on the Mount of Beatitudes in March 2000 it was noted by many of the world's press that the Pontiff was seated on a chair decorated with St Peters Cross.

[lovbooks]

The cross was not actually an accepted Christian symbol until Emperor Constantine had his vision before his victory and become sole Emperor of Rome. Early Christians did not want to use the cross because at the time cruxification was reserved for the worst criminals and traitors of the republic. Then the cross was transformed from a symbol of shame to truimph. The reason some people believe the inverted cross is satanic is because it is viewed as an outright mockery of what Christ did. But it is purely a Christian symbol for why would the person Christ would later build his church upon want to die on an inverted cross. St. Peter felt he was not worthy to die like Christ.

[dave_c]

Interesting, thanks for all the answers!