Is Christianity a Cult of Death?

Why do Christians dwell on the symbolism of the cross? They seem to want to be constantly reminded of the gruesome, torturous execution of Jesus. Their fixation on this event troubles me. Even if I were to accept the veracity of the Christian religion (which I do not), I would seek out a church that does not display the crucifix. I wonder, does any such congregation or denomination exist?

I know that Jehovah’s Witnesses translate the original text to read that Jesus was executed on a stake (a single upright beam) rather than a cross, and I’ve never heard of them obsessing over that (wearing torture stake necklaces, etc.). The Mormons, as far as I know, do not place much emphasis on the cross. But those are two rather unique minorities; I cannot think of any prominent Christian sect, which believes that a cross was used, that does not feature it prominently in their worship.

I think if I were a Christian, I would rather dwell on the positive aspects of the religion (such as they are), instead of stroking my crucifix, with my eyes fixated on a life-sized representation of a naked, blood-soaked man, nailed to a cross, dying in an expression of obvious agony, such as can be found in so many churches around the world.

What a barbaric death-cult Christianity appears to be.

Can There Be Only One?

While reading something-or-other on logic, I came across this oft-used syllogism:

Major Premise: All men are mortal.
Minor Premise: Socrates is a man.
Conclusion: Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

It suddenly occurred to me that most Christians do not believe in the truth of the major premise: they believe that Jesus of Nazareth was non-mortal. I won’t say “immortal,” since they do believe that he gave up his Earthly body in the end. The Gospels, however, claim that he rose from the dead before ascending to Heaven — not in spirit form initially, but his Earthly body actually came back to life, if only temporarily. This is clearly something other than mortal, although not quite immortal; hence: “non-mortal.”

Of course, most Christians also believe that Jesus was something more than a man as well. Still, they would likely concede that he was born of a human mother, that he was flesh and blood, that he consumed food, water and air and presumably required them to survive while in his humanoid form, and that he was vulnerable to harm. This would place him squarely in the “man camp,” for all practical purposes, at least while he was here on Earth. As such, it is fair to call Jesus a man, albeit a non-mortal one, according to Christian doctrine.

If Jesus was a non-mortal man then the major premise of the example argument would not be true. In that case, it would be reasonable to presume that there are non-mortals living among us even today, and that there always have been. If we presume a worldwide population of about one million, circa 10,000 BCE, with even just one non-mortal among them, then simple arithmetic tells us that Jesus may have been, at best, only one of a couple-hundred non-mortals. This most conservative estimate suggests that there could be upwards of 6,000 of them alive today!

I would like to meet one of these non-mortals. I would also like to devise a test for non-mortality, to determine whether or not I am able to rise from the dead. Such knowledge would allow for a far more adventurous lifestyle!