Why Does the Cross Make People So Mad?

Two days ago, as millions of us remembered the horrific tragedy in 2001, news began cropping up about an atheist group seeking to eliminate a symbol of that day: the 17-foot cross pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center. The monument, they say, gives unequal representation to Christians.

But what I found most telling were the words of David Silverman, the President of American Atheists, who

contends that atheists are experiencing horrible physical reactions after seeing the rubble cross, such as “inter alia, dyspepsia, symptoms of depression, headaches, anxiety, and mental pain and anguish.” 

This does sound a lot like a sickness, actually. But I think Mr. Silverman is perhaps misdiagnosing the cause.

Proverbs 13:12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life."

When I first read what this man said, I thought, how ridiculous! Give me a break! But isn't it possible that, in fact, they are having these feelings of sickness? Heart sickness, maybe? Sickness of the soul? That, even though they refuse to recognize the Truth in their minds, something in their Spirits know they have denied the Hope of Jesus Christ?

As believers,  our first reactions to this sort of thing are often annoyance or anger. But instead, should we not have compassion for the Spiritually diseased, who refuse to even acknowledge their symptoms?  Remember, Jesus said "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners (Mark 2:17)." 

Pray for these men and women, that the Love, Mercy, and Grace of Jesus Christ be made manifest, and that His blessings bring them to Him.