Jesus Christ vs the Cross

I've been plagued! Reminds me of the plagues the  Egyptians had to endure because Pharoh would not let the Israelis go. God through Moses told him to, "let My People go."
As now, when I come across an interesting topic or just a statement that catches my imagination, I go bosh, not leaving any stone unturned in my search of clarity and to the satisfaction of my spirit.
For the last month or so I've been harbouring on the issue of the cross, and the significance it carries in the religion of Christianity. 

To me it is undoubtedly one of the pillars of Christianity, in that it represents the end of the curse that God laid on Adam, Eve, The serpent, and the Land, in the Garden of Eden, because of disobedience. As is written in Genesis 3:10-19. Scripture says, Galatians 3:13; Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written,"cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" 14) that the blessings of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. It is through faith and not through the cross, by this I mean, the cross as a symbol and putting it up as statues or hanging it around the neck or on the walls, that we receive.

This has been ongoing for me, and I'm sure people might've looked at me from a distance, in the same instance distancing  themselves from me. Just in case the plague is highly contagious. 
Well, I can't see how God in the one time tells us to not make images (idols) and not to make other gods. Then we as Christians can go ahead and make crosses and keep them as remembrances of what Jesus has done for us. Claiming even that it is the cross that brings us peace. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. I've found out that I'll be going against the whole of Christianity if I don't #havemyowncross.

There is a great believe on the issue of the Three C's of Christianity, it being Christ, Cross, Church.
Each having it's doctrinal explanations, What I've discovered that when reading through the cross' doctrinal's, that it puts more emphasis on the cross than on Christ.

2The Second C in Christianity Stands for the Cross

There are a number of religions that promote a variety of spiritual concepts and experiences

• The Buddhists emphasize mediation
• Muslims have a pilgrimage to Mecca

Even within so called Christian circles there are groups that focus their entire energies in promoting a certain day to worship or a specific name to use when referring to God.

There are others who live and die by being able to perform what they claim to be "miraculous" acts or healings. These may find their roots within Biblical Christianity but what they are focused on is not what Christianity is really about.

Christianity is about the cross of Christ.

This is why Jesus said He came - Matthew 16:21. The cross is the main topic of the Apostles preaching: In Acts 2:36 Peter finishes his sermon with this concluding idea.

"Therefore let the House of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ - this Jesus whom you crucified. And the number of references to the cross in Paul's preaching is as great, even to the point where he summarizes the nature of his preaching style and content with these words,

For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
- 1 Cor. 2:2

Of course we, in the Church of Christ, have also been guilty of losing our focus when it comes to the essentials of Christianity.

For example, when people ask what church you go to and you answer the church of Christ, do they say, "Oh, the church that preaches about Jesus and the cross of Jesus!" or do they say, "Oh yes, you're the ones who don't use a piano; or you're the ones who think you're the only ones going to heaven!"

I think we're more famous for our stand on instrumental music in worship than our zeal for preaching the cross of Jesus.

Why should we focus on the cross, you may ask?

• Preaching the cross is central because it is the answer to man's greatest problem and destructive force - sin.
• Sin is mankind's disobedience to God's laws and the reason why we die physically and spiritually at judgement.
• Sin is the reason we are afraid to die and afraid to face God because:
  • We know that all have sinned - Rom. 3:23
  • We know that those who have sinned will be condemned to spiritual death - Rom. 6:23
  • We know no one has the ability to overcome sin and thus be right and acceptable to God - Rom. 7

This is where the cross comes in:

• Jesus, the divine Son of God became a human being in order to deal once and for all with sin.
• He did this by offering His perfect life on the cross in order to pay the moral debt created by our sin.
• The significance of this act is explained in great detail by Paul in Romans 4-6.

Basically what Paul says is that God has dealt with man's sins in an absolute and historical manner at the cross! For example, at one point in your life you are guilty of sin and face condemnation before God.

At another point in your life you are forgiven for all your sins and are guaranteed eternal life. And the point at which the difference occurs is the cross of Jesus Christ.

Peter the Apostle summarizes it this way,

...and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross...
- I Peter 2:24

The cross is an historical event that God prepared for several thousand years, and that has stood for an additional two thousand years. Your life is either the one you had before you knew about and accepted the cross; or it's the new life you now experience after you have received the forgiveness that flows from it.

Without the cross, Christianity is simply a religious self-help program steeped in Jewish history.

The fact that Christ died on the cross however transforms our faith into the only solution to the universal problem of sin:

• The cross wipes away our sins. We are no longer responsible for our moral debt before God; it's "Paid in full" → at the cross.
• The cross satisfies God's demand that we be righteous. God now confers upon us the righteousness (or the perfection) of Christ → because of the cross.
• The cross absolves us of punishment. Jesus suffered the punishment that was supposed to be ours - death.
• The cross brings peace. If God forgives me, I can forgive myself and I can forgive others.
• The cross gives me hope. No matter what happens in this life, the cross reassures me that I can look forward to heaven with confidence.

The cross of Jesus is the focal point of our religion and the heart and soul of our message (the gospel). 

All of these can be true, yet it doesn't give us the authority to make an idol of the cross. When making idols of objects and bowing and worshipping before it is an abomination to God. 
It is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ that we are saved, and that is not excluding of the cross, nor exclusively by the cross. I know that the article in this chapter is primarily written to lay emphasis on the cross, however, if somebody may just read this chapter, it will give the person a wrong understanding. The curse is upon Jesus Christ and not on the cross.