Reflecting on the 'Cross'

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
~Isaiah 53:3-7

The world recognizes the cross/crucifix as the symbol of Christianity. At the sight of it, people would quickly link the object bearing that symbol to Christianity. Some people use it as an accessory to enhance their fashion style. To a large group of people who bears it, it is a symbol of death and sufferings of the very person at the center of Christianity, Jesus Christ.

Delving deeper into the meaning of the cross/crucifix, it is an object bearing cruelty, mocking, blood, wounds, insults, spits, grudges, judgment, scourging. It is a symbol of the worst punishment in all human history. Why then is it the symbol widely recognized by the world over as the emblem of Christianity?

The answer is simple. Jesus' death on the cross and resurrection to life is the only conclusive evidence of God's reality, the ultimate display of God's love and holiness and the very fundamental basis by which all truth stands. Take away Jesus' death and resurrection and it simply reduces Christianity to be just another way of life.