Is the Celtic Cross a Pagan Symbol?

Many claim it is, especially Neo-Pagans, who now use it freely for their own purposes. Some Christians, especially fundamentalists, are terribly afraid that they might be right and want nothing to do with it if it is tainted by Pagan associations. But the vast majority who use the Celtic Cross are Christian and unconcerned that there is any controversy.

All the historical examples of actual "Celtic Crosses" are from indisputably Christian contexts. The Aberlemno Stone in Angus, the great High Crosses at Clonmacnoise, Monasterboise, Kells, Iona and many other medieval monastic sites are all clearly made in Christian times, under Christian patronage and according to conventional Christian iconography. So where does this claim of paganism come from?

Henry O'Neill, in his 1857 book Illustrations of the Most Interesting of the Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland writes, "I think that ancient Irish art was pagan, and was continued during the Christian period, just as the peculiar form of the Irish cross is pagan, or as the names of the months, or of the days of the week are pagan; these, and a great deal more of paganism, having continued, owing to the tenacity with which a people retain their general habits and ideas."

http://www.celtarts.com/pagan.htm

Paganism has a wider influence on our lives than we might care to think

Take for example, the simple wedding ring. This has profound Pagan origins yet is considered an essential part of the wedding ceremony by many Christians.

Many of today's customs came into Christianity through Constantine who, in 325 AD, began the process of converting the official Pagan religion of the Roman Empire to Christianity.

Note the word 'converting'. As any organizer of a new venture knows, it's a lot easier, quicker and cheaper to change the sign on the door than to change the whole building. Christianity was modelled on many customs that were familiar and acceptable to Jews and Pagans at that time, when religion and belief were intertwined with superstition. This contrasts with today's norm - at least in economically advanced countries, with greater access to education and science, people base their religious belief on reasoning rather than superstition.

http://www.seiyaku.com/customs/pagan-symbols.html

I am still reading the book, "The Doomsday Book" by James Rollins.

The Christian Cross is definitely derived from Paganism - pre-christian-invasion sites here in Britain (and elswere in Europe) show undeniable evidence of this.
The cross (four cardinal points) surrounded by the circle of the Zodiac (primitive observation of the night sky - astrology, which in time evolved into astronomy) was appropraited by early Christians (12 heavenly signs reconfigured into 12 apostles; the Sun, who undergoes a death and rebirth, becomes the "Son" - just as numerous other primitive religions had a Son, born of a virgin who dies and was reborn) who recognised that adoption, rather than oppression, was a more efficient way of conquest; hence why we have the Christian festivals at midwinter and spring equinox - nowhere in the Bible does it say Christ was born in winter and died in spring. These were clearly pagan festivals adopted by christianity.
That any sane person living in the 21st century provided with this abundance of evidence can still take on faith the claims and guesswork made by prehistoric Hebrews is beyond ridiculous.

That has absolutely nothing to do with why Christians use a cross. The cross is in memory of Jesus' crucifixion. Has absolutely nothing to do with astronomy or anything else. It is important to the Christian faith because of the act of Jesus giving his life so you could keep yours on that cross.

And yes the exact day Christmas is celebrated may have been taken from a pagan holiday. That doesn't matter, the day it's celebrated is mute. We do not know the exact day Jesus was born as it's not recorded that precise. It's not his birthday that is the most important, it is the message that Jesus gave us and his death that is the most important. It is those two things that make his birth such a significant thing. For if he was not born, he could not have done the latter. But again, it is his life and his death that is most important, not precisely the day he was born.

It's taking one day to celebrate Jesus' birthday, to CELEBRATE it, no one said that it was the exact day he was born.

Actually it has everything to do with it. The early Christian invaders adopted the pre-existing symbol of the cross to make the cultural infiltration easier. There are celtic crosses here in Europe which predate the Christian takeover.

Has nothing to do with it. Jesus was crucified on a cross and is why the cross symbol is used in Christianity. REGARDLESS if another belief used the cross before, the cross in Christianity is a symbol of what Jesus did for us all.

"In spite of the overwhelming symbolism of the cross, the precise shape of the object on which Jesus was crucified cannot be proven explicitly from the Bible. The Greek word translated “cross” is stauros, meaning “a pole or a cross used as an instrument of capital punishment.” The Greek word stauroo, which is translated “crucify” means to be attached to a pole or cross. Though the Greek usage of these words can mean “pole” or “stake,” many scholars argue that Jesus most likely died on a cross in which the upright beam projected above the shorter crosspiece. Biblically, though, an airtight case cannot be made for either a cross or a pole/stake. The Romans were not picky in regards to how they would crucify people. The Romans used crosses, poles, stakes, upside-down crosses, x-shaped crosses, walls, roofs, etc. Jesus could have been crucified on any of these objects and it would not have affected the perfection or sufficiency of His sacrifice."

Has everything to do with it (jeez, is there an echo in here?). Imagine the early followers of Jesus trying to spread their newly invented religion to the "heathens" of Europe - let's suppose these heathens used... hmm... the McDonalds logo as the symbol of their superstitions. Along come these newfangled Christians with their fancy new "cross" logo; the heathens aren't going to like that much!

In all seriousness dude, pick up a history book. You'd be amazed!

Again, does not matter. The cross is a symbol of again what Jesus did on the cross for us. It has nothing to do with pagan beliefs, European beliefs or ANY other belief. Does not matter if they used it first, or not. Does not matter. The Christians did not take the symbol of the cross from this other belief. The cross again is used because Jesus was crucified on a cross, so again the cross is used to symbolize this in memory of that faithful day.

And so the conquest was succesful.

Jesus was crucified on a cross.

John 20:25
25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

If it would have been just a vertical poll there would not have been any prints of any nails in his hand. For it would have been no need to nail his hands to anything if it wasn't on a cross.

It could be in the shape of an x.

You don't honestly think that the "Jesus" character was the only person to ever be crucified, do you?
You don't believe that the "born of a virgin - had 12 followers - was betrayed, died and was resurrected" motif was unique to the Christian mythos do you?!

No, Jesus wasn't the only person ever crucified, never said he was or even insinuated that. Jesus was an innocent man. He did nothing wrong, he broke no laws. The old law/old covenant prophesied his coming, but they did not believe him to be the promised messiah. But nevertheless he broke no laws for he was whom was prophesied.

And yes I do believe he was born a virgin, had 12 disciples, was betrayed, and was resurrected.

That's cool, believe what you will. What I asked was: do you believe that these... "plot elements" (for want of a better phrase) were original and unique to the Christian stories? (ie: do you realise that these motifs were borrowed from earlier belief systems?)

They were not lol. These are history, they happened. If you do not believe they happened, that is your own choice. But they were not "borrowed" they happened. It's not just a book where a couple bored people sat around and wrote.

Of course most of it was borrowed. That is the basis for the Church claimed that the Devil knew this and therefore started Paganism prior to Jesus to confuse people. See your own faith teaches it.

Only problem with that is the church didn't write the bible. The apostles did eg., the book of John, the book of Genesis, the book of James, ect. The church merely gathered the books together into one book we call the bible. But as in what words it possesses, was written not by the church, but by the apostles, which they received their knowledge from God.

I thought the pagan cross was a rifle scope cross hairs before I started reading the book by John Rollins. I don't know how people have looked through the scope of a rifle.

True, in some obscure way "they happened". The "Moses" character was based on the life of an earlier man, who in turn was based on another, and renamed in the Hebrew style (all sharing common themes: hidden at birth, set adrift in a river, discovered and raised by the very people he would one day free his people from).
The "Jesus" character, while certainly based partially on the acts of an actual man has been so distorted, retconned and exaggerated as to bear little resemblance to the political activist he actually was.

The cross does not show up in the followers of Messiah untill around Constantine.. Before that it was what was used to kill thier Messiah.. No writer I have seen before constantine spoke of anyone wearing a cross.. That would be like wearing a Swasika in Jerusalem