The Cross an Electric Chair?

The analogy between the cross and an electric chair is intended to show that, while the cross has become a common and even sentimental symbol of Christianity today, in Christ's day it was a harsh symbol of execution. Like an electric chair is today.

Note: FactChecker is a new monthly series in which Glenn T. Stanton examines claims, myths, and misunderstandings frequently heard in evangelical circles.

Have you ever heard a Christian writer, teacher, or pastor say something like the following?

"When Jesus told those who would follow him that they must 'take up his cross daily' this was like telling people today to take up their electric chairs and follow him."

or

"For Christians to wear crosses around their necks is like us wearing a symbol of an electric chair."

It is an important truth that Christians of every age remember about the cross. But the electric chair analogy actually deludes the point. 

This comparison between the cross and old sparky was first made by an important theologian of the 1960s: Lenny Bruce. In a series of articles he serialized in Playboy, later published in his 1967 posthumous book, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People, Bruce observed,

If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.

Cue the laughter. But the truth is, an electric chair and a cross are similar in only one way: each is designed to kill criminals. Otherwise, they are nothing alike.  Continue at Glenn T. Stanton