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While laboring as a Mormon missionary many years ago, an investigator reported that he had a dream of a cross of fire. Apparently unaware of the no-cross protocol, the investigator was convinced that the dream was a heaven sent confirmation that he should join the Church. I didn't know just how to respond to this, except to raise my eyebrows and ask, "Will you be baptized?" Later I asked my companion what he thought about the dream, and he replied, "I don't know Elder." We were both very confused.

I am interested in reading your experiences that may relate to the Church's no-cross protocol.

My 2nd companion was a pretty serious believer. I was too, and we fed off each other. We discussed when we thought the end of the world would be, etc. We were both convinced it was within 10 years or so (19 years and counting...). We talked pretty in-depth about stuff. We both believed it all, hook, line, and sinker. This guy was really sad and upset that Jesus didn't appear to him, because he'd been praying for that to happen, and he thought he'd been righteous and faithful enough.

Well, we had an investigator who was I think Lebanese, or Syrian or something. He had a cardboard cross hanging on his wall. It wasn't big, maybe two or three inches tall. My companion and I both got the willies. We were sure that the cross was a Satanic instrument used to give him power over you, or some such stupid s***. Yeah, we believed it, just like we believed the stupid crap on some papers that got passed around from missionary to missionary, saying that in some Catholic churches you'd see a cross upside down, and that meant that bishop or whatever had the authority within the church to kill someone. Well, we decided we needed to get rid of the cross so that our investigator could feel the spirit, and keep himself safe from Satan. So on a visit to him we asked for the cross, and he let us take it. We tore it up and threw it away later on after we left. We both felt sure we'd done the right thing.

How stupid of me. That was probably the most credulous phase in my life, before I figured out that a lot of the stuff that got passed around was just dumb.

If we did do a Stations of the Cross, I wonder if the first scene would be set in a primeval Independence County, Missouri?

moksha wrote:If we did do a Stations of the Cross, I wonder if the first scene would be set in a primeval Independence County, Missouri?

This reminds me of a joke. God appears to the Pope. He tells him that he's got good news and bad news. The Pope asks what the good news is. "Jesus is coming back tomorrow." The Pope asks what the bad news is. "He's coming back to Missouri."

Mike Reed wrote:While laboring as a Mormon missionary many years ago, an investigator reported that he had a dream of a cross of fire. Apparently unaware of the no-cross protocol, the investigator was convinced that the dream was a heaven sent confirmation that he should join the Church. I didn't know just how to respond to this, except to raise my eyebrows and ask, "Will you be baptized?" Later I asked my companion what he thought about the dream, and he replied, "I don't know Elder." We were both very confused.

I am interested in reading your experiences that may relate to the Church's no-cross protocol.

All that shows is that the paradigm in which your investigator was working was different from the LDS paradigm. The no-cross protocol is obviously not important enough to God to change his manifestation to your investigator. So, like much of that which we accept without question, the no-cross protocol is likely manmade.

Harmony: All that shows is that the paradigm in which your investigator was working was different from the LDS paradigm. The no-cross protocol is obviously not important enough to God to change his manifestation to your investigator. So, like much of that which we accept without question, the no-cross protocol is likely manmade.


Thanks for your reply, Harmony, but I was not asking for an explanation. What I am asking for in this thread is for people to share experiences that relate to the no cross protocol.

Here is another experience that I have had:

As a teenager, I stole a cross necklace from a mini-market while on vacation. This would have been an extremely ironic deed had I been a mainstream Christian, but I wasn't. I was Mormon. As a Mormon, the cross symbol was viewed as a sign of apostasy, and therefore was a perfect expression of the rebellious feelings that I had at the time.

Here is an experience that was shared to me at exmormon.org:

Girls' Camp was held at a Boy Scout encampment, and we stayed in tents that were permanently pitched on wooden platforms. In each tent were 4 metal cots, and most of the cots had a crude wooden cross (gasp!) lashed to the head of the frame.

The counselors were horrified and had us take our little pocketknives and cut them all down. The token LDS p'hood holder (can't have Girls' Camp without the p'hood, yanno) was then asked to bless the place once the nasty crosses were down. One counselor actually referred to them and "symbols of the Great Whore of Babylon".

Turns out we cut down all the frames for mosquito netting - oops!

Too funny!!

I had a Step-Daughter who wore a gold cross. It caused my Mormon ex-wife's reactionary gland to go into overtime. The Step-Daughter even wore the gold cross to Church. I imagine it caused some of the old ladies heads to do 360 degree turns and smoke to come out their nostrils.

Here is my favorite trivia: If you hold a cross to the forehead of a Mormon, nothing will happen. Knowing this, it is hard to understand how they can get so worked up about a symbol of Christianity.

Mike Reed wrote:Harmony: All that shows is that the paradigm in which your investigator was working was different from the LDS paradigm. The no-cross protocol is obviously not important enough to God to change his manifestation to your investigator. So, like much of that which we accept without question, the no-cross protocol is likely manmade.


Thanks for your reply, Harmony, but I was not asking for an explanation. What I am asking for in this thread is for people to share experiences that relate to the no cross protocol.

Silly me. I thought you actually wanted to have a discussion about it, rather than just a story sharing session. My apologies. Carry on.

I had a cross hanging on the wall in my bedroom when I was growing up. It was a gift from the Lutheran church after my parents had me baptized. I swear it used to vibrate on the wall at night. Used to scare me. (I did grow up near San Francisco, so it was probably just minor earthquakes).

When I was eight I got a blue clear plastic rosary with a fancy metal crucifix attached to it with various metal beads along the strand. I tohught it was pretty cool and brought it home. That was when I was informed that we don't carry around crosses, and that I should just throw it away. There was no freaking out, just the explanation that as Mormons we celebrate the ressurection, not the death of Christ.

I have no problem with crosses myself. I wouldent hang a cricifix on my wall or wear a cross necklace, but I think that they are merely a showing a statement of their faith.

Freaking out about it is just silly. Its like not letting your kids play with a friend because their parents drink.