Question about three crosses - Klan related?????
bassie
11,710 Posts
Sorry to bring up such an ugly topic on Monday morning. When we were in the mountains (W. Virginia, etc.) we kept seeing three crosses in fields and on hills: one large yellow one in the middle and two smaller white ones on either side. We thought it was zeal and I actually meant to ask about them here, but forgot as we didn't see them again once were out of that area.The crosses came up in coversation this weekend with a friend who had also seen them and she said she was told they are KKK-related - is this true???? Man says he can't beleive that's what they are. Please say no...
Comments
It's more like a mainstream Christian thang as spelled out below...
There were three crosses on Calvary's hill. On one was a man dying in sin???he did not accept Jesus. On another was a man dying to sin???he trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord (Luke 23:40-43). And on the middle cross was One dying for sin. He could die for others because He was God's Son and had no sin of His own. The center cross made all the difference for those two men hanging beside Jesus???the difference between an eternal hell and an eternal heaven.
The whole world is represented by those two thieves and their response to the Lord Jesus. I see in the three crucified individuals a picture of the sinner, the saint, and the Savior.[/b]
The Klan is a Christian thang. Just Sayin.
As long as they werent burning, I wouldnt assume.
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/8-3-2005-74163.asp
Crosses Across America Offer a Comforting Sight to Travelers[/b]
(If you???ve been on the highway and passed a cluster of three crosses that you found inspirational and calming, you can thank the late Rev. Bernard Coffindaffer.)
By Linda Orlando
Bernard Coffindaffer of Craigsville, West Virginia, was born in 1935 to West German parents who had emigrated to the U.S. before his birth. His father died when he was still a baby and his mother died with cancer when he was ten years old, leaving him an orphan. Despite these trying circumstances, Coffindaffer graduated from high school at the age of fourteen and then served six years in the U. S. Marine Corps with tours of duty in the Pacific, Iwo Jima, and Nagasaki, Japan. He graduated from the University of Charleston with a degree in business, and then returned to his West Virginia homeland. He worked in the oil industry as a young man, and later founded a coal-washing business in the West Virginia mountains in an economically deprived location. His business was enormously successful. When he was 42, Coffindaffer became a Christian and studied the ministry, becoming a Methodist minister and serving seven small churches in Pocahontas County. He was later given an honorary doctoral degree in Florida.
After two heart surgeries, Coffindaffer decided to liquidate his business and stop working in the coal industry, and then two years later he had a vision. It was "a genuine, marvelous, glorious vision," Coffindaffer said. He was explicitly told what he was supposed to do: Get manpower, get materials, and plant crosses for the world to see. "The Holy Spirit instructed, blessed, dealt with me and told me how to go about installing these Crosses. It was an experience you have once in a lifetime." Coffindaffer???s successful business acumen had resulted in his being able to amass a small fortune before liquidating his business. "I worked like a dog for the money, eighteen hours a day for thirty-five years," he said. "The Holy Spirit knew I had the money and was willing to spend it, and I'm not going to back down."
So on September 28, 1984, Coffindaffer started the Crosses Across America project, saying "Not for saints or sinners. For everybody. They're up for only one sole reason, and that's this: to remind people that Jesus was crucified on a cross at Calvary for our sins and that He is soon coming again." Coffindaffer knew that the crosses might lead to controversy, adding, "When you say ???for our sins,??? half the people run. When you say ???He's coming again,??? everybody runs." But maybe, he said, "the crosses will make one person stop and think."
Over the course of the next nine years, Coffindaffer had an office in the basement of his home with a full-time secretary, as well as seven full-time work crews traveling across America to erect the clusters of crosses he had designed. The crosses were all built from California Douglas fir, weighing about 400 pounds each. The center cross is painted gold and the two crosses on either side are painted a pale blue, and the three are set in pea gravel and sand. The three crosses symbolize Christ on the cross, flanked by the two thieves who were crucified with him. The gold paint on the center cross represents royalty, while the pale blue paint on the flanking crosses signifying the earth. When each cluster was erected, a consecration service was held where scriptures were read and prayers were offered for repentance and forgiveness of sins. The same identical service was held at each site. Coffindaffer once said, "The crosses speak peace within as we struggle without."
Coffindaffer spent approximately $3,000,000 to build and plant the clusters of three crosses in 29 states, the District of Columbia, Zambia, and The Philippines. Site owners donated the land's use for the crosses and Coffindaffer paid all the bills. The successful businessman turned colorful evangelist attracted the attention of the media when he became the subject of a PBS documentary about his life titled, "Point Man For God." He was also shown on the award-winning series "Different Drummer," and CBS News did a story about him on its popular program "CBS Sunday Morning." When he died in 1993 of a heart attack at his home, Coffindaffer had been responsible for the installation and maintenance of nearly 2000 clusters of crosses. His ministry, Cast Thy Bread, Inc., ceased operation with no money in reserve.
For six years after his death, Coffindaffer???s crosses continued to offer inspiration and comfort to weary travelers, but it appeared that his ongoing mission had ended with his death and the 2000 existing crosses. Then, in 1999, Sara Stevenson Abraham made the decision to pick up where Coffindaffer had left off and revive the project of planting crosses for the world to see. Abraham formed a new non-profit organization called Crosses Across America, Inc., and opened a National Headquarters in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As Executive Director of the organization, Abraham is locating the standing clusters of crosses installed by Coffindaffer???s work crews and then enlisting the aid of volunteer groups in getting them straightened, repaired, and restored. Abraham travels the country to present the story of the crosses to churches, civic organizations, television and radio programs, spreading the word of Coffindaffer???s original mission and the purpose of the crosses.
Crosses Across America has big plans for expanding Coffindaffer???s original mission by installing new clusters of crosses every 50 miles on either side of some 45,000 miles of interstate highways and thoroughfares that crisscross North America. They also plan to install crosses at specific sites that seem to cry out for them, such as the lake in South Carolina where a mother drowned her two young sons, and the field in Pennsylvania where the 9/11 terrorists crashed an airliner killing everyone on board. The organization secured all of the files, photographs, plans, and films used to design, build, and install the original crosses, so that after the existing crosses are repaired, they can begin building new ones.
The new crosses will be more durable because they will be constructed of a plastic-like material that will withstand 200 mph winds. Because of this newer technology, the crosses will never again need repairing or painting, but they will have all the properties of the original crosses and will be exact duplicates as far as possible. The project itself will cost a tremendous amount of money, time, and effort, but because Crosses Across America and its volunteers believe their mission is ordained by God, they do not worry about where the money will come from. They believe that God will touch the hearts of people to provide funds for the project, and so far the funds have been provided by individuals, foundations, churches, and other donors.
All donations are tax-deductible, and there are no paid employees. Administrative expenses for the organization are underwritten by a private individual, and all people associated with Crosses Across America are volunteers. No one will ever receive any financial gain from Crosses Across America, but millions of people will receive tremendous emotional and spiritual gain as they pass by the crosses guiding their way on the highway.
By Buzzle Staff and Agencies
Published: 8/3/2005
I've seen this configuration in Northern country areas as well. I never jumped to the KKK thing.
All crosses in the souf = evil white folk?
No, it's not. I mean, I know they 'claim' Christian roots, beliefs, etc. But it just doesn't hold up. Christians, from the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, and evangelical persuasions would all by and large not 'claim' the Klan.
Cool - thank you for posting that. I'll send it to Man, too.
I would never have even considered they were KKK-related until this weekend's conversation.
It doesnt have to "hold up". If they "believe" their own interpretation, thats what it is.
I didnt know there were "real" christains and "fake" ones?
So are a lot of evangelicals--that doesn't mean that their thing is not a Christian thing.
Thank you.
For what? I don't think his statement supports anything you are saying.
oh boy. are you channelling your avatar, or is that what you really think?
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Were they white or black??
well, mormons and jim jones claim(ed) to be christian too...i guess the point being that if Chrisitanity had to accept everyone who claimed to be so...or better, if everyone has equal claim to the title 'Christian' just because they say so, regardless of their belief and practice, the term becomes meaningless. it's not even worth pointing out that the Klan is christian...because under the weak aupices that they claim it, it becomes meaningless to say so.
I think it's hilarious and fitting that an "inspirational and calming" roadside campaign leads to rumors about the Klan. So great! So beautiful!
Reminds me of something I read last night:
Who would suspect our enlightened priests, with their pacifism, and their science degrees, until one remembered their attitude to divorce, their ascetic, Pauline and therefore neurotic puritanism; their determination to maintain the grip of religion over all human activity--the English Sunday? In the face of such confusion, such multiplicity and manoeuvres, it is not surprising that individuals fail to appreciate the existence of a crisis, and that they remain blind to the essential unity and strength of the oppressors.
b/w
...it was perfectly well understood that the church was part of the capitalist racket.
Who determines what "group" is real?
Many people--including me--would say that it is.
The first 'Christian nation' was Ethiopia...by their own design. This was prior to Romanization and the Christianization of Europe. So, Christianity being anti-black is a myth. American protestants were also big abolitionists (though some were pro-slavery). thats not to say that some haven't done racists things in the name of Christianity...but the religion is most definitely not anti-black.
save your breath, you're arguing against people whose worldview is about as nuanced as the cartoon characters in their avatars...
I think dude was talmbout Catholic ,specifically. Not the whole kit-n-kaboodle.
So Again -
Who deems which group is real or fake. Where is this Governing Body?