Trying to avoid a gift-giving faux-pas here. I know some Christian sects consider a cross OK, but a cross with Jesus on it to be offensive/idolatrous. Does anyone know what the view of a Pentecostal Christian would be?
“Pentecostal Christian” covers a lot of territory, Gonzoron. Some of 'em are dead set against any kind of jewelry, wedding rings included.
Generally speaking, yeah, a plain crucifix is acceptable, while a cross with Jesus on it is considered “Catholic” and is not acceptable.
Ask your prospective giftee what s/he thinks, or give a gift certificate to your local Christian bookstore. They sell crucifixes.
Or if you don’t want to give a gift certificate, purchase a plain crucifix at the Christian bookstore–at least that way if it does give offense to a non-wedding-ring-wearing Pentecostal, you can say, “Well, I bought it at the Small Honorable Christian Bookstore”, which is less offensive than, “I bought it at The Big Secular Jewelry Emporium Downtown”.
And hang onto the receipt, so it can be exchanged.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but does not a crucifix require Jesus on it? Otherwise, it’s just a cross.
According to M-W online, it does, but I always used the terms interchangeably. And so does everybody else I know. Does it matter? 
Well, I’m an atheist, so I don’t give a rat’s ass. But some fundies might!
Yes. It matters. Your reply made no sense, you’re using the word wrong, and you’re spreading ignorance.
it’s not exactly jewelry, it’s more of a scupture, but it does have Jesus on it, so I guess it’s out. Are there any Christian sects other than Catholic that do use a crucifix? (meaning cross+Jesus)
Orthodox make use of crucifixes, but our crosses tend to look a bit different, having three horizontal bars rather than one, and we’re much more likely to have a flat icon of Christ on the cross rather than a little sculpture (see here).
Most pentecostals wouldn’t wear a crucifix, which has Jesus on it. Many would like to have a cross, which doesn’t have Jesus on it.
Orthodox Christianity-and their crosses have two additional bars as well.
I’m Catholic, but never really paid much attention to the symbolism. Discussion with a friend led to my understanding why the crucifix bothers some members of some denominations - but I can’t claim to understand all denominations.
The cross is an empty symbol - and is supposed to represent Jesus overcoming death along with the promise of eternal life.
The crucifix, on the other hand, represents the sacrifice that Jesus made for people, like the sacrifice of the Catholic Mass.
To me, I see it as remembering different aspects of the same event.
Duck Duck Goose, a cross and a crucifix are different. Jesus is said to have been crucified on the cross, not crossified on the crucifix, right? By definintion, a crucifix includes a representation of Jesus on it, and the two terms are not interchangable.
Yikes, I just re-read that and by empty symbol, I didn’t mean a meaningless symbol, but I realize that it can be read that way. I mean that it represents the empty cross.
Actually, even though I grew up Catholic, I have never really liked crucifixes, as they strike me as morbid. And some of the more detailed ones can be very disturbing looking.
As has been pointed out, “crucifix” and “cross” are not interchangeable terms, though they are sometimes used interchangeably. A “crucifix” has a representation of the crucifiction, and includes Jesus. A “crucifix” is obviously a cross (plus a Jesus), so it is technically correct to call a “crucifix” a “cross.” It is not correct to call an unadorned “cross” a “crucifix,” though, because it’s just a cross, with no Jesus (no representation of the crucifiction). So as generally used, “crucifix” = cross with Jesus, “cross” = just a cross, maybe very ornate, but without Jesus.
As a general rule, Protestants do not wear or use crucifixes in their worship, though many will wear crosses and the most of the churches use crosses. AFAIK, the general party line is that including Jesus makes the crucifix a “graven image,” which are prohibited. (Catholics do not believe this, obviously; the crucifix is a very common Catholic symbol.) By extension of the same reasoning, Mormons do not employ cross symbolism at all, either by wearing them or by using them in their churches, so it would not be appropriate to give a practicing Mormon a cross OR a crucifix.
There are some fundamentalist christian churches that also reject the use of symbolism (as the Mormons do) and likewise do not wear crosses, and the problem here is that sometimes those churches include Pentecostals. (Though they do not necessarily include Pentecostals.) While all Pentecostal churches are pretty fundamentalist and strict when viewed on the continuum of Protestantism, there are within Pentecostalism churches that think wearing jewelry is okay (most of them AFAIK), and some that think no jewelry is okay, not even a wedding ring.
Bottom line: Because the beliefs and practices of Pentecostalism (like many fundamentalist, charismatic denominations) will vary widely from congregation to congregation, I would not buy a Pentecostal friend a cross unless I had checked with him/her first to make sure it would be permitted and welcome.
Also, it should be noted that Pentecostals are NOT Trinitarians. They reject the concept of a Trinity because they believe it is inconsistent with the existence of only one God. For this reason in particular, while I would not buy a Protestant a crucifix under any circumstances, I especially would not buy a crucifix for a Pentecostal, who does not accept the divinity of Christ as something separable from God.
In general, they prefer plain crosses. Most people who wear crufixes are Catholic/Orthodox.
Pentecostal is kind of a generic term these days for anyone/church who believes in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. What kind of Pentecostal are you buying for, here? The long dress, long hair no makeup type, or the pants wearing women preacher type (I fall into the latter category)?
AFAIK, the general party line is that including Jesus makes the crucifix a “graven image,” which are prohibited.
I’ve never heard this reasoning. Most people I know simply prefer a plain cross because they reason that Jesus went to the cross once, got the job done, and is no longer on the cross so why wear one that has Him on it?
If anyone is curious, the three horizontal bars on the Orthodox Christian cross are for (from top to bottom) (1) the legend “INRI” (the initials of the Latin for Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews) nailed above Jesus’ head, (2) the bar on which Jesus’ arms were held, (3) the bar on which Jesus’ feet were nailed.
It is my understanding that most Pentecostals ARE in fact Trinitarians, with the only notable exception being the United Pentecostal Church. For example, the second and third hits in a google search of “pentecostal” are the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, and the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.
Similarly, the broad category of Pentecostal denominations includes the Assemblies of God, Church of God, Church of God in Christ, and Foursquare Gospel, all of which profess a Godhead of three persons.
I should point out that the United Pentecostal Church and other smaller groups which advocate a “Jesus only” interpretation, acknowledge the trinitarian-sounding passages in the Bible, and may accept the word “trinity.” However, they view the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three different roles fulfilled by Jesus, not three different persons, one of which is Jesus.
I’d give that to you in their words, but their site doesn’t seem to be working today.
Exceedingly minor nitpick, but on most Orthodox crosses the title bar would read “INBI” or “IHUI” (“Iesous o Nazoraios o Vasilevs ton Ioudaion” or “Iisous Nazorianin Tsar Iudeiskii”), which are the Greek and Slavonic versions, respectively.
Well, I’m not a Pentecostal Christian (I’m a Methodist) so it could very well be that my information is from people who are UPC. But correction and/or clarification is of course appropriate. My point still stands, though: Best to ask first, unless you’re very certain of the position of whatever type of Pentecostalism the friend ascribes to.