The cross was the instrument of humanity’s salvation- why wouldn’t you use it as your symbol?
Note that crucifixes are sanitized too. The Romans didn’t put a delicate little loincloth on people before they nailed them to a cross – they were crucified completely naked.
The neighbor lady told that to my mother when I was about 4 years old. It horrified my mother and I had no clue what it meant.
Originally, Christians didn’t even use a cross or a crucifix – they used the Chi Rho. Most Catholic churches still use it in addition to the crucifix.
I once interpreted at an Episcopal church in mid-sized college town in Southern Indiana that had a HUGE Christus Rex above the alter. I kept looking at it, thinking it looked wrong, somehow, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Later, someone explained to me the difference between a crucifix and a Christus Rex.
What do you interpret?
“Christ the King, reigning from the cross”?
There is also the consideration that the man we know as “Jesus the Christ” was part of the prophesied bi-lateral concept. He was “the one who will lead us” and the other messiah was the spiritual guide. Jesus’ leadership is marked by raising an army of followers.
James (Jesus’ brother) was recognized as a spiritual leader. It’s been suggested that “they got the wrong guy,” so to speak. James may have been the spiritual side of the two pillars represented at the Qumranian sites that archaeological findings like the Dead Sea Scrolls have yielded.
It’s only food for thought, and I’m not going into detail here. A book called The Hiram Key might interest some here. It deals with a lot of current relationships to pre-Christian ritual and such, but zeroes in on this topic competently.
Well, the Spanish I was translating from uses acampó, “camped”, really, but I don’t try to fight things too much when I realize I’m thinking in Spanish and translating. If I do it ends up coming up worse. Uncle Google brings up other translations that say habitó, “lived, made his home”, but those also use Palabra (“word”) where English has Word and Greek has λόγος/Logos; the ones I’m used to prefer Verbo (“verb, word, action, being”).
Having been interested in language, its evolution, and the double relationship of thought shaping language and language shaping thought, ever since I understood that there are multiple languages, I find it fascinating that a single word can pack so much meaning and that the choice of one or another translation can lead to very different glosses.
Nava, that’s fascinating. You could say the more specific “camped; pitched his tent” gloss emphasizes the temporary nature of Jesus’ stay, as intended from the start. You migh even say it underscores the expectation of another visit in the future.
The “logos” issue is also interesting. Is there a single word in English like Spanish “verbo” that basically means “word,” but implies more action than “word”? (But which doesn’t have the cold grammar-specific feeling of “verb”)? Maybe “utterance”? Or “speaking”? (“Speech” now implies a Gettysburg Address sort of thing, so that won’t work).
In the beginning was the utterance. Close…but too evocative of milking a cow. 
I assume that Rivkah meant that she was in the church for the reason of interpreting the services from the pastor’s language for the benefit of members of the other congregation that speak some other language (ASL, maybe?). She wasn’t there to interpret the cross specifically; that’s just something that she happened to notice while she was there.
Orthodox crosses often have that diagonal footbar. I’d heard that their emphasis was on “Christ the victor” instead of “Christ the martyr,” but a quick look at Google images of Orthodox crucifixes show not only His suffering figure, but a surprisingly uniform depiction of it.
I hesitate to mention it, but… Scientology has a cross-like starburst icon. I’ve never seen a human figure on it, but it’s clearly intended to evoke the Christian cross.