The Power of Symbols

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considered sacred because they are a sources which aid in our process of accepting the one, true ultimate concern.

Religious symbols carry very strong assertions of faith and trust. A religious symbol carries a strong meaning for a Christian because, as stated above, “it takes part in the power and meaning of what it symbolizes (Williams, paragraph 3).” Although religious symbols cannot be proved to be true by empirical assertions, they “posses some truth if [they] adequately express the correlation of revelation in which a person stands. A religious symbol is true if it adequately expresses the correlation of some person with final revelation (Essential Tillich, 65).” This also illustrates the idea that religious symbols can only die or become obsolete if “the correlation of which it is an adequate expression dies (Essential Tillich, 65).” Those statements correlate with Tillich’s characteristics of symbols. He said that symbols couldn’t be invented because a society creates them over a period of time. Religious symbols are only true if people understand the infinite aspect of them and learn to understand their meanings. Once a society ceases to follow those symbols, they die and are lost over time. It was humans who, over thousands of years, crafted and popularized the symbols that we associate with the Christian God that millions of people follow and believe in. Religious symbols such as the Christian cross, the bible, the rosary, the genuflection, and many others are commonplace in churches and in the homes of most Christians. But do the all the bearers of these symbols truly understand the power of them? Although most Christians understand the significance of those symbols, they don’t manage to place God as their ultimate concern because of our fast-paced and competitive world. Instead on focusing on these symbols of faith, many Christians focus on symbols of status and wealth. Being wealthy and buying expensive clothes and jewelry are symbols of success, but these symbols do not fulfill our soul in ways that spiritual symbols have done throughout the ages. Theologians play in important role in the interpretation of religious symbols. Even though they do not have the power to validate or neglect certain religious symbols, they may interpret them and if necessary “point out the religious dangers and the theological errors which follow from the use of certain symbols (Essential Tillich, 66).” Only the Christian society as a whole has the communal power to freely choose which symbols to venerate and to decide why they choose to see the symbol as a fitting representation of their faith and their devotion to the almighty father of heaven and earth.

Symbols have played very important roles in expressing and representing the religious beliefs of Christians throughout the world. The basic symbol of faith is God because he represents what we look up to and attempt to emulate. Other religious symbols are also very sacred to Christians because they serve as concrete representations of God that we can hold and see. Although God is an infinite and omnipresent entity, humans respond better when they are able to see and feel what they hold important in their lives. The Christian symbols that we hold dear to our hearts will always be here to console us and give us strength in times of need as long as the Christian community continues to have faith in God and everything we attribute to his just power.

Bibliography

Tillich, Paul. Dynamics of Faith. New York: n.p., 1958. Print.

Tillich, Paul. The Essential Tillich: An Anthology of the Writings of Paul Tillich. Comp. Forrest Forrester Church. New York: Macmillan, 1987. Print.

"Paul Tillich." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 05 Jun. 2014. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/595850/Paul-Tillich>.

Williams, Dr. Guy. "Paul Tillich and Language as Symbol." Philosophical Investigations. N.p., 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 3 June 2014. <http://philosophicalinvestigations.co.uk/index.php/philosophy/a2-religious-language/812-handout-religious-language?showall=&start=8>.