The cut or for God there are no unsolvable problems

Story and background

I heard the story somewhere. I don't know if it corresponds to reality or not.

A Christian goes into captivity in a country where Christians are punished by death. His jailers have fun challenging him and his God by giving him a supposedly unsolvable task.

Warden: "Tomorrow you will be given a piece of paper. Should you succeed with a straight cut in making a cross, you shall be saved from death and we will serve your god."

The other guards all laughed in unison. How could that be done with a single cut to make a cross?

The man did not sleep that night but prayed, "Lord, I am in captivity and yet I have a chance to proclaim your word before I die. In your name I ask you to open the eyes of the guards that you alone are God". The prayer had continued into the morning hour.

The next morning, as promised, the man received a leaf and much laughter from the guards.

But not only did the man get the opportunity to testify to his faith with words, but with just that one cut, the gospel could be proclaimed.

The Moment of Truth

Now that the man had everything ready, he makes the one cut (There are folding instructions in the article linked above)

The guards could not believe what was now happening:

The first thing the man did was to take out a cross from the leaf, which was supposed to save his life already. But he said only this: "This is the cross on which our Lord Jesus died to free us from our sins. But this cross did not stand in any place, but on a hill which is called Golgotha. To the left and right of him they hung a criminal next to Jesus. To his cross they attached a sign with the inscription INRI (King of the Jews). Under the cross they threw dice for Jesus' garment and with a spear they checked if Jesus was really dead. Silence fell among the men. No one knew what to say. A short time ago they had made fun of this God who wants to bear their sins. After a short pause, the man took the different parts and put them together again and said finally: "Well, you have the choice today and here to give your life to Jesus and to confess your sins to him. He will be gracious to you and welcome you as his children. This is a gift that will most certainly save you from hell if you accept it, for God is not vindictive, but merciful and full of love and patience."

How the story ends, I don't remember. But I could imagine that the men had given their lives to Jesus. But whether the man had to die in spite of everything or not is an open question. But I know that he could die in the certainty that God loves him and works exactly like that today.

1. Fold A4 sheet into 3 equal parts and open again.

2. Fold 1/3 of the sheet onto the other, leaving 1/3

3. Fold a cottage from the paper folded together, do not turn the sheet, the cottage from the paper folds that is already on top of each other.

4. Fold in half 

5. Fold towards the middle once more

6. This is how the paper looks then, cut along the dotted line. 

Brown: The board on which Inri stood (King of the Jews)
Purple: The cross on which Jesus died
Dark green: Golgata, the skull place, there place where Jesus died
Blue: The dice with which the soldiers rolled.
Gray cross: one of the criminals who turned away from Jesus.
Light green cross: one of the criminals who turned toward Jesus.
Red: spear with which the soldiers stabbed Jesus in the side.

Image credits

• Title photo: provided by Markus Grob
• Building instructions and explanation of parts: © Ronnie Berzins, www.kreativekiste.de