What does light symbolize in Christianity?

Answer from a non-Christian perspective

Please see related question below;

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_Poisoning_the_Well_argument

Please see also Discuss Question on left.

A carry-over from the early Israelites worship of sun as Life-Giver.

"The early Israelites were mostly sun worshipers. And even in later times, the sun god, Baal. divided with Jehovah the worship of the Jews. "

"Charles Francois Dupuis, in his Origin of Worship, one of the most elaborate and remarkable works on mythology ever penned, shows that nearly all the religions of the world, including Christianity, were derived largely from solar worship. "

"If Christ was not originally a solar god he wears today the livery of one. His mother, the Virgin, was the mother of the solar gods; his birthday, Christmas, is the birthday of all the gods of the sun; his Twelve Apostles correspond to the twelve signs of the Zodiac; according to the Gospels, at his crucifixion the sun was eclipsed, he expired toward sunset, and rose again with the sun; the day appointed for his worship, the Lord's day, is the dies solis, Sunday, of the sun worshipers; while the principal feasts observed in memory of him were once observed in honor of their goals. "Every detail of the Sun myth," says the noted astronomer, Richard A. Proctor, "is worked into the record of the Galilean teacher."

For full text; http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/rmsbrg10.htm

Answer: from a Christian Perspective

The word Light is used as a symbol in the spiritual realm for what Jesus Christ does and is as compared to what light does in the normal everyday life of people. As in the real world people who have bad intentions don't like light and prefer to perform their crimes in the darkness of night to assist in anonymity and escape, so in the spiritual realm people who are 'in darkness' do not like the light since they will then be exposed.

Light in the physical world has the property of revealing things or showing us things so that we can see where we are going. This idea is carried over into the spiritual realm in Christianity, in that Jesus brings things to the light, i.e. He reveals things about people that they would rather leave hidden. Jesus is also the revealer of spiritual truth or 'light' which is another way of saying that He reveals things as they really are. This ability He demonstrated to cut through to the truth of the matter was found to be uncomfortable for many people who met Him while on earth.

Another example of the use of this 'symbol' is that Christians are to live 'in the light' of Christ who is Himself both the Creator of physical light and of spiritual light. "I am the light of the world". There is a contrast between the old life of darkness and ignorance and the new life of light and knowledge.

Light in the physical realm, as well as in the spiritual, is seen as a Creation of God alone. People themselves cannot create light, even though they use it. Thus God, the creator of all is alone to be worshiped, since He is 'above all and through all' He has made. Although certain pagan elements have crept into churches with the name of Christian, these elements are not, in themselves, Christian and actually contradict pure Christian teaching.

Below are a few verses illustrating the above comments.

John 3:19-21 (King James Version)

John 8:12 (King James Version)

Ephesians 5:8 (King James Version)

First answer by Itchie.c2. Last edit by Itchie.c2. Contributor trust: 710 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 10 [recommend question]