God as a lucky charm
In tonight's episode, "A Slump, a Cross, and Roadside Gravel" (Jan. 06 2020) Missy Cooper uses prayer and a cross lent by her mother to get over a baseball batting slump. And eventually Mary Cooper decides that Missy is treating Gold Almighty as an automatic luck giver and takes back the cross that she thinks that Missy is misusing, or "Missy using", to coin a phrase.
And I have say that if someone believes in God like Mary Cooper does, Missy's attitude seems very misguided, while if one disbelieves as Sheldon does Missy's actions seem ineffective.
Assuming that if you pray to God for whatever you want, no matter how good or how evil your desire may be, and assume that God will grant your wish, no matter how good or evil it may be, is definitely misusing the powers that one thinks that God might have.
So I wonder what Mary Cooper would think about her country's flag, if she lived in a country that used a cross on it's flag. A lot of Christian countries have crosses in their flags:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_national_flags_depicting_a_cross
And in the case of older Christian countries, the crosses in their flags are based the crosses of patron saints that were earlier used in war flags and military costumes in many bloody wars.
In this 15th century illustration of the bloody Battle of Agincourt in 1415, the french soldiers all wear red jackets with white crosses, and the English all wear white jackets with red crosses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Agincourt#/media/File:Schlacht_von_Azincourt.jpg
And there are countless other examples of Christian societies misusing cross symbols in the hope that God will give them victory in usually unjustified wars, and help them to kill their fellow humans - who were and are often fellow Christians who are also misusing cross symbols as they seek victory in violence. So I think that Christian countries that use cross coats of arms and flags are guilty of false advertising, falsely claiming to be examples of good christian conduct and to have the support of God, when actually the main function of independent national governments is to get into wars with other independent national governments, and so to kill people.
So I disapprove of the use of crosses in flags and coats of arms of governments.
with two exceptions:
https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de%5Eroman.html
Since for many centuries it was believe that the Holy roman Emprie was the continuation of the original Roman Empire, and thus was the rightful government of all the world. Obviously if the Holy Roman Empire had won enough victories and become the government of all the world, it could have ended war, with all its horrors, forever.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Flags_of_the_Byzantine_Empire#/media/File:Flag_of_the_Emperor_of_Constantinople.svg
This is a flag used by the eastern Roman or "Byzantine" Empire, which also claimed to be the Roman Empire and to have the right to rule all the world. Obviously if the Holy Roman Empire had won enough victories and become the government of all the world, it could have ended war, with all its horrors, forever.
So I am more favorable to the use of cross flags and coats of arms by the Holy Roman and "Byzantine" Empires, than the use of cross coats of arms and flags by any nation. But I much prefer the use of imperial two headed eagle coats of arms and flags by the Holy Roman Empire and the "Byzantine" Empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coats_of_arms_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Holy_Roman_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_flags_and_insignia
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Coats_of_arms_of_the_Byzantine_Empire