Question:
christians check it out the cross?
anonymous
2011-03-16 16:37:23 UTC
i am just resarching into as many religions as i can but the geek word rendered "cross" in many modern bible versions ("torture stake" in nw)is stau~ros.in classical greek,this word meant merely an upright stake,or pale.so there fore was jesus on a stake not a cross with is hands over his head instead and this is my point
many words played around with so how we no if want we are reading is gods words or some made up stuff to trick us away from the truth help me understand am not proving anyone wrong just that is a fact
Nine answers:
i_am_queen_and_royalty
2011-03-16 16:41:36 UTC
He did not die on a cross, in fact a torture stake as you say. BTW we aren't offended by the cross, however, we do know the above to be true therefore argue against the fact that he died on one.



Did JesusReally Die on a Cross?



THE cross is one of the most recognizable religious symbols known to man. Millions revere it, considering it to be the sacred instrument on which Jesus was put to death. Roman Catholic writer and archaeologist Adolphe-Napoleon Didron stated: “The cross has received a worship similar, if not equal, to that of Christ; this sacred wood is adored almost equally with God Himself.”



Some say that the cross makes them feel closer to God when they pray. Others use it as an amulet, thinking that it protects them from evil. But should Christians use the cross as an object of veneration? Did Jesus really die on a cross? What does the Bible teach on this subject?

What Does the Cross Symbolize?



Long before the Christian era, crosses were used by the ancient Babylonians as symbols in their worship of the fertility god Tammuz. The use of the cross spread into Egypt, India, Syria, and China. Then, centuries later, the Israelites adulterated their worship of Jehovah with acts of veneration to the false god Tammuz. The Bible refers to this form of worship as a ‘detestable thing.’—Ezekiel 8:13, 14.



The Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John use the Greek word stau·ros′ when referring to the instrument of execution on which Jesus died. (Matthew 27:40; Mark 15:30; Luke 23:26) The word stau·ros′ refers to an upright pole, stake, or post. The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons, explains: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross.”



Some ancient drawings depict the use of a single wooden pole in Roman executions



As recorded at Acts 5:30, the apostle Peter used the word xy′lon, meaning “tree,” as a synonym for stau·ros′, denoting, not a two-beamed cross, but an ordinary piece of upright timber or tree. It was not until about 300 years after Jesus’ death that some professed Christians promoted the idea that Jesus was put to death on a two-beamed cross. However, this view was based on tradition and a misuse of the Greek word stau·ros′. It is noteworthy that some ancient drawings depicting Roman executions feature a single wooden pole or tree.

A woman praying before a cross

“Guard Yourselves From Idols”



A more important issue for true Christians should be the propriety of venerating the instrument used to kill Jesus. Whether it was an upright single torture stake, a cross, an arrow, a lance, or a knife, should such an instrument be used in worship?



Suppose a loved one of yours was brutally murdered and the weapon was submitted to the court as evidence. Would you try to gain possession of the murder weapon, take photographs of it, and print many copies for distribution? Would you produce replicas of the weapon in various sizes? Would you then fashion some of them into jewelry? Or would you have these reproductions commercially manufactured and sold to friends and relatives to be venerated? Likely you would be repulsed at the idea! Yet, these very things have been done with the cross!



Besides, the use of the cross in worship is no different from the use of images in worship, a practice condemned in the Bible. (Exodus 20:2-5; Deuteronomy 4:25, 26) The apostle John accurately reflected the teachings of true Christianity when he admonished his fellow Christians with the words: “Guard yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21) This they did even when it meant facing death in the Roman arena.



First-century Christians, however, held the sacrificial death of Christ in high esteem. Likewise today, although the instrument used to torture and kill Jesus is not to be worshipped, true Christians commemorate Jesus’ death as the means by which God provides salvation to imperfect humans. (Matthew 20:28) This superlative expression of God’s love will bring untold blessings to lovers of truth, including the prospect of everlasting life.—John 17:3; Revelation 21:3, 4.
yunixop
2011-03-16 17:30:27 UTC
It's not that hard really. It's a stake, a stick, a tree. The bible says that one thing, except it just seems so tempting to change words. And then they use a cross. How sad.
jpoweska
2011-03-16 16:49:28 UTC
What the Roman did was have a stake or log vertical into the ground and then they nailed the cross beam to the vertical stake. They used this as a torture device because at the time it was the most horrific way to die and it was public.
?
2016-10-28 15:44:46 UTC
ok, I provide up! lol per chance the JWs and us Christians are both incorrect in this argument and the onion all of us is sweet in basic terms this once....no longer! LOL There nevertheless had to be a demonstration above His Head, so i visit follow the Christian bypass!
anonymous
2011-03-16 16:44:58 UTC
Not that I consider bible stories to be at all true or reliable, but...

The Romans executed people by crucifixion -- on a pair of wooden stakes crossed.

If bible jesus ever lived, and was executed by the Romans, it was on a cross -- not a "stake."

There are no recorded instances in Roman history of them using a "stake" for crucifixion.

The JWs are wrong on this one.



Peace.
anon
2011-03-16 16:52:13 UTC
“Torture stake” in Mt 27:40 is used in connection with the execution of Jesus at Calvary, that is, Skull Place. There is no evidence that the Greek word stau‧ros′ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ.

In the classical Greek the word stau‧ros′ meant merely an upright stake, or pale, or a pile such as is used for a foundation. The verb stau‧ro′o meant to fence with pales, to form a stockade, or palisade, and this is the verb used when the mob called for Jesus to be impaled. It was to such a stake, or pale, that the person to be punished was fastened, just as the popular Greek hero Prometheus was represented as tied to rocks. Whereas the Greek word that the dramatist Aeschylus used to describe this simply means to tie or to fasten, the Greek author Lucian (Prometheus, I) used a‧na‧stau‧ro′o as a synonym for that word. In the Christian Greek Scriptures a‧na‧stau‧ro′o occurs but once, in Heb 6:6. The root verb stau‧ro′o occurs more than 40 times.



The inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures wrote in the common (koi‧ne′) Greek and used the word stau‧ros′ to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle. There is no proof to the contrary. The apostles Peter and Paul also use the word xy′lon to refer to the torture instrument upon which Jesus was nailed, and this shows that it was an upright stake without a crossbeam, for that is what xy′lon in this special sense means. (Ac 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Ga 3:13; 1Pe 2:24) In LXX we find xy′lon in Ezr 6:11 (1 Esdras 6:31), and there it is spoken of as a beam on which the violator of law was to be hanged, the same as in Ac 5:30; 10:39.





The book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, Breslau, 1878, p. 109, says: “Trees were not everywhere available at the places chosen for public execution. So a simple beam was sunk into the ground. On this the outlaws, with hands raised upward and often also with their feet, were bound or nailed.” After submitting much proof, Fulda concludes on pp. 219, 220: “Jesus died on a simple death-stake: In support of this there speak (a) the then customary usage of this means of execution in the Orient, (b) indirectly the history itself of Jesus’ sufferings and (c) many expressions of the early church fathers.”

Paul Wilhelm Schmidt, who was a professor at the University of Basel, in his work Die Geschichte Jesu (The History of Jesus), Vol. 2, Tübingen and Leipzig, 1904, pp. 386-394, made a detailed study of the Greek word stau‧ros′. On p. 386 of his work he said: “σταυρός [stau‧ros′] means every upright standing pale or tree trunk.” Concerning the execution of punishment upon Jesus, P. W. Schmidt wrote on pp. 387-389: “Beside scourging, according to the gospel accounts, only the simplest form of Roman crucifixion comes into consideration for the infliction of punishment upon Jesus, the hanging of the unclad body on a stake, which, by the way, Jesus had to carry or drag to the execution place to intensify the disgraceful punishment. . . . Anything other than a simple hanging is ruled out by the wholesale manner in which this execution was often carried out: 2000 at once by Varus (Jos. Ant. XVII 10. 10), by Quadratus (Jewish Wars II 12. 6), by the Procurator Felix (Jewish Wars II 15. 2), by Titus (Jewish Wars VII. 1).”



Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles. We do not want to add anything to God’s written Word by inserting the pagan cross-concept into the inspired Scriptures, but render stau‧ros′ and xy′lon according to the simplest meanings. Since Jesus used stau‧ros′ to represent the suffering and shame or torture of his followers (Mt 16:24), we have translated stau‧ros′ as “torture stake,” to distinguish it from xy′lon, which we have translated “stake,” or, in the footnote, “tree,” as in Ac 5:30.



2 Chronicles 16:9 says:

his eyes are roving about through all the earth to show his strength in behalf of those whose heart is complete toward him.



So if your heart is complete toward God & you genuinely want to know the truth, then he'll make sure you find it.

Jesus said "you will know the truth & the truth will set you free." Therefore the truth must be out there!

Pray & tell him you want to find him because the book of acts says "he's not far off from each one of us"
anonymous
2011-03-16 16:43:13 UTC
JW's are offended by the cross



crucified:



G4717

σταυρόω

stauroō

stow-ro'-o

From G4716; to impale on the cross; figuratively to extinguish (subdue) passion or selfishness: - crucify.
anonymous
2011-03-16 16:39:15 UTC
Ignoring that, I think it's a bit odd to say God woke up one day and thinks "I'm going to write a book".
hawk-eye
2011-03-16 16:40:06 UTC
the romans preferred a cross or a T shape, so that they wouldn't die too quickly


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