AboutBrenda Martin Expertise I love to study and have made a point of finding out all there is to know about Early Christianity,how it was founded, and why,what happened after it was established,where it all went wrong, and why Christianity is struggling today.Having been a protestant I can give you its history, and now being one of Jehovah`s witnesses I can give you its history also.
Experience I have been speaking to people about this for over 30 years so that has given me experience.
Question Brenda, I also had one more question I forgot to ask. Didn't Jesus or the apostoles ask that Jesus not be rememberd or worshiped with or as a relic or icon. Are we doing the very thing we were told not to do? I not sure if these are the exact words used but I think it's close. Thanks for your last answer. I thought I would write again because your answer impressed me. Mark -------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Hello, I hope you can give me your opinion anbout an argument my wife and I had recently. This argument was about Jesus and his crusifiction or how ever you spell it. Pretty much my complaint was that crusifiction was a form of execution used by the Romans and that by hanging a cross which was an execution tool in a church is no different that displaying a noose or electric chair . What do you think? Thanks Mark
Answer -
"CRUCIFICTION WAS A FORM OF EXECUTION USED BY THE ROMANS?"
Yes the Romans executed people, but surprisingly, not on a 2 beamed cross, have a read-
The Greek 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. Later it also came to be used for an execution stake having a crosspiece. The Imperial Bible-Dictionary acknowledges this, saying: “The Greek word for cross, [stau·ros'], properly signified a stake, an upright pole, or piece of paling, on which anything might be hung, or which might be used in impaling [fencing in] a piece of ground. . . . EVEN AMONGST THE ROMANS THE CRUX (FROM WHICH OUR CROSS IS DERIVED) APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ORIGINALLY AN UPRIGHT POLE.”—EDITED BY P. FAIRBAIRN (LONDON, 1874), VOL. I, P. 376.
Was that the case in connection with the execution of God's Son? It is noteworthy that the Bible also uses the word xy'lon to identify the device used. A Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, defines this as meaning: “Wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber, etc. . . . piece of wood, log, beam, post . . . cudgel, club . . . stake on which criminals were impaled . . . of live wood, tree.” It also says “in NT, of the cross,” and cites Acts 5:30 and Ac 10:39 as examples. (Oxford, 1968, pp. 1191, 1192) However, in those verses KJ, RS, JB, and Dy translate xy'lon as “tree.” (Compare this rendering with Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:22, 23.)
The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons (London, 1896), says: “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. . . . It is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as ‘cross' when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting ‘cross' in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros without carefully explaining that that was at any rate not the primary meaning of the word in the days of the Apostles, did not become its primary signification till long afterwards, and became so then, if at all, only because, despite the absence of corroborative evidence, it was for some reason or other assumed that the particular stauros upon which Jesus was executed had that particular shape.”—Pp. 23, 24; see also The Companion Bible (London, 1885), Appendix No. 162.
Thus the weight of the evidence indicates that Jesus died on an upright stake and not on the traditional cross.
"BY HANGING A CROSS IN A CHURCH IS NO DIFFERENT THAT DISPLAYING A NOOSE OR ELECTRIC CHAIR".
Yes your absolutely correct, the churches teach; the cross was the instrument used to kill Jesus, so why on earth would they want to display the very thing used?
Of interest is this comment in the New Catholic Encyclopedia: “The representation of Christ's redemptive death on Golgotha does not occur in the symbolic art of the first Christian centuries. The early Christians, influenced by the Old Testament prohibition of graven images, were reluctant to depict even the instrument of the Lord's Passion.”—(1967), Vol. IV, p. 486.
Many churchgoers wear a cross, or have a crucifix in the home, and crosses are found in many church buildings. But did you know that the cross actually has a pagan origin? The facts show that, rather than being the exclusive symbol of Christianity, the cross was in use centuries before the birth of Christ. This is admitted by The Catholic Encyclopedia (1908 edition, Vol. IV, page 517):
It is not normal to cherish and adore the instrument used to murder someone we love. Who would think of kissing the revolver that had been used to murder a loved one, or of wearing it around one's neck? This being so, and the cross being proved to be a pagan religious symbol, persons who have worn such an object or had crucifixes in their homes, thinking that this honored God and his Son Jesus Christ, are faced with an important decision. Will they continue to use them? Will they even keep them? Love of the truth and the desire to please God in all things will help in making the right decision.—Deuteronomy 7:26.
All the best in convincing your partner.
brenda
Answer HI Mark, you asked--"DIDN'T JESUS OR THE APOSTLES ASK THAT JESUS NOT BE REMEMBERED OR WORSHIPED WITH OR AS A RELIC OR ICON?"
Those desiring to please God avoid idolatry in any form. The Bible shows that it is wrong to make and worship images, including those of Christ, or of Jesus' mother, Mary. (Exodus 20:4, 5; 1 John 5:21) So, true Christians do not venerate icons, crosses, and images.
Though religious images are usually costly and elaborate, the Bible shows their true worth when it says: “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of the hands of earthling man. A mouth they have, but they cannot speak; eyes they have, but they cannot see; ears they have, but they cannot hear. A nose they have, but they cannot smell. Hands are theirs, but they cannot feel. Feet are theirs, but they cannot walk; they utter no sound with their throat. Those making them will become just like them, all those who are trusting in them.”—Psalm 115:4-8.
Not only does the Bible expose idols as worthless but it also speaks condemningly regarding images and their worshipers: “They are like a scarecrow of a cucumber field, and cannot speak. Without fail they are carried, for they cannot take any steps. Do not be afraid because of them, for they can do nothing calamitous and, what is more, the doing of any good is not with them. Every man has behaved so unreasoningly as not to know. Every metalworker will certainly feel shame because of the carved image; for his molten image is a falsehood, and there is no spirit in them. They are vanity, a work of mockery.”—Jeremiah 10:5, 14, 15.
Many, it is true, who bow down, pray and light candles to, and kiss religious images do not view themselves as idolaters or image worshipers. The reality is that these images are being venerated. Even the New Catholic Encyclopedia admits that such veneration is “an act of worship.” However, Jesus Christ ruled out the use of images as aids in approaching God when he said: “No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) It is no surprise, then, that first-century Christians repudiated the use of images in worship.
Jesus never used images in worship. “God is a Spirit,” he explained, “and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.” (John 4:24) Acting in harmony with this counsel, none of Jesus' early followers used images as aids in worship. In fact, his apostle Paul wrote: “We are walking by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7) And his apostle John warned: “Guard yourselves from idols.” (1 John 5:21)
What does God's Word say about the making of images used as objects of worship?
Ex. 20:4, 5, JB: “You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them etc."
Lev. 26:1, JB: “You must make no idols; you must set up neither carved image nor standing-stone [“sacred pillar,” NW], set up no sculptured stone in your land, to prostrate yourselves in front of it; for it is I, Yahweh, who am your God.” (No image before which people might bow in worship was ever to be set up.)
2 Cor. 6:16, JB: “The temple of God has no common ground with idols, and that is what we are—the temple of the living God.”
1 John 5:21, NAB: “My little children, be on your guard against idols"
May images be used simply as aids in worship of the true God?
John 4:23, 24, JB: “True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth: that is the kind of worshipper the Father wants. God is spirit, and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.” (Those who rely on images as aids to devotion are not worshiping God “in spirit” but they depend on what they can see with their physical eyes.)
2 Cor. 5:7, NAB: “We walk by faith, not by sight.”
Isa. 40:18, JB: “To whom could you liken God? What image could you contrive of him?”
Acts 17:29, JB: “Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.”
