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Crosses were not used tn worship until constitine decided doing so would help him win the war for emperor of Rome. Catholics call him Saint Constitine.. He murdered his mother so he could be king.
I worship on the day that Christ rose from the dead - Sunday.
The crucifix is a reminder of 1) how Christ died - suffering on the cross, etc, etc. 2) that Christ died for my sins. I'm not worshiping a cross or a statue or a picture or anything else. That is how it was taught to me in CCD. That is how it was reinforced to me in CNSA (Catholic Newman Student Association).
*Disclaimer* - For the record, I am Catholic. Born Catholic. Raised Catholic. Strayed from the Church. Returned HOME to the Church (after questioning my faith - and I'm not talking about my denomination...I'm talking faith altogether). To squash the inevitable bashing (from anyone) early (out of respect to the OP as well as being tired of the arguments...and just plain tired as I just got home from work), I will not debate these issues in this thread or give any more of an explination. Others are free to worship as they choose. Others are free to believe as they choose. Just don't force your beliefs down my throat in that "Militant Bible-thumping" fashion that so many people/denominations are famous for and I won't force my beliefs on you.
No, Jesus did not rose up from the dead on Sunday... but on Saturday, the Sabbath!
Here is an explanation I copied from one of my previous posts:
The Biblical prophecy called for 3 days and 3 nights (Matt 12:40). God is perfect and he is very precise so we should expect the prophecy was fulfilled in nothing less than exactly 3 days and 3 nights down to the last second.
The Bible does not say which day was the crucifixion but it gave us the account of Jesus' disciples in a hurry to prepare his body for burial. They were in a rush because it was almost sundown and the next day was a Sabbath... a high day. Based on this information Bible scholars erroneously came to the conclusion that Jesus died on a Friday.
Let me digress a bit... on the 4th Commandment we are told to observe the Sabbath Day and the Feasts of the Lord. The 7 Feasts are called Annual Sabbaths. Feast really means "appointed time" with God. These are the exact days very important prophetic events will take place in the future. Unbeknownst to many people, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross fulfilled the Passover.
On the first Passover, the Israelites were instructed by God to kill a lamb without any blemish and wipe its blood on their door posts, so the Angel of Death will pass over their household. That night all the firstborns in Egypt were killed except those with the blood of the lamb.
Fast forward to the day of the crucifixion, Jesus actually fulfilled the prophecy of the Passover... serving as the Lamb without blemish whose blood will save mankind from eternal death.
Therefore we now come to understand the following day was not the weekly Sabbath or Saturday, but a "high day"... an Annual Sabbath... which is really the Feast of Unleavened Bread! (This Feast starts at sundown on Passover).
On the resurrection of JC, the Bible does not say exactly what day he rose up. The Biblical account is, when Mary and Mary Magdalene (and John?) went to his tomb early Sunday morning, it was already empty. They found an angel sitting on the empty tomb and he told them Jesus had already risen.
Since Jesus died in the late afternoon... we have to conclude he rose up at exactly the same time in the afternoon 3 days and 3 nights later. If the tomb was empty on EARLY Sunday morning, then he must have risen on late Saturday afternoon, exactly on time!
Counting backward, then we know he died on a Wednesday late afternoon before the start of the Feast of Unleavened Bread!
There are scoffers who argued why Jesus did not show himself immediately upon resurrection. The most logical reason I could think of is precisely because it was a Sabbath Day! He observed it by going into seclusion.
This shows how important the Weekly Sabbath and the Annual Sabbaths (7 Feasts) in understanding God's plan for mankind. Many Christians think God's Law is only for the Jews but the truth is... it is really for all of us.
When calculating calendar events and even prophetic events in the Scriptures, we must understand the calendar being used.
The Israelites did not have a calendar as we know it where there were exactly so-many days in a year and always so-many days in any particular month.
The beginning of a month was established by the sighting of the new moon – by at least two witnesses.
Yes, if the moon was obscured by clouds, the new month would have to wait until the moon could actually be verified.
This is not to say that the days of the week varied, but the number of days in a month did vary.
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;
and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Genesis 1:14
He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down.
Psalm 104:19
Believe it or not, we’ll return to this calendar in the time of the New Earth.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 66:22,23
Jesus died and rose relative to the Passover, but we think in western terms when it comes to the calendar.
Consider also that special high (holy) days were also called by the term “Sabbath” even though they may not have fallen on any particular day of the week, but were reckoned according to the number of that day in a month and a month only begins when a new moon is sighted.
We know that Jesus was in the tomb three days, but Good Friday evening -> Sunday morning hardly constitutes three full days.
And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Mark 8:31
So let's look at the Passover and when it was observed.
And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
Exodus 12:14-18
So… Jesus died and rose relative to the Passover.
The Passover begins on the 14th day of the month of well… Nisan.
(not the car )
That month could not begin until the new moon was sighted.
So did Passover, the 14th day, fall on a Saturday or a Sunday?
That’s a foolish question, because it was not dependant on the day of the week.
The regular Sabbath at Friday evening would have continued in addition to this feast day.
BTW: This is a huge issue with Muslims.
Having given us Arabic numbers, they know how to actually count , but they’re unaware of the Hebrew calendar.
What IS known is that they went to the tomb "early" (after sunrise) on the first day of the week and He had already risen.
But did He rise on that day?
The Hebrew day is reckoned by evening to evening.
When He died Scripture tells us it was around the ninth hour (of sunlight), about 3:00pm.
We also know He was in the tomb before sundown - the beginning of A Sabbath.
...A high Sabbath - not necessarily beginning Friday evening.
We know that no one would have gone to the tomb on the regular Sabbath, nor is it probable that they would have gone during the hours of darkness.
So... Jesus died on the day of preparation, the day before a Sabbath.
Scripture tells us that He would be in the tomb for three days and it also says that He rose ON the third day.
The requirement is to be in the tomb three days, but not past evening of the third day.
We know that on Sunday morning, He had already risen.
...But when did He rise?
It would have been Saturday - before sundown.
...And the Sabbath referred to concerning the day after His crucifixion - was not a regular Sabbath, but a high Sabbath.
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day,
(for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:31
Last edited by Richio; 03-09-2009 at 08:51 AM..
Reason: Added - John 19:31
What IS known is that they went to the tomb "early" (after sunrise) on the first day of the week and He had already risen.
But did He rise on that day?
The Hebrew day is reckoned by evening to evening.
When He died Scripture tells us it was around the ninth hour (of sunlight), about 3:00pm.
We also know He was in the tomb before sundown - the beginning of A Sabbath.
...A high Sabbath - not necessarily beginning Friday evening.
We know that no one would have gone to the tomb on the regular Sabbath, nor is it probable that they would have gone during the hours of darkness.
So... Jesus died on the day of preparation, the day before a Sabbath.
Scripture tells us that He would be in the tomb for three days and it also says that He rose ON the third day.
The requirement is to be in the tomb three days, but not past evening of the third day.
We know that on Sunday morning, He had already risen.
...But when did He rise?
It would have been Saturday - before sundown.
...And the Sabbath referred to concerning the day after His crucifixion - was not a regular Sabbath, but a high Sabbath.
The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day,
(for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.
John 19:31
Passover can fall on any day of the week in our modern calendar... however we're not talking of any Passover, but that particular Passover when JC died. By all account that day happened to fall on a Wednesday... and in 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb as prophesied, he rose up on Saturday, a Sabbath.
Matt 20:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
I'm just trying to correct the widespread erroneous belief and reasoning that JC rose up on a Sunday... therefore it should be the day to replace the Saturday Sabbath.
Passover can fall on any day of the week in our modern calendar... however we're not talking of any Passover, but that particular Passover when JC died. By all account that day happened to fall on a Wednesday... and in 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb as prophesied, he rose up on Saturday, a Sabbath.
Matt 20:40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
I'm just trying to correct the widespread erroneous belief and reasoning that JC rose up on a Sunday... therefore it should be the day to replace the Saturday Sabbath.
I would agree.
That particular high Sabbath which was the Passover - fell on a Thursday.
Jesus died on a Wednesday.
If one graphs it out -taking into account the Hebrew reckoning of evening to evening for a day, and the time of His death...
...the only way Jesus could be dead three full days and still rise on the third day - and had already been risen on the first day of the week...
...was if He died on a Wednesday.
Thursday - being the high Sabbath day of Passover.
In considering these "days", we must keep the Hebrew reckoning of evening to evening in mind.
If He had been raised on Sunday morning, He would have gone past the time-frame of being dead three days and also rising on the third day.
Also, if He had been raised on Sunday morning with the Passover being reckoned as (mainly on) Friday,
He would have been too early for the three and three to be fulfilled, since it must be after 3pm and sunset.
What does the day of the week have to do with crosses??? I am majorly confused. If those of you who understand this could maybe...type slower...maybe I could understand.
What does the day of the week have to do with crosses??? I am majorly confused. If those of you who understand this could maybe...type slower...maybe I could understand.
I believe the cross and crucifix are graven images that is forbidden in the 2nd Commandment. We are not to make any image that represents God. The transgression of any one of the 10 Commandments is called sin.
I believe the cross and crucifix are graven images that is forbidden in the 2nd Commandment. We are not to make any image that represents God. The transgression of any one of the 10 Commandments is called sin.
Would that include crosses, photos, paintings, sculpture, drawings, saintly "relics", priestly "vestments", the communion host, the communion chalace, the shape of the church (most Catholic churches are in the shape of a cross)? What about the bible itself? Some people worship the bible instead of god.
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