[ Post a Response | Mystical Rose Message Board ]
The banner ad is placed here by Boardhost.com, the host of this free message board.
The Mystical Rose Catholic Page has no control over which ad banners appear on this page.
Posted by Moderator (The article being critiqued is Copyright © 1998-2001 Timothy A. & Kimberly B. Southall) >Origins of Good Friday. Did you ever wonder why Good Friday is Not at all, since "three days and three nights" is an expression, a figure of speech (more on that below). Many other verses in the Bible say that Jesus was raised "on the third day" (Matthew 16:21, 17:23; 20:19; Luke 9:22, 18:33; 24:7; Acts 10:40; 1 Corinthians 15:4). Now, if Jesus had remained buried for three whole days and three whole nights, as the authors contend, he would have been raised on the *fourth* day, not the third! Think about it. >The answer is simple: He didn't actually die on "Good Friday." The Again, no primary sources cited. But even if it is true, it proves nothing. Do we offer cakes to Jesus or Mary on Good Friday? No, so there is no "copying" there. The pagans had lots of gods and lots of feasts to those gods, so there is bound to be some overlap of Christian and pagan feasts. But that doesn't prove derivation of one from the other. For instance, some Protestants celebrate Reformation Day on October 31, which also happens to be Halloween. Does this prove that Reformation Day was derived from Halloween? No. Incidentally, many Evangelicals shun Halloween, claiming it is the Satanist high holy day (or low unholy day???). Does the fact that Satanists worship the devil on Halloween mean that Protestants worship the devil on Reformation Day? This is silly! Yet it is the same kind of nonsense we Catholics hear all the time: "Catholic feast X falls at the same time as pagan feast Y in honor of pagan god Z, so you Catholics are all really worshipping pagan god Z on that day!". Ridiculous! >When the established church wanted to appease the paganistic people The only moving of dates early Christians did was to move Pascha to the Sunday after the first full moon after March 20 (the nominal date of the vernal equinox). This was done to separate it from the Jewish Passover, not to "appease the paganistic people". That was not even a consideration. The date of Good Friday changes every year, depending on the date of Pascha/Easter. Can the authors of this article prove, from reliable primary sources, that the ancient Chaldeans held a special feast of Ishtar on the Friday before the Sunday after the first full moon after the nominal date of the vernal equinox? I doubt it. >Jesus actually died on the day of Preparation of Passover Week, which I've heard this argument before; here is why it's wrong: On the very same day He rose from the dead (which we all agree was a Sunday), Jesus encountered the two men on the Road to Emmaeus (Luke 24:13). Thinking He was a stranger, they told Him all about the crucifixion, and said: "It is now the third day since this (the crucifixion) happened" (Luke 24:46). Had Jesus died on Wednesday, the following Sunday would not, by any count, be the "third day" since His death! Those men were there, they knew when it happened, so I would take their word - and God's word! - over the theory of any modern man. Now some may ask, "But if He was crucified on Friday then Sunday would be the second day after His death, not the third, so why did they say it was the 'third day'"? Because different cultures have different ways of perceiving time. To us, the "first day" is the day after something occurs; to the people of Jesus' time the very day of the occurrance counted as the "first day". So Jesus was killed and buried on Friday; that was the first day. That day ended at sundown, since that's how Jews calculate a day. From sundown Friday to sundown Saturday was the Sabbath, the second day. The third day began at sunset on Saturday, and Jesus rose some time between then and sunrise on Sunday, which was still the "third day" (one early Catholic tradition is that He rose at midnight Sunday, which would certainly be "on the third day" according to Jewish reckoning.). Also, any part of a day could be called a whole day, which is why the phrase "three days and three nights" did not necessarily mean exactly seventy-two hours to them, as it does to us. Modern Western culture tends to use more mathematical precision in such matters than some ancient cultures did. >An in-depth study from another author which addresses the timing of Christ's I read the "study"; it's author tries to explain away Luke 24:21 by arguing that the men were speaking not only about the Crucifixion but also the sealing of the tomb, which he claims happened on Thursday, three days before Easter Sunday. Yet the original text (which he doesn't quote) does not allow this interpretation since the men only mention Jesus' death, not the sealing of the tomb: "And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened." (Luke 24:19-21) The study also does not address the verses which say Jesus rose *on* the third day, which shoot down the notion that He died on Wednesday and rose on Sunday. Interestingly enough, he quotes one such verse, Matthew 17:22-23, but seems oblivious to its implications for his theory. Why was this "Jesus died on Wednesday" theory created? To oppose the Catholic feast of Good Friday, pure and simple. It just gives some Evangelicals one more stone to fling at Mother Church, no matter how small. >Origins of Hot Cross Buns and Fires. Cakes bearing a cross-like symbol Hot cross buns originated in England, not Egypt. Egyptian Christians (Copts) don't even make hot cross buns for Lent or Pascha; it's not part of their culture. I recently asked my Coptic Catholic friend whether Copts eat hot cross buns during Lent and he didn't even know what they were! >The cakes which Greeks offered to Astarte and other divinities were Actually, "boun" is a Saxon word, not Greek. So the word "bun" originated in a pagan culture, so what? Does this mean that Christians should never eat any kind of bun, or never use the word "bun"? By such logic we should all just stop eating, since everything we eat today was probably eaten by pagans long ago in some form or another. While we're at it we should stop talking too, because who knows how many words in our language have, like "bun", originated in some pagan practice? We could be provoking God's wrath without even knowing it! (Of course, I'm being facetious now; God is not offended by the word "bun", regardless of its origin, even as He is not offended by the word "Easter" even if it is of pagan origin, which is questionable.) >The Babylonians/Chaldeans offered similar cakes to the "Queen of Catholics don't sacrifice hot cross buns to the Virgin Mary - or to anyone for that matter - we just eat them ourselves. They are human food, not idolatrous offerings, so they are not morally objectionable. >Fires were lit on top of mountains and had to be kindled from new The ancient Israelites offered incense and loaves of bread to God; were they copying the pagans? No, there were doing it by God's command! Similarity does not equal derivation. continued in the next post... In Jesu et Maria,
Link: Magdalen and the Colored Egg
on 4/18/2001, 1:13 pm
+JMJ
>recognized as the day Jesus died and Sunday as the day he arose but
>yet had trouble explaining how he could thus be buried for three
>days and three nights? (Matthew 12:40; Matthew 27:63; Mark 8:31;
>Mark 9:31; Mark 10:34)
>Chaldeans offered cakes to Ishtar on the equivalent of the day we
>know as Good Friday.
>in order to "convert" them to Christianity, they moved the dates
>accordingly.
>that year occurred on Wednesday (John 19:14, 31-42). Thursday was the
>Sabbath of the Passover. Friday, Christ was still in the tomb.
>Saturday was the "regular" Sabbath. Jesus arose after the Saturday
>Sabbath was concluded, which was the first day of the week, the day
>we know as Sunday (Mark 16:9; John 20:1). For further clarification
>of the days concerning Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection, see
>Matthew 27:50-28:7; Mark 15:25-16:6; Luke 23:44-24:8; John
>19:14-20:17.
>death, burial, and resurrection is also currently available on the Internet
>at www.thevictor.org/bowen/bowenpp.htm.
>representing the pair of cow-horns on the moon goddess, Isis, were
>offered by ancient Egyptians.
>called bous or boun, from which the word "bun" is derived.
>Heaven."
>fire, drawn from wood by friction. The fire was then used to bake
>cakes in sacrifice to Semiramis, the "Queen of Heaven." This practice,
>along with burning incense, was used in conjunction with baking the
>cakes and is mentioned specifically in the Bible (1 Kings 11:8; 2
>Kings 17:7-16; 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 23:4-15; Isaiah 17:8; Isaiah
>27:9; Ezekiel 8:7-12; Jeremiah 7:16-19; Jeremiah 44:19, 25). In
>addition to the cross imprinted on these cakes representing the horns
>of the goddess, it also sometimes represented the four seasons or four
>phases of the moon. Cakes were also offered to or eaten in honor of
>Apollo, Diana, Hecate, and the moon (also Diana's symbol).
Mystic Rose
Message Thread:
« Back to thread
The opinions expressed on this board are those of the individuals who post them.
They do not necessarily represent the beliefs of the Mystical Rose Catholic Page, its
webmaster, or the official teaching of the Holy Catholic Church!