Post by Belle on Feb 14, 2022 8:20:04 GMT -6
Jehovah Witnesses are a different sort of Christianity. They don't believe in the value of displaying a cross or even a cross with the dead body of Jesus nailed to it. I've heard that they don't believe that Jesus is God.
a stake: Or “a tree.” The Greek word xyʹlon (lit., “wood”) is here used as a synonym for the Greek word stau·rosʹ (rendered “torture stake”) and describes the instrument of execution to which Jesus was nailed. In the Christian Greek Scriptures, Luke, Paul, and Peter used the word xyʹlon in this sense five times altogether. (Ac 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Ga 3:13; 1Pe 2:24) In the Septuagint, xyʹlon is used at De 21:22, 23 to translate the corresponding Hebrew word ʽets (meaning “tree; wood; piece of wood”) in the sentence “and you have hung him on a stake.” When Paul quotes this scripture at Ga 3:13, xyʹlon is used in the sentence: “Accursed is every man hung upon a stake.” This Greek word is also used in the Septuagint at Ezr 6:11 (1 Esdras 6:31, LXX) to translate the Aramaic word ʼaʽ, corresponding to the Hebrew term ʽets. There it is said regarding violators of a Persian king’s decree: “A timber will be pulled out of his house and he will be lifted up and fastened to it.” The fact that Bible writers used xyʹlon as a synonym for stau·rosʹ provides added evidence that Jesus was executed on an upright stake without a crossbeam, for that is what xyʹlon in this special sense means.
Did Jesus’ disciples use the cross to worship God or to symbolize Christianity?
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
Nowhere does the Bible suggest that the earliest Christians used the cross as a religious symbol. Instead, it was the Romans of that era who used the cross design to symbolize their gods. Then, about 300 years after Jesus’ death, Roman Emperor Constantine adopted the cross as the emblem of his armies, and it thereafter became associated with the “Christian” church.
Since pagans used the cross to worship their gods, would Jesus’ disciples have used it in their worship of the true God? On the contrary, they knew that God had long disapproved of worship using “the form of any symbol” and that Christians were to “flee from idolatry.” (Deuteronomy 4:15-19; 1 Corinthians 10:14) “God is a Spirit,” unseen by human eyes. Therefore, the early Christians did not use visible objects and symbols to help them feel closer to God. Rather, they worshipped him “with spirit,” guided by his invisible holy spirit, and with “truth,” in harmony with God’s will as revealed in the Scriptures.—John 4:24.
“True worshippers will worship the Father with spirit and truth.”—John 4:23.
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Jesus is Jehovah’s most precious Son—and for good reason. He is called “the firstborn of all creation,” for he was God’s first creation. * (Colossians 1:15) There is something else that makes this Son special. He is the “only-begotten Son.” (John 3:16) This means that Jesus is the only one directly created by God. Jesus is also the only one whom God used when He created all other things. (Colossians 1:16) Then, too, Jesus is called “the Word.” (John 1:14) This tells us that he spoke for God, no doubt delivering messages and instructions to the Father’s other sons, both spirit and human.
12. How do we know that the firstborn Son is not equal to God?
12 Is the firstborn Son equal to God, as some believe? That is not what the Bible teaches. As we noted in the preceding paragraph, the Son was created. Obviously, then, he had a beginning, whereas Jehovah God has no beginning or end. (Psalm 90:2) The only-begotten Son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father. The Bible clearly teaches that the Father is greater than the Son. (Read John 14:28; 1 Corinthians 11:3) Jehovah alone is “God Almighty.” (Genesis 17:1) Therefore, he has no equal. *