The implement of Christ’s death

by lastmanstanding 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Rattigan350

  The Bible says it was not a cross by prophecy
  

  Jesus made reference to Moses' lifting up of the copper serpent in the Wilderness.

  John 3:14-15 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone believing in him may have everlasting life.

  That reference was from:

  Numbers 21:7-9 7 Finally the people came to Moses and said: "We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah and against you. Intercede with Jehovah that he may remove the serpents from upon us." And Moses went interceding in behalf of the people. 8 Then Jehovah said to Moses: "Make for yourself a fiery snake and place it upon a signal pole. And it must occur that when anyons to look at it and so must keep alive." 9 Moses at once made a serpent of copper and placed it upon the signal pole; and it did occur that if a serpent had bitten a man and he gazed at the copper serpent, he then kept alive.

  When they looked upon the copper serpent they were saved. That is a prophecy leading to our looking to Jesus likewise who had died upon a pole. Our putting faith in him will save us.

  It had to be as the copper serpent was set upon.
  

  However the copper serpent did not end there.

  2 Kings 18:1-5 18 Hez·e·ki'ah the son of A'haz the king of Judah became king. 3 And he continued to do what was right in Jehovah's eyes, according to all that David his forefather had done. 4 He it was that removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars to pieces and cut down the sacred pole and crushed to pieces the copper serpent that Moses had made; for down to those days the sons of Israel had continually been making sacrificial smoke to it, and it used to be called the copper serpent-idol. 5 In Jehovah the God of Israel he trusted; and after him there proved to be no one like him among all the kings of Judah, even those who had happened to be prior to him.

  For centuries the copper serpent, something that saved them once, was being used as an idol. The same is going for the instrument that people believe Christ died upon. They worship the cross by wearing it as a necklace, or earrings. People have it in their churches, houses, etc. But it is still idolatry just as it was back then.
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  eyeuse2badub

  since we don't really know how jesus was executed or what implement was used in his execution, it's all conjecture anyway!

  just saying!
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  lastmanstanding

  Ratt

  Your first statement, out the gate, is false and is the product of Watchtower brainwashing.

  The scriptures you quote say nothing about the timber that the Christ was “lifted up” with.

  The Scriptures, quite to the contrary, say “tree” and a “tree” is NOT a straight post. A tree has branches. Acts 5:30 says tree.

  The serpent in the wilderness was lifted up, it what it was lifted up on is irrelevant, one way or the other. The Israelites needed to look at the serpent, not the stick it was on.
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  lastmanstanding

  Wearing a cross, to me, is sad and speaks to a false faith.

  Jesus was almost certainly “lifted up” on a cross, because that was the Roman method.

  And if a cross was used today as a symbol, or a fish as some have used, as a reference, then it is just a method of communicating that what lies beyond it is connected to Christ.

  But that is not why Catholicity involves the wearing of a cross. Catholics wear a cross in a superstitious way, like people wearing garlic to chase away evil spirits. And they used other idols, Mary dolls etc, for the same superstitious reason.

  I personally am fully convinced, by the Scriptures and by history, that Jesus was “lifted up” on a timber with a crossbeam.

  I am also fully convinced that wearing a cross is not Christian. It’s superstition.