a question for any jehovah's witnesses about teachings?

Question

In the bible the cross is spoke of in many scriptures. example Matthew 10:38 He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Matthew 27:40 and saying, "you who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If you be the Son of God come down from the cross."
1 Cor 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gosple, not with wisdom of words, least the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Gal 6:14 but God forbid that I should boast execpt in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been cruified to me and I to the world.
Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus , the author and finisher of our faith, who for they joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the thrown of God.
The apostle peter refused to be hung on a cross like Jesus and was indeed hung on a cross unside down. In the Jehovah's witnesses the cross is called a stake

So here is my question who has changed this to a stake when these scripture indicate it to be a cross. The roman record indicate it to be a cross. And even peter declares it a cross and he himself was put to a cross only upside down. The jews state it is a cross and 500 people who say the event have testified it was a cross and they testified that they saw Jesus resurrected and they all died with out recounting one point of there testimony.
So the my question is by what authority has the scripture been changed from the truth to a lie. And who is declaring this as truth when in fact it is a lie.

Jesus according to the bible died of a broken heart. When the guard periced his side he bleed blood and water which indicates his heart had exploded with in his body. Jesus has been beaten for many hours and then was forced to carry his cross to the hill which he was crusified upon. Jesus almost died while carring his cross and the romans guards knew they could not allow that so they get a person from the crowd to help carry it. Jesus was indeed hung on a cross as is recorded in the holy scriptures and is also proved in the greek. The actually recording of these events is also supported the scriptures such as phillippians 3:18 which speak of the ememy of the cross. The history of the cross predates christ by almost 1000 years. In the case of Jesus you can't have him nailed to a stake and all the scripture be correct. He had a sign directly over his head. And on his head a crown of thorns. Thus his arms can't be nailed over his head.

Answer 1

i was a jehovahs witness for 27 years and how sad it was that i was caught up in a cult that had to get hung up un things like this i guess just to make it seem like such a different religion with the "truth". it was sacreligious to wear a cross or go into a church. all of their beliefs are funnelled through their headquarters in new york, which change and are called new light if their phrophecies dont come true. i am so blessed to be free of the indoctrination. i feel sorry for them though because i know of their sincerity and it sad to say that apostasy, is basically, the unforgivable sin that of leaving the oranazation. so even if you are not happy there. you are miserable not there. you think you are doomed to be a jehovahs witness forever and that is it.but there are many happy productive witnesses. imean you've got to give them credit for preaching and knocking on doors even when they know people are not always happy to have them there. it is a hard thing to do. but everyone of them is required to put in at least 10 hours a month. the best way to talk to a jehavahs witness would be to get them to understand that their watchtowerbible and tract society in new york or the faithful and discrete slave as they call it is not the only channell from god. the bible speaks for itself and does not need to be reinterpreted. one of the beliefs they have that is nice is they dont go to war. but then again i have wondered when are we going to be the one body of christ and maybe we allready are, we just need to accept each other. after all most christian denominations beleive in god the father and jesus and the holy spirit and maybe we just need to quit fighting each other and go out and find people that have never heard of any of them. just thinking. i know for myself i will never take on the judging for myself again. remember that scripture in luke 9:49,50 where john and jesus are talking and john is saying shouldnt we stop them from casting out demons using your name because they are not in our group and then jesus says dont stop him anyone who is not against you is for you. i guess we are all so passionate about our love for god and our beliefs and we just want the whole world to be saved, the way we know how that to be. peace be to all. i do know that jesus christ and what he did for me personally is what has changed my life. he is the way the truth and the light.

Answer 2

What many current English bibles show is *NOT* what was actually written by the original bible writers concerning the instrument of Christ's death.

Jesus almost certainly died while impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create such devices, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

It is also enlightening to examine other relevant Scriptures.

You may be interested to see how your own copy of the bible translates Acts 5:30, Galatians 3:13, Deuteronomy 21:22, 23, and Acts 10:39. The King James, Revised Standard, Dyaglott, and Jerusalem Bible translate the instrument of Christ's death simply as "stake" or "tree" because the original wording simply does not support the idea that this was more than a piece of upright wood.

It is also eye-opening to examine how the first-century Christians felt about idols of any kind, much less one that glorified an instrument of death.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/e/2005058a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19960715/article_01.htm

Answer 3

Jesus died on a "stauros" which is the original Greek work that is translated as "cross" in the King James Bible. A stauros was basically a stake. At first a stauros was ONLY a stake. Centuries later, probably about a century or two before Jesus' time, a crosspiece was sometimes added, but not always. The word stauros then was used to describe these torture stakes, with or without a crosspiece.

When the Bible was translated, the word "stauros" was translated as "Cross" which is not exactly correct because even though a stauros MIGHT be a cross, it might also just be a stake. For example, if you translate "vegetable" as "carrot", you might be right, but if the vegetable in question was a radish, then you would be wrong. So it would be better to translate it as vegetable. Likewise, "stauros" should have been translated as stake or torture stake. It MIGHT have been a cross, but the Bible doesn't say for sure.

Christian tradition, though, from very early times, says that it was a cross, so that is a pretty good indication. Some people try to say that the whole "cross" belief came about from pagans - Egyptians, Babylonians, Romans, Tammuz, Ra, sun gods, fertility gods, yada yada yada. There isn't any real evidence to support the idea that Jesus DIDN'T die on a cross just because pagans may have used the same shape in some religious way.

JW's though are not wrong to translate "stauros" as "stake". They are wrong, though, to insist that Jesus didn't die on a cross because they can't possibly know that for sure.

According to the 'experts', dying on a cross could take days. However, since Jesus was too weak to even carry his own stauros, he could very possibly have died within the 3 to 6 hours he was on the stauros. Other experts have concluded that dying on a stake would be much quicker, less than an hour which would indicate that it was not a stake. But since people aren't executed in this manner anymore, all of these opinions are just that - opinions, and not conclusive proof.

The shape is unimportant, anyway. Witnesses think they are well-informed about the "cross", but their knowledge is actually limited to a very one-sided discussion of the subject. I used to be one; now I know I was really ignorant about most of the real facts about the "stauros" and its development in Christian theology.

EDITED: Question for Papa Bear. You say that the crosses weren't used before 79 AD. I find it hard to believe that you have any substantial evidence to prove that, but if you believe you do, please share it with the rest of us. And by 'substantial', I don't mean a quotation that was written by someone in the last couple of hundred years which is no proof of anything except their own opinion.

Answer 4

Disfellowshipped JW
1982 Corning, CA Congregation
For cause, but not the ones some ex-JWs who want to put themselves on a pedestal, want you to believe, and know you will without question. I got caught with two women. Immorality is the most common reason for expulsion, but since the files are closed, an ex-witness can claim anything and will be believed.

You have some good answers above, from non-witnesses, I might add. One thing of note, the Romans didn't start using the cross as a regular form of execution until 79 A.D. As noted, the Cross is a much more painful and severe form of execution, allowing observers to enjoy the agony of the condemned, over a period of days.

Regardless of whether Christ died on a cross or stake, the Bible does teach against the use of Idolatrous symbols to represent God. Apparently Christians like repeating the mistakes of the Jews, when they created such a symbol at the foot of Mount Sinai. Just like today's Christians, they could not place their faith in something invisible. They have to have something solid and can be held to believe in God.

Answer 5

The origninal Greek words most bibles translate into cross literally mean stake, not cross.

Cross came to be part of the meaning later in history.

Yes, Romans did use crosses, but to die on a cross was a long and painful event.

Doctors speculate that Jesus died by suffication.

Those who die on crosses die from exposure.
Even breaking their legs does not speed up death, only make it more painful.

One the other hand hanging from a single stake, cause death by suffication in one day, especially if you break the legs.

Since it was the day before the sabbath, the Jews would not have allowed a long slow death.

therefore it could have only been on a single stake and not the cross.

Answer 6

Thanks for the question. The word "cross" is an English Translation. Please look at the original Greek word used to translate the word "cross". It is stauros, and according to Strong's dictionary it is "

From the base of G2476; a stake or post (as set upright), that is, (specifically) a pole or cross (as an instrument of capital punishment); figuratively exposure to death, that is, self denial; by implication the atonement of Christ: - cross.

Notice one of the meanings is a "STAKE or POST" as set UPRIGHT.

The inspired writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures wrote in the common (koi·ne´) Greek and used the word stau·ros´ to mean the same thing as in the classical Greek, namely, a simple stake, or pale, without a crossbeam of any kind at any angle.

In LXX we find xy´lon in Ezr 6:11 (1 Esdras 6:31), and there it is spoken of as a beam on which the violator of law was to be hanged, the same as in Ac 5:30; 10:39.


In the writings of Livy, a Roman historian of the first century B.C.E., crux means a mere stake. “Cross” is only a later meaning of crux

The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible states, with reference to stau·ros´: “Literally an upright stake, pale, or pole . . . As an instrument of execution, the cross was a stake sunk vertically in the ground. Often, but by no means always, a horizontal piece was attached to the vertical portion.” Another reference work says: “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, and this always remained the more prominent part.”—The Imperial Bible Dictionary.


The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1979) states under the heading “Cross”: “Originally Gk. staurós designated a pointed, vertical wooden stake firmly fixed in the ground.


The Companion Bible, published by the Oxford University Press. On page 186 in the “Appendixes” it says: “Homer uses the word stauros of an ordinary pole or stake, or a single piece of timber. And this is the meaning and usage of the word throughout the Greek classics. It never means two pieces of timber placed across one another at any angle, but always of one piece alone

Try to put your two hands above your head, even try side by side. Notice that there's a space above your head in which a sign can be put. The people who impaled Jesus didn't care that he has a crown of thorns and putting his hands above his head which will cause more pain to Jesus is something that they don't care about also.


Numbers 21:8-9 states
"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 anyone has been bitten, he then has 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."

Pole in Latin palus stake according to m-w.com. a long slender usually cylindrical object.

Please notice the parallel done in John 3:13-15.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up, that everyone believing in him may have everlasting life

Like the copper serpent that Moses placed on a pole in the wilderness, the Son of God was impaled or fastened on a stake, thus appearing to many as an evildoer and a sinner, like a snake, being in the position of one cursed

The serpent that Moses placed was not in a cross, not with two beams but just a single pole, so is Christ was impaled on a stake.

Thanks.

Answer 7

Before King James had the bible written the Churches had the cross sanctioned into the church. Hate to say they are right on this one. It actually came down from the religion of Talmuz.
But to gain converts who wouldn't give it up they added it like so many other pagan customs to the Christian religion.
So when the bible was translated they added cross where it said stake not the other way around. Some of the newer translations put it back like it was orginally. Google it, it tells all about it.
The cross was worshipped a long time before Jesus ever came to the earth.

Answer 8

Fear and run away from the teachings of jehovah's witnesses. They are very deceptive and the truth is NOT found in them. I've not found ONE of their teachings to be 100% true. It might start off based on a biblical verse, but twisted to their end. But atlas, RUN!

Dear witnesses,
I received your pamphlet today titled: All Suffering Soon To End. I'm very sorry, but this is not true.

Revelation 20:10 declares (and I bid you read it for yourself as well) the devil (satan) will be cast into the lake of fire and tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Moreover, Revelation 20:15 states, every person not found written in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. All Suffering will NEVER end. Suffering will end only for those who's names are written in the lamb's book of life ONLY!
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Your pamphlet states (page 2): "The righteous will possess the earth and they will reside upon it forever". Sadly, this is not true as well. Christians will only possess this earth for 1,000+ years, after which we must give it up because...

Revelation 21
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
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Page 3: Free Will.
I'm sorry, but there is no such thing as free will. Man was born in sin and held captive in a quagmire of sin and deception. A man that is addicted in sin or drugs has NO free will. If man had free will, he could STOP his addiction at anytime - and even after heavy therapy, some still fall back in. Free will only exists if you have the power to choose without interference. Unfortunately, addicts to sin or drugs for that matter, cannot opt out. And hence Jesus came to SAVE that which was lost. Because man does not have the free will to opt out of sin, Jesus came to set the captive free.

Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Luke 4:18 (Whole Chapter)
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to ... preach deliverance to the captives,

Ephesians 6:12 (Whole Chapter)
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood (man), but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

There is no FREE WILL as man is constantly tempted and deceived, insomuch, he does not know if his thoughts are his own.
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Page 4
The issue: Sovereignty: You claim that God's rule was challenged - and who has the right to rule? This is also not true. First of all, the first mistake you made was to say God was challenged. That's a red flag right there because God cannot be challenged.

A good example is when Saul met Christ.

Acts 9:5
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutes: it is HARD for thee to kick against the pricks.

Daniel 2:21
And he (God) changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Daniel 5:21
... till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it (the kingdom) whomsoever he will.

Thus, God and God alone decides who rules as kings. Therefore, rest assured that God rules this earth in the kingdom of men until the time of the end be fulfilled.

Can man challenge God with authority, when it's God that bestows upon him that authority?

Therefore, I've found JW teachings lacking, if not deceptive. I would not believe a word they say... so even if they were to say to me... Jesus is coming! I wouldn't believe it! But I believe the bible because Jesus is coming! So stake or cross, who cares!

Answer 9

I didnt read thing. i used 2 think jehovah's witness was a new team ,lik eye witness news. when i waz younger. but i still think its all bullsh!t.