Jehovah witness why do you keep denouncing he cross of Jesus?

Question

The Jehovah Witness keep promoting that Jesus died on a stake yeat even peter died on a cross upside down. And the scriptures of God have declared it a cross from the beginning as the hebrew bible and the greek bible and all know early chruch writing all conclude it was a cross. How is it that your church has changed it to a stake. By what authority have they changed the word of GOD.
And is it not writen he who changes the word of God and the testimony of his word shall be cured with a curse.

The JW promote that Jesus died on a upright pole and not a cross. They forbid the wearing of a cross or the owning of a cross. And salvation by works.

One cannot help but notice the series of events as recorded in Matthew 27:26, 31-37, Mark 15:14-26, Luke 23:26-38, and John 19:1-22 (regarding the death of Jesus) and their harmony with the method of crucifixion as described by the articles in BAR and other sources. It appears that Jesus carried the crossbeam, or patibulum to Golgotha. There, the patibulum was affixed to an upright stake, perhaps having a seat or footpiece, and Jesus was nailed onto the whole structure. Above him was placed the title, JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Up until the late 30's the WT pictured Christ as dying on the traditional cross. However, while later eliminating the cross as well as the name of Jesus on their front cover, they continued to use a watch tower as their symbol. In the book Enemies, President J.F. Rutherford attacked the traditional story of the cross as wrong because "The cross was worshipped by the Pagan Celts long before the [birth] and death of Christ." (pages 188-189) With no accompanying historical or archaeological evidence, Rutherford stated his new doctrine as fact. Actually, what pagans did with crosses before the death of Christ has nothing to do with how the Romans crucified people. Besides, Jesus did not choose his instrument of death. At this time the cross has been proven at the correct form of punishment used at the time. And evidence has been decovered that proves it is a cross.

Answer 1

I am not a Jehova Wittness ! Who told you that ???

Answer 2

Jehovah's Witnesses do not "denounce" the cross. Instead, Witnesses believe that the bible plainly forbids idolatry of any kind, including the worshipful use of icons such as crucifixes.
http://watchtower.org/bible/1jo/chapter_005.htm?bk=1jo;chp=5;vs=21;citation#bk21
http://www.watchtower.org/bible/ac/chapter_017.htm?bk=ac;chp=17;vs=29;citation#bk29

(1 John 5:21) Guard yourselves from idols.

(Acts 17:29) We ought not to imagine that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, like something sculptured by the art and contrivance of man


The exact shape of Christ's instrument of death is hardly a central doctrine of the faith, but Jehovah's Witnesses do happen to believe that Jesus was almost certainly impaled on a simple stake, rather than a cross of two intersecting beams. Of course the Romans had the ability to create a cross, and probably did. But ask yourself: why they would have bothered when a simple stake would have worked just as well or better?

The bible most assuredly does NOT offer any proof that the stake was actually a cross of two intersecting beams. The actual facts of the bible may be enlightening to examine...

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/20050508a/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/rq/index.htm?article=article_11.htm
http://watchtower.org/e/19960715/article_01.htm

Answer 3

There are very good reasons why we do not use Christendoms pagan symbol in our worship.
The Wikipedia says this regarding the cross (stauros)
A tradition of the Church which our fathers have inherited, was the adoption of the words "cross" and "crucify".
These words are nowhere to be found in the Greek of the New Testament. These words are mistranslations, a "later rendering", of the Greek words stauros and stauroo. Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says, "STAUROS denotes, primarily, an upright pole or stake ... Both the noun and the verb stauroo, to fasten to a stake or pole, are originally to be distinguished from the ecclesiastical form of a two-beamed cross.
The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea (Babylon), and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) ... By the middle of the 3rd century A.D. the churches had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith.
In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the churches apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross piece lowered, was adopted .
Dr. Bullinger, in the Companion Bible, appx. 162, states, "crosses were used as symbols of the Babylonian Sun-god ... It should be stated that Constantine was a Sun-god worshipper ... The evidence is thus complete, that the Lord was put to death upon an upright stake, and not on two pieces of timber placed at any angle."

Rev. Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, pp. 197-205, frankly calls the cross "this Pagan symbol ... the Tau, the sign of the cross, the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the false Messiah ... the mystic Tau of the Cladeans (Babylonians) and Egyptians - the true original form of the letter T the initial of the name of Tammuz ... the Babylonian cross was the recognised emblem of Tammuz."
In the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, vol. 14, p. 273, we read, "In the Egyption churches the cross was a pagan symbol of life borrowed by the Christians and interpreted in the pagan manner." Jacob Grimm, in his Deutsche Mythologie, says that the Teutonic (Germanic) tribes had their idol Thor, symbolised by a hammer, while the Roman Christians had their crux (cross). It was thus somewhat easier for the Teutons to accept the Roman Cross.
the indisputable sign of Tammuz, the mystic Tau of the Babylonians and Egyptians, was brought into the Church chiefly because of Constantine, and has since been adored with all the homage due only to the Most High.
The Protestants have for many years refrained from undue adoration of, or homage to the cross, especially in England at the time of the Puritans in the 16th - 17th centuries. But lately this un-Scriptural symbol has been increasingly accepted in Protestantism.

The cross is unscriptural and is considered to be a form of idolatry. We do not need symbols to remind us of what Jesus did for us. We walk by faith, not by sight. (2 CORINTHIANS 5:7)

Answer 4

Did you ever wonder why it was prophesied that Jesus would not have any bones broken; what would of been the point unless it was customary. This was a process that was used to speed up death by suffocating those that were hanging on the stake, they did not have the use of their legs to hold them up, so they thus suffocated. Physically, this would not of been the case if one were hanging on a cross.


If the Bible says that Satan is misleading the entire inhabited earth and that he is the ruler of this system, then you can surely discern that the majority of people are being misled.

You need to put forth an effort to find out what the Bible REALLY teaches, and as one of Jehovah's Witnesses I can assure you that is what we endeavor to do.

Answer 5

If you must know, I recommend doing some research on your own. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society came out with this great book with questions and answers others have about our beliefs called "Reasoning from the Scriptures". Have fun

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.

Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words provides telling insight into the "cross." It declares:

"stauros denotes primarily, ‘an upright pale or stake.’ On such malefactors were nailed for execution. Both the noun and the verb stauroo, ‘to fasten to a stake or pale,’ are originally to be DISTINGUISHED FROM the ecclesiastical form of a two beamed ‘cross.’ The shape of the latter had its origin in ancient Chaldea, and was used as the symbol of the god Tammuz (being in the shape of the mystic Tau, the initial of his name) in that country and in adjacent lands, including Egypt. By the middle of the third century A.D. had either departed from, or had travestied, certain doctrines of the Christian faith. In order to increase the prestige of the apostate ecclesiastical system pagans were received into the church apart from regeneration by faith, and were permitted largely to retain their pagan signs and symbols. Hence the Tau, or T, in its most frequent form, with the cross-piece lowered, was adopted to stand for the ‘cross’ of Christ" ("cross," page 138).


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

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.

Gal 3:13 also states

13 Christ by purchase released us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse instead of us, because it is written: “Accursed is every man hanged upon a stake.”

This text is taken from Deut 21:23 where it states “23 his dead body should not stay all night on the stake; but you should by all means bury him on that day, because something accursed of God is the one hung up; and you must not defile your soil, which Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance”

The old KJ version “His body5038 shall not3808 remain all night3885 upon5921 the tree”

The Hebrew word ates (tree) and xulon are the same. Jesus was impaled on a tree and not with a cross. This is the basic meaning of the word. If you see a cross, you won’t say that’s a tree eventhough the cross is made of the parts of the tree, you will say “that’s a cross”.

Stauros also means stake or post (as set as upright). The word “cross” for that word, is only a latter meaning of the word.

Bullinger points out that the symbol of crosses "were used as symbols of the Babylonian sun-god," and a cross with four equal arms, vertical and horizontal, was "especially venerated as the ‘Solar Wheel.’" He goes on:

"The Catacombs in Rome bear the same testimony: ‘Christ’ is never represented there as ‘hanging on a cross,’ and the cross itself is only portrayed in a veiled and hesitating manner. In the Egyptian churches the cross was a PAGAN SYMBOL OF LIFE, borrowed by the “Christians”, and interpreted in the pagan manner. In his Letters from Rome Dean Burgon says: ‘I question whether a cross occurs on any Christian monument of the first four centuries.’

Answer 7

This site may help to answer your question, just click on it and read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion

Answer 8

As far as promoting, that is really not what we do. Very rarely have we gone to the people in our ministry and brought up that subject in particular even though some of our articles have dealt with that specific subject.

There are several good translations that use the word tree, stake etc. rather than cross.

As far information , you could consider this if you wish:

*** Rbi8 pp. 1577-1578 5C “Torture Stake” ***
Gr., ??????? (stau·ros´); Lat., crux

“Torture stake” in Mt 27:40 is used in connection with the execution of Jesus at Calvary, that is, Skull Place. There is no evidence that the Greek word stau·ros´ here meant a cross such as the pagans used as a religious symbol for many centuries before Christ.

In the classical Greek the word stau·ros´ meant merely an upright stake, or pale, or a pile such as is used for a foundation. The verb stau·ro´o meant to fence with pales, to form a stockade, or palisade, and this is the verb used when the mob called for Jesus to be impaled. It was to such a stake, or pale, that the person to be punished was fastened, just as the popular Greek hero Prometheus was represented as tied to rocks. Whereas the Greek word that the dramatist Aeschylus used to describe this simply means to tie or to fasten, the Greek author Lucian (Prometheus, I) used a·na·stau·ro´o as a synonym for that word. In the Christian Greek Scriptures a·na·stau·ro´o occurs but once, in Heb 6:6. The root verb stau·ro´o occurs more than 40 times, and we have rendered it “impale,” with the footnote: “Or, ‘fasten on a stake (pole).’”

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. There is no proof to the contrary. The apostles Peter and Paul also use the word xy´lon to refer to the torture instrument upon which Jesus was nailed, and this shows that it was an upright stake without a crossbeam, for that is what xy´lon in this special sense means. (Ac 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; Ga 3:13; 1Pe 2:24) 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.

The Latin dictionary by Lewis and Short gives as the basic meaning of crux “a tree, frame, or other wooden instruments of execution, on which criminals were impaled or hanged.” 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. A single stake for impalement of a criminal was called in Latin crux sim´plex. One such instrument of torture is illustrated by Justus Lipsius (1547-1606) in his book De cruce libri tres, Antwerp, 1629, p. 19. The photograph of the crux simplex on our p. 1578 is an actual reproduction from his book.

The book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, Breslau, 1878, p. 109, says: “Trees were not everywhere available at the places chosen for public execution. So a simple beam was sunk into the ground. On this the outlaws, with hands raised upward and often also with their feet, were bound or nailed.” After submitting much proof, Fulda concludes on pp. 219, 220: “Jesus died on a simple death-stake: In support of this there speak (a) the then customary usage of this means of execution in the Orient, (b) indirectly the history itself of Jesus’ sufferings and (c) many expressions of the early church fathers.”

Paul Wilhelm Schmidt, who was a professor at the University of Basel, in his work Die Geschichte Jesu (The History of Jesus), Vol. 2, Tübingen and Leipzig, 1904, pp. 386-394, made a detailed study of the Greek word stau·ros´. On p. 386 of his work he said: “??????? [stau·ros´] means every upright standing pale or tree trunk.” Concerning the execution of punishment upon Jesus, P. W. Schmidt wrote on pp. 387-389: “Beside scourging, according to the gospel accounts, only the simplest form of Roman crucifixion comes into consideration for the infliction of punishment upon Jesus, the hanging of the unclad body on a stake, which, by the way, Jesus had to carry or drag to the execution place to intensify the disgraceful punishment. . . . Anything other than a simple hanging is ruled out by the wholesale manner in which this execution was often carried out: 2000 at once by Varus (Jos. Ant. XVII 10. 10), by Quadratus (Jewish Wars II 12. 6), by the Procurator Felix (Jewish Wars II 15. 2), by Titus (Jewish Wars VII. 1).”

Evidence is, therefore, completely lacking that Jesus Christ was crucified on two pieces of timber placed at right angles. We do not want to add anything to God’s written Word by inserting the pagan cross-concept into the inspired Scriptures, but render stau·ros´ and xy´lon according to the simplest meanings. Since Jesus used stau·ros´ to represent the suffering and shame or torture of his followers (Mt 16:24), we have translated stau·ros´ as “torture stake,” to distinguish it from xy´lon, which we have translated “stake,” or, in the footnote, “tree,” as in Ac 5:30.

As far as taking anything away from the Word, that entails teachings, not contraversy over words.

--What is more important that Jesus died for us or the object he died on?
--Do you charge us with not believing he was the Son of God and truly died on a roman torture object?
--What ever discussions you have had with the witnesses, does their love for Christ seem genuine?

Any way why would we love the object he died on rather than the fact he died on something and that we still love him for what he did?

The question then is what is more important? The Cross, Stake --or Him?

Answer 9

WOW I wouldn't want to be in their shoes when Jesus comes back...