Jesus dying on the cross?

Question

Why do so many people believe that Jesus died on the cross if it doesn't say so in the Bible? The Bible clearly says that Jesus died on a torture stake. Why are people confusing the Bible's teachings?

Answer 1

because satan blinds their minds

Answer 2

Definition: The device on which Jesus Christ was executed is referred to by most of Christendom as a cross. The expression is drawn from the Latin crux If you refer to the shape, that's it's a straight Pole. The Greek word rendered “cross” in many modern Bible versions (“torture stake” in NW) is stau‧ros′. In classical Greek, this word meant merely an upright stake, or pale. Later it also came to be used for an execution stake having a crosspiece. The Imperial Bible-Dictionary acknowledges this, saying: “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.”—Edited by P. Fairbairn (London, 1874), Vol. I, p. 376. Was that the case in connection with the execution of God’s Son? It is noteworthy that the Bible also uses the word xy′lon to identify the device used. A Greek-English Lexicon, by Liddell and Scott, defines this as meaning: “Wood cut and ready for use, firewood, timber, etc. . . . piece of wood, log, beam, post . . . cudgel, club . . . stake on which criminals were impaled . . . of live wood, tree.” It also says “in NT, of the cross,” and cites Acts 5:30 and 10:39 as examples. (Oxford, 1968, pp. 1191, 1192) However, in those verses KJ, RS, JB, and Dy translate xy′lon as “tree.” (Compare this rendering with Galatians 3:13; Deuteronomy 21:22, 23.) The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons (London, 1896), says: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross. . . . It is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as ‘cross’ when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting ‘cross’ in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros without carefully explaining that that was at any rate not the primary meaning of the word in the days of the Apostles, did not become its primary signification till long afterwards, and became so then, if at all, only because, despite the absence of corroborative evidence, it was for some reason or other assumed that the particular stauros upon which Jesus was executed had that particular shape.”—Pp. 23, 24; see also The Companion Bible (London, 1885), Appendix No. 162. Thus the weight of the evidence indicates that Jesus died on an upright stake and not on the traditional cross. KEEP ON SEEKING THE TRUTH...

Answer 3

The Bible Greek dictionary accepted as authoritative by many scholars, abbreviated as BDAG (full name given below in "source") says of the New Testament word translated in some Bibles as "cross":

"STAUROS: 1- A pole to be placed in the ground and used for capital punishment."

That is its first and primary definition of the word: "a pole."

The Bible does not give us a description of what Jesus was put to death upon, so it does little good to be overly exercised about this.

The main point is that Jesus did die as our Lord and Savior, and that no man-made object should be worshipped, whether it is a cross or anything else.

Answer 4

Because for a long time a preponderance of Bible versions have 'mistakenly' used the word "cross" for the word "stauros".

It was around 300 years after Jesus’ death that some professed Christians began to promote the idea that the Messiah was put to death on a cross of 2 beams, which view was based on tradition and misuse of the Greek word stau·ros′. Actually, some ancient drawings depict Roman executions featuring a single wooden pole or tree, rather than a cross.
http://www.watchtower.org/e/200604a/article_01.htm

Answer 5

Instead of heading right to the arugement about the translated words, I'm going to point out something simple that everyone can agree on, if they think logically.

The book Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung (The Cross and the Crucifixion), by Hermann Fulda, states: “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.”

Answer 6

I agree with LP. Why should it matter if it's the cross or a stake. What matters is the PURPOSE and REASON that Yeshuah died. Let's focus on that. We shall know exactly how things really were after Armageddon. Those that are not there with Yeshuah, well they will never know. So FOCUS on the IMPORTANT things in life. PEACE AND LOVE.

Answer 7

They make a special shampoo for split ends.

Depending on what English version you read, it might say He died on a pole! Or a Stake, or a Cross!!

I challenge you to get a Greek Testament and research the words if you really want to know.

Otherwise you are simply splitting hairs.
The only shampoo for you is to be washed in the Blood!

Answer 8

The Jewish/Roman historian Josephus wrote this,

"Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him; for he appeared to them alive again the third day; as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him. And the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day."

This document is under critisicm for its authenticity yes, but so is nearly every other important historical document. So, you can choose whether to believe it or not.

Answer 9

does it matter what shape the wood was that he sacrificed his life for us on?

Jesus was clear that there would be many false "christians" who would claim to follow him but would violate the will of his Father in heaven.

Christ's Almighty God and Father clearly told us never to have objects associated with worship, so anyone using a 'cross' symbol in worship is obviously one of the false "christians" Jesus identifies in Matthew 7:13-23 and the few who choose not to have objects in their worship are the true Christians.
REGARDLESS of what shape tree Jesus died on!

please see the following websites for more information:

http://www.albatrus.org/english/religions/pagan/origin_of_cross.htm

http://www.ccg.org/english/s/p039.html

agape!

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Answer 10

The bible says that Jesus was nailed to a cross or tree. It just so happens that a type of tree which grows in Israel forms a natural cross shape. Probably the kind that He was crucified on.

Answer 11

the bible says in john 19:17-19 in the niv study bible that " carrying his own cross he went out to the place of the skull 18 here they crucified him and with him two others one on each side and Jesus in the middle 19 Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross it read : Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews.