DeepThinkr wrote:you all obviously need to do your research...
You cannot talk about jesus, unless you know why he came and died.
The crucifix is a man-made catholic tradition. what jesus really did, as clearly spelled out in the new testament, is truth. and the old testament sets up the context for what jesus did and why He came. I don't belive in christianity the religion, i believe in christianity the truth. it's not a myth. it's History, as the civil war is history.
you can't say christ didn't die for our sins, if you don't understand that term. this is the basic story of the bible in a paragraph.
God created the world perfect. man introduced sin into the world. God desires to spend eternity with you because He loves you; however, god's rule is that in order to get to heaven (the purpose for everyone's life) you must be perfect. man can't be perfect because he is born a sinner. when someone sins, something has to die to get rid of that sin. so that's where sacrifice comes in. but all sacrifices are not perfect, so this doesn't cover over all the sin, making it impossible for man to get to heaven. this is why Jesus came. He was the only perfect thing in the world. he made a choice to come to earth, because he desires to be with you. he sacrificed himself so that the world could be free of sin. Jesus was the only valid sacrifice that covered over all sin. this is the context for the term 'jesus died for our sins'.
now, I think you all are missing the point. jesus didn't come and die for us to honor His heritage. he died to free us. the Bible is a big flashing neon sign that says this, and you're looking at it and saying, "oh, he was jewish. i guess we're all to become jews." look at what it's really saying and take it seriously.
look into it, and do the research. I hope this helps.
Perhaps you should take a bit of your own advice and do some further research yourself.
The theme of a divine or semi-divine being sacrificed against a tree, pole or cross, and then being resurrected, is very common in pagan mythology.
It was found in the mythologies of all western civilizations stretching from as far west as Ireland and as far east as India. In particular it is found in the mythologies of Osiris and Attis, both of whom were often identified with Tammuz.
Osiris landed up with his arms stretched out on a tree like Jesus on the cross. This tree was sometimes shown as a pole with outstretched arms - the same shape as the Christian cross.... oh say, 1500 years BCE.
In the worship of Serapis (a composite of Osiris and Apis) the cross was a religious symbol. Indeed, the Christian "Latin cross" symbol seems to be based directly on the cross symbol of Osiris and Serapis.
The Romans never used this traditional Christian cross for crucifixions, they used crosses shaped either like an X or a T.
The hieroglyph of a cross on a hill was associated with Osiris. This heiroglyph stood for the "Good One," in Greek "Chrestos," a name applied to Osiris and other pagan gods. The confusion of this name with "Christos" (Messiah, Christ) strengthened the confusion between Jesus and the pagan gods.
Glad, too.
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