What is the cross?

Wherever you go, You wll most likely see a cross hanging up somewhere. Weather in a persons home, a business, or elsewhere, you will see it. However, Deep study of the Bible will show that it was not a cross, but a tree, or stake, that which he was hung upon. Where did the cross come from? and why do people always use it? The Encyclopædia Britannica in 1946, Volume 6, Page 753 says: “Various objects, dating from periods long anterior to the Christian era, have been found, marked with crosses of different designs, in almost every part of the old world. India, Syria, Persia and Egypt have all yielded numberless examples . . . The use of the cross as a religious symbol in pre-Christian times and among non-Christian peoples may probably be regarded as almost universal, and in very many cases it was connected with some form of nature worship." The Cross in Ritual, Architecture, and Art, London, 1900, G. S. Tyack, p. 1. Brings out however:“It is strange, yet unquestionably a fact, that in ages long before the birth of Christ, and since then in lands untouched by the teaching of the Church, the Cross has been used as a sacred symbol. . . . The Greek Bacchus, the Tyrian Tammuz, the Chaldean Bel, and the Norse Odin, were all symbolised to their votaries by a cruciform device.” If this s the case, then should we view it as just for Christ? Although, by studying deeply and analyzing the facts and all from the original texts of the Bible, then we will be able to find the truth and the fact.
The Greek word rendered “cross” in many modern Bible versions is stau‧ros′. In classical Greek, this word meant merely an upright stake, or pale. 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.”—P. Fairbairn London, 1874, Vol. I, p. 376.

The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons In 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.”

Should Daniel's Prophecy concern us today?

Prophecies: History written in advanced. Many wonder what the book of Daniel means. Some think it is a good read. But much that is written in Daniel is indeed fact and deserve our careful attention. In this posting, we'll look over some of the prophecies that not only concerned ones then, but also concern us today. (So you know and so it won't be ungodly long, this discussion will be broke up into sections on each chapter of Daniel.) First off, the Book Of Daniel Covered the time of 618-536 B.C.E. and was completed in 536 B.C.E. There are actually two parts to the book. The first of these, chapters 1 to 6, gives in chronological order the experiences of Daniel and his companions in government service from 617 B.C.E. to 538 B.C.E. The second part, comprising chapters 7 to 12, is written in the first person by Daniel himself as recorder and describes private visions and angelic interviews that Daniel had from about 553 B.C.E. to about 536 B.C.E. ( As Mentioned, these other chapters will be added to their own post for easier reading.) In Daniel 1:1&2, He speaks of King Nebuchadnezzer coming and laying siege to Jerusalem and that Jehoiakim, along with some of the temple utensils, was given into the Babylonian king’s hand. However, the account at 2 Kings 24:10-15 describes the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and shows that Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin, whose reign lasted only 3 months and 10 days, was the one who finally capitulated and went out to the Babylonians. It therefore appears that Jehoiakim died during the siege of the city, perhaps in the early part thereof. Just in what way Jehoiakim was ‘given into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar is not revealed. It may have been in the sense of his dying under siege and of his son’s thereafter having to go out into captivity, so that Jehoiakim’s line suffered the loss of the kingship at Nebuchadnezzar’s hands. There is no way to confirm that Nebuchadnezzar killed Jehoiakim. Not much is known about Daniel's early life, but he tells of coming to Babylon, likely as a teenage prince. This was in Jehoiakim's third year, which started in the spring of 618 B.C.E. Staying with Chapter one, In 617 B.C.E. Daniel comes to Babylon with the captive Jews. The sacred utensils from Jerusalem’s temple come also, to be stored in a pagan treasure-house. Daniel and his three Hebrew companions, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, are among the royal Judean youths chosen for a three-year course of training in the king’s palace. Daniel resolved in his heart to not pollute himself with the king’s pagan delicacies and wine, Daniel proposes a ten-day test of a vegetable diet. The test turns out in favor of Daniel and his companions, and God gives them knowledge and wisdom. Nebuchadnezzar appoints the four to stand before him as counselors. The last verse of chapter 1, which may have been added long after the preceding portion was written, indicates that Daniel was still in royal service some 80 years after his going into exile, which would be in about 538 B.C.E. While in Babylon, the 4 received new names: Daniel was Belteshazzar; Hananiah, Shadrach; Mishael, Meshach; and Azariah, Abednego. The name changes were significant for these four. Their Hebrew names: Daniel means “My Judge Is God.” “Hananiah” is “Jehovah Has Shown Favor.” “Mishael” possibly means “Who Is Like God?” and “Azariah” means “Jehovah Has Helped.” Now with these changes, their Babylon names: Daniel’s was Belteshazzar, meaning “Protect the Life of the King". This was a shortened form of an invocation to Bel, or Marduk, the principal god of Babylon. Hananiah was renamed Shadrach, which some believe to mean “Command of Aku." Aku was the name of a Sumerian god. Mishael was renamed Meshach apparently twist to “Who Is What Aku Is?" Azariah’s name was Abednego, meaning “Servant of Nego.” And “Nego” is a variant of “Nebo,” the name of a deity after which a number of Babylonian rulers were also named. Going back to not receiving the King's food, This was because it might have been against the Mosaic Law. The Babylonians ate unclean animals, forbidden to the Israelites under the Law. Also in accord with the Law to "Abstain from Blood" at Acts 15:20 as well as other points in Genesis 9:3&4 and Leviticus 17:10-12, The Babylonians were not in the habit of bleeding slaughtered animals before eating their flesh. Eating unbled meat would be in direct violation of God’s law on blood. Because of their Faith in the True God, Daniel 1:17 says "The four of them, to them the true God gave knowledge and insight in all writing and wisdom; and Daniel himself had understanding in all sorts of visions and dreams.” Now on to the 3 year training course. Three years of reeducation and grooming. At the end of it, they had to render an account with the King. But By being faithful in what might have seemed to be least, Daniel and his friends were blessed with greater things. The privilege “to stand before the king” was the objective sought by all the young people in the training program. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were chosen by Nebuchadnezzar to stand before the king, to be a part of the royal court. Now with the closing verse again, “Daniel continued on until the first year of Cyrus the king.” History reveals that Cyrus overthrew Babylon in one night, in 539 B.C.E. Evidently owing to his reputation and stature, Daniel continued to serve in the court of Cyrus. In fact, Daniel 10:1 speaks of “the third year of Cyrus the king of Persia”

Is the Bible God's Word?

To really understand the Bible, we need to basically review what we know and see if it goes with what History confirms and what the original wording of the Bible Meant. Think of this common thought: "These are Man's words, not God's." Well it is true that Man wrote the Bible, yes, but he did so because of being divinely inspired of God. In the Christian Greek Scriptures, or the New Testament, Paul wrote many letters. He wrote two letters to his friend, Timothy. In the 2nd letter, in the 3rd Chapter and verse 16, He said: "All Scripture Is inspired of God and Beneficial for teaching, for Reproving, for setting things straight." The Latin for Inspired of God means by Divine Influence. The Greek word rendered “inspired of God” literally means “God-breathed.” That is, God used an invisible force to influence the minds of human writers, transmitting his message to them. In the Book of Exodus 34:27 it is brought out that God dictated his message when he said to Moses, "Write Down for yourself these words." Just as when a secretary will take notes or write letters for their boss, and sign it in his name, so it is also with the Bible, in that these Men were told to write this. Another fact about the Bible is the time-line. The Bible was written over a period of 1,600 years. The first book, Genesis, written by Moses, covered the time from the Beginning of creation to 1657 B.C.E. and it was completed in 1513 B.C.E. The next to the Last book of the Hebrew Scriptures, Zechariah, covered the time from 520-518 and was completed in 518 B.C.E. The Next book, Malachi, has some understanding on when it was written. The book of Malachi was written during the administration of a governor, as brought out at Malachi 1:8, which places it in the time of the restoration of Jerusalem following the 70 years of desolation of Judah. (Of which will be discussed later). Now Temple Service is mentioned but without reference to building the temple, so it was after the time of Governor Zerubbabel, during whose tenure of office the temple was completed. The writing was completed after 443 B.C.E. As for the Christian Greek Scriptures, The first book, Matthew, it is not known when he started writing it, But subscriptions at the end of some manuscripts (all later than the 10th century C.E.) say it was 41 C.E. It gives an account of Jesus' life, 42% of which is not found in the other 3 Gospels. The Time it covers is from the Birth of Jesus, 2 B.C.E., until his meeting with disciples prior to his ascension in 33 C.E. and was completed about 41 C.E. Then the last book of the Bible, Revelation, was written by John about the year of 96 C.E., approximately 26 years after destruction of Jerusalem. This timing would be toward the close of the reign of Emperor Domitian. Domitian was the brother of Titus, who led the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem. He became Emperor at the death of Titus, 15 years before Revelation was written. Toward the end of Domitian's rule, which was from 81 to 96 C.E. severe persecution came upon Christians. John might have been exiled to Patmos by Domitian, and it was during his imprisonment that He received the visions he wrote down. So from going off these times, we see that the period is 1,600 years. As for the other books of the Bible, of which will also be discussed in later postings, of all the writers, the number comes to be around 40 different men. With there being harmony within all it's pages, and With the Time-line being so long and there being so many writers, we can see that the Bible is Divinely Inspired.

The Bible in itself

The Bible: Probably one of the oldest books there is, and yet it's also one of the most controversial books as well. Many do not understand the Bible, Some think that it has nothing to do with us. Some have been told wrongly about it, saying that God will Burn you for eternity if you do not listen to him. Others say God will take all righteous people to heaven, that this earth is our purgatory, we weren't meant to live on the earth. Then the questions get asked: Why Did God create such a beautiful place if it was not meant to be inhabited for all time? Why would a loving God take those who do not serve him and punish them forever in a fiery hell? It is my goal to help ones understand the Bible for what it really says and understanding the wording and helping ones come to a better knowledge of the Bible and also Of God. So with this, I begin My Blog on The Bible