Bruce Graham Supporter

Good friday was kept beginning in the middle ages as it was accociated to easter by the Roman Catholic church. Following is a better explaination:
Romans 14:5-13 "One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. It is written: " 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 'every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God.' " So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister."
Although Easter was started by the Roman Cathoilc Church in the middle ages, desiring to bring the pegan cultures into Christianity; The time of year and the pegan rituals were adopted and given a meaning of christianity for this reason. The pegans celebrated the comming of spring. It was easy to equate the idea of new life brought by spring to attatch to the ressurection of Jesus to new life. This same thing happened with the date and celebration of His birth on Christmas day; The pegan winter solstice festival. It is for this reason that many will not celebrate Easter, as in truth it is not biblical but a tradition of men.

But let us come to the heart of the matter; First those who do keep it as a holy day, do so unto the Lord. Second; Those who do not, do so unto the Lord. The most important thing to realize is that it is a matter of heart between the believer and the Lord, and not to be judged by anyman, for we only see the outward appeaerance, but the Lord searches the heart. It is a matter of a persons conscience before the Lord.
Let us never argue about right or worng in these things as we can easily cause one another to stumble. In truth, Jesus' Birth, Death, and Ressurection should be celebrated by our lives daily. Please remember no one knows the date when he was born, died or ressurected, only the year. 
God Bless You All and may the rejoicing of your heart be complete each and every day.

March 30 2013 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Chuck Smith Jr Supporter Soul-shaper

Friday was observed as the day of Jesus' crucifixion as early as the fourth century and was officially recognized as "Good Friday" in 692--a good while prior to the middle ages.
"Three days and three nights" sounds to us like an attempt to be quite literal, and there have been several excellent attempts to reconcile Jesus' death the day prior to the Sabbath and his resurrection on Sunday with his prediction that the Son of Man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. But how it sounds to us and how it is used in the Bible may be very different. 
Perhaps the answer that is most faithful to the Scriptures is that it makes use of a familiar Hebrew figure of speech. "The expression, "three days and three nights," is an idiom which covers any parts of three days and three nights." Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used In the Bible (see his examples in 1 Samuel 30:11-12 and Esther 4:16; 5:1, where it cannot be interpreted literally.) He goes on, "It may seem absurd to Gentiles and to Westerns to use words in such a manner, but that does not alter the fact." If Jesus was in the tomb for three literal days and nights, then he would have risen on the fourth day, and not on the third day as the New Testament states (ten times, compared to the idiom in Matthew that occurs only once).

April 01 2013 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Chuck Smith Jr Supporter Soul-shaper

The decision to remember and celebrate the crucifixion and resurrection in the spring (or around the time of the vernal equinox) has nothing to do with the Roman Catholic Church or pagan origins and was instituted in 325. Its date was fixed to this time of year because historically it coincided with the Jewish Passover, which was instituted by God.
The Christmas (winter) celebration of Jesus' birth is another story.

April 01 2013 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report

Doreen Lovell Supporter Evangelist and Prayer Intercessor

I do not think Jesus was crucified on a Friday. If so how do we get three days and three nights? As Jonah was in the belly of the whale 3days and three nights so shall the Son of Man be. I personally believe the Sabbath the Bible refer to that He had to be taken off the cross, was the Passover Sabbath which in that year was celebrated on a Thrusday. Jesus was therefore crucified on Wednesday afternoon which gives 3days and 3nights. Please note that in Genesis the night comes before the day thus Sunday starts on Saturday ar sun down that is whyMary and others did not find Him when the went to the tomb after the Sabbath.

March 29 2013 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Derek Hole Supporter

It must be remembered that, as in Gen, 1:5  God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

The Jewish day ran from 6pm to the following 6pm. Therefore the last supper (15th day of Nissan) was on the Wednesday evening and the crucifixion the Thursday, Jesus dying by 3.00 pm.

As others have said, many have ignored that the Sabbath referred to in John 19:31:

"The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away."

was a Passover Sabbath (a "High Day") and was the day before the weekly Sabbath.

We know for certain the day and the time of His death. We are not certain of the year, unless someone can establish the years in which the 15th Nissan was a Jewish Thursday between 27ad and 33 AD, which, taking into account the Julien and Gregorian calendar changes, is beyond me at the moment.
I have now ascertained that 15th Nissan occurred on a Thursday on 07/04/27 AD and 18/03/37 AD in the Gregorian calendar. Pontius Pilate was in Jerusalem from 26 AD until 36 AD so it seems the AD 27 date is applicable. With regard to Jesus birth, Herod died in 4 BC and the declaration of the Quirinius’ census in was 8 B.C.and would have take a couple of years to organise. Therefore, a birth date of 6 BC would seem appropriate, making Jesus very close to 30 years of age at the start of 
his ministry.

The only value of this type of discussion, although interesting to some, is that it further prooves the amazing accuracy of the Scriptures.

Those who refer to "Tradition" Should look at Mar 7:13  Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."  As far as I am convinced, tradition NEVER has precedence over God's word, but if your church teaches otherwise, you are entitled to your opinion, but beware the spiritual consequences.

Full details on this may be seen in Godisreal.uk.

December 12 2022 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

David Furman Supporter

A problem with the establishment of the Good Friday holy day, was that the church leaders who did so hundreds of years after the crucifixion quite simply got the day wrong. The Bible states that Jesus was crucified on "the day before the sabbath", but the later church leaders apparently did not understand something correctly. 

There are two types of sabbath, the normal weekly sabbath on Saturday, but in the case of the Passover week, the first day of the Passover, regardless of which day of the week it occurred, was also celebrated as a sabbath, so sometimes a single week had two sabbaths. The first day of the Passover in the year Christ was crucified was on Thursday, and the crucifixion occurred on the day of "preparation of the Passover", that is to say on Wednesday. 

To the writers of the Gospels, the meaning was clear, but to some with less perfect knowledge hundreds of years later, they got confused and thought this referred to the weekly sabbath on Saturday. 

I suggest reading R A Torrey's book "Difficulties in The Bible: Alleged Errors and Contradictions". He devotes a whole section to explaining why the actual day of the crucifixion was probably Wednesday, not Friday, in the portion of the book called "Was Jesus Really Three Days and Three Nights in the Heart of the Earth?" 

Here is a link to the book: https://www.biblesnet.com/RA%20Torrey%20Difficulties%20in%20the%20Bible%20Alleged%20Errors%20and%20Contradictions.pdf

October 02 2019 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Vincent Mercado Supporter Skeptic turned believer, Catholic, father of 3

A bit of history is needed to dispell misconceptions. Early Christians celebrate Good Friday decades before Constantine the Great was born. Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of Good Friday as the day of the Pasch. Irenaeus and Tertullian died in 202 AD and 225 AD respectively. Constantine was born almost half a century later in 272 AD. 

We cannot say exactly when Christians started observing Good Friday. We can say that it was observed very early in the history of the Church, as early as the second century.

Good Friday was not instituted by an emperor, No.
Good Friday was not instituted in the middle ages, No.
Good Friday was not instituted in the 4th century, No.
Good Friday was not instituted in the 325 AD, No.
Good Friday was not instituted in the 692 AD, No.
Good Friday has pagan origins, *faint* No.

Virtually every Church Father agree with the traditional dating of a Thursday Last Supper, Friday Crucifixion, and Sunday resurrection. This includes Ignatius (105 AD), Barnabas (120 AD), Clement of Alexandria (195 AD), and many others. This chronology is firmly based on Scripture, and universally verified by Tradition.

January 21 2014 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report