Religious question

OK, we have some pretty smart religious folks on here, so chime in please. Wifey and I were just sitting out back having a very interesting conversation, when the topic of Good Friday came up. First off, why is it called "Good" if it the day of Christ's death? Then we got into questions about Communion. She was raised Catholic, I was raised Methodist, even though both my parents were raised Irish Catholic. (Long story, not important here) She said taking Communion is becoming one with Christ. I think it's kind of disgusting and more than slightly cannibalistic. Drinking the blood of Christ, eating His flesh? Eeew. What say all of you on these cosmic questions?

aaaand here we goooooo..........

"Good" in that, while it was the day of his persecution, it was also the embodiment of his dying for our sins.

Communion - Some see it as weird, some see it as tradition, some see it as literal, some see it as symbolic, etc. I personally see it as a kinda weird tradition, but also something that can encourage reflection, so in that way I guess i sort of "get it".

$.02, YMMV, etc.

Not a huge religious figure, but I am a member of a conservative local church. As I understand it, Good Friday is "good" because Christ was sent here to die for our sins. When he died, man was forgivable. A truly wonderful gift. Terrible that the price was the end of the only perfect life.

Communion is just a recreation of the last supper.

Good Friday (from the senses pious, holy of the word "good")

Your first question cannot be answered with certainty, though observations can be drawn.

The term "good Friday" exists only in English speaking countries, particularly European and the Americas. In other areas, it is more commonly referred to as "holy Friday", or variations thereof.

There are two primary theories of the choice of the word "good". The first is that is is a derrivation of the word "God". The second is that is is a linguistic modification of the word "Holy".

As for the canabalistic nature of Christianity, I believe it is a mistake. His words were apparently to eat/drink this and think of me, or remember me, or in rememberence of me. Some have taken the view that if you're christian enough, the bread will become flesh as you consume it. I do not agree with that belief. I have never found substantiation of this pecular belief. Generally though, the canibalistic aspect of Christianity is leaped upon only by those wishing to tear Christianity down. It makes a convenient destructive tool.

I am going to go ahead and set out a warning now - please only post if you have an honest answer to the POs question. It's a good question, and everything else is just going end up being a mess and getting the thread closed.

I'm not a religious person, but I was. Now I'm highly spiritual but have strayed from organized religion.

"Good" friday is considered good for many reasons - the fulfillment of God's plan in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the commencement of forgiveness for man's sins - but I think the term "good" was given in modern English due to the goodness it has created. Kinda like referring to any tragedy as good: e.g. "thank goodness for that 10-car pileup ten years ago where I met that paramedic who became my wife."

Holy Communion was symbolic the first time around. It wasn't actually the blood and body of Christ, it was wine and bread that he blessed to symbolize the people taking him into their bodies.

Either way, its a free meal with drinks.

I was raised Episcopalian , now (with the liberal death spiral of the Episcopal Church) I'm Anglican, (basically the Episcopal Churches roots) and some folk in both faiths (and other catholic religions) believe in transubstantiation...

tran·sub·stan·ti·a·tion/ˌtransəbˌstanCHēˈāSHən/Noun 1. (esp. in the Roman Catholic Church) The conversion of the substance of the Eucharistic elements into the body and blood of Christ at consecration, only the appearances of bread and wine still remaining.

me, I'm more with foxtrapper where he wrote " His words were apparently to eat/drink this and think of me, or remember me, or in remembrance of me.

as a matter of fact the Communion service in the Book of Common Prayer actually uses that same wording ..... " do this in remembrance of me"

may not answers OP's question, but .......

Can't help you on the Good Friday thing, though the ideas put forth above that "good" is just a less-than-ideal translation of "holy" or "pious" make a lot of sense.

Regarding the communion thing, in consuming something, it becomes a part of you (literally). Through transubstantiation, you intake the blood and body of Christ, and therefore Christ is irrefutably a part of you.

ReverendDexter wrote: Regarding the communion thing, in consuming something, it becomes a part of you (literally). Through transubstantiation, you intake the blood and body of Christ, and therefore Christ is irrefutably a part of you.

Dexter has it here. Remember, when the early Christians were converting the Pagans, it made the transition easier for them to accept if some of the original holidays and traditions were preserved. Example: Christmas takes place very close to the winter solstice, which was a very important Pagan holiday...

In this case, the tradition of transubstantiation was a way of becoming more like that which they were consuming. In this case, they believed they were becoming more godlike by consuming the figurative body and blood of Christ--a tradition that was easy to accept for early Pagan-to-Christian convertees. "This is my body and this is my blood" or something like that is what is written in the Bible, right? It's not cannabalism--just symbology.

Drinking the blood of Christ, eating His flesh?

At the last supper, Jesus said something like, "eat this for this is my body" which is probably not exactly how it was put, but a translation of a translation of a translation..... Anyway, its just tradition and its a symbol more than anything. By eating it, a person becomes part of God. It is a belief shared by most religions.

As for me, I am Wiccan. We share that same belief except that in that belief, anything and everything was made by one (God) and made of Him, therefore we are all part of Him.

The Christian/Catholic belief is that the Eucharist reminds them that they came from God and therefore are part of God.

I'm not religous, but a born again Christian. My dad has been a preacher/teacher for almost 50 years. I've tought for 5 year now so here it goes:

First, it's called "Good" Friday because God sent His only begotten son to take the penalty of OUR sins. The Bible says it pleased God to do this because it gives ALL people a chance to be redeemed and have their relationship restored with Him, not that He has pleasure in seeing suffering. So it's GOOD because Christ conquered sin, death, and the grave to give ANYONE who believes hope and a future.

Second, there were several prophets hundreds of years before Christ came to die for us that prophesied His beatings and the blood that was shed. During the Last Supper, he told His disciples that the wine represented His blood and the bread represented his body that was broken. He wanted his followers to do this as a way to remember what He did for us. It is only symbolic just like Baptism is and will NOT save anyone from their sins.

God required animal sacrifices to provide temporary forgiveness of sins and to foreshadow the perfect and complete sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Leviticus 4:35, 5:10). Animal sacrifice is an important theme found throughout Scripture because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). When Adam and Eve sinned, animals were killed by God to provide clothing for them (Genesis 3:21). Cain and Abel brought sacrifices to the Lord. Cain's was unacceptable because he brought fruit, while Abel's was acceptable because it was the “firstborn of his flock” (Genesis 4:4-5). After the flood receded, Noah sacrificed animals to God (Genesis 8:20-21).

Why, then, do we no longer offer animal sacrifices today? Animal sacrifices have ended because Jesus Christ was the ultimate and perfect sacrifice. John the Baptist recognized this when he saw Jesus coming to be baptized and said, “Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). You may be asking yourself, why animals? What did they do wrong? That is the point—since the animals did no wrong, they died in place of the one performing the sacrifice. Jesus Christ also did no wrong but willingly gave Himself to die for the sins of mankind (1 Timothy 2:6).

A little background on where I'm coming from: Born and raised and still Catholic. I've studied (not very far in depth) other religions, read all the arguments for atheism with an open mind, and it only made me more sure of my Catholicism.

I was taught by a CCD teacher that the Good in Good Friday comes from a translation of a translation of a translation..... In a very basic form, Good in olde English translates to "Holy". She (CCD teacher) didn't actually know, and also mentioned that it could have been a misspelling of "God". I think she used the example of "Good Bye" coming from "God be with you", or "God be with ye". Of course, she wasn't entirely sure (as nobody is), but this stuff made sense to me.

cwh wrote: She said taking Communion is becoming one with Christ. I think it's kind of disgusting and more than slightly cannibalistic. Drinking the blood of Christ, eating His flesh? Eeew. What say all of you on these cosmic questions?

(my opinion): You are eating the flesh and blood of Christ, by doing this, you are becoming one with him. I'm with the transubstantiation crowd.

confuZion3 wrote: Christmas takes place very close to the winter solstice, which is a very important Pagan holiday...

FTFY

One thing I certainly give props to the JWs for is doing historical research regarding the Bible and Biblical events. One of the things that comes out of that is that based on all of the corollary events happening around Christ's birth, there's no way that it happened during winter.

confuZion3 wrote: Christmas takes place very close to the winter solstice, which is a very important Pagan holiday...

You will find many instances where Pagan holidays have become part of the norm. (EDIT: Or were influenced by.)

Chirstmas trees, We believe in praising nature because to us, it is part of God because he made it himself. The tree in the house thing, yea that was us Pagans. (Yet I never have one...?)

Halloween was a Pagan holiday and the church actually made the holiday All Saints Day to go directly after it. I would have to research that one to figure exactly how that one took place.

There are more, but I would have to find them. I really don't study that like the wifey does.

Methodist Pastor chiming in. Yes, there is strong evidence that somewhere in the middle ages, in the languages that became English, "God" became "good". From a theological standpoint, the center of God's work is the cross. So, God's Friday. Now, about communion. I'm of the school of thought that is willing to let it be a mystery. It becomes Christ's body? It takes on the nature of Christ's body? I don't know. Sounds too "majick" for me. That we do it just because we're supposed to? Sounds like Mom making me eat my vegetables. So, I say it's a mystery. That while we do this incredibly ordinary thing of eating and drinking, we who were created in the image of God might find ourselves drawn closer to God. Because it becomes Christ? Because we find ourselves eating bread that at least symbolically is given to us by the Bread of Heaven? (John 6) I don't know, and I don't believe it's important that we have to, but that we get to experience something where God seems to be saying that the veil between the natural and the supernatural is thinned.

I believe that God exists in everything, which both supports transubstantiation and voids it in my opinion. I don't believe that the bread actually turns into a piece of christ's flesh, but since God is in all things (including wheat... and bacon) the simple fact of eating anything is ingesting God. For all I know, some of the carbon in the cheese sandwich I just ate came from something one of you guys pooped out last year. Its the circle of life. But... I believe that you guys and your poop is just as much part of God as christ was. (no, I did not just call jesus a pile of poop)

In a sorta Wiccan-type way, I believe that all energy is the same. The ceremonial act of blessing bread and wine can certainly have an effect on what your soul does with that energy, I just don't believe that christian religion necessarily celebrates that. They do - in a roundabout, strangely ceremonial way, I just don't think that the greatest good comes from shrouding it in a complex mystery.

I thank God (the universal energy) every time I eat, and I personally believe that the energy I share in doing that is far more beneficial and powerful (to me) than to a Deacon sitting in a pew who doesn't really understand the whole story while he eats a crouton and downs a shot of grape juice.

I often wondered how interesting it would be if we could take a bunch of thinking robots (or remove our emotions for a day) and have this big summit of the religious minds. My own mother assumes I am headed down the path to hell because I don't attend church, but if she saw the parallels between what we both believe she might shut up. She's just stuck on the fact that I'm not a "real" christian because I don't attend church. If we could all (I mean everyone, not just those in this discussion) set aside the beliefs and the judgement and just compare that which we each believe to be truth, I think we'd all be remarkably similar. Especially considering the widely varying beliefs that exist within each religion.

And that would end the majority of our current wars.

tuna55 wrote: I am going to go ahead and set out a warning now - please only post if you have an honest answer to the POs question. It's a good question, and everything else is just going end up being a mess and getting the thread closed.

So.... Your asking us to go against the nature of GRM;)

Joey

Interesting you ask these questions, as NOVA had an interesting program on recently, "The Bible's Buried Screts: The Old Testament and how the concept of one God emerged." I'm an athiest, but it was fascinating how and WHO wrote the bible. And did touch on the OP's question.

The second one was also on PBS's "Secrets of the Dead" series (dumb name, but good quality) on the history of the English Bible, split between catholic and english church, power struggles for control of the church, and a gentleman called William Tyndale who wote the first english language bible, which was considered so controversial, single pages at a time were smuggled from europe to england. Very even handed treatment of the subject, and answered a lot of questions as to how we got so many different interpretations of the bible. It was really well done.

I consider these pieces of literature, nothing more, and these two documentaries answered more questions about the origins of "The" bible and it's history to the current day than any I've seen. Really good stuff. The Secrets of the dead is available on DVD for $25, but, you may catch it on your local PBS channel, or maybe local library.

As I said, I'm an athiest, but was always curious about who "wrote" the bible, nothing else was on, and these are two programs well worth seeing for insight. My 2 cents.

Try PBS.org, and start from there to find these programs.

triumph5 wrote: Interesting you ask these questions, as NOVA had an interesting program on recently, "The Bible's Buried Screts: The Old Testament and how the concept of one God emerged." I'm an athiest, but it was fascinating how and WHO wrote the bible. And did touch on the OP's question. The second one was also on PBS's "Secrets of the Dead" series (dumb name, but good quality) on the history of the English Bible, split between catholic and english church, power struggles for control of the church, and a gentleman called William Tyndale who wote the first english language bible, which was considered so controversial, single pages at a time were smuggled from europe to england. Very even handed treatment of the subject, and answered a lot of questions as to how we got so many different interpretations of the bible. It was really well done. I consider these pieces of literature, nothing more, and these two documentaries answered more questions about the origins of "The" bible and it's history to the current day than any I've seen. Really good stuff. The Secrets of the dead is available on DVD for $25, but, you may catch it on your local PBS channel, or maybe local library. As I said, I'm an athiest, but was always curious about who "wrote" the bible, nothing else was on, and these are two programs well worth seeing for insight. My 2 cents. Try PBS.org, and start from there to find these programs.

I have not seen this, but if it's anything like other similar series, please don't watch that rubbish.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" ( II Timothy 3:15-17).

The extent of inspiration can be clearly seen in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This verse tells us that God inspired all Scripture and that it is profitable to us.

God inspired every word...therefore He is the author who chose ordinary men to write it down. And no, I would not waste my time listening to some science channel explaining what THEY think the Bible is.

Fletch1 wrote: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" ( II Timothy 3:15-17). The extent of inspiration can be clearly seen in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This verse tells us that God inspired all Scripture and that it is profitable to us.

.... IF you believe that the bible is the holy scripture.

Fletch1 wrote: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" ( II Timothy 3:15-17). The extent of inspiration can be clearly seen in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” This verse tells us that God inspired all Scripture and that it is profitable to us. God inspired every word...therefore He is the author who chose ordinary men to write it down. And no, I would not waste my time listening to some science channel explaining what THEY think the Bible is.

Well spoken. Particularly about the science channel, and any other comercial/mass media/info-tainment produced by non believers. They may claim to be the work of great scholars, but 1 Co. vs 19&20 is my responce to those claims.

Its worth pointing out that many refer to as "comunion" is the only thing that Jesus asked his followers to observe in rememberance of him(Luke 22:19,20). This was not coincidentily durring His final celebration of the passover, often refered to as The Last Supper, or The Lords Evening Meal. This is not exactly the same as Easter, and its connection to the passover is important.

I do not celebrate Easter, IMO its not suported by the Bible, and much of the symbolism connected to it comes from pagan traditions. I do observe The Lords Evening Meal.

I would like thank every one who has responded to this thread using scriptures to support their statements (as opposed to citing tradition or dogma). Fletch1 cited 2Tim 3:15-17, "Gods word is inspired", and it is; its what Jesus used to teach the humble and honest & rebuke the wicked and corupt. As any Bible reader knows, no one opposed Jesus more than the religious leaders of his day, and the point of contention usually broke down to religious tradition vs scripture (Mark 7:13 Mt 15:3), Jesus relied on the scripures and quoted them constantly.

I mean no disrespect to those sharing their beliefs with respect to church traditions, I just want to draw attention to the importance of personally knowing and using Gods Word, not just what other people tell you Gods Word says. I suspect that if Jesus were to return to earth today, contemprary christian church leaders would cling to their traditions just as stubornly as the jewish leaders of the first century. What side would you want to be found on?(Mt 7:21,22)

PS. Sorry if this comes across as thread jacking, I hope that the writer of the OP finds at least some of this relevant and informative. And I apologize for poor spelling too, this was written on a borrowed smart phone & I didn't know how to spell check on it.