reniaa said: i've even had laialeo on here rationalise using the word cross even though it never appears in the bible and shes very strict on correct bible translation
Reniaa: Leolaia is one of the very, very few (if not the only) genuine scholars on this board who has a doctorate degree either in history or religious studies or something along those lines, so I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her posts simply because they do not agree with what the WTS says. I don't think I've ever seen her post something that she cannot back up with evidence.
You automatically assume that the Organization is right about how Jesus didn't die on a cross but on an "upright stake" without looking at any of the historical evidence yourself. The evidence does in fact show that Jesus would have died on a two-beamed 'cross' and before you dismiss it as simply being "pagan", you should weigh all the evidence.
The Witnesses are partially right. While most movies always depict Jesus carrying a cross through the streets on the way to Golgatha, this is not what would have happened. He would have been carrying a single piece of wood that was fixed to another piece of wood when they got to the execution place as the following article from Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR Jan-Feb 1985) says:
"During this early period, a wooden beam, known as a furca or patibulum was placed on the slave's neck and bound to his arms. The slave was then required to march through the neighborhood proclaiming his offense. This march was intended as an expiation and humiliation. Later, the slave was also stripped and scourged, increasing both the punishment and the humiliation. Still later, instead of walking with his arms tied to the wooden beam, the slave was tied to a vertical stake................A soldier at the head of the procession carried the titulus, an inscription written on wood, which stated the defendants name and the crime for which he had been condemned. Later, this titulus was fastened to the victims cross. When the procession arrived at the execution site, a vertical stake was fixed into the ground. Sometimes the victim was attached to the cross only with ropes. In such a case, the patibulum or crossbeam, to which the victims arms were already bound, was simply affixed to the vertical beam; the victims feet were then bound to the stake with a few turns of the rope.......If the victim was attached by nails, he was laid on the ground, with his shoulders on the crossbeam. His arms were held out and nailed to the two ends of the crossbeam, which was then raised and fixed on top of the vertical beam.
Accounts of the suppression of the revolt of Spartacus in 71 B.C. tell how the Roman army lined the road from Capua to Rome with 6,000 crucified rebels on 6,000 crosses. After the Romans quelled the relatively minor rebellion in Judea in 7 A.D. triggered by the death of King Herod, Quintilius Varus, the Roman Legate of Syria, crucified 2,000 Jews in Jerusalem. During Titus?s siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., Roman troops crucified as many as 500 Jews a day for several months.
Here are a couple of links that might help you understand that the WTS does not gather all their facts, takes things out of context and even outright lies if something doesn't fit with their preconceived ideas:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/97358/1.ashx