Marcus: I would suggest that one fundamentalist belief (among many) is hardly a basis for a day-of-the-week numbering convention.
The overwhelming biblical evidence to which you refer is, to most of the world's population, simply evidence of the beliefs of those who wrote the various books of the Torah/Old Testament. It is not evidence of actual occurrences. Someone pointed out that the question of which day starts the week is purely a cultural one and varies widely throughout the world. Similarly, how any religious denomination numbers the days is purely an internal matter and of no real import in setting standards. Thus, I recommend that we leave religion out of this, in favor of scientific pragmatism. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:owner-usma@;colostate.edu]On >Behalf Of Ma Be >Sent: Sunday, November 03, 2002 11:50 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:23078] Re: Question about date format -- OFF TOPIC > > >On Thu, 31 Oct 2002 19:23:53 > kilopascal wrote: >>2002-10-31 >> >>Not everyone agrees that the death & resurrection of Christ occurred on a >>Friday to a Sunday. > >True. However, there IS overwhelming biblical evidence to the >above fact, that Jesus indeed resurrected on a Sunday. More below. > >> The "error" occurs because of the remark in the Bible >>that the resurrection occurred after the Sabbath and that the two women >>going to the tomb in the early hours of the morning found the tomb open. >>Thus people have assumed the resurrection occurred on a Sunday morning. >> >Not exactly, two of the texts found in the Gospels that Joe Reid >shared with us are practically conclusive to the effect that it >was *on the first day of the week* that Jesus resurrected. There >can be very little doubt of that among most reputable scholars nowadays. > >>But, I once read a different explanation, that actually makes more sense >>then the present theory. >> >Unfortunately this is NOT a case of 'making more sense' or not, >but of what ACTUALLY has been reported in Scriptures! In order >for one to draw conclusive statements on this subject one MUST >follow rigorous rules of exegesis and hermeneutics when it comes >to "interpretation" of the Bible. > >>First, of all the Bible does say that Jesus was dead 3 days. >Yet, there is >>only 1.5 days between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday morning. >> >In old Hebrew times day reckoning was NOT necessarily tied to 3 >days HAVING to mean 3 24-hour periods! This "tradition" of time >reckoning is very well established in ancient Hebrew-Greek history. > >>Second, in addition to the weekly Saturday Sabbaths, the Jews also >>celebrated 7 annual Sabbaths. Passover was one of them. These annual >>Sabbaths are similar in structure to Roman Catholic holy days. A >person was >>forbidden to any type of work on the annual Sabbaths. >> >Correct. However, many times due to *calendar counting* these >Sabbaths MAY and DID coincide with the regular weekly order. And >when this situation happened that Sabbath festivity was >"nicknamed" a "big Sabbath" (or something like that). On this >case, though, actually there seems to be strong evidence that THAT >Passover was one them. > >>Third, the Jewish day ran from sundown to sundown, not from midnight to >>midnight. >> >Correct, again. > >>According to what I read, Jesus was executed on the annual Sabbath of >>Passover. He actually was executed on the "Day of Preparation", which >>occurred the day before the annual Sabbath. > >Correct. Except that 'day of preparation' IS (and was) the >"official" nickname/designation for regular Fridays. > >> In the year of Jesus' >>execution, the "Day of Preparation" ran from what would be a >Tuesday evening >>to the Wednesday evening. The events of the last supper (actually the >>Passover meal - the Seder) to the death on the cross all occurred on the >>same day, the Day of Preparation. > >? Not sure if I followed your rationale concerning 'Tue... to >Wed'. However, such 'preparations' did indeed take several days >prior to its Sabbath celebration, most was contingent upon how >"big" (crowdwise) attendance would be in the area(s) affected. > >> Not two days as in our reckoning. > >Jesus did die near the end of Friday, but His burial was at least >partially completed before sundown according to Scriptures. > >> Jesus >>had to be buried quickly before sundown because the annual >Sabbath began at >>sundown and no work could be done on that day. > >Correct, again. > >> From Thursday sundown to >>Friday sundown was a regular work day and the people were able to buy the >>spices and prepare for their visit to the tomb on the day after the weekly >>Sabbath. >> >Ditto above. > >>The following day, from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown was the >>weekly Sabbath and again no work could be done. Since this >Sabbath ended at >>dark, it would be foolish to venture out in the night to visit a grave, so >>the women went first thing at dawn and found the grave open. > >One could argue that there were more reasons for this. The events >that took place during that Passover festivity, like Jesus' >crucifixion, were especially noteworthy due to its obvious >implications. Besides, many influential people at the time HAD >NOT forgotten Jesus' self-proclaimed prophecy of His own >resurrection. This fact alone made Roman and Jewish authorities >of the time particularly cautious about taking measures to prevent >potential consequences of this event. > >> This does not >>imply the resurrection took place at that moment. >> >True to an extent. It's the context and hermeneutics of the texts >involved with these events that should settle what REALLY happened. > >>Since the Bible says Christ was dead exactly 3 days, > >Again, let's please be mindful of what I stated earlier, i.e. that >Christ was NOT necessarily dead for 3 full 24-h days! Actually, >He wasn't!!! > >> there are 3 days from >>Wednesday late afternoon to Saturday late afternoon. The >resurrection took >>place at the end of the weekly Sabbath. So, naturally when the women went >>at dawn the grave was open. >> >Having said the above, Jesus having died on Friday, even though >close to the end of that day, would STILL make it count as 1, then >the whole Sabbath, 2, then part of Sunday (He resurrected very >early on that morning), 3! > >>The 7 annual Sabbaths were suppose to "teach" the chosen people God's plan >>for salvation. Each Sabbath had a meaning on how the plan was to >be carried >>out. The Bible says that the annual Sabbaths were to be >celebrated forever. >>There never was any authority given to any man or church to change or >>abolish these annual feast days. >> >Not exactly. The Passover festivities were *meant* to remind >people of God's Plan of Salvation, true indeed, BUT once the >"type" met the "anti-type", like with many other ceremonial >procedures, like the sacrifice of animals, these were to cease. >Obviously, it's very reasonable to argue, once the TRUE "Lamb of >God" was "sacrificed" there would be no more meaning for people to >look at that "futuristic" event any further! It all makes >absolute theological sense! ;-) > >>For this reason, some Christians believe these feast days are >still binding, >>but celebrated under the new covenant where the sacrificial lamb >is replaced >>by the bread and wine. > >Apparently so. Jews, for instance, specifically, to my knowledge, >continue to celebrate these and other defunct ceremonial >activities despite the true Messiah having already come and done >what He had to do!... ;-) > >> They also believe that all those who do not continue >>to celebrate these feast days and chose the counterfeit, Satan inspired >>pagan days instead are not Christians at all, but "wolves in sheep's >>clothing". >> >Evidently the above would be contingent upon what people would >believe concerning the life and death of Jesus. > >>Anyone else aware of this belief? >>... >I'm not sure what 'belief' you were alluding to, but if anyone >needs a more authoritative/scholarly study/reference on the >subject I could share Dr. Bacchiocchi's e-mail address *directly* >with any of you. I'm sure he would be delighted to share his vast >knowledge on this fascinating subject. > >Cheers, > >Marcus > > >____________________________________________________________ >Get 25MB of email storage with Lycos Mail Plus! >Sign up today -- http://www.mail.lycos.com/brandPage.shtml?pageId=plus >
