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RELIGION ALERT: If religious discussion offends you, time to stop scrolling, because that's what the rest of this item is. Since I'm aware that some readers are not enchanted by discussion of religious topics on Mac Website forums, I am accommodating such sensibilities with this convenient Bypass Religious Discussion link, which will safely transport you with my sincere best wishes for an enjoyable holiday weekend back to the Applelinks homepage where you can find a huge selection of exclusively Mac or IT-related topics. CM]
The Holy and Great Friday in the Greek Liturgy, Holy Friday in Romance Languages, Charfreitag (Sorrowful Friday) in German, Good Friday the English, is the Friday in Holy Week - that is, the Friday on which the Church commemorates the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Good Friday and Easter iare the oldest feasts in the Christian calendar. From the earliest times, Christians kept every Friday as a feast day. The ancient Church Fathers Irenaeus and Tertullian speak of Good Friday as the day of the Pasch, or Pascha; but later writers distinguish between the Pascha staurosimon (the passage to death), and the Pascha anastasimon (the passage to life, i.e. the Resurrection). At present the word Pasch is used exclusively in the latter sense.
The origin of the term Good Friday is not clear. Some say it is from "God's Friday" (Gottes Freitag); others maintain that it is from the German Gute Freitag, and not specially English. Sometimes, too, the day was called Long Friday by the Anglo-Saxons; so today in Denmark.
Easter Sunday is the most important day on the Christian Church calendar, celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day after his Crucifixion. Easter is a movable feast, which Western Christians celebrate on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs upon or next after the vernal equinox.
Christianity is essentially about resurrection from death -- first Christ's atoning death, which Christians commemorate on Good Friday, His resurrection which we celebrate on Easter Sunday, and our own hoped-for resurrection after the judgment. Whether one chooses to accept or reject this is of course a personal choice. I believe it to be true.
What evidence do we have that Jesus rose from the dead? There seems to have been no doubt that His body disappeared from the tomb. Roman soldiers, the government, and Jewish Temple authorities all accepted that without controversy.
British theologian and scholar N. T. Wright has addressed this issue in his book., the 817-page "The Resurrection of the Son of God," in which he argues that the empty tomb and the resurrection of Christ are historical events, which, taken together, can provide the only reasonable and sufficient explanation for the fact that the same disciples who abandoned Jesus on the Cross went on to found Christianity and become martyrs for the faith.
Hundreds likely witnessed Jesus being crucified on a hill outside of Jerusalem. That Jesus' body disappeared from the tomb seems to have been widely acknowledged. Roman soldiers, the government, and Jewish Temple authorities all accepted that without controversy.
If the Body was stolen by religious enemies, why did they not produce it when the Apostles began preaching about the Resurrection? If it were stolen by thieves, why did they leave the expensive grave-clothes behind? If stolen by the disciples themselves, it's not credible that they would've been willing to undergo the hideous persecution and death under torture most of them suffered for preaching a fabrication. A man might be prepared to die for a mistaken conviction, but few would prepared to forfeit their life for what they know is a lie. There are eyewitness accounts in the New Testament of Jesus being seen alive by over 500 followers at once after the Crucifixion, and His spending 40 days teaching his disciples before ascending into heaven.
Then there is the matter of Jesus' own promise to come back to life. The Bible says that Jesus was seen on 10 different occasions by over five hundred people after the Resurrection. If He did not keep the promise, then He was a liar, or at best a disappointment, unlikely to inspire martyrdom, or worldwide commemoration more than two millennia later.
Some might argue that the fact Christian faith survives in the hearts of so many after long years of neglect, derision, attack, and blundering by its earthly leadership is truly miraculous. Unless, of course, Jesus Christ really IS “the way, the truth, and the life,” and the folks who believe Christ died for their sins are influenced by something more objectively profound than hopeful delusion -- Marx’s “opiate of the masses.”
From a Christian perspective, if Christ did not rise literally and bodily from the dead on that first Easter morning two-plus millennia ago, then all of Christianity would have to be a nonsensical and meaningless charade. As St. Paul put it:
"Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain. Yes, we are found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn't raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised. For if the dead aren't raised, neither has Christ been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable."
Whether one chooses to accept or reject this is of course a personal choice. I believe it to be true by faith. Christ is risen!
The Christian celebration of Easter converges in part with the Jewish festival of Passover, or Pesach. Passover is an important feast in the Jewish calendar which is celebrated for 8 days and commemorates the flight and freedom of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt
The early Christians, many of whom were of Jewish origin, were brought up in the Hebrew tradition and regarded Easter as a new feature of the Passover festival, a commemoration of the advent of the Messiah as foretold by the prophets.
Whatever your religious convictions, wishing you a happy Easter weekend with family, friends, or if solitude appeals -- that too.
Charles W. Moore
Charles W. Moore
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Dear Charles,
Happy Easter to you also.
Christ is risen and will come again.
May you and your family, both personal and professional, receive every blessing for your labors ahead.
Best wishes.
Sincerely yours,
Jim Gallagher