Is Jesus a scarecrow? - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

John Henry · 07-08-2003, 01:54 PM

Sorry if you think that's sacriligeous, but think about it: Lots of religions have agricultural gods and Christianity adopts lots of its iconography. Could the crucifix have been adopted from some scarecrow god?

Easytiger · 07-08-2003, 06:54 PM

I hate to be the one to answer this when so many have just left this one alone, but...

...the crucifix was a Roman tool of execution. It was in no way based on a scarecrow. It was based on killing somebody slowly, painfully and with little effort on the part of the executioner.

Christianity certainly borrows a lot of its iconography and festivals from agrarian religions, but not, you will find, the cross itself.

Mojo_PeiPei · 07-08-2003, 09:55 PM

This was a bug DUH...

John Henry · 07-08-2003, 10:38 PM

In fact, the cross used in crucifixion would have been T-shaped, not cross-shaped as Christians assume. The T-shape is much stronger and easier to construct than a cross. Sorry, I thought that was a fairly widely accepted thing these days so I didn't point it out, but that was what started me wondering.

duckznutz · 07-10-2003, 01:54 PM

hilarious! I laughed out loud for the first time this week! Well done John Henry . . I can tell your a Brit! But that subtle humour doesn't trave well you know!

sportsrule101 · 07-11-2003, 06:49 AM

John Henry cracks me up. his logic is awesome.

Hey John is kissing mike moores ass tasty, or are you just his asshatter

jlickx · 07-15-2003, 07:19 PM

Interesting.

It made me think that the church leaders could have adopted it as a tactic to scare the unwashed into belief and adoration. (cynical, yes )

This would have been far from what Christ taught and lived, i/e that the poor and uneducated know as much about right and wrong as the elite and truly want to create a better, more fair world.

I think the traditional teachingis valid. That, in dying on the cross Christ sacrificed his own faultlessness to prove to us that we must re invent ourselves casting off our rationalizations of position and accomplishment in favor of a more simple honest existence. The beauty of it all being that, the resultant rebirth, is a greater and more real being.

Of course this parallels the agrarian plowing under of the crops so they may be reborn the next spring.

Wyckd · 10-21-2003, 03:44 AM

some believe it wasnt a cross.. or uhhh T at all

some say that... they put tied jesus' hand to a straight piece of plank.. beat him. and had him walk to the crucifixion site.. where the plank he was tied to was nailed onto a tree... and his hands and feet are nailed onto the plank and tree..

and so and so .. and whipped and beat.. and scoffed at.. and finally... speared in the side... then... BOOM... "it is finished"

prosequence · 10-21-2003, 10:50 AM

Hmm, the bible actually says cross, not T.

gophtc · 10-21-2003, 01:45 PM

The bible's been translated alot too so.. can you trust one word?
I'm not sure, but I don't think the cross was even a major symbol until the Crusades.

MSD · 10-21-2003, 03:15 PM

Jehova's Witnesses say that it was a pole, not a cross or a T. It all depends on who you ask.

What does matter is the idea that it shows what an innocent man would go through for the sake of others.

prosequence · 10-21-2003, 05:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MrSelfDestruct
What does matter is the idea that it shows what an innocent man would go through for the sake of others.

That I agree with.

The bible I believe in is the KJV Bible, it says cross, so I believe it was a cross. If you're going to debate other wise on interpretations... then I'll jump in.... let's say it was spagetti.

littlewild · 10-22-2003, 07:54 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by John Henry
Sorry if you think that's sacriligeous, but think about it: Lots of religions have agricultural gods and Christianity adopts lots of its iconography. Could the crucifix have been adopted from some scarecrow god?

Well, to prove that Jesus is a scarecrow, you will have to prove the Bible wrong first.

Any way it sounds like an unlikely scenario because it would mean that this Scarecrow moved about and got crucified after ministering the people for 3 years?

Darkblack · 10-22-2003, 10:45 AM

Ever see wizard of oz?

Nisses · 10-22-2003, 02:04 PM

that's too dry for my taste John, although nicely reworded

lordjeebus · 10-22-2003, 04:44 PM

I would guess that Jesus was not really crucified on a cross (assuming he existed). The cross is an ancient religious symbol (compare symbols of the sun, or the Ankh) and it probably got mixed up in the story because it had more symbolic power than a pole or a "T."

littlewild · 10-23-2003, 04:18 AM

Whether Jesus existed or not, the crucifix was in use by the Romans as an instrument for capital punishment way before Jesus was supposedly born.

Wizard of Oz has a walking tinman and a talking lion in it.
Which is easier? Proving Wizard of Oz as fictitious or proving the Bible as fictitious?

iktoweya · 10-23-2003, 11:01 AM

wizard of oz is about the great depression

bermuDa · 10-26-2003, 10:47 AM

being crucified would SUCK, it was used for executions for centuries before jesus (we're talking tens of thousands of people), and has nothing to do with scarecrows.

that said, jesus makes a great scarecrow

Adonai · 01-26-2006, 03:25 PM

There are many pagan fertility gods, and so the question posed is indeed a valled one the vanir of the nordic regions Priapus is a god of fertility, protector of horticulture and viticulture. His statue, holding a wooden sickle in his hand, was used in the Roman gardens as scarecrow. and since Catholism spread through the roman impire it is plosable that Priapus was used to win the masses to catholism.

just a thought

CSflim · 01-26-2006, 04:17 PM

I don't feel the need to comment one way or the other in this deeply philosophical debate. However, since we are discussing imagery and iconography, I feel that this thread is distinctly lacking visually.

Just trying to encourage conversation.

07-08-2003, 01:54 PM	#1 (permalink)
John Henry Addict Location: Grey Britain	Is Jesus a scarecrow? Sorry if you think that's sacriligeous, but think about it: Lots of religions have agricultural gods and Christianity adopts lots of its iconography. Could the crucifix have been adopted from some scarecrow god? __________________ "No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

07-08-2003, 09:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mojo_PeiPei Kiss of Death Location: Perpetual wind and sorrow	This was a bug DUH... __________________ To win a war you must serve no master but your ambition.

07-08-2003, 10:38 PM	#4 (permalink)
John Henry Addict Location: Grey Britain	In fact, the cross used in crucifixion would have been T-shaped, not cross-shaped as Christians assume. The T-shape is much stronger and easier to construct than a cross. Sorry, I thought that was a fairly widely accepted thing these days so I didn't point it out, but that was what started me wondering. __________________ "No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

07-10-2003, 01:54 PM	#5 (permalink)
duckznutz Addict Location: Brook Cottage, Lanark, Scotland	hilarious! I laughed out loud for the first time this week! Well done John Henry . . I can tell your a Brit! But that subtle humour doesn't trave well you know! __________________ Where your talents and the needs of the world cross . . there lies your vocation.

07-11-2003, 06:49 AM	#6 (permalink)
sportsrule101 Insane	John Henry cracks me up. his logic is awesome. Hey John is kissing mike moores ass tasty, or are you just his asshatter __________________ winning isn't everything but losing isn't anything

07-08-2003, 06:54 PM	#2 (permalink)
Easytiger Insane Location: Tigerland	I hate to be the one to answer this when so many have just left this one alone, but... ...the crucifix was a Roman tool of execution. It was in no way based on a scarecrow. It was based on killing somebody slowly, painfully and with little effort on the part of the executioner. Christianity certainly borrows a lot of its iconography and festivals from agrarian religions, but not, you will find, the cross itself.

07-15-2003, 07:19 PM	#7 (permalink)
jlickx Upright Location: yes	Interesting. It made me think that the church leaders could have adopted it as a tactic to scare the unwashed into belief and adoration. (cynical, yes ) This would have been far from what Christ taught and lived, i/e that the poor and uneducated know as much about right and wrong as the elite and truly want to create a better, more fair world. I think the traditional teachingis valid. That, in dying on the cross Christ sacrificed his own faultlessness to prove to us that we must re invent ourselves casting off our rationalizations of position and accomplishment in favor of a more simple honest existence. The beauty of it all being that, the resultant rebirth, is a greater and more real being. Of course this parallels the agrarian plowing under of the crops so they may be reborn the next spring.

10-21-2003, 03:44 AM	#8 (permalink)
Wyckd Crazy Location: Los Angeles, CA	some believe it wasnt a cross.. or uhhh T at all some say that... they put tied jesus' hand to a straight piece of plank.. beat him. and had him walk to the crucifixion site.. where the plank he was tied to was nailed onto a tree... and his hands and feet are nailed onto the plank and tree.. and so and so .. and whipped and beat.. and scoffed at.. and finally... speared in the side... then... BOOM... "it is finished"

10-21-2003, 10:50 AM	#9 (permalink)
prosequence Psycho Location: YOUR MOM!!	Hmm, the bible actually says cross, not T. __________________ And now here I stand because of you, Mister Anderson, because of you I'm no longer an agent of the system, because of you I've changed...

10-21-2003, 01:45 PM	#10 (permalink)
gophtc Upright	The bible's been translated alot too so.. can you trust one word? I'm not sure, but I don't think the cross was even a major symbol until the Crusades.

10-21-2003, 03:15 PM	#11 (permalink)
MSD The sky calls to us ... Super Moderator Location: CT	Jehova's Witnesses say that it was a pole, not a cross or a T. It all depends on who you ask. What does matter is the idea that it shows what an innocent man would go through for the sake of others.

10-22-2003, 10:45 AM	#14 (permalink)
Darkblack Banned Location: Pennsytuckia	Ever see wizard of oz?

10-22-2003, 02:04 PM	#15 (permalink)
Nisses Shade Location: Belgium	that's too dry for my taste John, although nicely reworded __________________ Moderation should be moderately moderated.

10-22-2003, 04:44 PM	#16 (permalink)
lordjeebus ‚±‚Ìˆó˜U‚ª–Ú‚É“ü‚ç‚Ê‚© Location: College	I would guess that Jesus was not really crucified on a cross (assuming he existed). The cross is an ancient religious symbol (compare symbols of the sun, or the Ankh) and it probably got mixed up in the story because it had more symbolic power than a pole or a "T."

10-23-2003, 04:18 AM	#17 (permalink)
littlewild Upright Location: Singapore	Whether Jesus existed or not, the crucifix was in use by the Romans as an instrument for capital punishment way before Jesus was supposedly born. Wizard of Oz has a walking tinman and a talking lion in it. Which is easier? Proving Wizard of Oz as fictitious or proving the Bible as fictitious?

10-23-2003, 11:01 AM	#18 (permalink)
iktoweya These pretzels are making me thirsty!! Location: 105B	wizard of oz is about the great depression __________________ i miss K-Wise

10-26-2003, 10:47 AM	#19 (permalink)
bermuDa don't ignore this--> Location: CA	being crucified would SUCK, it was used for executions for centuries before jesus (we're talking tens of thousands of people), and has nothing to do with scarecrows. that said, jesus makes a great scarecrow __________________ I am the very model of a moderator gentleman.

01-26-2006, 03:25 PM	#20 (permalink)
Adonai Upright	Interesting..... There are many pagan fertility gods, and so the question posed is indeed a valled one the vanir of the nordic regions Priapus is a god of fertility, protector of horticulture and viticulture. His statue, holding a wooden sickle in his hand, was used in the Roman gardens as scarecrow. and since Catholism spread through the roman impire it is plosable that Priapus was used to win the masses to catholism. just a thought

01-26-2006, 04:17 PM	#21 (permalink)
CSflim Sky Piercer Location: Ireland	I don't feel the need to comment one way or the other in this deeply philosophical debate. However, since we are discussing imagery and iconography, I feel that this thread is distinctly lacking visually. Just trying to encourage conversation. __________________