Should Christians Remember Jesus" Death By Celebrating Good Friday?

The Bible does not instruct Christians to remember Christ’s death by honoring a certain day. The Bible does give us freedom in these matters, however. Romans 14:5 tells us, “One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.”

Rather than remembering Christ’s death on a certain day, once a year, the Bible instructs us to remember Christ’s death by observing the Lord’s Supper. First Corinthians 11:24-26 declares, “…do this in remembrance of me…for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”

What the Jewish authorities and Romans did horrible things to Jesus (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death is our salvation! Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, usually in the evening, in which Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ’s suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord’s Supper. Whether or not Christians choose to “celebrate” Good Friday, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross—along with His bodily resurrection—is the paramount event of the Christian faith.

Should Christians Remember Jesus" Death By Celebrating Good Friday?

Filipino Ruben Enaje In Agonising Mock Crucifixion For 30th Time

Ruben Enaje, a 55-year-old sign painter, screamed in agony as he was nailed to a wooden cross. He dedicated this year to peace in Belgium and other countries targeted by Islamic extremists. Other devotees in San Pedro Cutud in Pampanga province to the north of Manila flogged themselves until their backs were streaked with blood and walked barefoot through the rice farming villages.

The blood-soaked event is famed throughout the world, with thousands of visitors watching the re-enactment of Jesus Christ’s final journey. According to the canonical gospels, Jesus was stripped of his clothing and offered wine mixed with gall to drink, before being crucified. He was then hung for six hours (according to Mark’s Gospel) between two convicted thieves.

Enaje, a 55-year-old sign painter, began the annual ordeal after he fell from a three-story building in 1985 and survived almost unscathed. Asked what he was praying for this year, Enaje said he was saddened by the recent bombings at the Brussels airport and subway station and other attacks in the Middle East that hurt innocent people.

“What are they fighting for?” Enaje asked, referring to Islamic State group militants who have claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks. “Even the innocent are not spared. They want to lord over the world but that can’t be allowed to happen.”

The intensity of the pain, he said, has never changed in each of the year that the four-inch stainless steel nails were hammered through the same spot in his palm and feet. When the cross is hoisted up, the movement adds to the suffering, he said.

“The only thing in my mind is that God went through worse,” Enaje said. The Lenten rituals are frowned upon by church leaders in the Philippines, Asia’s largest Roman Catholic nation.

Ruben Enaje shows three-inch nail which he will use on a Good Friday crucifixion re-enactment.

The Filipino sign painter is carried on a stretcher by rescuers after his ordeal.

Crucifixion is a method of slow and painful execution in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation.

A resident portraying Roman soldier pulls up a nail on a foot of penitent Ruben Enaje, who is portraying Jesus Christ for the 30th time.

According to the gospels, Jesus Christ was hung for six hours between two convicted thieves.

 

 

Source: IBTimes

Filipino Ruben Enaje In Agonising Mock Crucifixion For 30th Time

Filipino Penitents Subject Themselves To Crucifixions On Good Friday

Groups of men whipped themselves bloody and carried heavy crosses on streets in Tarlac city and other parts of the Philippines on Good Friday to show their devotion to Jesus Christ. Devotees of the annual ritual crucify themselves for several minutes, before being taken down and their wounds treated.

https://youtu.be/JFgqeFDaVD0

Crucifixion in the Philippines is a devotional practice held every Good Friday to observe Holy Week. The penitents, also called ‘magdarame’ in Kapampangan, are willingly crucified in imitation of Jesus Christ’s suffering and death.

https://youtu.be/LWBlbwgYQcw

The Catholic Church in the Philippines strongly advises against those practices, seeing them as fanatical and superstitious. The Department of Health also insists that participants should have tetanus shots and that nails used should be sterilized.

Filipino Penitents Subject Themselves To Crucifixions On Good Friday