I dunno... think about it... in the terms of Spock in Wrath of Khan... One life for many. One man died so the rest of us can have a day off from work/school, or at least a lighter day since so many others are out.
I'm glad I don't believe in hell... because otherwise I'd be headed straight there, do not pass go or anything.
Back in elementary school, I used to get really shirty with people who asked that question. "Well, Jesus DIED for our SINS so it is a GOOD sacrifice and we should CELEBRATE that day you should KNOW that blah blah junior-Catholic-zealot-cakes." Hee. Youth.
Worst Friday EVAR only if your name is Jesus. That is, Jee-Zuss, not Hey-Zeus. Very different. And really, since I get a day off of work, it's a pretty damn good Friday. Oh yeah! Jesus died to give me vacation time. Jesus r0x0rz.
Believe it or not, before I was an atheist, I was a church-going Catholic (hey, it was a post-Vatican II church. It was round. And my high school, though Catholic, was Franciscan. Patron saint of animals. Very granola.)
Aaaannyway... As the doctrine goes, prior to Jesus's death, none of us could get into heaven. All those folks who died before 33 AD? Hanging about the pearly gates like people wanting to get into a nightclub. Or maybe hanging about in Limbo, or Pergatory. Stories differ on this point, depending on whose writings your particular brand of Catholicism liked to follow. But the point is, the Big Prize, a/k/a Heaven, was denied to lowly mortals until the Big J arrive. God wasn't going to let the rest of us stink up the place until the guest of honor arrived.
So Good Friday is the day he opts to make the supreme sacrifice and soak up all our bad sinning karma so we can get into Heaven. We still had to wait a couple of days ('till Easter, the day he actually rose), but GF was the beginning of the end of the waiting.
Despite my flip tone, and the encroaching secularism of Easter, and the tendency of religious types to get distracted by other issues, this single point is THE point of Catholicism (and most other Christian religions). This is where it differed from other, similar religions (e.g. Mithraism): Jesus died to make the rest of us clean enough to get into the Best Place Evar after we die.
Jack Burton kicked Lo Pan's ass, but Jack Bauer would kick his ass, eat him for breakfast then throw him up just so he could kick his ass again. All in the middle of a fist fight with hundreds of ninjas.
Because no matter what awesome drink concotions your newest flatmate plies you with (and anyone whose name is Johnnie Walker is almost guaranteed to have Awesome Drink Concoctions), it can only ever be a let-down after Excellent Thursday.
I can't believe I wasted most of Excellent Thursday at work this year. But -- Fractal came in to see everyone before she went away for Easter! So I saw my girl! So it was EXCELLENT! And thus, a Friday lacking Fractal can only ever reach 'Good'.
Absolutely (that's why I was only semi-serious when I posted this).
Actually, Spider-Dad came up with the best explanation so far: "Saw your LiveJournal query ..... I vaguely remember reading somewhere sometime that the name was originally 'God's Friday' and just slurped into Good Friday."
My beloved ataralas has written a couple posts about Holy Week that are really good: here (http://ataralas.livejournal.com/86122.html) & here (http://ataralas.livejournal.com/84493.html).
Astrida tells me that in Latvia, they number the days starting with Monday. So, Monday is Oneday (or first day), Tuesday is Secondday, etc. Good Friday eventually becomes "Big Five Day".
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I'm glad I don't believe in hell... because otherwise I'd be headed straight there, do not pass go or anything.
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It's "Good" because of the sacrifice. Sort of like, "Good for me, bad for Jebus".
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So I guess it could be called Mandate Thursday.
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Well, it would be a riot if there were a lot more little skeleton-men & they were, you know, rioting.
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Oh, and apropos to this thread... I was actually born on Good Friday, so it's certainly been good for me.
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That is, Jee-Zuss, not Hey-Zeus. Very different.
And really, since I get a day off of work, it's a pretty damn good Friday. Oh yeah! Jesus died to give me vacation time. Jesus r0x0rz.
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Aaaannyway... As the doctrine goes, prior to Jesus's death, none of us could get into heaven. All those folks who died before 33 AD? Hanging about the pearly gates like people wanting to get into a nightclub. Or maybe hanging about in Limbo, or Pergatory. Stories differ on this point, depending on whose writings your particular brand of Catholicism liked to follow. But the point is, the Big Prize, a/k/a Heaven, was denied to lowly mortals until the Big J arrive. God wasn't going to let the rest of us stink up the place until the guest of honor arrived.
So Good Friday is the day he opts to make the supreme sacrifice and soak up all our bad sinning karma so we can get into Heaven. We still had to wait a couple of days ('till Easter, the day he actually rose), but GF was the beginning of the end of the waiting.
Despite my flip tone, and the encroaching secularism of Easter, and the tendency of religious types to get distracted by other issues, this single point is THE point of Catholicism (and most other Christian religions). This is where it differed from other, similar religions (e.g. Mithraism): Jesus died to make the rest of us clean enough to get into the Best Place Evar after we die.
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Are you suggesting that there is a cultural War on Easter? Alert FOX News immediately!
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Jack Bauer would kill any mother fucker who tried to put him on a cross.
Sorry... for some reason I always think that when I see "WWJD?".
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I can't believe I wasted most of Excellent Thursday at work this year. But -- Fractal came in to see everyone before she went away for Easter! So I saw my girl! So it was EXCELLENT! And thus, a Friday lacking Fractal can only ever reach 'Good'.
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I love you so much.
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Actually, Spider-Dad came up with the best explanation so far: "Saw your LiveJournal query ..... I vaguely remember reading somewhere sometime that the name was originally 'God's Friday' and just slurped into Good Friday."
My beloved
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