Yuku free message boards

Farrell Till:
>I advise you not to present this as an example of error in the Bible. As >we have pointed out several times before on this list, the Greek word for >"tree" in the passages you cited was "xulon," which meant a "timber,"
>"club," "staff," "stock," etc. If you will check an English dictionary, >you will find that we use the word "tree" in the same sense. I remind >those who bring this up that I grew up on a farm when horses were still >used for draft animals, and we used "double trees" and "single trees" to >hitch horses to a wagon or plow. A double tree was a wider, heavier beam >of wood than a single tree, but both had to be used to hitch the traces of
>a team of horses to a wagon or plow. Your dictionary will also tell you >that "tree" in English can mean "gallows." >In other words, just as "tree" in English can refer to items made of wood >and not just to maples, oaks, willows, etc., the same was true in
>Greek. A "xulon" could be items that were made from heavy wooden beams; >hence, a cross would be a tree.
>If you use this against an informed inerrantist, you'll regret it. If you will check the Greek text, you will find that the word that meant "tree" in the sense you are trying to give the word was "dendron," but this
was not the word used in the passages that say Jesus was hanged on a tree. The word here was "xulon," which just meant a beam or timber, and a
cross would have been made of beams or timbers. Acts 16:24 says that the feet of Paul and Silas were made "fast in stocks" when they were jailed at
Philipi. The word for "stocks" here was "xulon." It was a word that was used in reference to objects made of wood. This is a bad example of a biblical discrepancy, because an informed inerrantist can easily reply to it.