Wood of the cross

[snopes]

Comment: Is it true that the cross Jesus died on was made of wood from the
dog wood tree? I heard a piece from Paul Harvey a few years back that
talked about how tall and thick dogwoods were, and that the made crosses
from them. But that after Jesus was crucified, that the tree was made
small and curled so that it would never have to be made into a cross
again.

[Buckle Up]

Yes, and nails used to be made of crystal, but then God made them glass-like and fragile so they'd never again have to be made into nails. And soldiers used to be 6-month-old baby girls, but then 6-month-old baby girls were made to be small, uncoordinated, weak, incontinent, illiterate, and short, so they would never again have to pound nails into crosses. And thorns used to be fashioned from chocolate pudding, but then the Lord made it gooey, pliable, and non-pointy so it would never again be able to poke into skin.

[Open Mike Night]

From Wikipedia:

There is a Christian fable that the cross used to crucify Jesus was constructed of Dogwood. As the fable goes, during the time of Jesus, the Dogwood was larger and stronger than it is today. After his crucifixion, Jesus changed the plant to its current form: he shortened it and twisted its branches as to assure an end to the use of the plant for the construction of crosses, and he transformed its inflorescence into the form of his crucifixion itself. That form is recognized by the flower petals, which are said to represent the four corners of the cross; the red stamen of the flower, which is to represent Jesus' crown of thorns; and the clustered fruit, that represent his blood.

However, this is just a fable that has been cobbled together over a long period of time. It is unlikely to have any truth to it for the following reasons. The modern Dogwood is typically too small and twisted in trunk and branch for such a task; there is no evidence indicating that Dogwoods had larger, firmer or stronger trunks and branches during the time of Christ; and, a evolution of the Dogwood from one to the other over a mere thousand years is unheard of in evolutionary science. Furthermore, the Bible does not specify what type of wood was used to construct the cross of Jesus, and there is no indication within Roman records and histories of the materials used in cross construction[1]. Since there is no Biblical, historical, archaeological or scientific evidence of this story, it is likely to be inaccurate. The origin of this fable is not known.

From googling the legend, sites generally have the same story.

[diddy]

But that after Jesus was crucified, that the tree was made
small and curled so that it would never have to be made into a cross
again.

And yet that never stopped the Romans from finding another wood source for all the crucifixions thereafter.

[Skeptic]

Originally Posted by diddy

And yet that never stopped the Romans from finding another wood source for all the crucifixions thereafter.

Growing up, I heard that there was a small bit of the wood from the cross set into every bishop's ring.

[diddy]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

Growing up, I heard that there was a small bit of the wood from the cross set into every bishop's ring.

Related to that I have heard that there are enough "pieces of the true cross" out there to build a fleet of wooden battleships" or similar.

[PallasAthena]

I haven't checked lately, but I believe you can purchase your very own piece of The True Cross from ebay.

[matches]

Originally Posted by diddy

Related to that I have heard that there are enough "pieces of the true cross" out there to build a fleet of wooden battleships" or similar.

Yes, it's like loaves and fishes, there's always more, it's a frickin' miracle!

If I recall the legend correctly, Constantine's mother took an expedition to Jerusalam and excavated the sight at golgotha and found a number of stumps, pressumed to from old crosses used in various crucifictions. She then sent for a number of crippled people (or possibly leapers or other diabled people) and had them touch the various stumps, when one was found that cured these people of their afflictions, she knew she had the true cross. So they boxed it up, and shiped it off to Rome, where it sits in the vatican to this very day, ocasionally having slivers removed from it for the making of variosu and a sundry trinkets to be used in ceremonial rites, and ocasionally shiped back to Jerusalam to be sold to tourists.

[Deepfrydegg]

I have heard similar legends of the "Pieces of the True Cross." The Vatican or the Hagia Sophia were supposed to be locations of such.

Now, I am curious (and somewhat blasphemous). If I had a baseball bat made of wood from the True Cross and I started to beat a crippled person with it, would I be killing him/her? Or would I be healing them?
Or would I only be healing the injuries I just did to them?

[RainyDaze]

Originally Posted by Deepfrydegg

I have heard similar legends of the "Pieces of the True Cross." The Vatican or the Hagia Sophia were supposed to be locations of such.

Now, I am curious (and somewhat blasphemous). If I had a baseball bat made of wood from the True Cross and I started to beat a crippled person with it, would I be killing him/her? Or would I be healing them?
Or would I only be healing the injuries I just did to them?

Ouch! I can see!
Ouch! I can walk!
Ouch! My hemorrhoids are gone!

I thought God cut out the "old school" miracles after Jesus came around...?

Ah, whatever.

Originally Posted by RainyDaze

Ouch! I can see!
Ouch! I can walk!
Ouch! My hemorrhoids are gone!

YOMANK!

[Stan The Man]

Originally Posted by RainyDaze

Ouch! I can see!
Ouch! I can walk!
Ouch! My hemorrhoids are gone!

LOL. Thank you, may I have another?