03.29.2013 09:27 AM

“Happy” Good Friday? Seriously?

I don’t want to get all holier-than-thou, but the folks who run around saying “Happy Good Friday!” – and there are some, mainly non-Christians or the historically ignorant – sound, you know, dumb.

It’s not happy when an innocent cleric is wrongly convicted, tortured and murdered. That’s the opposite of “happy.”

And that’s why today is also called “Black Friday.” Because it’s, you know, not happy.

28 Comments

  1. Ivan says:

    It might display ignorance but I choose not to interpret it as such – it is through Good Friday that we partake in His resurrection. That’s why it is also known as “Big Friday” in some languages. “Happy Good Friday”, although awkward and weird, I take it to mean: “Wishing you all the best as you commemorate Christ the Saviour”

    • Dude… ‘On the Third Day, he rose again…’ The resurrection was on the Monday. But I quibble, I have never ever been wished a happy good friday before. Without this advance warning I guess my jaw would drop while I tried to assimilate such a greeting.

      • Cameron Burrows says:

        I think that Friday is the first day, not the “zeroth” day. (There’s no Roman Numeral for zero; we didn’t have that number for a few hundred years.)

        So, with Friday being day one, Saturday day two, it makes Sunday day three. Same reason the year 2000 was the last year of the 20th century (and 2nd millennium), and there were such large world-wide parties at midnight to welcome the new century / millennium). (Well, ok, maybe not).

        Back to Kinsella’s point, I agree with him. It’s kind of like wishing someone a “Happy Remembrance Day.” Still, I wouldn’t take offence as much as use it to educate.

        (As for non-Christian ideas about Christian holidays, the story about the Japanese department store displaying Santa on a cross always made me laugh).

        In any event, I wish you all a Happy Easter!

        • kitt says:

          Putting santa on a cross……. hmmmmm No more spending hundreds on presents that no one wants and disappear as soon as the New Year rolls around, no more traffic jams or searching for three hours for a parking spot, no more crowded malls with yelling, screaming, crying kids and bad humoured adults…… No more gathering around a table to devour a big bird with people you hardly ever see and really wish they were not related to you…… works for me.

    • Realist says:

      It could also just be that one of the unfortunate by-products of a fully secularized society (which, don’t get me wrong, I favour) is that you get lots of people who know nothing about the religious roots of so many things that they take for granted, including holidays.

      On the other hand, going even further back, I was just reading the other day that before it was incorporated into Christianity, Easter originated as a sex-and-fertility celebration — hence the symbolism of eggs and bunnies. So: happy Easter!

  2. Carole says:

    Agreed, totally. I also find it strange when people go around saying Happy Easter! a few days before Easter – while I’m also not holier-than-thou, I also beleive that the few days before Easter are days of sober reflection (no matter what your faith). To me the time to start saying Happy Easter is Easter morning!

    • Reality.Bites says:

      Carole, you may believe whatever you like, and I’ll respect that – so long as you respect others. So please don’t decide for me or anyone else what the few days before Easter are. For me they are simply the few days before a statutory holiday of no personal significance at all. For most people in the world it’s not even that much.

      If you want people to respect your beliefs you have to offer them the same courtesy. And you are not.

  3. dave says:

    I’m not religious, but I have always liked the thought and image in Donne’s “Good Friday, 1613, Riding West.”

  4. Mark says:

    As opposed to the other Black Friday.

    And for people who don’t believe the same fairy tales that you do, a day that is just simply a day to get off work, and still get paid, is a darn good reason to be happy.

  5. Tom says:

    I find the name “Good Friday” pretty bizarre to begin with. It’s good that someone got nailed to the cross and bleed to death. Doesn’t seem “good” to me.

    • Carole says:

      In French, it is Vendredi Saint, i.e., Holy Friday. Perhaps the meaning of “good” in this sense is “holy”.

  6. J.A. says:

    My Dad was raised in a Scots Presbyterian home, and he considered Good Friday as definitely a Black day, and we all had to be very quiet and meditative that day. Then on Sunday we wore our Sunday clothes and maybe a new bonnet, and we smiled and laughed and greeted others with real joy. As little kids we didnt fully understand what the significance was, but the feelings of sorrow followed by joy remain with me to this day.

  7. max says:

    i am not religouse and don’t like any of them as i think religeon is just to take advantage of people. but i have a question, if this friday is bad why they call it good friday!!!!!!!

  8. max says:

    and also one more thing, what do u say in good friday, Sad good friday!!!! how can u be sad in a good friday?

  9. que sera sera says:

    For this office grunt who lays no claim on religious roots, every Friday is a “good Friday”. Much the same as every weekend is a “good weekend” & most of my holidays are “happy”.

    I wonder at the expectation that faith based observances be held “sacred” by secular society. Seems an unrealistic expectation, regardless of the faith/observance.

    Disparaging well meant wishes of good cheer & happiness certainly must be the sole provenance of those labouring with a surfeit of blessings. Or perhaps just another minor conceit from the peculiarly narcissistic adherents of organized superstitions.

  10. Publius says:

    It’s called “Good” Friday because it’s a statutory holiday from work and school — nothing more for most. Unionized public service workers even stretch it out to a 4-day long weekend — Good Friday to Easter Monday!!!

    • MCBellecourt says:

      The “Good” stems from the sacrifice of the Lamb Of God for the redemption of the souls of all peoples, according to the Bible. No, nothing good about the fact that an innocent man was tortured and murdered, but the good stems from the consequences of said sacrifice.

      Although I no longer belong to the Church, I was raised Catholic.

      As a matter of interest, I pay close attention to the science behind the beliefs, and I also glean as much historical information as I can find through that science. It is, in a word, quite fascinating and it puts some interest in what are otherwise dull days.

      I believe that if there is a God, (s)he would want us humans to strive to understand. We were given the power of reason and thought to enlighten ourselves, and not to allow it to be stifled by dogma. With knowledge comes the power to do great things, as well as to do unspeakable evil. It is up to the individual which path (s)he wants to take and that is the reason why we have the ability to choose. Having the right to choose is integral to physical, mental and–spiritual–growth. There should be no rules other than the one rule–to treat others as we ourselves would be treated–whether we be black, white, or in-between, gay, straight, man or woman.

      Nothing is black and white in this world. It does no harm whatsoever to continue to ask questions and to learn from the answers. We have that ability. The secret is in the willingness to do so with an open mind. Knowledge brings fulfillment, and that is one thing I have never derived from any organization. be it a church, an employer or a private club.

      It comes from within oneself.

  11. MoS says:

    Black Friday? Are the malls open?

    BTW, isn’t calling Jesus “a cleric” sort of understating his position? What happened to Son of God?

    • MCBellecourt says:

      The other thing is, too, is that according to the Bible and in the parable of the Pharasee and the Publican, Jesus had a bit of a problem with clerics, especially those who put themselves on pedestals above all others. Jesus was more of a political activist, his cause being social justice, I’d think. He was also a teacher and philosopher, IMO.

  12. George says:

    …and I thought every Friday was a good Friday!

  13. Ronald O'Dowd says:

    Warren,

    How about Lamb of God.

    His was a sure-fire resurrection. In political terms, others may not be quite as lucky given the recent pace of the Canadian news cycle.

  14. Iris Mclean says:

    Any day that I don’t have to go to work is a happy day.

  15. GPAlta says:

    I guess the lesson is to always be careful around religious people, because even when trying to be friendly it is possible to offend them.

    Perhaps the lesson for religious people is to be friendly to people who are trying to be friendly to you, instead of calling them ignorant and dumb-sounding.

    Maybe that’s what Jesus might do?

  16. Ty says:

    Forgive them, Warren, they know not what they say.

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