Three Days and Three Nights

Here is some data to arm yourselves with the next time you get into a discussion with a Bible sceptic.

The problem as laid out by sceptics;  "Jesus said that just like Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and 3 nights, so shall Jesus be in the ground.  If he was crucified on Friday before the Sabbath on Saturday and rose again on Sunday...that's only Friday night and Saturday night in the ground...so where is the 3 nights, as I only count 2 nights?"

Good question.

Please remember that lots of our Christian traditions have been blended and changed through the years.  For instance, why do we have Christmas trees?  Why do even good Christian hide Easter eggs and give chocolate rabbits to their children?  In the same way why do we call it Good Friday when clearly that only counts for two nights?

Exactly.

In the same way, some Christians along the way at some point mistakenly assumed that the Sabbath spoken of in the Crucifixion story, was a Saturday...so they wrongfully conclude that Jesus must have died on Friday.

In reality Jesus died on Thursday (which was Passover) and the Sabbath day of Feast of Unleavened Bread was Friday, the weekly Sabbath was Saturday and Jesus rose sometime on Sunday morning...so Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night is three nights in the tomb.

See the entire explanation here;  http://gracethrufaith.com/selah/holidays-and-holy-days/solving-the-three-day-three-night-mystery/

If anybody else has a great explanation, please comment and I will post your comment.