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Each year, Cahleen Shrier, associate professor in the Department of Biology and Chemistry at Azusa Pacific University, presents a special lecture on the science of Jesus' crucifixion detailing the physiological processes a typical crucified victim underwent based on historical documentation of crucifixion procedures used during that time period. According to Dr. Chuck Dietzen, the Romans favored it over hanging because it was a slow death taking as long as two days making it quite effective for quelling dissent. "It is important to understand from the beginning that Jesus would have been in excellent physical condition," says Shrier. "As a carpenter by trade, He participated in physical labor. In addition, He spent much of His ministry traveling on foot across the countryside."
Evidence suggests that Jesus dreaded his fate. The New Testament tells of how he sweated blood the night before in the garden of Gethsemane. A rare medical condition known as hematohidrosis may explain this phenomenon, Dietzen says. In this condition, extreme stress causes the blood vessels around the sweat gland to rupture into the sweat ducts. While few of these cases exist in the medical literature, many of those that do involve people facing execution.
Crucifixion was invented by the Persians in 300-400 BC. It was developed, during Roman times, into a punishment for the most serious of criminals and is quite possibly the most painful death ever invented by humankind. The Romans would tie or nail the accused to the cross being sure to avoid the blood vessels. While many people envision the nail going into a person's palm, it was placed closer to the wrist. The feet were nailed to the upright part of the crucifix, so that the knees were bent at around 45 degrees. "Once the legs gave out, the weight would be transferred to the arms, gradually dragging the shoulders from their sockets. The elbows and wrists would follow a few minutes later; by now, the arms would be six or seven inches longer," says Alok Jha. "The victim would have no choice but to bear his weight on his chest. He would immediately have trouble breathing as the weight caused the rib cage to lift up and force him into an almost perpetual state of inhalation." Suffocation would usually follow, but the relief of death could also arrive in other ways. "The resultant lack of oxygen in the blood would cause damage to tissues and blood vessels, allowing fluid to diffuse out of the blood into tissues, including the lungs and the sac around the heart," says Jeremy Ward.
Eventually the person being crucified would go into shock and die after organs failed. Medical science can also explain why blood and water spurted out of Jesus's body when a Roman stabbed him with a spear. That was likely a pleural effusion, in which clear lung fluid came out of his body as well as blood. Shrier says Jesus' stamina and strength were, most likely, very well developed so if the torture of the crucifixion could break a man in such good shape, it must have been a horrific experience. "I am struck every time with the stunning realization that as a flesh and blood human, Jesus felt every ounce of this execution," concludes Shrier. "What greater love than this can a man have for his friends?"
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bucc5062 on Saturday April 19 2014, @08:53PM
In our attempt to discredit Jesus, are we perhaps shooting the messenger while missing the message. Remove the "magic" and you still some deep, profound, and meaningful ways to life and live with others. The message may have been served up in prevalent allegory and storytelling manners, but it carries throughout time. Love your neighbor, be kind to strangers, greed is bad, give and you receive more back. These are important ideals and if you look around the world today, we could not hurt by looking at them and spending less time proving the actual existence of Jesus.
The Tao was written 3000+ years ago, do we argue over who really wrote it, or what it means, does it add or have value in our lives. Jesus existed or not, it will never be proven and that is what is the corner stone of Faith. Those that cling to the "man" and ignore the word miss the whole message.
The more things change, the more they look the same
(Score: 2) by TrumpetPower! on Saturday April 19 2014, @10:05PM
While you can extract a few out-of-context aphorisms from the Gospels that make not-miserable sound bites, you can do the same with any text -- even Mein Kampf.
In the Bible, we read that Jesus will be returning Real Soon Now to literally bring about Armageddon, to "rescue" all his true followers and lay waste to all that remain, and that those who aren't his followers are condemned to infinite torture. Worse, he emphatically commands today's followers to do as he himself will do and kill all infidels -- see Luke 19:27. And he very famously came not to bring peace but a sword, to rip families asunder, and on and on and on. Hell, even in the opening verses of the Sermon on the Mount, he condemns to infinite torture all men who've ever looked admiring on a beautiful woman and failed to immediately gouge out their own eyes and chop off their own hands.
In the midst of all that hate and violence, and in light of the Crusades and the Conquistadors and the Inquisition and the Holocaust (Hitler's anti-Semitism was taken almost word-for-word from Luther, who took it straight from the Gospels and red-letter passages quoted in their full context and obvious meaning) and all the rest, I'd say we'd do ourselves an huge flavor if we stopped trying to extract a few pearls from that steaming pile of rancid shit. We can do -- and have done -- much better ourselves, without relying on the sociopathic rantings of the priests.
You don't need the Bible to figure out that killing people isn't such a good idea. Indeed, most of the Bible teaches the exact opposite -- that YHWH slaughtered wantonly as did his captains at his orders, and that Jesus is just more of the same but with a bit of lip service paid to pretending to make nice every now and again.
You wouldn't turn to the Bible for your political science; your cosmology; your biology; or anything else, would you? So why turn to it for your morality when the Bible's moral failings have consequences far more evil than simply thinking that animals used to talk and that magic wands can turn into snakes?
Cheers,
b&
All but God can prove this sentence true.