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posted by LaminatorX on Saturday April 19 2014, @11:06AM   Printer-friendly
from the Down-the-hall-to-the-left dept.

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?"

 
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  • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday April 22 2014, @04:47AM

    by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Tuesday April 22 2014, @04:47AM (#34251) Journal

    Sorry but I call bullshit. Most likely the regent (unless he saw it with his own eyes) would think the "miracles" were a scam and would have written something like "We have this magician that is passing himself off as the son of God and using his tricks to gain an army. We need you to send group X from outpost Y to come put a big stop to his ass before things get out of hand. Please advise as to what action to take until the troops arrive, because there is the risk of rebellion if we go in underpowered. Awaiting reply".

    Remember one of the BIG force multipliers Rome had was their signal network, which allowed a message from the farthest outpost to reach the heart of the empire in less than 2 weeks. In an era where a message could take years to get from one side of the country to another? That gave them a HUGE military advantage. This network wasn't encrypted so the proper way to word shit without losing one's job would be SOP and well known and again, there is NO reason not to call for aid before shit got out of hand. Remember they were the occupying force in the country so quashing rebellion would have been job #1 for any regional leader.

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  • (Score: 2) by Bot on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:34PM

    by Bot (3902) on Saturday April 26 2014, @10:34PM (#36717) Journal

    I dunno when Rome needed to send reinforcement so urgently that a courier with a confidential message was out of the question.

    Are you talking about before the crucifixion, where Jesus behaved more or less like John the Baptist who did not pose much of a threat, physically?
    When his life was exchanged for Barabba's? (now THIS is something I would not have advertised upstream)
    Or after the crucifixion, when his followers begin to go around and behaved like Jesus and John? But then we start having documents...

    You might not like my hypothetical scenarios, I don't like yours.

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    • (Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Sunday April 27 2014, @12:43AM

      by Hairyfeet (75) <{bassbeast1968} {at} {gmail.com}> on Sunday April 27 2014, @12:43AM (#36734) Journal

      You have to remember you are reading the SANITIZED version of events, for something closer to the source read the gospel of Thomas (oldest copy less than 200 AD) and the gospel of Judas (oldest copy less than 130 AD) that paint a FAR different picture. in fact if you consider Judas to be a reliable witness then Judas was trying his damnedest to push Jesus into the role of liberator of Israel and thought right up until it was too late that Jesus would incite the followers to overthrow the occupiers.

      If you read about the history of the book itself, instead of the text that has been censored and rewritten probably a dozen times? its pretty damned fascinating. I believe it was the king of Constantinople that finally put his foot down in, again IIRC, the late third century that basically told the priests "get the story straight or I'll have you hanged" that forced the priests to come together and decide on a "true" book which caused a LOT of what was in there before to be tossed because groups within the clergy objected to this part or that part.

      But in any case you have several other supposedly "lesser" leaders named in texts of that period, yet somebody that again was healing the sick and which according to the gospel had throngs lining up just to touch his robes didn't even get an "FYI", when what he was preaching was in direct opposition of the state sponsored religions which were frankly making serious bank for the occupiers? I'm sorry but that just isn't believable, not when we can see what actually did get written up by the lackeys of Rome back then.

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