Let us put aside all selfish notions of how wonderful it all was that The Son of God Himself was sent down to this Earth in an act of Noble Love on the part of The Almighty to save us from our sins. Instead, and from a scientific/medical perspective, let us really and closely examine the whole process of the Crucifixion of Jesus in a probing, ‘blow-by-blow’, assessment of His ‘journey of terrible suffering’.
While doing so, we should very seriously understand that the incredible pain He suffered throughout never let up. It was constant. It was not at any time relieved by ‘first-aid’ or convenient pain-killers such as we would immediately grasp for at the onset of even very mild, ‘inconvenient’, pain.
From childhood, Christians are conditioned with a mindset which superficially and incomprehensibly says that Jesus suffered and died on The Cross to save them from their sins. Nothing, however, about what that suffering really meant for Him. Not, however, for the ‘believing Christian’ who will never ever experience such a thing, but who nonetheless preens himself with sickening false piety in the truly strange belief that he is ‘absolved’ from all his sins and ‘thereby saved’.
That being the perverse and pervading belief in Christendom, let us all journey with Jesus to His agonizing death. Whilst on that grievous walk to His place of execution, we should put aside every shred of ‘religious’ thought, and – objectively and logically – try to fathom how and why around two billion otherwise well meaning humans on Earth can accept and even strongly promote a belief whereby the excruciatingly-painful torture that The Son Of God was cruelly subjected to can somehow be the ‘right thing’.
Even the words of The Bible – that exalted Work which you hold up to the world as The Living Word Of God – condemns that terrible act in no uncertain terms. Peter, the Apostle designated by Jesus as “the rock” upon which His Teachings could be built, “tells it like it is”. After receiving “Power from On High” at Pentecost and speaking in the various dialects of the region, the Apostles were accused of being drunk by the crowd that had gathered there. Peter countered with the following:
“Men of Israel! Listen to these statements: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man pointed out as from God by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did through Him amongst you, as you yourselves know; having betrayed, you murdered Him by crucifixion through lawless hands…”
The words are certainly clear enough; betrayed, murdered, through lawless hands! Was there great cheering that they were saved by His “death on the Cross”? That is certainly the seemingly unbreakable belief amongst latter-day Christians. A very blasphemous belief. Jesus himself gave the clearest and simplest indication of how this event should be viewed.
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
Thus, they did the wrong thing.
(from chapter 5)
BIBLE “MYSTERIES” EXPLAINED
Understanding “Global Societal Collapse” from The “Science” in The Bible
What Every Scientist, Bible Scholar and Ordinary Man Needs to Know!
5.6 Crucifixion of The Son Of God: Medical Forensics Speak
Up to this point we have examined a number of issues of contentious moment centred on the life, death and its aftermath for Jesus, The Son of God. Irrespective of the many differing viewpoints about these events, however, a clear and absolutely unequivocal Truth is nonetheless sacrosanct here. And that is:
That the actual happenings in the Life and death of Jesus could only have occurred according to firmly established, inviolable Laws. As we have already explained, it is impossible for anything to take place except under precise and lawful processes, irrespective of what human/Christian opinion – either from lay persons or academics – might wish to state or believe.
Since that is an inviolable Truth in itself, let us put aside all selfish notions of how wonderful it all was that The Son of God Himself was sent down to this earth in an act of selfless Love on the part of The Almighty to save us from our sins. Instead, and from a scientific/medical perspective, let us really and closely examine the whole process of the Crucifixion of Jesus in a probing, ‘blow-by-blow’, assessment of His ‘journey of terrible suffering’.
While doing so, we should very seriously understand that the incredible pain He suffered throughout never let up. It was constant. It was not at any time relieved by ‘first-aid’ or convenient pain-killers such as we would immediately grasp for at the onset of even very mild, ‘inconvenient’, pain.
From childhood, Christians are conditioned with a mindset which superficially and incomprehensibly says that Jesus suffered and died on The Cross to save them from their sins. Nothing, however, about what that suffering really meant for Him. Not, however, for the ‘believing Christian’ who will never ever experience such a thing, but who nonetheless preens himself with sickening false piety in the truly strange belief that he is ‘absolved’ from all his sins and ‘thereby saved’.
That being the perverse and pervading belief in Christendom, let us all journey with Jesus to His agonising death. Whilst on that grievous walk to His place of execution, we should put aside every shred of ‘religious’ thought, and – objectively and logically – try to fathom how and why around two billion otherwise well-meaning humans on earth can accept and even strongly promote a belief whereby the excruciatingly-painful torture that The Son Of God was cruelly subjected to can somehow be the ‘right thing’. Even in an earthly Court of Law, such an idea would be ‘thrown out’ as unjust. Yet so many believe that ‘The Power of All Creation’ would nonetheless sanctify such an appalling injustice. [Perhaps we should all have long-understood that just as The Creator is Perfect Love: He is also Perfect Justice!]
Firstly, then, we should watch the terrible ‘scourging’ by Roman soldiers. Secondly; the mocking and the placing of a ‘crown of thorns’ upon His head. Next; accompany Him every step of His cruelly-agonising ‘death-walk’ laden under the crushing weight of a heavy wooden beam. And thence finally arrive with Him at Golgotha: His place of execution.
Are there any hand-clapping, ‘praise the Lord’ Hallelujahs there? No! Of course not. It is too cruel, too painful, too unbelievable. Yet every Easter on so-called ‘Good Friday’, hundreds of millions of Christians in their thousands of Churches across the world perversely ‘celebrate’ this worst of all murders.
“BLACK FRIDAY!” That is the reality for all time.
Note: The medical and forensic analyses of the Crucifixion of Jesus we now outline are sourced from the History Channel Documentary: “Crucifixion”; screened on ‘Black Friday’, 2009. It is a harrowing Documentary that all Christians should view, for it is the most graphic depiction of Jesus’s painful suffering to date. [In this writer’s view, far more so than Mel Gibson’s, “The Passion of The Christ”; itself regarded as a very graphic depiction of The Crucifixion.]
For our elucidation, the primary contributors on the medical forensics associated with the Biblical/historical narrative of the Crucifixion of Jesus are:
Dr. David Ball, M.D.
ER Chief, Ret., Tri-Lakes Medical Center.
Dr. Robert M. Norris, M.D.
ER Chief, Stanford Medical Center.
Jonathan Reed, Ph.D.
Professor, University of La Verne.
Richard J. Hoffman, Ph.D.
Professor, San Francisco State University.
Sarah Stroud, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Washington.
Dr. Mark Benecke.
Forensic Biologist.
Daniel Smith-Christopher, Ph.D.
Professor, Loyola Marymount University.
This particular segment of our overall journey of logical enlightenment is offered as a help primarily to those Christians who are ‘content with their faith’. However, the ‘blind-faith’ attitude that many Christians seemingly display is really no faith at all, for it simply demands that the faithful ‘accept without question’ all they are told. Specifically and especially on the question of whether or not Jesus came to earth ‘to take on the sins of men’ and ‘die on The Cross to save them’; without keen examination of this subject from either the ‘Christian teacher’ or the ‘Christian follower’ to ensure an absolutely correct answer – i.e., according to The Will Of God Whom all Christians will state they want to serve – the warning of a very well known key Bible Scripture should be the primary driver to “get it right”!
“When the blind lead the blind, all will fall into the ditch.” [abyss]
Since there are a number of quite different interpretations and beliefs around this question, it is patently obvious that many Christian ‘flocks’ have thus ‘not got it right’ at all. Yet every one will swear they are ‘saved’ by ‘their’ belief, or their ‘group interpretation’. Unfortunately, as we all surely and logically understand, the correct answers that must inherently reside in the events and meaning surrounding Jesus’s death cannot possibly allow for an infinite number of ‘saviour-scenarios’ here.
The knowledgable analyses of the above contributors will help the average or ‘seeking’ Christian make more sense of a momentous and portentous event that ultimately affects all of humankind.
Crucifixion: A slow death of maximum suffering, used as a method of Capital Punishment for over 3,000 years. It was practised in various forms long before Roman Legions occupied the land of Judea at the time of Jesus. From the more simple but excruciatingly-painful practice of ‘staking’ a body to hang suspended from an upright stake, true crucifixion – the body affixed in the ‘crucifix position’ on a wooden ‘cross’ – was perhaps a ‘torturous refinement’ of ‘staking’.
Death by crucifixion was a very effective way to discipline the many peoples conquered by Rome. Her vast Empire required policing methods designed to ensure that the “Pax Romana” – ‘The Peace of Rome’ – was kept. Crucifying criminals, dissidents and revolutionaries alike who threatened that ‘peace’ set a severe example to others contemplating the same. Instilling fear of a terrible and agonisingly-painful death in Roman subjects probably did help hold the ‘Pax Romana’; for crucified victims were often left to decompose on the cross for all to see. A further unsettling dimension for both the crucified and the travelling public was the fact that crows often sat on the heads of victims to peck at the eyes. Perhaps the most notable crucifixion event was the execution of 6,000 gladiators taken from the slave Army of Spartacus after his defeat. They stretched 125 miles along the Appian Way from Capua to Rome.
By the time Jesus walked the earth, the Romans had well-perfected the ‘art’ of crucifixion as we know it today. Two forms of ‘the cross of crucifixion’ were used by the Legions. The Tau – in the shape of a Capital T; and the Latin – in the shape of a lower-case t. Both consisted of two parts: The Stipe, the upright beam ; and the Patibulum, the cross-member.
The no-nonsense approach of the Roman Army to all they undertook would have ensured a practical and efficient method for crucifying the countless thousands unfortunate enough to earn that particular death sentence. So the Tau, being simpler, was therefore probably more commonly used because the top of the Stipe is in the reach of soldiers.
A new look at the whole question of Roman-style crucifixion offers greater insights into the death of Jesus. Notwithstanding the obvious fact that Roman soldiers were well practised in the mechanics of crucifixion, considerable effort in time and manpower would nonetheless have been required to nail and/or affix the many tens of thousands crucified over the term of the Roman Empire; if the Latin Cross was the preferred option.
The simpler and thus more likely method was to first set the upright beam – the Stipe – in the ground. The wooden cross-member – the mortised Patibulum weighing about 100 pounds to which the victim was affixed – was then lifted up by soldiers and fitted onto a matching tenon on the Stipe.
5.6.1 The Roman ‘Flagrum’: The ‘Scourging’ of “The Son Of God”
scourge n. 1. A whip used to inflict punishment.
- Any means of inflicting severe suffering, vengeance, or punishment
scourging tr.v. 1. to flog.
‘Scourging’ commonly preceded crucifixion. It was carried out by soldiers wielding the Flagrum, a Roman whip designed to flay skin, tissue and muscle, and thus inflict serious wounds and excruciating pain. It consisted of several strips of leather into which were tied pieces of metal, nails, glass, bone and lead weights; basically anything that would cut into flesh.
According to Richard J. Hoffman:
“To be crucified was to say that you were no better than a slave. You are worthy of death. And part of the crucifixion process – you might say the drama of crucifixion – was to scourge you.”
The victim was stripped of all clothing save perhaps for loin coverings, and tied by the hands to a wooden post. Two Roman soldiers would stand either side of the victim and alternate whip strokes. The severity of the flogging was largely determined by the viciousness of the soldiers. Long-practised in war and killing, soldiers of the super-efficient, well-disciplined and ruthless Roman Army were very far removed from the more squeamish nature of modern Western peoples who often require counselling as a way of coping with what are often just the simple realities of life on earth. Since crucifixion as a punishment was common, soldiers would often experiment on the hapless victims. Dr. David Ball explains:
“What you would expect from a Roman Flagrum would be complete tearing away of the skin down to the ribs. And this results in bruising to the intercostal muscles, which impairs respiration … and actually causes bruising to the lungs… And that leads to a very serious medical problem called ‘pulmonary contusion’. That will lead to ‘pulmonary oedema’ and impaired respiration. It is a very serious injury.”
In this medical-trauma analysis of ‘scourging’ and crucifixion, we reiterate that it is an analysis of the suffering of Jesus, primarily as recorded in The Bible.
Dr Ball notes that the wounds inflicted on a human being by scourging with the Roman Flagrum [are] “…so severe that it has been compared to a shotgun blast at close range.”
And Robert M. Norris says:
“The muscles would have been torn, hanging; basically ribbons of flesh that were bleeding profusely … deep tissues of larger vessels that can’t clamp down so easily. Profuse bleeding decreases blood supply leading to hypo-bulimic shock … not enough blood circulating around heart to profuse vital tissues; the muscles and the organs.”
A prime purpose of ‘scourging’ was to:
“Create a mutilated body up on the cross … [for] … a mutilated, visceral experience on the part of the viewers who were attending the crucifixion. … We don’t really know how Jesus was scourged. The Gospels don’t give us much detail. But it’s quite possible that it was fairly severe because Jesus dies within a day. And He dies before nightfall.”
(Jonathan Reed, Ph.D.)
“He was beaten nearly to death. He was macerated. He was bruised. He had massive damage to the back-side, and massive damage to the intercostal muscles, and massive damage to the lungs and the kidneys themselves through the bruising process.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
Narration: ‘When the scourging is finished, Jesus’s back is an unrecognisable mass of torn and bleeding tissue. This brutal beating will dramatically affect the final hours of Jesus’s life.’
5.6.2 The ‘Burden’ of the Cross
The present, widely accepted, notion in Christendom is that Jesus was made to carry or drag a complete Latin Cross weighing several hundred pounds roughly a mile to Golgotha, then nailed onto it whilst it was on the ground, both raised up together, and the Cross then positioned in a pre-prepared hole. If that were the true scenario, it would have taken a superhuman effort to carry or drag such a weight that distance with a body severely-weakened and already near death as a result of the torture and mutilation at the hands of the Roman soldiers ordered to ‘scourge’ Him. The Bible narrative reports that ‘Simon of Cyrene’ was seconded to carry Jesus’s Cross after His strength finally gave out.
“I do not think it is either practical – from a Roman perspective – to have individuals carry entire crosses. Nor do I think it is likely possible as a physical feat.”
(Sarah Stroud, Ph.D.)
Experts generally agree it is more likely that Jesus would have carried only the Patibulum, which nonetheless weighed around 100 pounds – a huge weight for a badly tortured man to carry any distance.
“For this point the victim would already be in some degree of shock due to blood loss from the scourging. So now we’ve put a 100 pound beam on the person’s back; strapped their hands to it. And now the heart is tasked to pump even harder and harder to supply the leg muscles to get him to the execution site.”
(Robert M. Norris, M.D.)
Whipped up by Caiaphas and key members of The Sanhedrin, the emotional turmoil connected with the trial and sentence of Jesus would surely have wrought tumultuous agitation among those who watched Him walk His last pain-wracked mile – to Golgotha. The Bible tells us that Jesus fell under the weight of the Patibulum.
Norris further notes:
“The full force of His body and that 100 pound weight on the backs of His shoulders would have been centred on His chest. That slammed the heart against His breastbone, the sternum, inside. That could bruise the heart.”
“A bruised heart is a very serious injury. The muscle has been damaged, and so it tends to stretch. And as the heart is pumping, that stretch increases and you have a balloon we call an ‘aneurysm’. That ‘balloon’ becomes thin-walled and can rupture.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
This type of injury is similar to chest trauma sustained in a car accident when an unrestrained driver impacts onto the steering wheel. Now bearing the added pain and trauma of a bruised heart from His fall, Jesus is forced to continue His grievous walk to his place of execution.
5.7 The ‘Murder’ at Golgotha
“The bio-mechanics of a crucifixion is quite interesting. It all depends very much on the angle in which you secure the limbs and all the body parts because this will determine how much physical stress will either be on the bones or connective tissue. … The maximum stress that you can have on the tissue, on the bones, is between 40 and 60 pounds. This may cause the tissue to rip or the bones to break so that the whole system of crucifixion won’t work…”
Dr Mark Benecke also found that in tests with arms set at an angle in a crucifixion:
“…each hand bears the whole weight of the body, and not half the body-weight for each as we might [‘logically’] expect. Therefore, an average weight man will tear away from the cross if nailed through the hands.”
(Dr. Benecke.)
Dr. Norris explains that if the nails were placed instead into the wrist, i.e., into the small bones of the wrist where there are [dense] fibrous sheaths around these bones:
“…they would have held. The pain, however, would be excruciating because the large median nerve which provides sensation to the forearm and hand passes right through this area of the wrist.”
Commenting on the ‘pain factor’ when the wrists are ‘nailed’, Dr. Ball states that:
“The median nerve, whether it’s lacerated, or whether it’s impinged upon as the nail pushes against it … it’s going to be like burning, severe pain.”
The Gospels imply that Jesus is nailed through the hand. In the ancient Greek language, in which The Bible was originally written, the word for hand describes both the hand and the wrist. So the bony area described is where most experts believe the Romans drove the nail into Jesus’s hand. They would probably not have relied on the nails alone, so also tied the arms to support the weight of the body.
“The ultimate outcome in terms of how long the person survived probably was dependent in some particular way in how the feet were attached.”
(Robert M. Norris, M.D.)
The feet were most likely attached in the ‘stacked’ position – one foot on top of the other as commonly depicted. This position, whilst encouraging a quicker death, produced excruciating pain.
“If you place the soles of the feet flat against the upright, the individual cannot lock their knees. They have to support their weight with the thigh muscles. Or hang completely from the [hand] nails.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
This fiendishly torturous position made it far more challenging for the victim to breathe. Scholars of crucifixions generally do not believe that artistic portrayals in paintings and Hollywood movies depicting a wooden block under the feet of Jesus are correct. For why, after such prolonged torture, would the Romans then offer any victim even the smallest measure of ‘comfort’ ?
“There are a series of nerves that pass through the feet in that area that would cause tremendous stimulation of those sensory nerves and just exquisite pain from that. And every time the victim would try to rise to exhale, that would stimulate those nerves.”
(Robert M. Norris, M.D.) Dr. Ball says:
“A person nailed to the cross is going to be searching for a comfortable position. He may relieve the pain on the medial nerve and lift himself up, but he creates muscle pain. When he drops himself down he relieves the muscles but he finds the pain has recurred in the medial nerve and the shoulders.”
In excruciating agony Jesus tries to find relief from the intense pain wracking every part of His body. He strives to breathe freely by pushing up on the spike driven through His feet. In doing so the exposed nerves on His cruelly-flayed back rub on the rough-hewn post.
“Every time He would lift Himself up on the Cross, that would drag these torn shredded tissues of the back across the rough wood of the Cross, reopening the wounds, re-stimulating the nerves in the back causing further bleeding and, again, causing tremendous pain.”
(Robert M. Norris, M.D.) Dr. Ball notes that:
“There is no comfortable position on the Cross. There is no position where He is even relatively pain-free.”
Narration: ‘Jesus hangs in agony. The end is near. He’s beaten, dehydrated, exhausted. He’s suffering from external trauma and internal injuries; all life-threatening conditions. But what ultimately kills Jesus? Today, science may have the technology to decode the ancient evidence and discover the exact cause of Jesus’s death on the Cross. … Since His arrest nine hours earlier He’s been beaten and abused. His crucified body is wracked with pain as He struggles to breathe. The cruelty is clearly taking its toll. But what is the ultimate cause of Jesus’s death?’ Dr. Norris states:
“There were so many things that were going on at the same time. Any one of them at a certain point could cause someone’s death; the dehydration, the blood loss, just the severe trauma to the muscles.”
Medical experts believe that Jesus’s physical deterioration begins with exhaustion, for He has not slept for over twenty four hours. Moreover, since His arrest He has had nothing to eat or drink.
5.8 His Final Moments
“The death-process is definitely underway. … the scourging started the process with the contused lungs, bruising to the muscles, damaged kidneys.”
“I don’t think that it’s fair to say there is one cause of death on the cross. I think it is multi-factorial, and all of these things are taking place in a typical crucifixion.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
Narration: ‘His blood-loss is made worse by the constant tearing of the wounds on His back as He moves up and down on the Cross in order to breathe deeply. The loss of bodily fluids means He’s probably suffering from hypo-bulimic shock; a condition in which the heart is unable to pump adequate blood to the organs, muscles and vital tissues. On top of that, decreased respiratory volume means carbon dioxide is building up in the lungs and reducing oxygen in the blood; a condition known as hypoxia. Ultimately, this could lead to suffocation.’
“He’s probably becoming somewhat hypoxic at this point, Again, from the increased work of breathing, and inadequate blood volume circulating around. He is near death.”
(Robert M. Norris, M.D.)
Deriving from His fall with the weight of a 100 pound Patibulum on His back, it is very probable that Jesus is suffering from ‘blunt chest trauma’. ‘The ensuing internal damage could easily include a bruised heart.’
“When an individual has sustained a bruise to his heart, this bruise creates a soft spot in the muscle. Every time the heart pumps, there’s pressure on that soft spot that has the tendency to cause a ballooning out. Or, as we call it, an aneurysm.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
Narration: ‘Jesus’s cardiovascular system is under enormous stress. His heart is pumping upwards of 170 beats per minute. An aneurysm puts Him at even greater risk. If left untreated it can rupture. And there’s another factor that can contribute to the death of any victim on the cross.’ Jonathan Reed notes:
“The pain of crucifixion is unimaginable. … the pain over time is so excruciating that the bodily functions give out. You die simply of pain.”
Narration: ‘Any one of these [conditions] can be fatal. But Jesus has not yet given up. According to The Bible He is able to speak despite His weakened condition.’
“He was carrying on conversations that were lucid and clear. So we know that His brain was being adequately supplied at this point with enough [oxygenated] blood.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
Narration: ‘After several hours, Jesus seems to know that the end has come. The Bible says that he called out His final words – and then dies.’
His final words: “Father. Into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Dr. Ball states factually that:
“If He had died of hypo-bulimic shock – as some people say – He would have fainted. He would not have been able to holler out with a loud voice and then suddenly die.”
Whilst some see asphyxiation as the cause of death, Dr Ball explains why that is very unlikely. He sagely observes that if a crucified man has: “…enough air in [his] lungs to holler out, [he] will not be in any danger of dying of asphyxiation. That cannot happen.”
Dr. Robert M. Norris further notes:
“That He had enough strength and enough mental clarity to cry out very effectively means to me that something catastrophic was happening. And He knew that it was happening.”
Given the searching medical analysis of the final moments of Jesus’s life, experts believe that the most likely cause of death is from His bruised and damaged heart. Dr. Norris explains the process: “Gradually His heart is failing. The fluids would begin to back up in the lungs, around the lungs, and actually around the outside of the heart; inside the heart sac – the pericardium.”
The pericardium is a sac of fibrous tissue filled with a water-like fluid that surrounds and protects the heart. Dr. Ball explains:
“With His pulse rate going to 180 or even more, He is under an enormous cardiovascular stress load.”
Dr. Ball opines that under such extreme stress, the bruised heart of Jesus ultimately ruptures. It would feel like a heart attack, and Jesus would know His death is imminent. The ruptured heart continues to beat. With each pulse, however, it pushes blood into the pericardial sac until the heart finally stops.
That is the one, single, blessing for The Son Of God in His whole unbelievable journey of horrific, agonising torture to His execution on the ‘death cross’ at Golgotha:
For His terrible ordeal at the hands of men is finally over!
“You’ve got a heart that is ruptured. It’s not functioning any more, it’s not pumping. But you’ve got a pericardial sac that is under pressure. Taut.”
(David Ball, M.D.)
The spear of a Roman soldier reveals the proof of Dr. Ball’s medical analysis of the actual death of Jesus. Jonathan Reed, Ph.D., quotes the Gospel of John:
“A Roman soldier takes a spear and sticks it inside Jesus to make sure that He’s dead.”
The Gospel narrative states that blood and water flow from the wound. Dr. Ball explains what has taken place:
“What you have to understand is they’ve gone through this pericardial sac to get to the heart. The pericardial sac is under pressure. The blood has settled. So immediately you’ve got this flow of blood followed by clear fluid, which is described as water in The Bible.”
Narration: ‘After about six hours on the Cross, Jesus Christ is dead. It’s a relatively short time for crucifixion [by Roman standards], which can last for several excruciating days.
Arrested on the Thursday night of the Passover holiday; by Friday morning soldiers are preparing to nail Him to the Cross. By that afternoon He will be dead.’
The final act played out both on Golgotha and for those in the Sanhedrin who actively plotted to bring about His death, was wrought by a powerful earthquake. Sufficiently strong to shatter the floor of the Temple of Jerusalem, the convulsive transfer of energy from the earth to the great building tore asunder the heavy curtain that protected The Holy of Holies.
The odds of that particular earth-tremor occurring with such precise convergence to, ostensibly, ‘coincide’ with the exact moment Jesus died, would surely be in the order of millions to one. That natural event should be proof enough of how terribly wrong His execution was, for even the Forces of Nature vented their anger and fury at the murder of The Son Of God: He Who once Commanded the same to cease their ‘storm-work’ activity on the Sea of Galilee with the admonition: “Peace. Be still!”
For the Jewish race, what was once the Holiest Treasure on earth – the sanctuary of which even Moses the Law-Giver could not enter on the decades-long journey to the ‘promised land’ – was no longer so. The curtain that formerly ‘spiritually-symbolically’ protected it, rent in two by the power of the tremor at the murder of The Son Of God, signified the separation of man from The Almighty – not the opposite.
It was not a reconciliation, as ‘Christian academia’ will argue. The Jewish Priesthood, once Called to serve and protect that Holy Treasure; by their dark deed were made redundant. For, shortly after, the Jewish race lost possession of The Holy of Holies and it disappeared from history ; a further indication of the singular enormity of that particular crime.
The historical aftermath of the execution of Jesus saw develop among Christians and their Church a radical but nonetheless strange change in perception concerning the ‘Latin Cross of Crucifixion’. Initially His death only reinforces the perception of the cross as an horrific tool of oppression. Yet, over time, the symbolism of crucifixion underwent an ironic transformation. Very interestingly, the documentary, Crucifixion, asks the most pertinent question of all in this regard.
“How does this implement of torture and execution become an iconic symbol of hope and salvation despite the fact that it continues on into the 20th and 21st centuries?”
The answer is brutally logical.
A Teaching, a Church or a Movement that has Truth at its core and as its practice would not, indeed could not, possibly accord such an instrument of torture the perversely altered state of reverence and even worship that the Latin Cross/Crucifix now holds for around one third of global humanity. Only a religion could bring such a thing about, for religions hold very little of The Pure Truth. Hence the unbelievable state of hate and violence between religions in the present.
The path to that detrimental point of ‘altered perceptions’ probably began when the Roman Emperor Constantine became Christian after ‘seeing’ a vision in the sky prior to a battle. It is said that an accompanying voice told him: “In this sign you will be victorious.” Believed by Christians to be the ‘Latin Cross’, Constantine’s victory on the battlefield thenceforth set ‘that’ cross as ‘the form of salvation’ for the Church and its followers.
Jonathan Reed notes:
“It’s under Constantine’s rule that the cross becomes a positive symbol for the first time. And it’s a symbol of Christianity. And because of that, you can no longer use it as a tool for shameful death.”
So in the strangest of ‘turnarounds’, the cross, once identified with the most fearful kind of death, and an object to inspire terror in the hearts of men, is now a symbol of piety and faith which Christians now use in the shape of their churches, for their rituals, and in their art.
Christianity becomes the dominant world religion. Despite the long history of cruel torture inherent in the practice, crucifixion is almost exclusively associated with Jesus. Even though documented crucifixions are rare after the Romans, this brutal punishment nonetheless persists throughout the centuries. The crucial event of The Second World War saw Hitler’s Nazi regime use this method of torture.
“It was a display of power. It’s always a spectacle, and it’s always sadistic. …it was often used against individuals who actually posed some sort of threat or had committed a wrong against the State. [However] The use of it against individuals who were already victims or already captives and completely powerless seems especially perverse.”
(Sarah Stroud, Ph.D.)
Even today in the Sudan/Darfur region where genocide is rampant, crucifixion is sanctioned as a method of execution. In 2002 Amnesty reported that 88 people, including two children, were sentenced to death by crucifixion. Perversely, then, it would seem; the image of Jesus’s agonising death on the Cross remains one of our most powerful icons. Jonathan Reed emphasises the fact that:
“When Christianity adopts the cross as its key symbol, it also defines itself as a religion that focusses itself on suffering, and a religion that focusses on atonement. And so the cross itself, maybe more so than any book written, has had a profound impact on how Christians think about their religion, and their religious experience.”
Narration: ‘Yet the cross and the roots of crucifixion reach back long before Jesus. He was just one of the many [countless] victims of this brutal death sentence. From ancient civilisations to modern regimes, crucifixion carries the same meaning. It’s not just about killing. Crucifixion is about torture, fear and control.’
“Crucifixion should be a warning. Crucifixion should make us ask questions about unjust and horrific treatment of other people. The cross should be a symbol that says: Never treat someone like this!”
(Daniel Smith-Christopher, Ph.D.
All emphases mine.)
The murder of The Son Of God stands as the most heinous crime in the history of the world, for He came to lift humanity out of the depths to which it had voluntarily sunk. Human ego and religious power had subverted Spiritual Truth and Law. Proclaimed by the Old Testament Prophets, the subversion of It resulted in a rigid dogma that wrought suffering for many, and meant that Jesus had to come to earth to Light the Way back to The Truth.
The later Messengers of His Truth encountered the same blind perversity. The explanations of The Truth which they were called to Teach to the peoples among whom they were incarnated, became – in short order after their deaths – just religions.
Historically, have we human beings ever really revered Envoys from The Light or, indeed, Its Prophets? Almost all suffered from human perversity and mockery, when they proclaimed on earth. If stripped down to ‘bare bones’, it is the adulation of human beings by human beings that has long-reigned supreme in the world. Today, the rock stars, sports stars, movie stars and the fashion models etc., are the things of adulation, even reverence.
That being the case; apart from the regular ‘Easter Shopping Guide’, what do we invariably see advertised as a primary enticement for the ‘Easter holiday period’ the Christian West celebrates? Yes, there are the church services. And there are re-enactments of His Crucifixion which, in no way whatsoever for the ‘participants’, could possibly give any degree of understanding of the terrible pain and suffering that The Son Of God had to endure at the hands of blind, religious fools. In truth, it is a perverse mockery to re-enact His torturous suffering.15
15 It is something akin to the ‘annual fast’ that overfed Western children in communal ‘rah-rah, jolly-jolly’ groups take part in for just 40 hours to somehow gain understanding of the plight of children so starved that, for many, death is their outcome. Unlike the ‘empathists’ who receive a hearty meal and congratulations at the end of their 40 hour ‘famine ordeal’.
So: On every anniversary of His hideous execution, the one thing that probably most Western Christian children look forward to are chocolate eggs, laid – in the strangest, impossible concept – by a rabbit; the wealth-producing ‘Easter Bunny’. Is that surely not the most perverse distortion of a crucial date that all Christians should fully understand in its true meaning? For in its yet-to-be rapidly-closing spiritual reciprocity, the long-reaching outworking is one of menacing and growing portent for global Christendom.
Of course, it’s all just fun for the children, isn’t it? That is what Western society has determined as being suitable for Easter. Well, the end-cleansing – already upon us and increasing in scope and scale – will sweep that and every other kind of appalling distortion aside and away for all time; along with all those who cling to aberrant ideas which distort The Truth.
A dangerous aberration stemming from the Crucifixion of Jesus centres on the so-called ‘Christian Cross of Salvation’. The shape of the Latin Cross produces the form of a “sword”. As a ‘belief-token’ or symbol ostensibly declaring that by His death on the Cross The Son of God took away their sins and that of the world; this terrible and appalling Christian distortion of the execution of Christ means that the wrongly-revered Crucifix ‘spiritually forms’ a “Sword of Judgement” for all who wear, revere or display it!
If Christians, particularly, do not believe thus, yet still say they follow the Teachings of Jesus; then how do the two thousand million that make up global Christendom reconcile His warning to the world? In the truly strangest of ironies, He – A Part of The Godhead – was perversely accused of blasphemy by Caiaphas and others of the ruling Sanhedrin for being What He actually Was and Is: The Son Of God. Yet He was nonetheless executed.
Since an exponential factor can be readily observed in all events now, let us restate the answer of Jesus to His Disciples when asked what the end-time would be like. His reply is chilling:
“…for there shall then be wide-spread affliction, such as has not been known since the beginning of the world until now, no, nor will ever be known again. And if those times were not cut short, not a man would be saved ”.
(Matthew 24:21-22, Fenton.
Emphases mine.)
Centuries before Jesus came to earth to admonish humankind to obey The Law if they wished to live and return home ; Isaiah, ‘the great Prophet and Servant’, had long warned so.
“The ‘Earth’ also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the Laws changed the decrees broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore has the curse devoured the ‘Earth’, and those that dwell therein are desolate : therefore the inhabitants of the ‘Earth’ are burned 16 and few men left.”
(Isaiah 24:5-6, Fenton.
Emphases mine.)
16 The term, ‘burned’ – describing a recurring theme of End-time destruction that numerous Bible ‘scholars’ have puzzled over for many centuries – in this case does not refer to fire in the ordinary sense. The Scripture pointedly states that only the ‘inhabitants’ of the earth are ‘burned’, not the earth itself. A full and detailed explanation can be read in Chapter 12: The Two Sons Of God: Sub; Destruction by “Fire”, of the Parent Work, and in a Sister Booklet of the same title.
Now you, Christian believer, and perhaps even you, “Bible scholar”; but certainly all who live tremulously in piety in the belief that The Son of God, sent down to earth by The Creator of all that is good to bring The Living Word to a base and evil humanity – now that you better-understand the true horror and suffering of He Whom you profess to follow; where in His admonition or that of the great Prophet, Isaiah, do you find the sure salvation of two billion Christians. It is arrant nonsense ; and a dangerous death-delusion.
Do you honestly believe that The Son of God went willingly to an horrific death to save you from your personal sins? Do you really believe that the Perfect Justice of God is displayed there; that an innocent man should be put to death for the wrongdoing and evil of others ?
Such an injustice is not even accepted in earthly courts of law. If it were, imagine the outcry – from all of you especially. So why and how can human beings who proudly call themselves Christians [i.e., followers of, and believers in, Christ ] accept a notion that such a thing would be acceptable to The Creator Himself : He Who is Perfect Love — but also Perfect Justice?
If you truly believe that such an aberrant tenet would be acceptable to The Almighty, then you must logically accept the notion that the Roman soldiers who actually carried out His Crucifixion were also blessed, and would follow Jesus into Paradise upon their death. And what about Judas? Why has sainthood not been conferred upon him? Surely he, too, must be included among the especially blessed – even before that particular group of Roman soldiers – for is he not the key player in this ridiculous and infantile scenario ?
If the death of Jesus was a necessary sacrifice blessed by God, then that is the only logical conclusion for you to draw. For if you do not believe that either Judas or the soldiers were so blessed in that way, then your whole absurd Christian ethos centred round “His necessary sacrifice” fails utterly.
Notwithstanding the pure truth of that statement, if you yet still seriously believe such a thing, then do not hide behind 2,000 years of earth-time to shield you from that most insidiously-evil event. Instead, have the inner courage to put yourselves in the place of the small group of executioners at His Crucifixion and actively take part in the murder of The One Whom you profess to believe in. Be part of that Roman squad on that terrible day that you nauseously commemorate so wrongly: Black Friday.
Help to lay the cruelly-tortured and bleeding body of The Son of God on that rough and splintered “cross of death”. Feel His blood spattering on your skin – for there are no niceties such as rubber gloves to protect your delicate hands. Next, take up the hammer. And with it, drive the nails through His hands into the wood of the crossbeam. Ensure, however, that you do it correctly so that the weight of His especial body will not tear His once-healing hands away from those terrible spikes when that dark, death-cross is raised.
But as you ‘drive those nails home’, look into His dying, pain-wracked eyes and say to Him:
“I nail you to this cross because in my deed I prove my great Christian love for you because you came to die for me and my sins. Even though you have already suffered so much, I offer you yet more pain and torture. I know you will understand and will one day welcome me into your Kingdom because I have now proved my faith to you by helping you to die on this cross.”
How foolish a belief. How utterly absurd.
Such a belief is tantamount to idolatry of the worst kind, but self-idolatry of human beings and not of reverence and worship of The Most High or of He Who was and is a Part out of Him.
JESUS: The SON OF GOD; designated as both The Word of God, and The Love of God; that is who you symbolically murder each time you tremulously “…thank him for dying for your sins”.
Even the words of The Bible – that exalted Work which you hold up to the world as The Living Word Of God – condemns that terrible act in no uncertain terms. Peter, the Apostle designated by Jesus as “the rock” upon which His Teachings could be built, “tells it like it is”. After receiving “Power from On High” at Pentecost and speaking in the various dialects of the region, the Apostles were accused of being drunk by the crowd that had gathered there. Peter countered with the following:
“Men of Israel! Listen to these statements: Jesus the Nazarene, a Man pointed out as from God by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did through Him amongst you, as you yourselves know; having betrayed, you murdered Him by crucifixion through lawless hands…”
What happened next? The words are certainly clear enough; betrayed, murdered, through lawless hands! Was there great cheering that they were saved by His “death on the Cross”? That certainly is the seemingly unbreakable belief amongst latter-day Christians.
Yet, what do we later read as “The Effect of the Discourse” of Peter?
Now on hearing it, they were stung to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men, brothers, what shall we do ?”
But Peter said to them: “Change your minds…”
(Acts 2:22-23, and 2:37, Fenton.
All emphases mine.)
Quite clearly, if they had been pleased and at peace with ‘the Crucifixion’, they would not have replied in that way. The recognition for at least some there had finally hit home, for they were “…stung to the heart…”, did not know what to do, and were now afraid.
As it once did to that fearful crowd then: When the horrific realisation finally dawns on latter-day Christendom that such beliefs are so illogical and wrong that they border on a kind of religious insanity, it will be among you Christians, primarily, that a very large measure of the “great wailing and gnashing of teeth” will occur. What will you say or do then?
In conclusion: Let us, in quiet contemplation, seriously think upon a singularly-poignant “poem” about the life of this Son, Jesus; perhaps the greatest radical to have ever set physical foot on earth.
As we unequivocally state, however, will not do so again, for He is The One Who returned to The Father. Yet Whose very Words – from out of Divinity Itself – many were “called” to disseminate amongst the world’s people. Illustrated in the following poem is an unknown author’s salute and great love for Jesus and His Highest and most Noble form of Radicalism: Perfect Love!
Radically noble in the sense that He was prepared to accept death on the cross – if that was the only way by which He could anchor the Truth of His Teaching in the consciousness of humankind for all time.
Jesus – The Word and Love Of God and surely the most innocent of all – even though suffering the grossest indignities until finally succumbing to the brutal act of murder perpetrated against Him, yet still offered up the greatest prayer of intercession ever for the senseless blind who committed that atrocity.
His noble prayer thus stands as an indictment against those who murdered Him then, and against those today who still very wrongly believe that His painful and brutal death on that Cross could somehow be sanctified and Divinely Blessed by An Almighty God as some kind of loving act of propitiatory sacrifice to cleanse the evil and sin of an undeserving humanity.
The very words of the prayer itself stand in rightful accusation against such an evil distortion of the great and incomprehensible Love of The Creator.
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do!”
Thus, they did the wrong thing.
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Did Jesus’ death on the Cross really absolve humankind of their Sin?
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