Question:
The physical trauma of Christ begins in Gethsemane with one of the initial ascepts of His suffering-the bloody sweat. It is interesting that the physician of the group, St. Luke, is the only one to mention this. He says,"And being in agony, He prayed the longer. And his sweat became like drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground."
Though very rare, the phenomenon of hemathidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can't break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone could have produced marked weakness and possible shock.
After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest. A soldier scar Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiaphas. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat on Him, and Scar Him in the face.
IN the early morning,Jesus, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, is taken across Jerusalem to the Praetoruim of the Fortress Antonia. It was there, in response to the cries of the mob, that Pilate oredered Bar-Abbas released condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.
Preparations for the scourging are carried out. The prisoner is stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. The Roman legionaire steps forward with the flagrum in his hand. This is a shortwhip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached to the ends of each. The heavy whip is brought down with ful force again and again across Jesus' shoulders, back and legs.
At first the heavy thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continue, they cut deeper into subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin, and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles. The small balls of lead first produce large, deep bruises whihc are broken opne by the subsequent blows.
Finally the skin of the back is hanging in long ribbons and the entire area is an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it is determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner is near death, the beating is stopped.
The half-fainting Jesus is then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with His own blood. The Roman soldiers see a great joke in this provincial Jew claiming to be a king. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns is pressed into His scalp.
Again there is copious bleeding(The scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body). After mocking Him and atriking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from his hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of thier sadistic sport and the robe is torn from his back. This had already become adherent to the colts of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, cause excruciating pain-almost as though He were again being whipped, and the wounds again begin to bleed.
The Heavy beam of the cross is then tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves and the execution detail, begins its slow journey. The wieght of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance.
At Golgotha, the beam is placed on the ground and Jesus is quickly thrown backward with His shoulders against the wood. The legionaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy,square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep in the wood. Quickly, he moves to the side and repeats the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flextion and movement. The beam is then lifted in place at the top of the posts and the titulus reading "Jesus of Nazareth,King of the Jews" is nailed in place.
The left foot is pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each. As he pushes Himself upward to avoid the stretching torment. He places His full wieght on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones through the feet.
As the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push Himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short breath. Finally, carbon dioxide builds up in the lungs and in the blood stream and the cramps partially subside. Spasmodically, He is able to push Himself upward to exhale and bring in the life-giving oxygen.
Hours of this limitless pain, cycles of twisting, jointrending cramps, intermittent partial asphixiation, searing pain as tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins. A deep crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.
The compressed heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick, sluggish blood into the tissues-the tourtured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send thier flood of stimuli to the brain. Jesus gasps, "I thrist."
He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. With one last surge of strength, He once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry," Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit."
Apparently to make doubtly sure of death, the legionaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. Immediately there came out blood and water. We, therfore, have rather conculsive postmortem evidence that Our Lord died, not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.
Condensed from "The Crucifixion of JEsus" by C.Truman Davis,M.S.
Now that is Love! Pure Love that no one today can grasp! I know I struggle with it and I'm a believer!

Answer:

Actually if Jesus suffered so much pain and agony before they made him carry his cross,he would never have been able to stand let alone walk with a heavy cross! lack of food,lack of sleep,lack of any medical attention. Unless of course he was NOT human, but the bible states Jesus was God in human form,so again as a human he would never been able to withstood all that he went thru, he would have died from blood loss and shock way before he was actually *nailed* to the cross, as there was no real life saving abilties in that era.Other then maybe bandaging the wounds. And since no where in the bible does it state they gave him any medical attention other then a small drink of water,which in his state could have caused him to choke.If he at this time after going thru the shock of being nailed to a cross would have even been coherent enough to be understood when he spoke!
But people accept this story on faith and because a book says it happened that way!
Common sense and medical science can and does dissprove the events of his suffering so much.
Samantha....freethinker

Answer:

Actually anyone who wants to disprove something will do anything to do just that. Even if it means twisting the truth. Politicians do it all the time. But then again, I guess anyone can explain their ways away too...hmmm.
You do only one thing, Reaffirm my belief. Not on or by religion, but by the facts I know that man cannot explain away. The Bible isn't the only thing that helps my faith. People that complain and or share do too! Simply put. Nothing you say will sway my beliefs. But then again, you aren't trying to do that are you?

Answer:

you are right Ice-Breaker I am NOT trying to sway you. I am just showing how there are other sides of opinions out here in this vast world
Just giving people a right to choose to believe as they wish...just as you are right?
Samantha...freethinker

Answer:

Originally Actually if Jesus suffered so much pain and agony before they made him carry his cross,he would never have been able to stand let alone walk with a heavy cross!....he would have died from blood loss and shock way before he was actually *nailed* to the cross, as there was no real life saving abilties in that era... other then a small drink of water,which in his state could have caused him to choke....If he at this time after going thru the shock of being nailed to a cross would have even been coherent enough to be understood when he spoke!
.....Common sense and medical science can and does dissprove the events of his suffering so much.

1. You are correct Jesus would have been to weak to carry his own cross. Maybe that's why Simon the Cyrene was forced to carry it just as the Bible says.
2. No He would not have died from the scourging prior to the crucifixion. The Romans routinely scourged before crucifying and knew how to keep the "victims" alive long enough to be lifted on their crosses. Very similar to modern expert torturers can make people wish they were dead, but not allow them that satisfaction.
3. Could have caused Him to choke , but would not necessarily cause him to choke. As with many of your posts, you interject a hypothetical "maybe", "might", or "could" and expect your readers to treat it as "must". He could have choked to death, so the Bible is wrong when it says he didn't. Wrong!
4. More pure speculation that He wouldn't have been coherent enough to talk or be understood. On what intimate knowledge of the subject matter do you base your statement? All of history, Biblical and secular records, show that the Romans routinely scourged prisoners before crucifixion and the prisoners were still coherent for a time on their crosses before lapsing into unconsciousness.
4. Common sense and medical science do not dictate against or disprove the Biblical account of Christ's crucifixion. In fact, the Journal of the American Medical Association a few years ago ran an article showing the Biblical account is thoroughly consistent with modern medical knowledge. I have a copy at home, and will gladly give you the month and year of the issue in a couple of days.

Answer:

Thank you, Ice Breaker for posting that. Somewhere in my library I have that, but I've forgotten where.
What a tremendous sacrifice. What a great Savior. Thanks for taking the time to point us to the cross once again, to gaze upon the spotless One.
Thank you, Jesus, for paying such a great price for a sinner such as I. Even in my time of sin, rebellion and doubting of Your saving power, You still loved me. Even when I didn't return Your love. Even when there are dissenting voices everywhere, even when there are those who try to deny You. You keep on displaying Your great love for us. While we pause to look upon the sacrifice our Lord gave, let us determine to be all that You would want us to be. Let us dare to take You at Your Word and live a life that would be pleasing in your sight. Should all around me deny Your great love, Jesus, I stand before you as a servant. Do with me as You will. Amen.
The price has been paid. Praise His name forever.
Peace,
CW

Answer:

Sorry it took so long to find the JAMA article I referred to above. I had to go further back in my archive than I thought. (Time flies when you are having fun, and seems to go even faster as I grow older.) The article was in the March 21, 1986 issue.

Answer:

Sammi
Not that am taking sides here, but you quoted the bible as saying
"but the bible states Jesus was God in human form".
The bible, contains no such thing,Sammi.
The so-called Christians of the world would have you believe they are one in the same,
yet it says NO WHERE in the bible of any such thing.To do so is nothing less than a slam at the very God they serve. But, they'll never see it that way.
------
Steve
It's nice to be important, but, it's more important to be nice.

Answer:

Here is a detailed study, performed by the Mayo Clinic, on the physical death of Jesus.
Quite an interesting read, includes anatomy pictures of how the nails pierced, as well as the spear. Also includes the scourging, and several other things.
Pecos out-

Answer:

Originally Here is a detailed study, performed by the Mayo Clinic, on the physical death of Jesus.

Thanks, Pecos!!! That is the Journal of the American Medical Association article I referred to above. If you had told me earlier it was available online, I could have saved all that time searching my old files!
I am always amazed by the skeptics' arguments. This is just one instance of someone without any medical knowledge trying to say logic and medical science disprove the Bible. Years ago, they tried to attack its credibility on the basis of history. They claimed the Bible was wrong, because there never was a King named David or a people called Philistines. Modern archeaology has proven them wrong and the Bible right on both counts. U.S. News & World Report had an excellent article on this in October (23?). Modern geological discoveries are providing new evidence of a massive prehistorical flood (does the name Noah sound familiar?). Anthropolgists are finding legends of that flood in all kinds of disparate and geographically seperated civilizations (Aztec, Eskimo, Ethiopian, Chinese, Babylonian). The Bible is an amazingly reliable source of information as confirmed by secular (nontheistic) scholarship. Any truly objective "free thinker" would not by blind prejudice reject its contents!

Answer:

Job,
You are welcome. If I had known sooner that it was online, I would have spoken up.
LOL! I just found that article about 30 minutes ago.
Pecos out-