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Reprinted from JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association March 21, 1986, Volume 256 Copyright 1986, American Medical Association By Permission of Mayo Foundation ON THE PHYSICAL DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST William D. Edwards, MD; Wesley J. Gabel, MDiv; Floyd E Hosmer, MS, AMI From the Departments of Pathology (Dr. Edwards) and Medical Graphics (Mr. Hoamer), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.; and the Homestead United Methodist Church, Rochester, Minn., and the West Bethel United Methodist Church, Bethel, Minn. (Pastor Gabel). Reprint requests to Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905 (Dr. Edwards) * Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish...

I served as Deacon at the solemn “Celebration of the Lords Passion”. I had just carried the Cross into the waiting assembly chanting three times: “This is the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world,” at which the assembly responded, “Come Let us worship.” This frail couple approached. The wife could barely walk without her husband’s loving firm support. As they drew closer, I could see that the husband’s face was filled with deep wrinkles, the kind of love lines etched in the face from suffering borne with grace. His head was covered with unkempt...

In one of his encounters with the Pharisees we read these words of Jesus, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” (Mark 10:18) At first they may seem enigmatic, yet upon prayerful reflection they provide a framework for scratching the surface of the mystery which the whole world pauses to recall on Good Friday. In Jesus Christ we see the human face of God, “Good” Incarnate revealed in the purity of a love which no man or woman could ever see until His Incarnation. In His great voluntary gift of Himself which culminates in...

I am a Christian, and I cannot let this day pass without telling the meaning to Christians of this day. Today is "Good Friday," a day which is very significant to all Christians. It would seem odd that a day which remembers the death of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross is called "Good" Friday. But the Bible teaches that Jesus went to that cross as the Great Sacrifice for the sin of every person. As the Bible says, "He who knew no sin, became sin for us." You see, Jesus came into this world for the express purpose of...

CUTUD, ANGELES CITY - Dozens of Catholic devotees were nailed to crosses, scores more whipped their backs and others chanted the Passion of Jesus Christ as Filipinos mixed faith and gory ritual on Good Friday. Frowned on by church authorities, the voluntary crucifixions in villages north of the capital Manila are one of the most extreme displays of religious devotion in Asia's largest Roman Catholic state. Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the church discourages such rituals because the penitents were expecting rewards for hurting themselves. "We only encourage the faithfuls to fast,...

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, "Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you? But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, "I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God." "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." Matthew 26:62-64...

Divine Mercy for our Times April 9th, 2009 by Patti Maguire Armstrong We live in trying times. But as evil and terror have increased, so too has the reach of God’s mercy.The devotion of Divine Mercy was given to the world just before World War II, when 50 million died, through a young nun in Poland. Sr. Mary Faustina Kowalska was born in 1905, in Glogowic, Poland. She came from a poor peasant family, the third of 10 children. Even as a young child, she loved prayer and work and was kind to the poor. At the age of sixteen she...

Seems the humanitarians over in Gaza have been busy: "On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari’a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion." And we should do anything with these defectives other than put them down, why? (From Caroline Glick at the Jerusalem Post)

Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion.

Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seems to have noticed. On Tuesday, Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Shari'a criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, it legalizes crucifixion. Hamas's endorsement of nailing enemies of Islam to crosses came at the same time it renewed its jihad. Here, too, Hamas wanted to make sure that Christians didn't feel neglected as its fighters launched missiles at Jewish day care centers and schools. So on Wednesday, Hamas lobbed...

Reading the Jewish World Review today, Christians better wake-up as Hamas is bringing back the "crucifixion" of Christians. Hamas want to kill Christians by nailing them to crosses and call Jesus Christ the "slave of Allah" Hamas and other Islamists have Christians on the "hit" list. http://www.JewishWorldReview.com Both Iran and its Hamas proxy in Gaza have been busy this Christmas week showing Christendom just what they think of it. But no one seemed to have noticed. On Tuesday Hamas legislators marked the Christmas season by passing a Sharia criminal code for the Palestinian Authority. Among other things, the code legalizes...

Many people in the Philippines consider crucifixion and self flagellation good for the soul, but it is bad for your health according to new government advice for penitents. This Holy Week, the thousands of guilt stricken or pious worshippers who will flay the skin off their backs, and the handful who will crucify themselves, are encouraged to get a tetanus shot first and be sure to use a clean whip or nails. The Catholic church frowns upon the crucifixions "We are not trying to go against the Lenten tradition here because whipping has somewhat already become some form of ’atonement...

What are we remembering today? Are we remembering the death of a great moral teacher? Are we remembering the death of a great prophet? No. Jesus claimed to be equal with God. He claimed to be the Son of God. Since Jesus claimed to be God in the flesh, we cannot rightly say that He was simply a good moral teacher or simply a prophet. If Jesus was not God, but claimed to be God, then we are remembering the death of a great deceiver. If Jesus was not God, but claimed to be God, then we are remembering...

With his arms outstretched, his legs straight and his hands nailed to the cross, it is the image of Jesus's crucifixion held dear by Christians for centuries. But now the producers of a BBC drama about Christ's final days have challenged the traditional representation, saying they believe Jesus probably did not die that way. Instead of portraying Christ with his arms out wide and his legs straight down, The Passion will show him nailed to the cross in a foetal position, with his arms above his head and nails through his arms - the way, the producers claim, he may...

CISA: Libyan leader denies Christ’s Crucifixion, denounces Christianity 4/4/2007 Catholic Information Service for Africa (www.cisanewsafrica.org/) TRIPOLI, Libya (CISA) – Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said that it was a mistake to believe that Jesus had been crucified and killed. "It is not correct to say that. Another man resembling Jesus was crucified in his place," Gaddafi told a March 30 mass prayer meeting in Niger to mark the birth of the Prophet Mohammed. The meeting was aired live on Libyan state television. The president, according to Reuters, also said Christianity was not a universal faith alongside Islam. "There are serious mistakes...

The physical aspects of the passion, or suffering, of Jesus Christ will be discussed in this series. We shall follow Him from Gethsemane, through His trial, His scourging; His path along the Via Dolorosa and to His last dying hours on the cross. About a decade ago, reading Jim Bishop's "The Day Christ Died", I realized that I had for years taken the Crucifixion more or less for granted -- that I had grown callous to its horror by a too easy familiarity with the grim details and a too distant friendship with our Lord. It finally occurred to me...

A Romanian priest has been sentenced to 14 years in prison today after a nun died during an exorcism ritual. Sister Maricica Irina Cornici, 23, who was being treated for schizophrenia, said she believed the devil was talking to her. Daniel Petru Corogeanu, a monk who served as the priest for a secluded Holy Trinity convent in northeast Romania, and four other nuns, chained Cornici to a cross in an attempt at exorcism. She survived several days without food or water, but died of dehydration, exhaustion and suffocation. The court in the northeast city of Vaslui convicted Corogeanu and the...

Boy who was 'crucified' by Muslim A Sudanese slave who was assigned to watch his Muslim master's camels was "crucified" when he was caught sneaking out to attend a Christian church, according to reports from Voice of the Martyrs. The aid organization that helps persecuted Christians worldwide said the reports come from witnesses in the Sudan who were in contact with the youth, now about 15. Damare Garang was seven when the attack happened, officials said. He had been captured by Islamic soldiers when his Sudanese village was attacked, and then sold as a slave to a Muslim family...

NBC will blink over Madonna stunt Family group sees cancellation of crucifixion performance -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: September 22, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com Madonna's Confessions Tour stunt NBC is going to blink in its standoff with Christians over its decision to broadcast a "Confessions Tour" crucifixion stunt performed by Madonna, according to an organization that has been campaigning against the program. "NBC does not want a fight with AFA and the Christian community," American Family Association chairman Donald E. Wildmon said yesterday. "NBC may wiggle and wobble, but in the final analysis, they will not show that scene. "We...

Channel 4 is to broadcast a documentary showing a human corpse being hung on a cross to depict Christ's suffering. Anatomist Gunther von Hagens will use a real body to show how people died when crucified in the 90-minute film.