Last week before Good Friday I was scrolling through my social media feeds. As I was scrolling down an image caught my intention. In the photo there was a statue of Jesus Crucified with blood dripping down his face and limbs. Beside the statue was a man posing mocking what the statue represented.
Initially I was offended, but as quickly as the feeling of offence came it dissipated even faster. Why be offended? Afterall, it’s explicitly written in the Bible that Jesus was mocked, humiliated and died a death reserved for the greatest of criminals in ancient Rome. If it happened then, it will today.
My confidence as a Christian convert from atheism comes from two things: First, my real life changing experience of Jesus Christ in my life and in those Christians whom I met as an atheist. Second, the overwhelming evidence of Jesus’ resurrection. In this moment I would like to focus on the latter; the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection. I will discuss two popular objections often brought up by skeptics and atheists. Due to length required to give this objection respect I will focus on one of two objections against the Resurrection. My next post will focus on a second.
Courtesy of Simoen Muller from unsplash.com
Objection 1: Jesus didn’t really die on the cross.
A common objection proposed by skeptics is that Jesus didn’t die on the cross. Jesus survived the crucifixion, rescued by his followers and continued to live until his natural death. One Indian scholar I read even suggests that Jesus went as far as India where eventually he died a natural death. When examining the historical and archaeological evidence I’m afraid this argument would not be given the light of the day in a modern courtroom. Let’s explore ancient crucifixion.
The Ugly Truth
Crucifixion was ugly. The reality is that those who were unlucky enough to be executed on a cross didn’t die on the cross. Most would have died from the flogging outside Pontius Pilate’s court. If you have a weak stomach or have the tendency for nightmares I suggest having someone close by read this instead.
Criminals were tied with heavy chains around ankles and wrists and secured to a wooden stake in the yard of the court. A Roman soldier would whip the accused 30 times; however, this was a very loose practice. Often, the flogging would continue until the soldier decided to call it a day. The whips had metal balls embed in them along with sharp fragments of bone. The metal balls on the whip would break the skin open. The sharp bone fragments would rip off the skin and rip out muscle tissue. In much the same way a shark teeth rip flesh. It was a common scene for the hip bone, the spine, and rib bones to be exposed after a flogging.
So what happens next? Well…if the accused didn’t die from an infection or losing all his blood, he would enter hypovolemic shock. The heart would not be able to reproduce the blood being lost and would go into overdrive causing the individual to have low blood pressure and go unconscious. This is why Jesus was unable to carry the cross the entire way, and why the soldiers enlisted one his apostles, Joseph of Arimathea, to carry the cross for majority of the way.
Ex-Cruciating!
If the flogging and hypovolemic shock didn’t kill the person the cross surely finished the job. The person being crucified would have been laid on the cross with six inch nails driven through the wrists of both hands and the feet.
The posture of the of the crucified person would have had his arms and chest stretched to the point where shoulders would dislocate and the lungs would be stuck in the exhale position. The lungs would be collapsed so breathing would be extremely difficult. Every final breath was a challenge. For the person to breath he needed to push up with his nailed feet so the chest and the lungs would go from a stretched to a loose position to allow air in.
Two things repeatedly took place at this point. First, the nail driven through the feet would be driven deeper through the feet. Also the flogged back of the person would be further torn by the coarse wood of the cross. The pain experienced on the cross was unlike any other. So much so that the Romans came up with a word to describe that pain: Excruciating. Literally meaning “from the cross.”
Now if Jesus, by some miracle did survive this, he would not have been able to appear to his disciples along with 500 people in the span of 40 days after his Resurrection. Even with modern medicine people are hospital bedridden for a lot less than having their flesh torn, joints dislocated, and suffocation for a lot longer than forty days.
The Final Blow
The Apostle John (who was the only apostle of Jesus who remained at the foot of the cross as Jesus died) records what happened he saw following the moment after Jesus’ death. John observes, “Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out” (John 19:34). It’s tempting to think that this some symbolism, but it’s scientific fact.
Dr. Alexander Metherell, MD, PhD, former researcher at the University of California and editor for scientific books has written for publishers Aerospace Medicine and Scientific America. Dr. Metherell is also a contributor The Physiologist and Biophysics Journal journals. He closely examines the phenomena of blood and water pouring out of Jesus’ side after being speared to ensure his death.
To ensure that Dr. Metherell’s words are not lost in my paraphrasing I will quote him at length on this issue as I conclude. In an interview with journalist Lee Strobbel in the book The Case for Christ Dr. Metherell says,
“Even before he [Jesus] died – and this is important, too – he hypovolemic shock would have caused a sustained rapid heart rate that would have contributed to heart failure, resulting in the collection of fluid in the membrane around the hearth, called a pericardial effusion, as well as around the lungs, which is called a pleural effusion.”
Dr. Metherell continues,
“The spear apparently went through the right lung and into the heart, so when the spear was pulled out, some fluid – the pericardial effusion and the pleural effusion – came out. This would have the appearance of a clear fluid, like water, followed by a large volume of blood, as the eyewitness John described in his gospel.”
In Conclusion…
It is impossible that Jesus would have survived. In my opinion it is more of a “grasping at straws” argument than one based on convincing evidence.
Finally we are led to the claim that entire Christianity hinges on: The Resurrection of Jesus. How can we be sure that it actually took place and it isn’t legend? This I will discuss in my next post.
Wish you peace, joy, and content on this Easter.
