To those who are interested,
I'm sure some of you have
seen this before, but it's a good thing to read again, especially at Easter
time, as a reminder. It's a little unsettling, but sometimes that's good
for us!
What is crucifixion? A medical doctor provides a physical
description:
The cross is placed on the
ground and the exhausted man is quickly
thrown backwards with his
shoulders against the wood.
The legionnaire feels for the
depression at the front of the wrist.
He drives a heavy, square
wrought-iron nail through the wrist deep
into the wood.
Quickly he moves to the other
side and repeats the action, being
careful not to pull the arms too
tightly, but to allow some flex and
movement. The cross is then
lifted into 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, leaving the knees
flexed.
The victim is now
crucified.
As he slowly sags down with more
weight on the nails in the wrists,
excruciating fiery pain shoots
along the fingers and up the arms to
explode in the brain- the nails
in the wrists are putting pressure on
the median
nerves.
As he pushes himself upward to
avoid this stretching torment, he
places the full weight on the
nail through his feet.
Again he feels the searing agony
of the nail tearing through the
nerves between the bones of his
feet.
As the arms fatigue, cramps
sweep through his muscles, knotting them
deep relentless, throbbing
pain.
With these cramps comes the
inability to push himself upward to
breathe.
Air can be drawn into the lungs
but not exhaled.
He fights to raise himself in
order to get even one small 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 life-giving
oxygen.
Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-renting cramps,
intermittent partial
asphyxiation,searing pain as tissue is torn from
his lacerated back as he moves
up and down against 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.
It is now almost over-the loss
of tissue fluids has reached a
critical level-the compressed
heart is struggling to pump heavy, thick,
sluggish blood into the
tissues-the tortured lungs are making frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of
air.
He can feel the chill of death
creeping through his tissues...
Finally, he can allow his body
to die...
Greg
47/35/35