Friday, March 24, 2006

Medical Examiner's Look at the Crucifixion

I attended a talk at our church last night. It was given by Dr. Frederick T. Zugibe, renowned medical examiner and author of The Crucifixion of Jesus Christ: A Forensic Inquiry. He pointed out the following:
1. The crown of thorns dug into bundles of nerves in the brain which is extremely painful.
2. The cartilage in Jesus' nose separated from the bone and that is observable in the Holy Shroud.
3. The Shroud shows that he was scourged with 115-120 prongs coming from different directions. Any more scourges than that would cause the victim to die.
4. Jesus carried the top crossbar part only, which weighed 60 lbs., and walked with that for 3/4 of a mile.
5. Put your thumb and little finger together. The crease near the thumb on the palm is where the nail was. It was nailed in diagonally and exited through the wrist probably hitting a very painful nerve.
6. The Romans usually broke the criminals' bones to accelerate the dying process so as to avoid the opportunity for animals to get to the carcass.
7. Jesus died of shock to his body and not by asphyxiation.