Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Passion Of The Christ ~ In Word Form

Someone sent me this via email. It is just another chain-email and I don't agree with everything written. I do understand that it is in the Christian's faith to evangelize, but I also believe we should do so respectfully and not swamp the non-believers' email inbox with these messages. Some converts have claimed that these emails were God sent and saved them... while non-converts have been irritated by these inconsiderate behaviors. Who do I side? NO ONE... but I do tend to lean towards the side of the non-believers because if a non-Christian were to do this to a Christian, I am very sure the Christian will be irritated. I will apply one of my rules in life here... that... "Everyone has the right to do want they want as long as it does not interfere with the rights of others. ~ PGA"... and this means that although it is your right to send whatever email you want, you can't send this out because this will interfere with the rights of others.

Anyway... here's an excerpt of the chain-email... go ahead and read if you're interested. It sounds very much like the Movie, 'The Passion Of The Christ' but in word form... and this is the part of the email that I found interesting.

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Just to share this with you for reflection during this Holy Week... 
 
THE SCIENTIFIC DEATH OF JESUS {Verification needed... one day, when I can find the time, I will verify this...}
At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death. Two thousand years ago, crucifixion was the death penalty for law violators. Only the worse criminals were condemned to be crucified. It was even more dreadful for Jesus, for unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion at that time, Jesus was nailed instead of being tied to the cross. Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long. The nails were driven into His wrist. Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder. The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the Wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself, so that He could not breathe. Both of His feet were nailed together. Thus, He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross. Jesus could not support himself with His legs for long because of the pain. He was forced to alternate between arching His back and using His legs just to continue to breath. We can not imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, the courage that He endured. Today's standard, it is unusual punishment. Jesus endured this  for over 3 hours Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water from his wounds. From the common images, we see the wounds in His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side. We remember the many wounds made to his body. A hammer drove large nails through the wrists, the feet overlapped and a nail hammered through the arches. A Roman guard was piercing His side with a spear. And while being nailed  and  speared, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body. The beating was so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The crown of thorns, two to three inch thorns embedded, cut deeply into His scalp. Most men would not survive such punishment and torture. He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds. The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters. (just a little less than a gallon) of blood. Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood. He had three nails hammered into His body; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier stabbed a spear into His chest. He suffered humiliation by the very people who received Him with olive branches a week earlier. He carried the cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his face and threw stones. The cross was heavy. Jesus had to endure this horrendous experience to free us from sin. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR US. 

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