Holy Blasphemy

My sister sent me the following chain letter, which goes into surprising detail about exactly how, physically, Jesus suffered on the cross. The point of the letter is to get you to feel his pain, which generates an emotional catharsis; it makes you first feel guilty, and then overwhelmingly grateful. Don’t forget that this highly robust psycho-religious emotional experience was already being practiced by the Jewish women mourning for Tammuz in the Spring on the walls of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 8:14-17) centuries before Jesus!

The difference is that, the more technical and precise Christians get, paradoxically the more nonsensical it all seems. After all the blood runs out of Jesus, water starts dripping out – as if that was the natural thing that should happen when there’s no blood left? 1 six inch nail is driven through both of his feet in a way to pin him to the cross and support his weight, but it didn’t break any bones?! Something they also forgot to mention is how Emperor Constantine’s own mother traveled to the Holy Land, and after three centuries, claimed to have found the actual cross and nails used in the crucifixion (of course it was under a temple of Aphrodite, which had to be destroyed). According to Theodoret (died c. 457) in his Ecclesiastical History, the True Cross also had powers of healing:

When the empress beheld the place where the Saviour suffered, she immediately ordered the idolatrous temple, which had been there erected, to be destroyed, and the very earth on which it stood to be removed. When the tomb, which had been so long concealed, was discovered, three crosses were seen buried near the Lord’s sepulchre. All held it as certain that one of these crosses was that of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the other two were those of the thieves who were crucified with Him. Yet they could not discern to which of the three the Body of the Lord had been brought nigh, and which had received the outpouring of His precious Blood. But the wise and holy Macarius, the president of the city, resolved this question in the following manner. He caused a lady of rank, who had been long suffering from disease, to be touched by each of the crosses, with earnest prayer, and thus discerned the virtue residing in that of the Saviour. For the instant this cross was brought near the lady, it expelled the sore disease, and made her whole. (Ecclesiastical History xvii)

The obvious mythology in the above passage is in stark contrast to the vivid realism of contemporary Christian elements precisely because Jesus’ historical suffering is being challenged (by people like myself).

One final point; the letter wants us to focus on remembering the painful and morbid death of Christ – but makes no mention of chocolate and Easter eggs? If Easter is about Jesus, what the fuck is with the Easter bunny? What’s the connection? Actually, the mourning of the dead god followed by the jubilation at discovering his return to life preceded Christianity – one of the major, international celebrations focused on the dying and return of Osiris; Osiris got cut up and hidden and Isis had to go searching for the body parts to recollect them and put them together again (like Humpty Dumpty – part of the same tradition!) This myth used to be re-enacted, by hiding and finding eggs (which symbolized new life/birth – Osiris/Horus was born out of an egg). So searching for Easter eggs is not some pagan custom that became incorporated later into Christian worship – Christianity is a pagan custom that later forgot its mythical foundations!

Subject: FW: Good reminder for all of us during this Lenten season.

JESUS’ DEATH – 60 SECONDS ~~~

60 seconds with God…
For
The next 60 seconds, set aside whatever
You’re doing and take this opportunity!

THE DEATH OF JESUS

At the age of 33,
Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.

At the time crucifixion was the “worst” death. Only the worst criminals were
condemned to be crucified. Yet it was
Even more dreadful for Jesus, for unlike other criminals condemned to
death by crucifixion, Jesus was nailed to the cross by His hands and feet,
rather than tied…

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 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, so He was
forced to alternate between arching His
Back and using his legs just to continue to
Breath. Imagine the struggle, the pain, the
Suffering, the courage.

Jesus endured this
Reality for over 3 hours.

Yes,
Over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of
Suffering? A few minutes before He died,
Jesus stopped bleeding. He was simply pouring water
From his wounds.

From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear
wound to His side…
But do we remember the many wounds
Made to his body. A hammer
Driving large nails through the wrists, the feet overlapped
And a nail hammered through the arches, then a
Roman guard piercing His side with a spear. And…
Before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and
Beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the
Flesh from His body. The beating so horrific that His
Face was torn and his beard ripped from His face. The
Crown of thorns (two to three inch thorns) cut deeply into His scalp. Most
men
Would not have survived this 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 less than a gallon) of blood.

Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood;
He had three nails hammered into His
Members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond
That, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His
Chest..

All these without
Mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own
Cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his
Face and threw stones (the cross beam was almost 30 kg of weight, to which
His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience,
So that you may have free access to God.

So that your sins can be “washed” away.
All of them, with no exception!
Don’t ignore this.

JESUS
CHRIST DIED…FOR YOU!

For you, who now read this e-mail.
Do not believe that He only died for others
(those who go to church or for pastors, bishops, etc).

He died for you!
It is easy to e-mail jokes or silly photos,
But when it comes to God,
Sometimes we feel ashamed to forward a message about Him on
To others.
We are worried of what they may think.

Accept the reality, the truth, that
JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.

God has special plans for YOU!
Share this with all your friends…
About what He went through to save you.
Really think about it!

May God bless you!