As Christians gathered at Easter to mark the death and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the question of how Christ died continues to linger. Scientists and medical professionals for years have examined the biblical passages relating to the wounds inflicted on Christ in the hours leading up to his crucifixion.
Father Don Forsythe, whose first career was as a medical doctor, now serves as priest for Our Lady of the Shoals Catholic Church in Tuscumbia.
He said he studied the subject throughout his career in medicine.
Forsythe said the cause of Christ's death is clear: Asphyxiation.
"When he was nailed to the cross, his lungs would have been compressed," he said.
"To breathe would have meant having to push up on his entire body and then sinking down again."
It was the discovery and subsequent examination of the Shroud of Turin that further piqued Forsythe's interest in the topic.
The cloth, which some believe is the cloth that was wrapped around Christ's body after he was placed in the tomb, confirms the violence associated with the crucifixion, he said.
Forsythe said the nails would have been driven between the bones in Christ's wrists instead of through palms of his hands.
"When they stretched his arms out, it didn't match the predrilled holes they'd made in the cross, so they dislocated his right arm and then nailed him on the cross," he said.
"On the shroud, you'll find the right arm is longer than the left."
Christ's feet were also nailed to the cross and a crown made of thorns was placed on his head, according to the biblical account.
Forsythe said the thorns would have penetrated Christ's scalp, inflicting extreme pain.
Christ was also scourged, or flogged, by Roman guards who used whips.
Research on those weapons reveals they were designed to rip the skin from the flesh with each stroke.
"We've been able to determine from the shroud that this led to 482 wounds he received from this flogging," Forsythe said.
Dr. Duane Carter, a pediatrician at Shoals Pediatric Group in Florence, said asphyxiation, shock and dehydration should be considered in the overall cause of Christ's death.
"Having studied Roman crucifixions, people would have been left hanging on the cross for days, and would have thirsted to death or would have suffocated from having to force their weight to take a breath," he said.
"After a while, they just wouldn't have been able to do it anymore."
Carter, a Christian, said the crucifixion is more meaningful because of the medicine behind it.
"When I consider it from a personal standpoint and that the physical agony alone has to be horrendous, just horrendous, and when you make it personal and that he did that for me, that's what really gets to you," he said.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: TDC)