Christiansoldier's Weblog

WHOZZZZ ME

christiansoldier — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:12:09 +0000

HI YAAAAAAA DUDEZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WAZZZZ UP
I AMZZZZZZZ FINALLYZ ONLINEZZZ AND IZZZZZZZZZZ BLOGGINGZZZZZZZZZZZ ON DA INTERNETZZZ
I GOT DA INTERNETZZZZZZZZZZ CONNECTIONZZZZZZ AT MY HOUZZZ
SO IZZZ EXPRESSINZZZZZZ MEZ SELFZZZZZZZ AND MYZZZ FREEDOMZZZZZOF SPEECHZZZZZZZZ ON DA INTERNETZZZ DA GREATZ INFORMATIONZZZZ SUPERZ HIGHWAYZZ OF DA 21ST CENTURYZZZ

This is the first time izzz blogging and the first time izzz expressing myself on the internetizz like to write Computer programs, right now i am coding in Java.
izz like Java caus its platform independent and has many resources and free source but what worries irritates and troubles me right now is that they do not have unsigned datatypes , izzz also like C and C++. Izzz interested in Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic , neural networks, data mining machine learning etc (that kind of stuff) Izzz lovzz programming and am designing a AI music composer that automatically composes music by searching for patterns and also interested in compression techniques and reducing entropy and compression and other weird projects like that
I like watching war movies ww2 movies.
And war dogfights and ww2 stories on discovery history channel etc
Izzz also likzz Classical music like Chopin Beethoven etc etc (that kind of stuff you know) , I also listen to Christian Gospel music it inspires and uplifts me.
I was never a Bible reader. The only Bible I ever read before this was the Children’s Bible when I was a child because it had many pictures But now I am 24 yrs and I guess its never to late to begin Izzz lovezz to read the Bible

read the book of Psalms when in time of trouble God saves those who cry out to him in distress because God said “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU FOR I HAVE CARVED YOU ON THE PALM OF MY HAND”

I am a born again Christian and I am studying the Bible to discover its hidden secrets Izzz not a Christian preacher and neither have Izzz studied any theology in any Christian seminary, I have just started reading the Bible and I am led by the holy spirit as it reveals things to me and I put it down in writing.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.
So remember to fight the good fight and run the long race for the Lord

Pleazzz feelzz freeeeeezzz to sendzzz me somzz feedbakzzzz and interestinzz articlezz if youzz have anyzz.

(CSOG stands for CHRISTIAN SOLDIER OF GOD)
CSOG@aol.in

WHOZZZZ ME

christiansoldier — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:50:01 +0000

WHOZZZZ ME

HI YAAAAAAA DUDEZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WAZZZZ UP
I AMZZZZZZZ FINALLYZ ONLINEZZZ AND IZZZZZZZZZZ BLOGGINGZZZZZZZZZZZ ON DA INTERNETZZZ
I GOT DA INTERNETZZZZZZZZZZ CONNECTIONZZZZZZ AT MY HOUZZZ
SO IZZZ EXPRESSINZZZZZZ MEZ SELFZZZZZZZ AND MYZZZ FREEDOMZZZZZOF SPEECHZZZZZZZZ ON DA INTERNETZZZ DA GREATZ INFORMATIONZZZZ SUPERZ HIGHWAYZZ OF DA 21ST CENTURYZZZ

This is the first time izzz blogging and the first time izzz expressing myself on the internetizz like to write Computer programs, right now i am coding in Java.
izz like Java caus its platform independent and has many resources and free source but what worries irritates and troubles me right now is that they do not have unsigned datatypes , izzz also like C and C++. Izzz interested in Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic , neural networks, data mining machine learning etc (that kind of stuff) Izzz lovzz programming and am designing a AI music composer that automatically composes music by searching for patterns and also interested in compression techniques and reducing entropy and compression and other weird projects like thatI like watching war movies ww2 movies. And war dogfights and ww2 stories on discovery history channel etc Izzz also likzz Classical music like Chopin Beethoven etc etc (that kind of stuff you know) , I also listen to Christian Gospel music it inspires and uplifts me. I was never a Bible reader. The only Bible I ever read before this was the Children’s Bible when I was a child because it had many pictures But now I am 24 yrs and I guess its never to late to begin Izzz lovezz to read the Bible

read the book of Psalms when in time of trouble God saves those who cry out to him in distress because God said “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU FOR I HAVE CARVED YOU ON THE PALM OF MY HAND”

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.So remember to fight the good fight and run the long race for the Lord

Pleazzz feelzz freeeeeezzz to sendzzz me somzz feedbakzzzz and interestinzz articlezz if youzz have anyzz.

(CSOG stands for CHRISTIAN SOLDIER OF GOD)
CSOG@aol.in

SO HOW DID I BECOME A CHRISTIAN

christiansoldier — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:39:33 +0000

##################
SO HOW DID I BECOME A CHRISTIAN
##################

***********************************************************I the lord of of sea and sky i have heard my people cry,
all who dwell in dark and sin my hand will save
I who make the stars of night i will make their darkness bright
who will bear my light to them whom shall i send.
I will break their hearts of stone give give them hearts for love alone
I will speak my word to them whom shall I send
WHOM SHALL I SEND.

Here I am Lord is it I lord I have heard you calling in the night
I will go Lord, If you Lead me , I will hold your people in my heart.
***********************************************************

I was raised Catholic and my parents forced me to go to church attend mass listen to scripture (even if it made no sense to me) receive holy communion and go to confirmation but I thought it was all rubbish and boring and I hated and was bored about Christianity as it made no sense to me.I was not Anti-Christian but resurrection of Christ and eternal life did seem to be quite far fetched, crazy and wacky to believe in and I thought it to be false and was invented by the early Christians. I did not read or Study the Bible all my life as I grew up as I did not understand anything in it and it seemed to be like Greek or Egyptian or some strange undecipherable foreign language which made absolutely no sense to me.

back then before I became a born again Christian when I was seeking the truth in Life I was in college studying and in the college library reading philosophy, psychology,quantum physics,astronomy,Einsteins relativity etc I became intrested in new age philosophies and I was surfing the internet I came upon a New Age Buddhist website in which the author tried to explain Christianity the author made these claims against Christianity in order to prove that his religion was “The Truth” and Christianity was a “False doctrine”.

the claims by the Buddhist author:

1 Jesus had never experienced enlightenment, or Jesus was never enlightened (enlightenment as defined by the Buddhists).

2 Claims that the crucifixion of a man was not physically possible as the hands could not support the weight of the body and would tear and come apart so the crucifixion story in the Bible is “false”.(or the Crucifixion has no medical basis, but this assumption is false since many detailed medical studies by experienced doctors about the crucifixion )

3 Jesus Christ was “never resurrected” and is “dead”.

I read all of this coolly and calmly and it never dawned on me that this guy had the same beliefs as me about Jesus Christ but strangely all of this started pestering my mind to look deeper and seek the truth and images of Jesus Christ’s suffering being tortured crying to God and being nailed to the cross and dying on the cross started coming to my deep thoughts. I thought all of this was kind of wacky, weird and strange to me (but later I realized that it was God calling me to seek the Truth and find the way).

So I finally decided to look into the matter and I got out my dusty Bible to read and I decided to study the resurrection of Jesus Christ as a matter of curiosity not of faith or the defense of the Christian faith.

My long journey really began by visiting an Anti-Christian New Age web site.

It never dawned on me that in doing so I would discover the secrets of the Bible, I would become a Bible reader and I would become a believer in Christ and a born again Christian just by reading and studying the Bible and inquiring into the Way the Truth and the Life.I never knew that I would be preaching the gospel to everyone, it just happened just like that…………strange….God works in strange ways.

Seeking the truth has led me to Christ, this is it I have written all of my experiences, I hope it will help someone who is seeking the truth too, if I can touch just one Anti-Christian soul who hates Christ and bring him to the Truth and show him Christ through all of this then I will consider my mission done.

TO ALL CHRISTIAN BROTHERS IN CHRIST :

I live and walk now as a Christian and not a sinner because of Christ our saviour and you Christians that have walked in the faith before me for i have visited your websites and read and studied the message and i have come to walk with Christ in THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE.I have not walked alone in my long journey home for you were there with me along with Christ,and your strong faith in Christ has made my faith grow in Christ.

Your faith has deepened my faith in Christ and now together we can preach Christ to all nations and tribes,yes indeed WE CAN for today with modern communications technologies like radio,space satellites,computers,television and the internet,all magical like devices to the ancient Bibilical world,we can preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to ALL nations of this earth.Today it is of little surprise to us Christians that we can preach the gospel this way, BUT it also would not be a surprise to the ancient Christians who walked before us,for it was already written in the Bible that all of these things would someday come to pass,that the gospel of the Kingdom of God IN THE END shall be preached in ALL THE WORLD FOR A WITNESS UNTO ALL NATIONS and ALL people shall come to know of his glory and salvation.

Do not be ashamed be proud of your Christian faith stand out in the crowd even if you are just one, you can change many through the gospel of Christ.

SEEK THE TRUTH FOR THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE (My Revelations with Jesus Christ)

christiansoldier — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:28:52 +0000

SEEK THE TRUTH FOR THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

(My Revelations with Jesus Christ) > THE EXPERIENCE OF JESUS CHRIST
> QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRIST BY NON-CHRISTIANS
> THE NECESSITY OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION
> THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
> A BIBILICAL STUDY OF THE EXPERIENCE

THE EXPERIENCE, TORTURE, CRUCIFIXION,ENLIGHTENMENT AND RESURECTION OF JESUS CHRIST###########
For more articles on the details of crucifixion please do a google search on “medical study of the crucifixion” where you will find medical studies of the crucifixion by doctors.

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He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he did not open his mouth.(Isaiah 53,7 )the Gospel writers were satisfied to only briefly report on the scourging and crucifixion of Jesus in order to give more attention to the way he touched people with forgiveness and healing while alive and the way he inspired his followers by his resurrection, shouldn’t we pay attention to their priorities? “For all your good deeds”, says the Christian dogmatist, “are like filthy rags” — (Isaiah 64:6).Jesus’ physical death on the cross is the central message – the central key from which all true Christianity is based on. Without Jesus’ physical death on the cross, there is no Christianity, there is no eternal salvation for any of us, and there is no heaven or any meaningful afterlife after we die and cross over. There would only be hell left on earth or hell left in hell. There would be no heaven for any of us to be able to enter into once we die and cross over.
That is why Jesus had to specifically die by being crucified with nails. Back at the time that He came to our earth, being crucified by nails was the worst form of physical death that the Roman government could impose on any criminal.Jesus therefore had to die a maximum kind of death. This was the price tag that God had to pay to get us back to Himself. That is why it could not have been a crucifixion by just using plain ropes.That is why He could not just die of old age, or of a heart attack, or by some type of violent attack by being stabbed to death, etc. It had to be by the worst form of physical death that was being used back in those days – and being crucified by nails was the worst form of capital punishment that anyone could undergo.

THE EXPERIENCE OF JESUS CHRISTTHE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANEThe physical passion of Christ began in Gethsemane. Of the many aspects of His initial suffering, the one which is of particular physiological interest is the bloody sweat. Interestingly enough, the physician, St. Luke, is the only evangelist to mention this occurrence. He says, (Luke 22:44 KJV) “And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground”
Every attempt,ruse (trick) imaginable has been used by modern scholars to explain away the phenomenon of bloody sweat, apparently under the mistaken impression that it simply does not occur. A great deal of effort could be saved by consulting the medical literature.

Though very rare, the phenomenon of hematidrosis, or bloody sweat, is well documented. Under great emotional stress, tiny capillaries in the sweat glands can break, thus mixing blood with sweat. This process alone could have produced marked weakness and possible shock.St Luke’s account is consistent with modern medical knowledge: Jesus was in emotional torment so intense that his body could not bear it.” However, Luke only says that Jesus’ sweat was like blood as it fell to the ground, not that it was mixed with blood.There is no evidence that the early Christians preached the gore of the cross in an effort to sicken or shame those they were trying to convert.

There in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was under about as much anxiety and physical stress from an emotional standpoint that a human could experience, knowing that in a few hours He would be delivered into one of the most agonizing and brutal deaths ever recorded in history.
On the night of His betrayal, while Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemene, blood oozed out through His sweat glands. He was experiencing then the emotional trauma of the eminent separation. Hemathidrosis is a very rare medical phenomenon that’s been reported about twelve to fourteen times in world medical literature and is only seen in people who are under tremendous stress and agony.In hemathidrosis, a person actually exudes blood from every sweat gland in their body. Each sweat gland has a small capillary that surrounds it, and in hemathidrosis, that small capillary ruptures. As it bursts, a person actually bleeds into their sweat glands. Instead of perspiring sweat, if you will, they actually perspire blood. The Bible in Luke gives an excellent description of this phenomenon, saying that the Lord’s sweat became as great drops of blood. Indeed, every pore of Jesus’ body oozed and drained blood.Although Jesus’ betrayal and arrest are important portions of the passion story, the next event in the account which is significant from a medical perspective is His trial before the Sanhedrin and Caiaphas, the High Priest.

THE ARRESTIt was in this condition that Jesus faced the first physical abuse: punches and slaps to the face and head while blindfolded. Unable to anticipate the blows, Jesus was badly bruised, his mouth and eyes possibly injured. The psychological effects of the false trials should not be underestimated. Consider that Jesus faced them bruised, dehydrated, exhausted.
After the arrest in the middle of the night, Jesus was next brought before the Sanhedrin and Caiphus, the High Priest; it is here that the first physical trauma was inflicted. A soldier struck Jesus across the face for remaining silent when questioned by Caiphus. The palace guards then blindfolded Him and mockingly taunted Him to identify them as they each passed by, spat upon Him, and struck Him in the face. In the early morning, battered and bruised, dehydrated, and exhausted from a sleepless night, Jesus is taken across the Praetorium of the Fortress Antonia, the seat of government of the Procurator of Judea, Pontius Pilate.You are, of course, familiar with Pilate’s action in attempting to pass responsibility to Herod Antipas, the Tetrarch of Judea. Jesus apparently suffered no physical mistreatment at the hands of Herod and was returned to Pilate. It was then, in response to the outcry of the mob, that Pilate ordered Barabbas(a criminal murderer and thief ) released and condemned Jesus to scourging and crucifixion.

THE SCOURGING

One physician who studied Roman beatings said, ” As the flogging continue, the lacerations would tear into the underlying skeletal muscles and produce quivering ribbons of bleeding flesh.” A third-century historian by the name of Eusebius described a flogging by saying, “The sufferer’s veins were laid bare, and the very muscles, sinews and bowels of the victim were open to exposure.”In the time of Christ Roman society was so degraded and paganistic that their driving passion was to search out and indulge every conceivable source of pleasure. They found great pleasure in inflicting pain on others and looked for any excuse to do so.The crucifixion was designed in every detail to cause the most horrific tortures during the process of death. Flogging was a legal preliminary to every Roman execution,and only women and Roman senators or soldiers (except in cases of desertion) were exempt. The usual instrument was a short whip (flagellum or flagel- lum) with several single or braided leather thongs of variable lengths, in which small iron balls or sharp pieces of sheep bones were tied at intervals Occasionally, staves also were used. For scourging, the man was stripped of his clothing, and his hands were tied to an upright post. The back, buttocks, and legs were flogged either by two soldiers or by one who alternated positions. The severity of the scourging depended on the disposition of the lictors and was intended to weaken the victim to a state just short of collapse or death.

After the scourging, the soldiers often taunted their victim.Preparations for Jesus’ scourging were carried out at Caesar’s orders. The prisoner was stripped of His clothing and His hands tied to a post above His head. Soldiers prepared condemned men for the cross by scourging – 39 lashes from a whip called the “Cat-o-nine-tails.” This was a rod about a foot long with nine leather straps. Attached to the end of each strap was a piece of broken bone or rock with sharp edges. The aim of the scourging was to remove every bit of flesh from the back without killing the man. This was done to intensify the pain and torture of the crucifixion.

Scourging was such a horrible torture that Roman citizens were forbade to be scourged – only slaves and traders could be scourged. It was one of the worst punishments the Romans had to inflict on a human body. Typically, the victim was stripped completely naked and tied by his wrists to a post or wall with his back exposed. He was then whipped from the back of his arms, down his shoulders and back, across his bare buttocks, down the back of his legs and calves, all the way down to his heels by two Roman legionnaires, one on either side, alternating blows.The historical accounts tell us that the traditional scourging consisted of thirty-nine lashes. If you can, imagine two large, strong, burly Roman legionnaires (someone that we would equate to say, a pro football player today) with a wooden handled whip about eighteen inches long that had nine leather thongs, something akin to what we would call a cat-o-nine tails. The nine leather thongs were about six to seven feet long, and at the end of each thong was some lead shod, like a sinker you’d use to go fishing.

The Roman legionnaire stepped forward with the flagrum, or flagellum, in his hand. This was a short whip consisting of several heavy, leather thongs with two small balls of lead attached near the ends of each. The heavy whip was brought down with full force again and again across Jesus’ shoulders, back, and legs. At first the weighted thongs cut through the skin only. Then, as the blows continued, they cut deeper into the subcutaneous tissues, producing first an oozing of blood from the capillaries and veins of the skin and finally spurting arterial bleeding from vessels in the underlying muscles.The small balls of lead first produced large deep bruises that were broken open by subsequent blows. Also attached to the lead were pieces of sheep and cattle bone. The idea of those small pieces of bone was that, as the Roman legionnaire would beat his victim, snapping his wrist would cause the weight of the metal shod to dig into the back, while the sheep/ cattle bone cut the skin. As the sheep/cattle bone lacerated the skin and actually dug in under the surface of the skin, the skilled and trained legionnaire could whip his wrist and literally lift small shards of skeletal muscle out through the skin, leaving small ribbons of muscle, about two inches long, hanging through the skin. “So with one lash, one swing of the whip, a total of nine lacerations could be inflicted on the victim, each laceration two inches long and three quarters to one inch deep.

The idea of the lead weight was to lift the skeletal muscle out. Imagine having a cut on your skin with an inch of muscle pulled out through the cut, exposed to the night air. We see this sometimes in stab wounds or when people are stabbed with sharp objects like sticks and the muscles are pulled back through the skin. The purpose this served in the scourging was, that as the victim hung on the cross in the heat of the day, birds could alight on him and actually peck and pull at these pieces of muscle, just like a robin trying to pull a worm out of the ground.Finally, the skin of the back was hanging in long ribbons, and the entire area was an unrecognizable mass of torn, bleeding tissue. When it was determined by the centurion in charge that the prisoner was near death, the beating was finally stopped. Why Jesus didn’t bleed to death. And again, you have to remember that this was done in the cold night air, the very thing that caused his blood vessels and capillaries to constrict and actually cause the blood loss from this beating to be minimal.
We know that Jesus was beaten in the face and head as He was mocked. By the time the Lord was crucified after His beatings, it’s almost certain that both of His eyes were swollen shut and no doubt His nose was pouring blood. Again you’d ask why Jesus didn’t bleed to death. And again, you have to remember that this was done in the cold night air, the very thing that caused his blood vessels and capillaries to constrict and actually cause the blood loss from this beating to be minimal.

THE CROWN OF THORNS

The half-fainting Jesus was then untied and allowed to slump to the stone pavement, wet with his own blood. During Jesus’ trials and humiliation we also know that a crown of thorns was plaited and placed on His head.
The Roman soldiers saw a great joke in the provincial Jew claiming to be a King. They throw a robe across His shoulders and place a stick in His hand for a scepter. They still need a crown to make their travesty complete. The soldiers taunted Jesus, making fun of Him for claiming to be the King of the Jews so they formed a crown out of reeds of thorns.A small bundle of flexible branches covered with long thorns, (commonly used for firewood) are plaited into the shape of a crown and this pressed into his scalp again there was copious bleeding as the thorns pierced the very vascular tissue. They pressed the crown on His head so hard the scripture says the thorns pierced His skull. The soldiers then placed a scarlet robe on His back to simulate the robe of a king.

Again there is copious bleeding (the scalp being one of the most vascular areas of the body.) After mocking Him and striking Him across the face, the soldiers take the stick from His hand and strike Him across the head, driving the thorns deeper into His scalp. Finally, they tire of their sadistic sport and the robe is torn from His back. This had already become adherent to the clots of blood and serum in the wounds, and its removal, just as in the careless removal of a surgical bandage, causes excruciating pain….almost as though He were again being whipped —- and the wounds again begin to bleed.

In Christ’s case, this was done to mock Him as being King of the Jews. In Israel these thorns are about an inch and one half to two inches long, and they’re as sharp as an ice pick. The custom was to take a small three or four foot long reed and slap the thorns on top of the head of the victim in order to drive the thorns into the skull. Those thorns laid upon someone’s head and then tapped down with a reed were hard enough to penetrate the outer table or the outer bone of the skull. Imagine the bleeding from three or four hundred puncture wounds in the scalp and around the forehead from these thorns.So, before Jesus’ crucifixion even began, His face has been beaten to a pulp, no doubt His eyes were swollen shut, His nose is bloodied, and I remind you that every pore in His skin has wept and oozed blood. Every visible surface on the good Lord Jesus, was covered and caked with dried blood. And His back and His arms and His buttocks and the back of His legs were literally torn to shreds from the scourging. This was the shape Jesus was in before they gave Him His cross to head out to Calvary.”

Jesus did not die from shock secondary to blood loss. There is nothing that Jesus said on the cross and nothing in the description of the crucifixion in any of the gospels that gives us any idea that Jesus was in shock before He died. Jesus never lost consciousness. There’s nothing in the description of His trials, His scourging or His time on the cross that tells us He was incoherent mentally or lost consciousness.(Jesus was a Carpenter by profession and led a rough heavy duty life from the beginning )

Something else, physical stress – everything the Bible tells us about the life of Jesus is that He was a healthy, early thirties male who lived a rough life. He didn’t have a home, He probably slept outside, and He walked every where He went. He was probably, as we would say, as tough as a pine knot. Jesus was a hardy young man, very strong and stout physically, and that there was nothing weak or puny about Him from a medical standpoint, prior to the crucifixion. As far as emotional stress, Jesus never had any kind of nervous breakdown. He was certainly under stress in the garden of Gethsemane, but nothing that He said on the cross gave any indication whatsoever that He was decomposing mentally, even during his gravest hours on the cross.

GOLGOTHAIn deference to Jewish custom, the Romans apparently returned His garments. The heavy patibulum of the cross was tied across His shoulders. The procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion began its slow journey along the route which we know today as the Via Dolorosa.In spite of Jesus’ efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious loss of blood, was too much. He stumbled and fell. The rough wood of the beam gouged into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tried to rise, but human muscles had been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to proceed with the crucifixion, selected a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus followed, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock. The 650-yard journey from the Fortress Antonia to Golgotha was finally completed. The prisoner was again stripped of His clothing except for a loin cloth which was allowed the Jews.THE CRUCIFIXION

The severe scourging, with its intense pain and appreciable blood loss, most probably left Jesus in a preshock state. Moreover, hematidrosis had rendered his skin particularly tender. The physical and mental abuse meted out by the Jews and the Romans, as well as the lack of food, water, and sleep, also contributed to his generally weakened state. Therefore, even before the actual crucifixion, Jesus’ physical condition was at least serious and possibly critical.

Crucifixion was a form of execution refined by the Romans to a precise art. It was carefully conceived to produce a slow death with maximum pain. It was a public spectacle intended to deter other would-be criminals. It was a death to be feared.

Although the Romans did not invent crucifixions they perfected it as a form of torture and capital punishment that was designed to produce a slow death with maximum pain and suffering.It was one of the most disgraceful and cruel methods of execution and usually was reserved only for slaves, foreigners, revolutionaries, and the vilest of criminals.

Roman law usually protected Roman citizens from crucifixion, except perhaps in the ease of desertion by soldiers.

In its earliest form in Persia, the victim was either tied to a tree or was tied to or impaled on an upright post, usually to keep the guilty victim’s feet from touching holy ground.Only later was a true cross used; it was characterized by an upright post (stipes) and a horizontal crossbar (patibulum), and it had several variations.Although archaeologycal and historical evidence strongly indicates that the low Tau cross was preferred by the Romans in Palestine at the time of Christ crucifixion practices often varied in a given geographic region and in accordance with the imagination of the executioners, and the Latin cross and other forms also may have been used.

It was customary for the condemned man to carry his own cross. The crucifixion began. Jesus was offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic, pain-reliving mixture. He refused the drink. Simon was ordered to place the patibulum on the ground, and Jesus was quickly thrown backward, with His shoulders against the wood. The legionnaire felt for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drove a heavy, square wrought-iron nail through the wrist and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moved to the other side and repeated the action, being careful not to pull the arms too tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum was then lifted into place at the top of the stipes4, and the titulus5 reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” was nailed into place. The left foot was pressed backward against the right foot. With both feet extended, toes down, a nail was driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim was now crucified.

The crosses were usually in two parts. First, the cross bar, that from very good historical accounts can be estimated to have a weight of 125 to 150 pounds, and to be about the size of a cross tie, this was a rough, unplaned, unfinished piece of wood with splinters and spikes and rough places in it, just like you would expect to see in a railroad cross tie.

When the victim’s final trial and condemnation had taken place, to maximize the shame and suffering, the custom was to tie the cross bar to the victim, and have him carry it through the city from his point of condemnation to his point of execution. Part of the custom was that many times these people would be forced to stagger through the streets after being scourged and beaten, with the cross bar tied to their arms, and to add to the ultimate humiliation, the victim had to bear the cross naked.Imagine how humiliating that would be in this day and time, how humiliating and agonizing it must have been for Jesus.Jesus was forced to carry His own cross to the hill upon which He would die. The people He came to love and save stood on both sides cursing and jeering Him. The cross was so heavy He fell beneath the load. A man was pulled from the crowd to carry the cross. The crucifixion itself is unmatched throughout history for the severity of torment it brought. The condemned man was affixed to the cross with nails driven through his wrists and feet.

The heavy patibulum of the cross is tied across His shoulders, and the procession of the condemned Christ, two thieves, and the execution detail of Roman soldiers headed by a centurion begins its slow journey along the Via Dolorosa. In spite of His efforts to walk erect, the weight of the heavy wooden beam, together with the shock produced by copious blood loss, is too much. He stumbles and falls. The rough wood of the beam gouges into the lacerated skin and muscles of the shoulders. He tries to rise, but human muscles have been pushed beyond their endurance. The centurion, anxious to get on with the crucifixion, selects a stalwart North African onlooker, Simon of Cyrene, to carry the cross. Jesus follows, still bleeding and sweating the cold, clammy sweat of shock, until the 650 yard journey from the fortress Antonia to Golgotha is finally completed.

Jesus is offered wine mixed with myrrh, a mild analgesic mixture. He refuses to drink. Simon is ordered to place the patibulum on the ground and Jesus quickly thrown backward 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 and deep into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side and repeats the action being careful not to pull the arms to tightly, but to allow some flexion and movement. The patibulum is then lifted in place at the top of the stipes and the titulus reading “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” is nailed in place.

The left foot is now 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 moderately flexed. The Victim is now crucified. As He slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arms to explode in the brain — the nails in the writs are putting pressure on the median nerves.

As He pushes Himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, He places His full weight on the nail through His feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward. Hanging by his arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostal muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled.

Jesus fights to raise Himself in order to get even one short 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 the life-giving oxygen. It was undoubtedly during these periods that He uttered the seven short sentences recorded: The first, looking down at the Roman soldiers throwing dice for His seamless garment, “FATHER,FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”

The second, to the penitent thief, “Today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” The third, looking down at the terrified, grief-stricken adolescent John — the beloved Apostle — he said, “Behold thy mother.” Then, looking to His mother Mary, “Woman behold thy son.”

The fourth cry is from the beginning of the 22nd Psalm, “MY GOD,MY GOD, WHY HAS THOU FORSAKEN ME ?” Hours of limitless pain, cycles of twisting, joint-rending cramps, intermittent partial asphyxiation, searing pain where tissue is torn from His lacerated back as He moves up and down against the rough timber. Then another agony begins…A terrible crushing pain deep in the chest as the pericardium slowly fills with serum and begins to compress the heart.

One remembers again the 22nd PSALM, the 14th verse: “I AM POURED OUT LIKE WATER, AND ALL MY BONES ARE OUT OF JOINT; MY HEART IS LIKE WAX; IT IS MELTED IN THE MIDST OF MY BOWELS.” 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 tissue; the tortured lungs are making a frantic effort to gasp in small gulps of air. The markedly dehydrated tissues send their flood of stimuli to the brain.

Jesus gasps His fifth cry, “I THIRST.” One remembers another verse from the prophetic 22nd Psalm: “MY STRENGTH IS DRIED UP LIKE A POTSHERD; AND MY TONGUE CLEAVETH TO MY JAWS; AND THOU HAS BROUGHT ME INTO THE DUST OF DEATH.”

A sponge soaked in posca, the cheap, sour wine which is the staple drink of the Roman legionaries, is lifted to His lips. He apparently doesn’t take any of the liquid. The body of Jesus is now in extremes, and He can feel the chill of death creeping through His tissues. This realization brings out His sixth words, possibly little more than a tortured whisper, “IT IS FINISHED.” His mission of atonement has completed. Finally He can allow his body to die.

With one last surge of strength, he once again presses His torn feet against the nail, straightens His legs, takes a deeper breath, and utters His seventh and last cry, “FATHER ! INTO THY HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT.” The rest you know. In order that the Sabbath not be profaned, the Jews asked that the condemned men be dispatched and removed from the crosses. The common method of ending a crucifixion was by crurifracture, the breaking of the bones of the legs.

This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. The legs of the two thieves were broken, but when the soldiers came to Jesus they saw that this was unnecessary. Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. The 34th verse of the 19th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John reports: “AND IMMEDIATELY THERE CAME OUT BLOOD AND WATER.” This is consistent with the spear blow to the heart (especially from the right side, the traditional site of the wound). Rupturing the pericardium (the sac surrounding the heart) released a flow of watery serum, followed by blood as the heart was pierced. That is, there was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving postmortem evidence that Our Lord died not the usual crucifixion death by suffocation, but of heart failure (a broken heart) due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium.

The scripture says that Jesus carried all the sin of mankind on Him. In that moment when all the sin of the world, past, present, and future, was focused on the heart of Jesus the most horrible thing of all happened. The Holy and Righteous God could not have fellowship and intimacy with sin. Jesus was separated from His Father. He was abandoned. He was alone. The Father had turned His back on the Son. Jesus cried out, “MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME ?”.

Jesus died with the sin of the world on His heart. But did sin kill Him? No!! Before He died He said, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” Sin did not kill Him. He gave up His life. This was His gift of love to all. For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
We see everywhere, especially on the internet, mockery, false science and clever sophistry with one goal – to expunge this story from the record. It won’t happen. The more they try, the more it comes into the public eye.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
AND AFTER THIS STUDY OF THE EXPERIENCE OF JESUS CHRIST YOU STILL ASK HOW AND WHY WAS JESUS CHRIST ENLIGHTENED? …………………well let me explain.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

THE ENLIGHTENMENT OF JESUS CHRIST

When a human undergoes immense intense torture like Jesus went through in the GARDEN, the ARREST, the SCOURGING with the CROWN OF THORNS , ON THE MARCH TO GOLGOTHA and finally the CRUCIFIXION time slows down.

THE PHENOMENON OF TIME DIALATION OR THE SLOWING DOWN OF TIME

Time is different for everybody according to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity: TIME IS NOT ABSOULUTE (absolute time means the same time for everyone for everyone as scientist Newton (Classical Mechanics) and people who did not understand the flow of time believed), Time is different for you for me and everyone else depending upon the experiences and conditions in our Life and environment.Let us take an example now at this moment if you go out for a party and chill out, relax, listen to music, dance and enjoy with your friends and I am doing some hard heavy work like carrying a large heavy stone on my back on a hot sunny afternoon and walking about the place whose time will be slower yours or mine ? ……….well the answer is mine, my time will run slower than yours , hours enjoying in the party will be like a few minutes to you , but for me every minute i carry that heavy stone in the hot sun it will be like hours to me. So by the time the party is over and by the time i am exhausted carrying the heavy stone i will have gained much more time than you and have experienced life in much more detail than you have.When time slows down, this is usually associated with some extreme state of stress. When time speeds up, this is usually associated with the opposite, or a state of enjoyment.

The first is trying to avoid something and the second is in a state of fully embracing whatever gives us the enjoyment. Remember what Albert Einstein(Special and General Relativity) said about time and the human experience, that when you are sitting with a loved one hours will seem like minutes, but when you are sitting on a hot stove minutes will seem like hours.If you ask an accident victim what happened a few seconds before, during and after the accident he will be able to give you a whole long summary in detail of what exactly happened but if you ask the same person of his experience during a party he will describe it in a few words.

Think of a movie on television it has 25 to 30 frames per second (fps) when time slows down it will be like the movie is running at 10,5,2 frames per second you experience it in more detail, that’s what happens when one is tortured or is in stressful dangerous situations like in accidents. During accidents many victims have reported that time slows down and they experience each and every moment by moment slowly, a sort of TIME DIALATION occurs a slowing down of time.

So what Jesus Christ went through in the GARDEN,the ARREST,the SCOURGING with the CROWN OF THORNS , ON THE MARCH TO GOLGOTHA and finally the CRUCIFIXION he experienced his life,his time and human existance in great DETAIL, Jesus Christ’s time or experience while being tortured was slowed down or stretched or the phenomenon of TIME DIALATION occurred with Jesus and that was the nature of his experience, that was the nature of the enlightenment of Christ. It was enlightenment in detail with , courage , strength, character, will, spirit, fortitute, stamina,endurance,passion and determination.

Jesus Christ practiced what he preached because his beliefs were tried and tested on the cross to see if his beliefs would fail.Thats why Christianity was tried and tested on the cross with blood and suffering of Jesus Christ.That is why JESUS CHRIST WAS THE ONLY PERSON TO HAVE REACHED THE HIGHEST AND DEEPEST STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT OF MANKIND.

That is why Christians revere the passion, the Cross, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.This is THE TRUE and THE HIGHEST AND DEEPEST SATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT that is attained by a soulENLIGHTENMENT is NOT getting a “high” with taking drugs, having sex or drinking alcohol as some of the misguided New Agers preach and claim, ENLIGHTENMENT is NOT sitting calmly and peacefully and meditating in an air conditioned room or peacefully sitting under a tree and meditating with the cool wind blowing in your face and saying that you are “ENLIGHTENED”. There is no ENLIGHTENMENT without suffering, pain, trauma and torture (both psychological mental and physical), the immense and intense torture that Jesus Christ went through on the cross.
THATS WHY JESUS CHRIST WAS THE ONLY MAN TO HAVE REACHED ENLIGHTENMENT, THE HIGHEST DEEPEST STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT OF MANKIND THROUGH THE INTENSE SUFFERING TORTURE AND CRUCIFIXION.JESUS LIVED HIS HUMAN EXPERIENCE TO THE FULLEST WHILE ON THIS EARTH.

JESUS CHRIST TRANCENDED THE WEAKINESS OF THE FLESH , THE PAIN OF THE FLESH,HIS FLESH WAS HUMAN JUST LIKE OURS (as Jesus was a human like us and suffered just like us),REMEMBER THE BIBLE SAYS THAT THE FLESH IS SINFUL AND WEAK BUT THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS STRONG AND EVERLASTING, JESUS CHRIST CRUCIFIED AND DESTROYED HIS FLESH AND BY THE CRUCIFIXION AND TORTURE IT SHOWED THAT HIS SPIRIT OF GOD WAS STRONGER THAN THE PAIN OF THE WEAK FLESH, JESUS CHRIST PROVED HIS BELIEF,PERSERVERANCE,WILL AND SPIRIT OF GOD WAS STRONGER THAN THE EXTREME TORTURE, SUFFERING AND CRUCIFIXION OF THE FLESH.

SO BECAUSE OF CHRIST WE KNOW THAT THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS STRONGER THAN THE WEAK AND FRAIL HUMAN FLESH.

THE BIBLE ALSO SAYS THAT IN OUR SUFFERING AND PAIN GOD DRAWS NEARER TO US I had heard this “First Fruits of the Dead” before but I never deeply reflected upon it until a Hindu author on the internet asked the question why do Christians believe that only Christ was “The first fruits of the dead” (this is my explanation to that)Only Jesus Christ went through hell by the suffering and Crucifixion Jesus was the only one to have reached the HIGHEST AND DEEPEST STATE OF ENLIGHTENMENT OF ALL MANKIND AND THATS WHY JESUS CHRIST WAS THE ONLY ONE TO BE RESSURECTED BY GOD FROM THE DEAD HE WAS THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE DEAD.

The IMAGE OF GOD (IOG) in Christ

Thus suffering on the cross Christ made maximum use of the IOG within him. He made maximum use of his human experience in detail with time dilation and reached the highest deepest state of enlightenment of Mankind.

Jesus reached the highest deepest experience that man could reach towards the spirit of God AND THAT IS WHY GOD RAISED JESUS CHRIST FROM THE DEAD.

John 11:25 “Jesus said to her, ‘I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE. HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL LIVE, EVEN THOUGH HE DIES.”

Jesus’ resurrection means that we are no longer under the dominion of death and more importantly the power of sin. We are now alive in God through what Jesus did. “For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:9-11).

The resurrection of Christ is the linchpin of the Christian faith — the historical event upon which Christian doctrine stands or falls. The apostle Paul makes this clear in his first letter to the Corinthians: But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty. … For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone (1 Cor. 15:13-14, 19).

John 10:11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.Romans 5:7 For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. John 15:13 GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDSIN CHRIST THE LORD I PLACE MY TRUST
AND FIND MY GLORY IN THE POWER OF THE CROSS
IN EVERY VICTORY LET IT BE SAID BY ME
MY SOURCE OF STRENGTH
MY SOURCE OF HOPE
IS CHRIST THE LORD

FOR IF WE ENDURE WITH HIM SO SHALL WE TRIUMP WITH HIM.SEEK THE TRUTH AND YOU SHALL FIND AND KNOW THE

TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

QUESTIONS ABOUT CHRIST BY NON-CHRISTIANSChristians in the west have many common misconceptions of the Hindus that they are Anti-Christian, some of them are but most of them are not, because as i have observed Hindus too seek the truth by studying scripture however this is not the case with most Muslims as they are forced to believe whatever is written in the Koran about Jesus Christ( even though it is false I will address the beliefs of Islam and examine it later)whether they like it or not.A hindu who belived in Christ and accepted Christ as his saviour even preached to me the gospel of Christ and the healing power of Christ.I my opinion most Hindus really appreciate the gospel of Christ and believe in it. Also some Hindus too misunderstand Christianity and that’s why they attack it.

I will also address these Questions(which also let me to further study the Bible deeply) by a website I visited by a Hindu author who did not understand Jesus Christ

>>>>>>Q 1 What Creator and Ruler of the infinite universe should be born in a manger, should suffer from hunger and thirst, should be tempted by the devil, chastised and scourged by ordinary mortals and forced to ignominious death upon the cross!’ >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Jesus had warned his disciples that he was going to be killed. He seems to have seen himself as carrying out a role described by the prophet Isaiah in a set of passages often calling the “Suffering Servant” passages. These passages described a person who would suffer on behalf of all of us, bearing the punishments that we deserved because of our sins. As a result, we would be reconciled to God. Jesus quoted Isaiah in discussions with his disciples. He was particularly explicit in the evening right before he was arrested, referring to his blood being shed to establish a new covenant, for the forgiveness of sins. Forgiveness of sins is one of the key marks of Christianity. Christ died to seal our forgiveness by God.For He came to save all through means of Himself Phillipians 2:6-8: 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even death on a cross. God voluntarily accepted the human condition. Since the divine nature is unchangeable, in doing so he wouldn’t abandon his divinity, but would accept human limitation. So what took the Lord’s life? No man did. No man, no Roman centurion, no cross took Jesus’ life.

He was able to do something – he laid down his life. “The reason my Father loves me is that I LAY DOWN MY LIFE – ONLY TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN.NO ONE TAKES IT FROM ME, BUT I LAY IT DOWN OF MY OWN ACCORD. I HAVE AUTHORITY TO LAY IT DOWN AND AUTHORITY TO TAKE IT UP AGAIN. THIS COMMAND I RECEIVED FROM MY FATHER.”
(NIV) John 10:17,18

>>>Q 2 The sufferings of the body did not affect Jesus Christ. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>WHEN GOD CAME DOWN AND BECAME ONE OF US Jesus Christ is one with God the father , Jesus said “I and the father are one and no one comes to the father but through me” , now think about it, Jesus was divine yet because it was a mission that God gave Jesus he chose to become human like each and every one of us,so Jesus felt pain and sufferings like each and everyone of us.

So although Jesus was divine and from God it was God’s will for Jesus to come down on earth and live and suffer and die for our sins LIKE A HUMAN BEING , now humans feel pain and suffer, that means even if someone beat Jesus or scourged him he would suffer pain just like us so Jesus was a link between us and God.2 Corinthians 5:18-19: 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

Colossians 1:15-20: Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; 16 for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

These suggest not that Christ was God in a direct way, but that God was working through him. In the second passage, he is the human “image” of God.

>>>Q 3 “Jesus Christ was only a reincarnation (or rebirth) of someone else, others came before Christ” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jesus Christ said that he was the FIRST AND THE LAST the ALPHA AND THE OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE END, so Jesus Christ WAS NOT A REINCARNATION OF SOMEONE ELSE. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith theLord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. “Remember that on the cross Jesus Christ said “IT IS FINISHED” So it started and finished with Jesus Christ.

THE NECESSITY OF JESUS’ RESURRECTION by Arthur C. Custance, Ph.D. (I picked this up from the internet)

Why should the preaching of the Gospel seem so foolish? In writing to the Corinthians Paul said that preaching Christ crucified was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks (1 Corinthians 1:23). I suppose that it was a stumbling block to the Jews because the idea of their Messiah ending up as a criminal before men and accursed in the sight of God (Galatians 3:13) was completely foreign to everything that they had anticipated. Even the disciples found this difficult to contemplate in anticipation and to adjust to in retrospect — until the reality of the Resurrection changed the whole picture for them. Yet why should it seem so foolish to the Greeks?

The fact is that many religions of the Old World expected a sacrifice to be made on behalf of their devotees — and often a human sacrifice — so that the Crucifixion per se was not such a surprising thing. Yet Paul’s words are certainly true, that the Greeks somehow or other viewed what Paul preached with amusement and unbelief. But I wonder whether it was the Crucifixion in itself that they found foolish. In speaking before Agrippa (Acts 26:6-8) it seems rather clear that the “incredible thing” was not so much the Crucifixion, but rather the Resurrection.

The concept of sacrifice is, after all, common to human idealism in a large part of the world and always has been, quite independently of the Christian message. When the Lord said, “Greater love hath no man than this that a man should lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:3), He was appealing to an idealism which was very widely shared by most free men. I think it is safe to say that although various cultures have lacked appreciation of virtues like honesty, love, unselfishness with respect to possessions, and so forth, so that there are very few universally accepted values, all cultures without have admired courage, and especially the supreme example of courage which we witness when one individual lays down his life for another. A few have thought such self-sacrifice is silly. (1) To my knowledge all cultures recognize it as bravery.

So I think in the final analysis that even today — perhaps one ought to say more especially today — the really surprising and challenging element in the Gospel message is not so much the sacrifice that was involved, but the Resurrection.

I should not want to be misunderstood here, because without this sacrifice there could be no salvation for man. Nevertheless, without the Resurrection the sacrifice would have been ineffective. This is true from the historical point of view, from the theological point of view, and from the experiential point of view. It is true historically, because, but for the fact of the Resurrection, the Church, as the continuing body of believers who proclaim the truth in each generation, would never have come into being. It is true theologically, because the Resurrection was the proof, the validation of the efficacy, of the acceptability to God of the sacrifice which the Lord Jesus had made of Himself: it was needed to complete it. And it is true experientially in that the whole foundation of the new life of the child of God personally is the indwelling presence, the reincarnation, of the resurrected Lord in the heart and life of the believer.

When one reflects upon the matter, one wonders whether evangelism isn’t in some ways “selling itself short.” The fact is that the New Testament probably tells us more about the Resurrection than it does about the Crucifixion. The Resurrection is declared to be the whole basis of our salvation, both now and in the future, i.e., in three important ways. Jesus said, “Because I live, ye shall live also” (John 14:19). Of course, He meant at the same time, Because I die, ye shall live. Nevertheless, experientially, the new life results from His resurrection. Paul said (in Acts 13:37-39) that our forgiveness is predicated upon the fact that He whom God raised again “saw no corruption.” And when writing to the Romans, Paul proscribes what might seem like insufficient grounds for being saved (in the absence of reference to the Lord’s death), namely, that confession with the mouth that Jesus is Lord and faith in the heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9), guarantees salvation. In the light of these things one wonders perhaps whether we are neglecting to proclaim a very important, indeed fundamental, part of the Gospel. Is it possible that by over-emphasis on the Crucifixion and neglect of the Resurrection we are actually distorting the truth?

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
(I picked this up from the internet)

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the very heart of Christianity. In 1 Corinthians 15 St. Paul reasoned, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. . . .We are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead.” In that same chapter he says “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen sleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.” But then Paul triumphantly declares, “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:14-20).

The First Easter

What do we mean by the resurrection of Christ? Jesus Christ came into this world to die as our substitute for our sins. The sinless Son of God came to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). On that first Good Friday, Jesus was crucified. We know he died because one of the Roman soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear to ensure his death. Some of his disciples then buried his body in a new tomb (John 19:30-42).

While Jesus was alive, he had predicted that he would rise from the dead. He challenged his enemies: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” He was speaking about his body (John 2:19-22). Jesus also told his disciples many times that he would be killed by the leaders in Jerusalem, but be raised to life on the third day. The leaders who killed Jesus were aware of this prediction that he would rise from the dead. Although they did not believe it, they wanted to ensure that it would not happen, so they set a guard around the tomb. In Matthew 27:62-66 we read, “The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body, and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’ ‘Take a guard,’ Pilate answered. ‘Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.’ So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.”

Did the strategy of the chief priests and Pharisees succeed? No! Despite their efforts, Jesus rose from the dead. Remember how Jesus had said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life”? During his ministry on earth, Jesus brought a number of people to life from the dead, including Martha’s brother Lazarus, who had been dead for four days (John 11). But the resurrection of Jesus Christ was different. It was not just resuscitation, as was the case with Lazarus, who later died again. On the third day Jesus was raised from the dead with a transformed body that was clothed with immortality and glory. His resurrection body could appear and disappear, go through material objects, and ascend to and descend from heaven.

On Easter morning some women and apostles went to Jesus’ tomb, expecting to find his body. But the tomb was empty, and the angel at the tomb told them, “He is not here; he has risen!” Later they saw their risen Lord face to face. The gospels record these events, but the earliest written report concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ was written by St. Paul within twenty-five years of Christ’s death in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8: “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.” Later St. Luke the historian wrote in his introduction to the book of Acts, “After [Jesus'] suffering, he showed himself to these men and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

Because of the miracle of Christ’s resurrection, Jesus’ depressed and disappointed disciples were instantly transformed. They began to preach the gospel with power, and the resurrection of Jesus was at the heart of their preaching. Why? Without the resurrection, there is no Christianity. These disciples of Jesus willingly suffered martyrdom for their faith. The enemies of the gospel were totally unable to refute this central claim of the gospel. They could not produce the body of Jesus Christ and put a stop to Christianity. The Jewish believers, meanwhile, were so impressed by this miracle that they began to worship on the day of Christ’s resurrection, Sunday, rather than on Saturday, as their custom had been.

Unbelief and the Resurrection of Christ

Many people do not believe in the resurrection. Even in New Testament times we find those who refused to believe in the resurrection. The Sadducees were materialists who did not believe in resurrection as the Pharisees did. Even in the church, some people did not believe in the resurrection. St. Paul wrote concerning this in 1 Corinthians 15. In 2 Timothy 2:17-18 Hymenaeus and Philetus were mentioned by Paul as people who did not really believe in the resurrection of the body.

Therefore, unbelief in the resurrection is not a recent idea, but especially beginning in the latter part of the seventeenth century, some in the church began to question putting faith in miracles, particularly in the miraculous resurrection of Jesus Christ. In England deists like John Toland refused to believe in the resurrection. Rationalists like H. S. Reimarus refused to believe in miracles, and questioned the authority of the Bible and the church. The theologian David Strauss systematically denied any miracles in his work, Life of Jesus, and in the twentieth century Karl Barth, along with Rudolf Bultmann, also denied the resurrection of the body. Today most liberal churches deny the resurrection as well as any miracle as recorded in the New Testament.

Such people deny the resurrection. They do not say it is not historical, or it is not recorded in the text of the New Testament. They deny it simply out of unbelief. They reason that normally the dead do not rise, and therefore Jesus could not rise from the dead. In spite of all textual and historical evidence, such people refuse to believe in the resurrection because they trust in the ultimate authority of fallen human reason rather than in God’s Holy Scriptures.

Although they may be members of churches, such people are really pagans who are without hope. St. Paul speaks about them in 1 Thessalonians 4:13: “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope.” They are “without hope and without God in the world,” Paul says in Ephesians 2:12. They will not believe the New Testament, which declares the resurrection of Christ with great clarity.
How Does the Resurrection Affect Us?

If we believe in the evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament, what significance does the resurrection have for us?

1. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ we see the clear demonstration of the power of the true God. Ephesians 1:19-21 tells us that it is the power of our heavenly Father that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
2. The resurrection proves that Jesus Christ is God. That is exactly what God the Father wanted to communicate to us, as we read in Romans 1:4. The Jews crucified Jesus Christ because, to them, he was blaspheming when he said that he was the Son of God, equal to the Father. The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates the truth that he is who he said he was.
3. Our salvation depends on our faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Romans 10:9, we are told how to be saved. It says that “if you confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” This means that you cannot be a Christian unless you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This should tell us that even if some people are in churches, if they reject the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they are not Christians.
4. The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates to us that all the teachings of Jesus Christ are true. Everything Jesus taught was true, including his great promise in John 6:40, “Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” Jesus’ teachings concerning his person, his work, heaven, hell, and the future judgment are all true.
5. The resurrection of Jesus Christ secured our justification. “Christ died for our sins and he was raised for our justification,” Paul says in Romans 4:25.
6. Our own resurrection depends completely on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Read 1 Thessalonians 4:14: “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.” There are a number of other verses concerning this, including 2 Corinthians 4:14, and others.
7. The power for our Christian life in the present is the power of his resurrection. We read about this in Ephesians 1:19-21, as well as in Romans 6:4: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” People ask me, “How can we live this Christian life?” We can live it by the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
8. The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that this Jesus Christ is going to be the appointed judge of all the wicked people in the world. In Acts 17:31, Paul told the Athenians, “‘For he [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.’” We see the same idea in John 5:22 where Jesus said, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.” In verses 27-29 he continued, “And he has given him authority to judge, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out– those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that he will raise up everyone who ever lived–some to eternal life and some to eternal damnation–and Jesus Christ will be the judge of the wicked. All who have trusted in their fallen reason and rejected the claims of Jesus Christ will be raised up from the dead by Jesus Christ himself. He will judge and damn them.

How Do We Respond to the Resurrection?

How do we respond to the resurrection of Christ? I urge you to repent now and believe in him who is the Judge of the whole world. “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,” Paul told the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:31). The Lord Jesus is the Son of God who became man. He is very God and very man. He was crucified, he died and was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures. This same Lord Jesus Christ ascended into the heavens, is ruling and reigning even now, and will come again to judge the living and the dead. Will you bow down before him and be saved forever?

May God give you faith to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly in the fact that God raised him from the dead. May you come to know that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and there is no other. May we all remember that Jesus is the Judge whom we will all face, because it is appointed to man once to die and then comes judgment. May God have mercy on us, that we will beg for mercy and pardon from him and be saved. Amen.

A BIBILICAL STUDY OF THE EXPERIENCE

( with passages from the bible explained by the way I picked this up from the internet, it is an interesting study to those who are new to the Gospel)
THE GARDEN

Matthew writes:
37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.
38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.( Ch 26:)

Can you imagine the agony.. the heartache he was feeling?
Mark writes:
And he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.
and he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me; nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
The scriptures say that he went and prayed three times…each time he found his disciples asleep when he returned.

Luke wrote:
And there appeared an angel unto him from Heaven, strengthening him.
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Luke 22:43-44.

The definition of agony is this:
Anguish; depicts great severe conflict and pain.
An angel had come down to strengthen him because he was so low and no doubt weak.
To have sweat great drops of blood then. Can you feel how emotionally and physically drained he was already before being arrested?
Sweating drops of blood is extremely rare, but it is biologically and medically possible, for a person can become so upset that actual drops of blood will form at the surface of the skin as the different capillaries and vessels break.
Jesus had a body of flesh. Crucifixion was the most terrible death a person could die in those days. He knew the extreme pain that he would have to endure. Indeed it was a bitter cup he had to face. He wanted to do his father’s will but asked “if it is possible ..let this cup pass from me but not my will but thine be done”.

What would you be tempted to do if you knew you were about to be beaten, scourged, nailed to a cross.. have a crown of thorns put down upon your head.. your side pierced?

No doubt Satan was there as he agonized tempting him with such thoughts but Jesus prayed earnestly and still cried out “not my will but thine”.

He knew what all was about to happen, yet he was still willing to go.. to endure.. and that he did.
while doing a little searching on the subject of sweating blood I found a site where a Dr. Had documented cases of this happening to patients who was in a state of acute anxiety or fear.
So imagine the agony he was in.. imagine the sorrow, the heartache.. feel the selfless Love he had for us willing to go on to the cross . He was to be our sacrifice for sin.
He would be led as a lamb to the slaughter.. he knew all of this.. his heart was breaking but still he was willing. He willingly gave his life for us.

Then think after all this anguish what happens next.. one of his own betrays him.. the rest all forsake him.. we will continue on this subject tomorrow.

THE BETRAYAL AND ARREST OF JESUS

Matthew writes:

And while he yet spake, lo, Judas ,one of the twelve, came and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
*
Notice here that it says there was with Judas a great multitude with swords and staves.
This was an angry crowd that had been stirred up by the chief priests. They had come to take Jesus and arrest him as a criminal. They came with swords and staves…staves are long poles. This was not a nice crowd who was merely coming to escort Jesus they were coming to take him.

Betrayed By A Friend

Matthew 26:48-50
Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying,Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. And Forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, hail, master; and kissed him.
And Jesus said unto him, friend, wherefore art thou come?
then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.
*
It is in the following verse after this that Peter drew his sword.
In Luke chapter 22 Jesus asked Judas:
Judas ,betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss?
This was supposed to be the way they greeted one another showing love toward one another .In one scripture it says to “greet your brother with a holy kiss”. Judas used the very symbol of love and friendship as a sign of betrayal.

John 18:10
Then Simon Peter having a sword drew it, and smote the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.
We then read how Jesus tells peter to put away his sword and in Luke 22:50 that Jesus still showed his love, mercy and compassion and reaches down and touches Malchus’s ear and heals him.
Then they all flee. All of his followers leave him.
Luke 22:63-66
63 ¶ And the men that held Jesus mocked him, and smote him.
64 And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?
65 And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.
66 And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying,
67 Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe:

THE WILLING SACRIFICE

….Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:29
***
..He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb,so he openeth not his mouth.
Isaiah 53:7
***
…Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?
But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.
***
He could have called the Angels. How hard it must have been for them to watch him suffer, being beaten, mocked and crucified. But, no, He didn’t call them he went on from the garden that night being led as a captive, arrested as a common criminal would have been.. yet he was only guilty of one thing.. Great Love. He had said that greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends. He called us all friends.. yet we like the disciples have all been guilty of forsaking him. We have all been as Peter and denied him yet he still loves us.. He knew Peter would deny him, he knew the disciples would all forsake him he knew you and I would fail him but on he went about to face this cruel trial now after his night of anguish in the garden.. he was led away. In one scripture it says they bound him.

To get a clearer picture of what happens next one must read all four accounts in the four gospels that speaks of his trial and arrest.
John writes this:

Then the band and the captain and officers of the Jews took Jesus, and bound him, and led him away to Annas first;for he was father in law to Caiphas, which was the high priest that same year. John 18:12-13
then the questioning begins:

Jesus answered him: I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing. Why asketh thou me? ask them which heard me. What I have said unto them: behold, they know what I said.
And when he had thus spoken, one of the officers which stood by struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, Answerest thou the high priest so? Jesus answered him, If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil: but if well, why smitest thou me? This was found in John 18:20-23
Then for what happens next we go back to Luke:

And the men that held Jesus mocked him and smote him. And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him saying, prophesy, who is it that smote thee? Luke 22:63-64
then Annas sends him to Caiphas John 18:24 and Matthew 26:57
Most of you know the story here where they questioned him and tried to find false witnesses against him.

Matthew 26:59-65.
Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? Behold,now ye have heard his blasphemy.
What think ye? They answered and said, He is guilty of death.
Then did they spit in his face, and buffetted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands.
Saying prophesy unto us, thou Christ, who is he that smote thee?
Matthew 26:65-68

The definition of Buffett. It says they buffetted him.
Websters definition:

1)a blow, as with the hand or fist.2)a violent shock or concussion. 3) to strikeas with the hand or fist 4)to strike against or push repeatedly. ex: the wind buffetted the house.5) to contend against or battle 6)To force one’s way by a struggle.
Get the picture?

BEFORE PILATE

We focused on our Lord’s anguish of heart and agony in the garden and already exhausted from this state on Tuesday we read of how he was arrested in the night with his hands bound, betrayed by a friend, led away by an angry mob. On Wednesday we read about how He was first taken to Annas house and questioned and then he was smacked and spit upon before being led to Ciaphus where he was falsly accused and he was buffetted (beaten) and now we speak today of how he was first led to Pilate. When Pilate first questioned him and found he was in Herod’s jurisdiction.. he sent him to Herod.. so we will start from this point today in Luke’s gospel. I feel it has been important for me to walk with you through the different gospels this week for you to get the full picture of just how Jesus suffered for us and all he endured. I hope it will give you a deeper stronger relationship with him is my prayer and my goal here.
Luke 23:8

And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad; for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him.
Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing.
And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him.
And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to pilate.
***
Again we see here the cruel mockings that he endured even before Herod and his men. He was made fun of. Belittled. Humiliated. Yet he suffered it.
.
I am not going to cover alot of detatil here as he was questioned again before Pilate. You all know the story of how the crowd cried for Barrabbas and to let Jesus be crucified.
Matthew writes:27:26

Then released he barrabas unto them: and when he had Scourged Jesus,he delivered him to be crucified.
We have spoken some of what a scourging is this week already. In case you didn’t read it, it was a cruel tortutous whipping. The romans were not resticted on how many lashed they would give to a prisoner. A lot of times they inflicted just enough lashes to leave the prisoner only alive enough to suffer death on the cross. The blood loss was great here. In those times if a prisoner was not crucified the wounds itself or the great loss of blood would usually cause death within one to three days of the flogging. The stripes were inflicted by two roman soldiers usually one on the right hand side and one on the left ..hitting the victim with all their strength with whips with jagged pieces of glass, bone and metal embedded in the tips. It was pretty gruesome.
No wonder Isaiah wrote this:

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5
But they weren’t finished yet.. as awful as he had been treated so far it wasn’t over read after this most torturous beating what they did to him next.

Matthew writes 27:27-31

Then the soldiers of the governor (Pilate was the governor) took Jesus into the common hall, and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers. And they stripped him, and put on him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail! King of the Jews!
And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. And after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him.
Do you feel the great love that he had for you friend?

Again he was ridiculed.. have you ever touched a thorn? Can you feel what it must have been like with those thorns pricking and cutting him as they set it down upon his head?.. and you know.. they weren’t gentle about it. Then they put the robe on him.. no doubt the pain from his wounds was excruciating as they stripped his clothes off him, then they placed the crown of thorns they mocked him unmercifully. then it says they took the reed which was a stick and hit him in the head with it. Then again they took the robe off him and put his own clothes back on him. How that must have hurt!

To weakened from exhaustion, pain and loss of blood he could not even carry his cross even though it is said it was only 1/3 of a mile from Pilates hall to where they crucified him.. so they compelled one named Simon, a Cyreneian to carry his cross. (Matthew 27:32)

THE CRUCIFIXION

Matthew 27:
32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
33 ¶ And when they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, a place of a skull,
34 They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink.

Jesus was now too weakened to carry his cross. This man named Simon came by and they made him carry the cross for Jesus. The Romans would not carry the crosses for their prisoners. The Jews would not defile themselves to carry it for they would not be able to take part in the passover. Simon of Cyrene he was a gentile man but no doubt had come up to take part in the passover, now he would not be allowed to because of bearing the cross of a condemned man. Mark writes that he was the Father of Alexander and Rufus. It is said that the epistle of Mark was first sent to Christians at Rome.. thus one is led to think that Alexander and Rufus must have been well know to the Christians at Rome at that time.. no doubt a part of the church in Rome and men well known in the faith. So I believe that Simon was or became a believer since his children were well known people to the Christians at Rome when Mark later wrote this epistle.
Now let us look what happens next. when they got to Golgotha they offered him to drink Vinegar mingled with Gall.
Why did they do this? let us refer to Winifred Walker’s book “All the plants of the bible ” for this answer…..

The Gall that was added to the Vinegar and offered to Jesus was the Juice of the Opium Poppy, a flower thriving in Israel. The plant provides a narcotic that induces sleep, a sleep so heavy that the person becomes insensible. When the Roman soldiers at Golgotha took pity on their prisoner on the cross, they added this poppy juice to the potion in the vinegar. Jesus tasted the mixture and refused it, resolving to suffer so that the Father’s plan of redemption might be fulfilled. We know from this that there was a drug or pain killer in this drink. It would have no doubt been a great comfort to have taken it yet Jesus chose to suffer fully for our sins. He took no easy way out. The vinegar itself would have boosted his metabolism and he would have bled to death quicker.. ending his suffering sooner yet he refused.
35) And they crucified him ,and parted his garments casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted his garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.
All that he had upon this Earth was his garments and the soldiers even took those and gambled for them.
Hopefully we all know the rest of this story.
Crucifixion was the most suffering way for a person to die.

This is where we will end our thoughts here today.
Do you see what a price he paid for you?
After reading all week of how he suffered so many things and then this final cruel end.. but the wonderful part is.. it was not the end.. only the beginning.
Our Lord did not stay in that borrowed tomb but rose victorious the third day.
He became our supreme sacrifice for sin.
He is not willing that any should perish but that all would come to eternal life in him. He made a way for man to do that.

Please contact me or send me any articles at
CSOG@aol.in(CSOG stands for CHRISTIAN SOLDIER OF GOD)

SEEK THE TRUTH AND YOU SHALL FIND AND KNOW THE

TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE

THE IMAGE OF GOD AND THE FORBIDDEN TREE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

christiansoldier — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:41:53 +0000

INTRODUCTION

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The ruling classes of many ancient civilizations had a way of using metaphors to record their sacred knowledge. To the casual reader, a sacred text might look like a collection of fables or poems, but to the initiate, the hidden meaning was immediately apparent. Symbolic encoding is known to have been practiced in the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian and Greek empires

There are good reasons to suspect that many of the well-known myths of antiquity are not myths at all, but carefully compiled records of sacred knowledge. Sir Isaac Newton (see news article) and other renowned philosophers of his day, including his nemesis, Gottfried Leibniz, were convinced that almost all Greek and Roman myths were allegorical recipes for secret knowledge.
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OK………….hope you get all of that (kinda interesting isn’t it now when you read the Bible you will learn to make connections all over just like neural nets)

We must look at the Bible and Science and try to decode it caus I believe that God expresses himself thru the laws of nature.

Here is what I discovered and was revealed to me when I was thinking about and reading Genesis
About the tree in the garden of Eden and Adam and eve

THE FORBIDDEN TREE OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN
(Did you go to Sunday school I did and they used to tell us this story)

God did not want Adam to touch the fruit of the tree of knowledge because in doing so he would destroy himself.

remember God said to Adam after he sinned, “he has eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge now man has become like us”

Taken from Genesis Chapter 2

And he commanded them that of every tree of paradise thou shall eat but the tree of knowledge of Good and evil thou shalt not eat for in what daysoever thou shalt eat of it, thou shall die the death

**************
(i have the copy of HOLY BIBLE DOUAY VERSION with notes compiled by bishop Challoner 1691-1781

this is his explanation of this passage on page 3

THE TREE OF LIFE so called because it had the quality, that by eating of the fruit of it man would have been preserved in a constant state of health vigor and strength , and would not have died at all.The tree of knowledge to which the deceitful serpent falsely attributed the power of imparting a superior kind of knowledge beyond that which God was pleased to give )

**************

from Genesis Chapter 3

Gen 3:3 But the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it , lest perhaps we die.

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said to the woman :No you shall not die the death.
For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof , your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God’s knowing good and evil.

Gen 3:7 And their eyes were opened

**************

(HOLY BIBLE DOUAY VERSION with notes compiled by bishop Challoner 1691-1781 this is his explanation of this passage

their eyes were opened .Not that they were blind before (for the woman saw that the tree was fair to the eyes) nor yet that their eyes were opened to any more perfect knowledge of good; but only to the unhappy experience of having lost the good of original grace and innocence, and incurred the dreadful evil of sin, from whence followed the shame of being naked which they minded not before; because being now stripped of original grace, they quickly began to be subject to the shameful rebellions of the flesh.)

**************

AND SO EVE AND ADAM ATE OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE AND LIFE.

Gen 3:22 And he said ; behold , Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil; now , therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for ever.

      So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the
        garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned
        every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

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NOW MY EXPLANATION OF WHAT ALL THIS MEANS IN OUR 21ST CENTURY SPACE AGE ATOMIC AGE AGE OF ELECTRONICS DIGITAL COMPUTERS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE NANOTECHNOLOGY GENETIC ENGINEERING ETC ETC ETC

In Genesis Chapter 1 God says
LET US MAKE MAN IN OUR OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS.

Man was created by God in his own image and likeness so our existence is in the image of God with all of our human weakness joys, pains, emotions and consciousness in life. The IMAGE OF GOD (IOG) is what makes us a human being the IOG is what makes us human with all of our human mistakes pains and human strengths and weaknesses which makes us depend on God,

Remember the passage in the Bible which says “when we are weak we become strong” and God says “My Grace is sufficient for you for my strength is made perfect in weakness” when we are weak we then become stronger by drawing nearer to God.

********

2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

********

Without the IOG we would become mindless robots or zombies with no emotions, pain, sorrow ,empathy ,kindness understanding ,joy and all of the other human qualities that comes with having the IOG.

In the near future in mankind’s quest for immortality and infinite power when man uses his technology like artificial intelligence, genetic engineering, robotics nanotechnology and cybernetics to transform him self and make himself a half human humanoid or cyborg by robotic electronic implants in his brain and body, he will destroy the IMAGE OF GOD (IOG) within himself and man will destroy his existence and all of this is against God.

So what if man does this ?

When Man tries to transform himself with his technology and science by artificial implants, AI programs, cybernetics and genetic engineering…etc he is no longer human because he becomes a mindless zombie a robot without free will just like the wild animals that have no free will of their own and are completely under animal instinct and the law of nature.

An example of animal instinct and how cruel and unmerciful it is:
When a new male lion fight’s a lion with a pride and wins he takes over the pride and the looser is either exiled or killed, and now this new male is the leader of the pride and all the females in the pride, this new male murders and kills of all the lion cubs in this pride because they do not have his genes and he also does this to bring the females into heat and for them to mate with him, this is animal instinct or hardwired preprogrammed behavior that controls drives the male lions this behavior cannot be changed or controlled because it is hardwired in the lions brain.

Man by transforming himself into a artificial genetically modified robotic cyborg humanoid (half human half robot) will not have any free will and will sooner or later come under the control of the laws of biology,evolution,genetics and the laws of the natural world.

Hitler the Nazi Dictator had a choice to live in peace or to destroy, loot and kill he chose the latter because he made a choice to be ruled over by the animal instincts of nature like greed and hate he rejected God and peace and was controlled by evil.

When Man becomes a cyborg humanoid he will have no choice because when the algorithms or programs that run his human machine interface will sooner switch to better upgrades(when he determines that human nature is “weak” and not “productive to his own survival”).

or evolve randomly or by design thru some machine learning and take over the entire body sometime,

or some evil dictator will forcefully implant his computer program logic into the human machine interface of these humanoids and MAN WILL LOSE HIS FREE WILL and be reduced to a zombie slave whether he likes it or not.

so the laws of nature will control man’s behavior and his own existence .

I believe that the forbidden tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden is the Science of mankind (AI, genetics, Engineering , cybernetics etc etc) and the fruit of this tree is mankind’s inventions resulting from these sciences,

when man eats of the fruit of the tree is when man in his blind quest for infinite power and immortality destroys his human body spirit, soul, existence and the IOG by implanting himself with these artificial technologies and inventions.

Ask yourself is this against God !! ???????????????

The IOG was Gods gift to man, God invested his precious time in us by creating us and giving us part of his image, we have God within us, the IOG is the signature of Gods creation within man, the IOG is the part that unites us with God. Without the IOG we would NOT be human but would be reduced
to mindless robots and zombies.

Will God ever allow man with his “wonderful” science, technologies and inventions to destroy the IMAGE OF GOD that is within mankind ?
NO I DON’T THINK SO

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Check these sites out some weird some not

http://www.rebelscience.org/Seven/bible.html
http://www.goodnewsinc.net/omega/index.html#topics

(I will add more to this)

Please contact me or send me any articles at
(CSOG stands for CHRISTIAN SOLDIER OF GOD)
CSOG@aol.in

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WHOZZZZ IZZZZ ME

(This is the first time izzz blogging and the first time izzz expressing myself on the internet
izz like to write Computer programs, right now i am coding in Java (izz like Java caus its platform independent and has many resources and free source but what worries irritates and troubles me right now is that they do not have unsigned datatypes ) , izzz also like C and C++.I am interested in Artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic , neural nets,data mining machine learning etc (that kind of stuff) Izzz lovzz programming and am designing a AI music composer that automatically composes music by searching for patterns and also interested in compression techniques and reducing entropy and compression and other weird projects like that)
Izzz also likzz Classical music like Chopin Beethov etc etc (that kind of stuff you know) , I also listen to Christian Gospel music it inspires me.

I was never a Bible reader. The only Bible I ever read before this was the Children’s Bible when I was a child because it had many pictures

But now I am 24 yrs and I guess its never to late to begin

Izzz lovezz to read the Bible (read the book of Psalms when in time of trouble God saves those who cry out to him in distress because God said “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU FOR I HAVE CARVED YOU ON THE PALM OF MY HAND”)

I am a born again Christian and I am studying the Bible to discover its hidden secrets

Izzz not a Christian preacher and neither have Izzz studied any theology in any Christian seminary, I have just started reading the Bible and I am led by the holy spirit as it reveals things to me and I put it down in writing.

Pleazzz feelzz freeeeeezzz to sendzzz me somzz feedbakzzzz and interestinzz articlezz if youzz have anyzz.

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,
whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good
profession before many witnesses.

so remember to fight the good fight and run the long race for the Lord

(CSOG stands for CHRISTIAN SOLDIER OF GOD)
CSOG@aol.in

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Hello world!

christiansoldier — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 14:00:42 +0000

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