Wednesday, September 12, 2018

With Due Respect: Jesus's death was misdiagnosed!


One area that non-Christians highlight is on the reality of the death of Jesus. After all, if Jesus did not really die and come back to life, it would mean that he was not divine and thus could not take the sin of mankind. This would invalidate the core of Christianity.

One common argument I hear that when Jesus was crucified, he was misdiagnosed as dead. Even today, there had been such errors. Could the ancient people be mistaken about the death of Jesus?

Blood and water
The first thing to note is that in that it was recorded in John 19: 33-34

But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’s side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. 

This is consistent with the unusual build up of fluid in the pericardium. Such build up is due to hypovolemic shock (low blood volume) or asphyxiation (suffocation). Regardless of this cause of the "sudden flow of blood and water", this is diagnostic of death.

Buried for days
Even if Jesus was not dead then, he was sealed in a tomb for days. With heavy injuries sustained and lack of food and medical treatment, it would be impossible for anyone to survive.

Intention to kill
With most cases of misdiagnosis, there was no one seeking to execute them. Jesus however was sentenced to death. The Romans were professional executioners and would have checked thoroughly if Jesus was dead.

Conclusion
Asserting that Jesus did not die would be going against a mountain of evidence.

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