Saturday, April 11, 2009

Contrasting the Cross

I recently read on the news about a certain radio show host, attempting to recreate the cross by being nailed on it himself, in order to investigate the cross for forensic purposes, in his SBS TV show. The man is said to be setting out to expose the hypocrisy and failings of religion.

This made me think of many contrasts between this man and the cross, and why his experiment is futile:

Radio Show Host (RDS): He is a man, a sinner, and falls short of being righteous
Jesus Christ (JC): He is fully God, fully man, righteous and perfect

RDS: He has a death sentence hanging over his head
JC: He is pure, blameless, yet dies for the sins of others

RDS: While he did feel pain, the pain he felt was the 4 nails precisely nailed into his hands and feet
JC: He was whipped, stripped, jeered, carried a heavy cross, given a crown of thorns which actually embedded into his head, and physically abused in many ways before being put on the cross

RDS: He is (probably) rejecting God and being rejected by God
JC: He is God's son, and on the cross he was feeling the separation from the perfect relationship He had with God for our benefit

RDS: He 'hung' on the cross for 5 minutes, and there was a plinth for his feet so he could stand
JC: He was hung and literally hung for hours. His body weighed down and the immense pain is unimaginable

RDS: He did not die or was near death, and had medics treating him after the 5 minutes
JC: He died on the cross, and He rose again after 3 days

RDS: His experimentation of the cross is meaningless in eternity
JC: His death on the cross determines our eternity

Jesus' Death on the cross (and his ressurection) is not vague, mysterious or myth. It is real history and many historical, archaelogical and biblical accounts and documents affirm this.

4 comments:

Ðes said...

The guy did a near exact replication!

NOT.

The point of the cross is that the person dies in a horrible way...

People these days.

Steeejei said...

Hey Josh - that's a really insightful commentary on John Saffron's attempt to re-enact the crucifixion. Great thoughts :)

Vincent said...

heh... if that guy decided to kill himself and still chose to use the cross over the electric chair or fire squad then maybe thats worth the attention... but it would still come nothing remotely close to Jesus' death and resurrection.

Mikey said...

good contrasting skills!

if u had a 'like' button like facebook i'd click it. interesting post.