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...If you've made it to this point, keep reading. You've seen The Passion of the Christ, right? It is accurate in portraying the kind of physical torture and suffering that would have been inflicted on Jesus. What most people remember is all the blood. Funny thing: I mentioned the fact of dehydration earlier. The body loses 1,450 to 2,800 mL of water each day for bodily processes, but it only requires one pint to maintain the bare minimum on a relatively short-term basis.

What that calculation doesn't take into consideration is massive blood loss, not only from the standpoint of its effect on dehydration, but blood pressure, electrolyte balance, and the like. The physical abuse, such as repeated beating didn't help, either. One thing that many who would defend the real suffering and death of Jesus seem to miss is sweat.

Jerusalem this time of year is usually warm. Not hot, mind you, but between 65 and 85 degrees in the daytime. Any labor, such as carrying a cross--or hanging on it, would have probably produced additional excretion in sweat, even on a late morning in the 70s.

Yet another thing to take into consideration is the fact that the Romans were executioners, par excellence. They had squads assigned solely for the purpose of making sure that the bodies hung on the makeshift crosses were dead. John's account is an example of that. The point of crucifixion was not to inflict the most pain and suffering on a victim, but to make them a spectacle and a warning to the people: don't mess with the Roman Empire or this will be you!

To suggest that Jesus was not dead yet taken off the cross is to ignore what was a common practice by the Romans. If St. John just made the incident with the spear up, but somehow retained the facts everything pertaining to the crucifixion prior to that, in some crazy Damocletian way to show that Jesus was truly dead, then how do you explain everything else?

At the risk of sounding sacrilegious, no, I did not see The Passion of Christ, though I saw trailers, and read up on it.

And before you cast aspersions on my lack of attendance, (and therefore, my educated comments,) let me say that I have to be very careful what I watch, because I physically feel the blows and the pain.

It doesn't sound like much when I write it down, but let me assure you: I cannot endure to see someone else suffering. I was not too keen on throwing up in public, or becoming ill to the point that I couldn't move, so I stayed home, and have not watched it, even here.