[tractorman]

And few people understand that crucifixion was routine for the Romans. They lined the roads leading to Rome with the crucified in order to deter crime.

[Robert Teesdale]

But... but... I thought that they used lethal injection? And they gently stroked your forehead while you slipped into a quiet peaceful sleep?

Killing people is a messy, violent business at best. When state of the art is bladed weapons and part of the sentence includes a punishment so painful that a new word was necessary to describe it - excruciating - it's really not going to be a Bambi's-mother-quietly-vanishes-offscreen-to-the-sound-of-a-bangstick ending for you.

[Modernman]

And few people understand that crucifixion was routine for the Romans. They lined the roads leading to Rome with the crucified in order to deter crime.

The Romans were harsh masters, but they had to be. They were trying to hold together a multi-ethnic, multi-religious empire that spanned from Scotland to the Danube to the Sahara. A man who challenged the status quo (like Jesus) could only expect one fate.

[nopardons]

And the Romans weren't the only people who used Crucifixion either. Other nations, not under Roman rule did too and they weren't influenced by Roman methods;it was part of their "culture" as well.

[Ciexyz]

And few people understand that crucifixion was routine for the Romans.

Yes it's true that the Romans lined the Appian Way with crosses that stretched for miles, as they crucified the slaves of the Spartacus revolt. But that has nothing to do with the sacrifice of Jesus.

Jesus was horribly tortured before the actual crucifixion. And He took the weight of our sins on His shoulders. When He hung on the cross, he experienced the terrible despair of separation from the Father God. Our sins which Jesus voluntarily took unto himself, made the Father God turn away from Jesus -- this is Christian theology and someone could surely phrase it better than me. But a Holy God separated himself from Jesus, withdrew His comforting presence from His Son, because Jesus was polluted with sin, our sins, as He hung on that cross. When Jesus paid that ultimate price for our sins and defeated death and triumphed with the Resurrection, then we triumphed with Him.