Hand stigmata are all fakes because jesus was crucified through the wrist?

Question

Is this true? Would seem a little stupid someone showing stigmata on their hands when that has no biblical importance whatsoever don't you think? Recently i was told that when people tested hand crucifictions and found it to be impossible religious people changed their minds and said they crucified through the wrists. Have they themselves proven hand stigmata to be completely fake or stupidity on the part of god's affliction with this phenomenon?

Towelieban Barbie - You're a moron. Alls they had to do to get away is let it rip through their skin and inchworm away if there wasn't anyone around? It's funny how no one suggested these theories when i said it was impossible to crucify someone in that manner. They simply said i was wrong and the romans crucified through the wrist and that was 100% how jesus was crucified. Silly christians.

Answer 1

I heard this theory once...that a spike through the hands would not support the weight of the body and thus the body would fall from the cross...therefore they must have put the spike through the wrist.

However, this logic ignores the possibility that the body was tied to the cross and the spikes were just there to cause pain (hand/wrist...pain no matter how you slice it). It probably would have been easier to nail it through the palm just by virtue of the strength required to crush the larger bones in the wrist...and the palm offers a bigger target).

...but I think you got it right when you said there was no biblical importance anyway...as for the "truth" of the 'stigmata", I've never seen it nor have I ever thought that it had any relevance for me so I can't say one way or the other whether they are fake or real. It isn't biblical so believing it would require me to put my faith in man...and I'm not going to make that kind of leap!

Answer 2

Wrists - it was the standard form of Roman crucifixion - there is a channel that a large nail can go through that is strong enough to support the weight of a body without having to tie the body. Romans would crucify hundreds in a day - they found the easy way to get the job done. Putting the nail in the hands, the body tears through the flesh and the body drops. Stigmata is a devotional gift and is not the re-creation of the event.

Answer 3

Some of the liberal scholars in the church suggested that Jesus couldn't have been crucified as written in the Bible. That the hands and feet are not strong enough to hold the weight of a body with only a nail. That may be true. But the early church never questions the Crucifixion details and the Romans were still crucifying at that time.

I recently saw a picture of an excavation where two ankle bones were dug up with a spike still embedded through the foot area. Also, if they first tied the arm to the cross (as displayed in Gibson's movie) the combination of nail and rope would be strong enough to sustain the weight.

I first believed what they said, but now feel that the crucifixion as portrayed in scripture is probably accurate.

I question some modern stigmata as there seem too many. The mind is strange and they could be self-inflicted or as someone suggested mind-induced.

The stigmata of St. Francis of Assisi was real in my opinion. Other stigmata have occurred in situations where people were under medical supervision so could not have been self-inflicted.

Pastor John

Addendum: As per your suggestion that they simply slipped off the spike and walked away, it might be helpful to know that the Roman soldiers waited patiently until they were dead.

Answer 4

A lot of respected historians have said that he was highly unlikely to have been nailed by the hands (which couldn`t hold the weight ),or the wrists as this would almost certainly lead to a quick death when the idea of crucifying was a long drawn out death. All supported evidence for this region in the time of Jesus shows that the hands were tied and they were hung on the cross (not hanged by the neck) but the feet could have been nailed .also i saw a history program that showed that crosses wern`t used there until a lot later and at that time a single straight piece of wood was used

Answer 5

Hand stigmata are fake for many reasons.

But Christ could have been nailed through the palms of his hand if the Romans also used rope to tie his arms to the cross or extra support.

Answer 6

Evidence for that is not strictly true sometimes the Romans bound the wrists to the said crucifix, and nailed through the palm. However their is more evidence emerging that Christ, so called, may have been nailed to a tree. The tree of woe.

Answer 7

While I say it's ALL fake, they did a test and found that if he had existed, it was possible for him to have been crucified through the hands. google it.

Answer 8

Hand or wrist ? I can't say, I wasn't there at the time.

Answer 9

well, it's possible that stigmatists manifest their crucifixion wounds during self induced hypnosis/hysteria so the wounds would reflect where they believe the wounds would appear ... and not the reality of the method of crucifixion..

Answer 10

Try it yourself. Then get back to us. You forget the nails in the feet and the board there to support the weight. The crucified had to constantly push up with their legs in order to breathe. Slowly suffocating. That the wrists or hands held all the weight is false.