What do you think, taking into account your person beliefs is (or causes) Stigmata?

Question

Do you believe this has a divine cause, or is it self induced?

Answer 1

Since you asked about beliefs, I am a Christian. I have never personally witnessed a stigmata. So my beliefs are based on what I have read.

Of course some stigmata are physically induced. I saw the suggestion that psychological problems can cause physical injury. That needs to be clarified, I believe.

Psycholigical stress can cause ulcers and similar symptoms. Psychological problems could cause a person to hammer a nail or do other physical harm to themselves. But I have known some people with terrible stress in their lives. I have never seen the stress cause a hole through their hands or feet.

True stigmata are very real and are a painful burden. The original stigmatist, St. Francis, bore his stigmata for the rest of his life, as I remember. He had his hands and feet wrapped in clothes and walking was excruciatingly painful. His stigmata is attested in history. I believe it was very real.

As for the answer that said Jesus wasn't crucified in the hands, that concept developed out of liberal Christianity. The truth is that archeologists recently uncovered a site in Israel which contained the body of crucifixion victims. One skeletal hand was found with a spike in it.

I remember seeing last Easter a television report on stigmata. The cameras taped the woman throughout Easter week. They found that the stigmata appeared on Good Friday and that she grew sicker to the point of death until the hour that Jesus died on the cross. The camera crew said the camera was on her and people were in the room. They verified that the marks appeared and that they were not self inflicted or inflicted by others.

Frankly, I found the report very strange as St. Francis and others do not report almost dying. However, if the camera crew was with her all the time, I have to at least consider the possibility that it was a severe form of stigmata.

Truly, I must believe that very few stigmata are real. Most are self inflicted and the people need serious phychological treatment. The Catholic Church has a team that investigates any purported miracle. Stigmata is considered a miracle. The team includes scientists. Because the Catholic Church doesn't want to look foolish with a miracle being exposed as a fraud, they do their work very seriously. Very few claimed miracles are approved by the Catholic Church.

While I am not Catholic, I respect the integrity of their miracle team. They have rejected most stigmata as frauds by my understanding. But they have affirmed some genuine stigmate.

I hope this helps answer your question.

Pastor John

Answer 2

I think there's one thing which will decisively show that all cases of stigmata are almost certainly false.

In the Middle Ages, percieved notion was that Jesus was crucified with nails through his palms, and all medieval stigmati developed wonds on their hands. But quite recently, they did an experiment which showed that the palms couldn't support the body's weight during crucifixion and would be torn apart, but the wrists could. Suddenly, people 'found' stigmata on their wrists, but many still had them on their hands.

Therefore, they can only have been self-inflicted.

Answer 3

They are the wounds of Christ that are being shared. I feel that people should look up the reason they were given this gift. Yes, I look at it as a gift from God to be part of his suffering. I will also say that people suffer for God in many ways that please him. I think that many people think that our mind can cause this. Yes, our mind can produce many things but not Holiness. Every blessing is not through suffering but I do know Christ suffered for us and he was and is our example. I would just like to add that God's ways can not always be explained or understood but excepted.

Answer 4

I've read papers that claim that certain physical wounds can be caused by psychological trauma. I suspect something similar to that occurs in people who experience "genuine" cases of stigmata. (By genuine I mean cases that aren't intentional hoaxes.)

Answer 5

There has never been a single recorded case that DIDN'T turn out to be self-inflicted, or that couldn't be explained as self-infliction just as easily as by supernatural causes.

Answer 6

i think that a persons brain can cause a lot of things to happen if it believes it will enough. if a woman thinks that she is pregnant strongly enough she will go threw all the systems as if she was all the way threw 9 months even if she isn't

Answer 7

I try to see things through as many perspectives as I can. I take into account whatever reasonably can be taken into account.

Answer 8

I'm not sure, honestly. Padre Pio, one of the famous stigmati, was investigated quite extensively and they did not believe it to be a hoax. I think from any standpoint just about anything is possible.
(Me: Buddhist)

Answer 9

They are as phony as the face of the Big J appearing on a piece of toast.

Answer 10

Documented, verified, self inflicted.