Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 96
that after a few hours, or on the day after the crucifixion, it was considered that the criminal had suffered sufficient punishment by being lifted on the cross, in which case he was taken down from it and allowed to continue living. With regard to this, it should be noted that if a crucified man was taken down from the cross in time and given careful treatment, he generally recovered and survived. Now consider the fact that Jesus was crucified with two male factors All three were therefore suffering the same punishment. But it happened that at the time when they were brought down from the cross at the same time as Jesus, the two robbers were still alive, and the Roman soldiers therefore broke their legs so that they would finish dying. It is unlikely that Jesus, having suffered the same punishment, had already died. Only a few moments before, Jesus still had sufficient strength to shout in a loud voice. Another point to consider is that Pilate, who knew from experience how long a person took to die on the cross, was surprised that Jesus had already died. It is also a well known fact that when the Roman centurion tried to see whether Jesus was dead by wounding him in the side with his spear, water and blood flowed from the wound. But only a few drops of thick blood would flow from a dead body. Having reached this point, it is interesting to cast a brief glance at the recent analysis of the so-called Shroud of Turin. From 1969 onwards a Swiss professor, a specialist in criminology, subjected the Holy Shroud to a scientific analysis called palynology, which studies the pollen of plants which has adhered to cloth. After two years of pain-staking study Professor Max Frei of Zurich declared that as a member of the Scientific Committee given the 88