Most of us are familiar with the stories that Jesus Christ was crusified on the cross. Infact the cross is the traditional and iconic symbol for Catholics. But according to one article there may be little evidence that Christ was actually crusified on a cross according to one Sweedish scholar. According to the studies done by the Sweedish, he says that Christ may have been put to death by another method. This is all outlined in a 400 page thesis by Gunnar Samulesson who is a theologin at the University of Gothenburg. Gunnar does not disbute that Christ died on Calvary hill, but he argues 'the New Testament is infact more ambiguous about the exact method of the Messiah's execution than many Christains are aware."
The artilce goes on to say, "When the Gospels refer to the death of Jesus, they just say that he was forced to carry a 'stauros' out to Calvary.' The article also states, "many scholars have interpreted that ancient Greek noun as meaning 'cross,' and the verb derived from it, 'anastauroun,' as implying crucifixion. But during his three-and-a-half-year study of texts from around 800 BC to the end of the first century AD, Samuelsson realized the words had more than one defined meaning. ''Stauros' is actually used to describe a lot of different poles and execution devices,' he says. 'So the device described in the Gospels could have been a cross, but it could also have been a spiked pole, or a tree trunk, or something entirely different.' In turn, 'anastauroun' was used to signify everything from the act of 'raising hands to suspending a musical instrument.' The manner in which Jesus died is further thrown into question by Samuelsson's discovery that crucifixion may have been an unusual form of punishment in the Roman Empire. Descriptions of crucifixions contained in the thousands of Hebrew, Aramaic, Latin and Greek manuscripts he examined most commonly referred to dead prisoners being placed on some form of suspension device, or living captives skewered on stakes. The first century Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, for example, wrote about seeing a great many prisoners of war on "crosses" after one campaign. But the scribe then describes how a large number of the dead had been impaled. 'If you search for ancient texts that specifically mention the act of crucifixion [as we understand it today]" he says, "you will end up with only two or three examples.' That revelation stands in stark contrast to claims that appear in many books on the historical Jesus, as well as more general surveys of life under Roman rule, which state that prisoners were routinely nailed to crosses. (The Encylopaedia Britannica, for example, says crucifixion was an "important method of capital punishment" in Rome). Of course, this lack of hard evidence doesn't mean that the Roman Empire was a crucifix-free zone. Samuelsson suspects that crucifixion was simply one of a great many methods of execution employed across the empire. He notes that Flavius Josephus -- a Jewish historian and adviser to three Roman emperors in the 1st century -- recorded how Roman soldiers were allowed to use their 'wicked minds in various ways to execute' prisoners captured during a Jewish uprising. This suggests that the method of Jesus' execution may have been decided by legionnaires stationed at Calvary, and not by the state. 'If we put this on the table, and think that the execution of Jesus was the result of the wicked mind of the soldiers at that very point, we can't know how he could have been executed,' Samuelsson says. 'The executions of that day could have taken a completely different form from ones the day before.' The Swedish scholar isn't sure exactly why the crucifix went on to become the dominant Christian motif. But this symbol only seems to have become fixed in followers' minds long after Jesus' death, as the first T and X shaped crucifixes appear in Christian manuscripts around the 2nd century AD."
Upon reading this article has me intreaged enought to do some research to see if Christ was actually crusified on the cross, as we know it today, or was he actually put to death another way. I think this article, true or not, makes you think that what we actually believe and read may not be true just because a pastor/priest/reverened/etc tells us so. Though everyone has a right to believe and preach what they want, and we all have a right to follow what we choose. Though in my eyes we shouldn't do so blindly, and actually know all the facts of what we believe and follow. We are all entitled to our opinion and our beliefs, and if our beliefs don't do harm to one's self or to others in any way shape or form, then why should anyone judge it, including myself?
In closing, regardless if you believe in Jesus, or not, or you believe he was crusified on the cross, or not, or whatever it is you believe, I believe that is your choice do so as long as you don't cause harm to yourself or others and you follow your heart, then go for it, and follow whatever it is you believe in.
For more information on this article (also where I got my informations/citations) please visit:
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/little-evidence-jesus-died-on-a-cross-says-swedish-scholar/19530666