WARNING: Some might find the descriptions here disturbing. Even though there is overwhelming evidence that Jesus died on a cross and not an upright state, the Organization still stubbornly clings to this feeble idea, siting of course, the ridiculous notion that, because the cross was a 'pagan symbol', Jesus couldn't have died on it. As if the Romans gave a damn that the cross was pagan. However, I found even more compelling evidence that Jesus died on a cross and not a stake. This article is taken in part from the Bible Review, April 1989:
"...Since the 1920s, it has become common wisdom that victims of crucifixion die of asphyxiation when they lose the ability to raise the chest in order to breathe........The suggestion that crucifixion victims die as a result of asphyxiation was first made by A. A. LeBec in 1925. 1 LeBec theorized that the position of the crucified person on the cross, with the arms overhead, would immobilize the chest, making it difficult to breathe out. Thus, the person would suffocate. This was supported by R. W. Hynek in 1936. 2 It was, however, Dr. Pierre Barbet, a surgeon from Paris, who gave the theory widespread currency. In 1953 Barbet refined the theory and presented it in a very simple and believable way. 3 Barbet used three kinds of evidence to support his asphyxiation hypothesis, the most important of which was evidence from hangings in the Austro-German army during World War I, and in the Nazi concentration camp at Dachau during World War II. Barbet?s World War I evidence derived from observations of punishments in the Austro-German army. 4 Soldiers were strung up by their wrists with their feet barely raised off the ground. After a short time, violent contractions of all of the muscles occurred, causing severe muscle spasms. The tortured individual had extreme difficulty exhaling, and thus asphyxiation and death occurred in about ten minutes. Barbet reinforced this observation by using the World War II testimony of two prisoners from Dachau. 5 The prisoners reported that condemned men were hung by their hands with their feet some distance from the ground, requiring them to raise them-selves by their hands in order to exhale. The victim would continuously raise and drop his body until he became exhausted and succumbed to asphyxiation. Both observations by Barbet would support the crucifixion-asphyxiation hypothesis only if the arms of the crucified person were suspended directly above his head in supporting his body.But this is not the position of a person suspended from a cross. On the cross, a victim?s arms are extended at an angle of 60 to 70 degrees from the upright (stipes). If arms were extended directly above the head breathing would unquestionably be difficult, but not where the arms are extended at a 60 to 70 degree angle from vertical. This has now been demonstrated by several experimental studies. An Austrian radiologist, Hermann Moedder, 6 suspended medical students by their wrists with their hands above their heads, less than 40 inches apart on a horizontal bar. In a few minutes the students became pale and the vital capacity of their lungs decreased from 5.2 to 1.5 liters. Their respiration became shallow, blood pressure decreased and pulse rate increased. Moedder concluded that orthostatic collapse, or inability to breathe, would occur in six minutes if the students were not allowed to stand. If the students could rest for a few minutes, alternating with three minutes of hanging, they could last longer. Moedder?s results confirmed that asphyxiation would occur if the crucified person (cruciarius) were suspended by his hands directly above his head. If Jesus? arms had been suspended directly above his head, rather than extended at 60 to 70 degrees, then I would have no difficulty accepting the asphyxiation hypothesis as the cause of his death."
So this medical study shows that if someone were to put to death on an upright stake, with their hands suspended above their head, like the WTS insists Jesus did, they would be dead in about 6 - 10 minutes from asphyxiation. However, Mark 15:25 & 34 tells us that it took Jesus about 6 hours to die, which is in keeping both with the historical evidence as well as the medical evidence given above. BTW, the study in the Bible Review was much longer, and far more graphic, so I didn't post it. If anyone is interested in reading the whole article, PM me. I would be very interested to see what kind of reply the Society would give when presented with the evidence above, that it would have been impossible for Jesus to survive on an upright stake for 6 hours.