Misuse of "impaled"

by RebelWife 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  Doug Mason

  In Appendices to its NWT, the WTS shows a picture from Justus Lipsius, in which a man is shown attached to a stake.

  There is a number of pictures in the book by Lipsius, including a man being impaled. Following much enquiry, Lipsius decided that the implement was a cross as conventionally understood.

  Pictures from the book by Lipsius are available at:

  http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Pictures_from_Lipsius_de_Cruce_Liber_Primus.pdf

  The picture of impalement is at the bottom LH corner of the second page.

  Interestingly, Peter was told he would die with his arms outstretched, although tradition says he chose the upside-down position.

  When the body of a crucified man was discovered, it was shown that the nails went through the wrists, his body contorted with feet on a rest. In his case, they ised the wood of an olive tree.

  http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Aust_Inst_of_Archaeology_article_on_crucifixion.pdf

  http://au.geocities.com/doug_mason1940/Archaeological_Evidence_for_Crucifixion.pdf

  Doug
• 

  John Doe

  Main Entry:

  im·pale

  Pronunciation:

  \im- ' pal\

  Function:

  transitive verb

  Inflected Form(s):

  im·paled ; im·pal·ing

  Etymology:

  Middle French & Medieval Latin; Middle French empaler, from Medieval Latin impalare, from Latin in- + palus stake — more at pole

  Date:

  1605

  1 : to join (coats of arms) on a heraldic shield divided vertically by a pale 2 a : to pierce with or as if with something pointed ; especially : to torture or kill by fixing on a sharp stake b : to fix in an inescapable or helpless position

  WTBTS is using definition 2(b). While most people may interpret it differently, the WT definition is still valid. I don't think anyone mistakes their meaning when they read the literature.
• 

  Hellrider

  Epistle of Barnabas (80-120 C.E. !!)

  Barnabas 9:7
  For the scripture saith; And Abraham circumcised of his household
  eighteen males and three hundred. What then was the knowledge
  given unto him? Understand ye that He saith the eighteen first,
  and then after an interval three hundred In the eighteen 'I'
  stands for ten, 'H' for eight. Here thou hast JESUS (IHSOYS). And
  because the cross in the 'T' was to have grace, He saith also three
  hundred. So He revealeth Jesus in the two letters, and in the
  remaining one the cross.

  Barnabas 12:2
  And He saith again in Moses, when war was waged against Israel by men
  of another nation, and that He might remind them when the war was
  waged against them that for their sins they were delivered unto
  death; the Spirit saith to the heart of Moses, that he should make a
  type of the cross and of Him that was to suffer, that unless, saith
  He, they shall set their hope on Him, war shall be waged against them
  for ever. Moses therefore pileth arms one upon another in the midst
  of the encounter, and standing on higher ground than any he stretched
  out his hands, and so Israel was again victorious. Then, whenever he
  lowered them, they were slain with the sword.

  Barnabas 12:4
  And again in another prophet He saith; The whole day long have I
  stretched out My hands to a disobedient people that did gainsay My
  righteous way.
  
  Barnabas 12:5
  Again Moses maketh a type of Jesus, how that He must suffer, and that
  He Himself whom they shall think to have destroyed shall make alive
  in an emblem when Israel was falling.
• 

  moomanchu

  1: to join (coats of arms) on a heraldic shield divided vertically by a pale2 a: to pierce with or as if with something pointed; especially: to torture or kill by fixing on a sharp stakeb: to fix in an inescapable or helpless position

  This seems to only support impale to mean pierced. To torture or kill by fixing on a sharp stake b: to fix in an inescapable or helpless position

  It's just cult loaded language to be different.
• 

  Forscher

  I know I am getting back to this one a little late,

  I had a disaster with my computer which put me off the net for awhile. So let me get this straight. It would appear that since Jesus was impaled by nails as the means of securing him to the "stake" the verb "impale" may properly be used in connection with his execution? At least as far as English is concerned? Is that what all of this seems to be arriving at?

  Interesting!

  Forscher
• 

  IP_SEC

  I dub this: The Most Interesting JW Related Thread in Months

  Thank you rebs
• 

  AllAlongTheWatchtower

  Good Topic. Being a non-JW myself, when I first heard of the JW belief in the stauros "torture stake", the mental image I conceived of was influenced by a History channel special I had seen a few years prior, on Vlad the Impaler; who literally did impale his enemies on sharpened stakes. I had to ask folks on this board just what the hell was meant by it, before I understood that JWs think of it as more of a cross sans that pesky crossbeam, rather than an actual stake with spear-like implications.

  I don't remember the topic's name, but I remember asking something along the lines of "if JWs believe the bible, and according to the bible not one bone was broken in Christ's body, then how can they believe in some 'torture stake' being rammed through his body without even so much as a rib being cracked?".
• 

  Forscher

  One can be imapled on a stake without breaking any bones ATW.

  Back in the days of impalement on a pointed stake it was customary to insert the stake either through the abdomen or anal region and thread it up through the torso in a manner that it would catch on the shoulder blade, keeping it from sliding completely through the body, thus suspending the body in the air where the victim would writhe in agony for days. The victim didn't bleed out because the the pressure of the stake tamped any injury to blood vessels effectively sealing them.

  Illustrations from the period of Vlad the Impaler show the victims being suspended on the stakes in other positions, but if one looks closely one can often see that the writs and/or ankles are also bound to the stake in a manner to prevent them sliding down the stake to firm ground. In any event, executioners avoided the bones unless, as in the case of the shoulder blade, the bone could be used to suspend the victim.

  Forscher