RADIOApril 01, 2024

3 Things We Get WRONG About the Death, Burial, & Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Is the modern depiction of Jesus’ death on a cross historically accurate? This Easter Weekend, Liberty University professor Gary Habermas joins Glenn to paint a picture of what the crucifixion of Christ most likely looked like and debunk 3 things we get wrong about it: How tall was the cross? How long did the Roman usually leave bodies on crosses? Was it common to bury the bodies of crucified people? Habermas also lays out the historical evidence that the crucifixion DID happen.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: Gary Habermas is with us. Liberty University apologetics and philosophy professor. Gary, welcome to the program.

GARY: Glad to be with you, on such a wonderful day that deserves some celebration, as you already noted.

GLENN: Yeah. I guess today does as well.

Because this is the atonement. Because Sunday is the -- is the real celebratory day. I don't think we take any of time, on good Friday, to really understand, what this man went through.

GARY: Yeah. Absolutely. He was -- you know, the movie, the Passion. People -- it was called all kinds of things. By people who didn't like it.

Pornographic violence was one of the phrases I remember. But there is a reference. In ancient history, to people being beaten, for punishments. And the ancient source says, that they whipped the men until their organs fell out.

And that -- that even surpasses the Passion. But all I'm saying is, that was only the prequel to the crucifixion. So this is a very serious event. And what we portrayed is not overdone.

GLENN: Jeez. And when they -- when they crucified people, they weren't on big, tall crosses like we see.

It was -- there were street level. And almost eye level. So people coming into the town, would know, this is what happens to people, if you do these things. Right?

GARY: Correct. Because the men were talking to each other. And if you remember seeing at the end. Where Jesus is pierced with the spear. Now, he's already dead. And, by the way, I will just add, we have a Roman reference, that says, the same thing.

That the -- that the centurion could allow the family to take the dead body of the crucified person, when they were taken down. They were dead.

And they were given one last blow. And the Latin word that's used, means it's a military term. For using an axe. A spear. Or a sword.

And, anyway, my point is, if you're low enough that a person can stab you with a Roman short spear. Yes. You're closer to the ground than a lot of the depictions.

GLENN: So I thought that it was unusual to take the body and bury it. Because from what I learned about crucifixion, part of it was the dogs would come and eat some of the flesh. And it just made it more grisly for visitors. Hey, come to our town, don't end up like this.

GARY: Yeah! And birds too!

But of course, your point about dogs. That shows you how much closer they are to the ground. By the way, Romans often did leave victims on the cross. Thousands were crucified, outside Jerusalem. And the Jewish war of '66 to '78 AD. However, Josephus, the Jewish historian tells us that Jews had such respect for bodies, that even crucifixion victims. I mean, criminals that they were. Even criminal's bodies were taken down and buried.

So Jewish tradition is an exception to the state of the cross.

GLENN: Do you have any idea when they started crucifixion. How it started. When it started.

GARY: Yeah, it goes way back before the Romans, back to the Syrians, even before that. And it was practiced around the eastern end of the Mediterranean.

But all the way up in Italy.

You remember the story of Spartacus, and the slaves.

And crucifying the people down the -- the Appian Way, you know, Rome.

And they were talking about lighting -- lighting people on fire, and being -- in particular, Nero, lighting them to be torturers in the night.

So that's just kind of how -- how, you know -- you know, not enough to be beaten up. Not enough to be hung and then burned.

So I can't think of a worse way to die.

GLENN: Is there anything in particular, that you read in the Scriptures, about this day, that really -- you can really, truly show the evidence? In the Scriptures, and go, that we know is absolutely true.

Because of X, Y, and Z.

GARY: Yeah, there's actually a couple. I coauthored an article 19 -- 2021, four years ago. Three years ago.

With two other people. One a neurologist, an MD Ph.D, another researcher. And what we did was, we didn't try to prove how Jesus died.

We simply did a head count of medical views. And by far, the most common view, double all the other views put together, was that in -- in the crucifixion, the victims asphyxiate. And what happens is, when you stretch out, in that condition, and, by the way. The closer your hands are to your head, the closer can't arms are brought up. The faster you asphyxiate.

And, of course, when someone starts asphyxiating, you say, well, then, how soon is it over?

Well, believe it or not, medical doctors, even in Nazi Germany. In the Middle East. Crucifixion is still performed.

And they did experiments where they didn't hurt the person. They didn't use nails. But they did it.

The men on one experiment, lost consciousness in a maximum of 12 minutes.

They lost consciousness.

So then they say, how do you explain the three hours?

It would be over fast. Well, the issue is, you could push down on the nails in your feet, and when you push up, antigravity, but you push up to breathe. And that allows to you unfreeze the muscles. The intercostal pectoral deltoid muscles that you work out in the gym, the ones around your lungs. You can free them.

And so you can stay alive, on the cross. For more than a day, by pushing up sinking down. Pushing up, sinking down.

And that relieves the asphyxiation process.

GLENN: That really why they break their legs, right? When they want them to die, they break their legs.

GARY: Now you're exactly right. And that's not the only blow. By the way, not just the gospels. I just wrote a huge, almost 1100-page work on crucifixion and resurrection.

And I assembled a number of secular examples of people all the way up into Rome and Italy, where ankles were broken. Now, there's almost no reason to break an ankle. If you beat the guy up, hit him with the board -- shoot -- one guy was threatened with an arrow, one guy had a skull crushed with the mallet. All kinds of things happened.

But why break ankles? And of course, it causes shock. But it seems to me, and the reason is to -- to make the person to go -- we want to go back to the barracks and play cards or something.

And they break the ankles and it's over. Now it's over quickly, if the person can't push up.

And, by the way, the other reason is the spear wound in the side. As I already said. Where the Romans said, this guy is already dead.

We took him down, laid him on the ground. His family wanted the body. So we pierced him one more time.

And you go, where? In the thigh? No. Roman soldiers didn't have anatomy lessons, but they knew where to stab a person to drop them the quickest in battle. And it makes sense, they would stab them in the chest.

You don't stab the skull. So where will you go? Probably the heart. Lung region would be normal. And that's stabbing the chest. So that's one way of dying. So you got the broken ankles. Asphyxiation of being a possible way of dying. You have it backed up in archaeological. And you have the spur wound. There's three right there to make sure that Jesus was dead.

GLENN: So there's also something else, the -- the humiliation of it all.

I mean, this is why I had a guest earlier this week. That said, you know, if this is all made up. They were really bad at making this up.

Because in the ancient world, the worst thing that could happen, to somebody, and certainly not the messiah if you're telling a story and making it up. Is to nail them to a tree.

That is the most humiliating thing you can do.

And then they mocked him. Now, I'm sure the mocking was usual, but the crown of thorns was unique to him. Right?

GARY: Yes. Yes. Believed to be a criminal. He was crucified to be a criminal. And I will add this. This is not always try.

But crucifixion victims were often crucified nude. So if you want to add to the humiliation, the point you're making there, that wasn't always done.

But that's -- that's -- that's a common way to do it.

GLENN: Do we think that that's the way he was? Crucified?

GARY: We have no idea.

There's an in between view, you know. And that's what's often in the paintings.

They would have a garment put around their waist. Almost like -- almost like when you go to play football or something, you have too many clothes on.

You take the sweatshirt off, and you tie it around your waist.

Jesus could have had one of those deals, where they just tied a modesty cloth. We don't really know, if that portion was done or not done. He wasn't clothed totally. I mean, he was either clothed with a modesty cloth or not clothed at all most likely.

GLENN: When he was crucified, you know, we always see him up on Golgotha, and he's up at the top of a hill. And it's just the three of them.

Is that likely to be that way? Or was he with a whole bunch of other crosses all around him?

GARY: No. It seems like the three is historical. I've done so much reading on this. And studied it for decades.

And I don't even see, let's put it this way. I don't think scholars even bring it up.

I don't remember if I've ever seen the question of whether there were the three crosses. And I think they generally think, the gospel says, it makes sense, that two guys were thieves. Jesus was in the middle. And they talked to each other.

And one of them says, remember me, when you come into my kingdom. And Jesus said, today you're with me in paradise. That -- that is historical material.

Could passengers have SAVED Iryna Zarutska?

Surveillance footage of the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, NC, reveals that the other passengers on the train took a long time to help her. Glenn, Stu, and Jason debate whether they were right or wrong to do so.

Transcript

Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors

GLENN: You know, I'm -- I'm torn on how I feel about the people on the train.

Because my first instinct is, they did nothing! They did nothing! Then my -- well, sit down and, you know -- you know, you're going to be judged. So be careful on judging others.

What would I have done? What would I want my wife to do in that situation?

STU: Yeah. Are those two different questions, by the way.

GLENN: Yeah, they are.

STU: I think they go far apart from each other. What would I want myself to do. I mean, it's tough to put yourself in a situation. It's very easy to watch a video on the internet and talk about your heroism. Everybody can do that very easily on Twitter. And everybody is.

You know, when you're in a vehicle that doesn't have an exit with a guy who just murdered somebody in front of you, and has a dripping blood off of a knife that's standing 10 feet away from you, 15 feet away from you.

There's probably a different standard there, that we should all kind of consider. And maybe give a little grace to what I saw at least was a woman, sitting across the -- the -- the aisle.

I think there is a difference there. But when you talk about that question. Those two questions are definitive.

You know, I know what I would want myself to do. I would hope I would act in a way that didn't completely embarrass myself afterward.

But I also think, when I'm thinking of my wife. My advice to my wife would not be to jump into the middle of that situation at all costs. She might do that anyway. She actually is a heck of a lot stronger than I am.

But she might do it anyway.

GLENN: How pathetic, but how true.

STU: Yes. But that would not be my advice to her.

GLENN: Uh-huh.

STU: Now, maybe once the guy has certainly -- is out of the area. And you don't think the moment you step into that situation. He will turn around and kill you too. Then, of course, obviously. Anything you can do to step in.

Not that there was much anyone on the train could do.

I mean, I don't think there was an outcome change, no matter what anyone on that train did.

Unfortunately.

But would I want her to step in?

Of course. If she felt she was safe, yes.

Think about, you said, your wife. Think about your daughter. Your daughter is on that train, just watching someone else getting murdered like that. Would you advise your daughter to jump into a situation like that?

That girl sitting across the aisle was somebody's daughter. I don't know, man.

JASON: I would. You know, as a dad, would I advise.

Hmm. No.

As a human being, would I hope that my daughter or my wife or that I would get up and at least comfort that woman while she's dying on the floor of a train?

Yeah.

I would hope that my daughter, my son, that I would -- and, you know, I have more confidence in my son or daughter or my wife doing something courageous more than I would.

But, you know, I think I have a more realistic picture of myself than anybody else.

And I'm not sure that -- I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. I know what I would hope I would do. But I also know what I fear I would do. But I would have hoped that I would have gotten up and at least tried to help her. You know, help her up off the floor. At least be there with her, as she's seeing her life, you know, spill out in under a minute.

And that's it other thing we have to keep in mind. This all happened so rapidly.

A minute is -- will seem like a very long period of time in that situation. But it's a very short period of time in real life.

STU: Yeah. You watch the video, Glenn. You know, I don't need the video to -- to change my -- my position on this.

But at his seem like there was a -- someone who did get there, eventually, to help, right? I saw someone seemingly trying to put pressure on her neck.

GLENN: Yeah. And tried to give her CPR.

STU: You know, no hope at that point. How long of a time period would you say that was?

Do you know off the top of your head?

GLENN: I don't know. I don't know. I know that we watched the video that I saw. I haven't seen past 30 seconds after she --

STU: Yeah.

GLENN: -- is down. And, you know, for 30 seconds nothing is happening. You know, that is -- that is not a very long period of time.

STU: Right.

GLENN: In reality.

STU: And especially, I saw the pace he was walking. He certainly can't be -- you know, he may have left the actual train car by 30 seconds to a minute. But he wasn't that far away. Like he was still in visual.

He could still turn around and look and see what's going on at that point. So certainly still a threat is my point. He has not, like, left the area. This is not that type of situation.

You know, I -- look, as you point out, I think if I could be super duper sexist for a moment here, sort of my dividing line might just be men and women.

You know, I don't know if it's that a -- you're not supposed to say that, I suppose these days. But, like, there is a difference there. If I'm a man, you know, I would be -- I would want my son to jump in on that, I suppose. I don't know if he could do anything about it. But you would expect at least a grown man to be able to go in there and do something about it. A woman, you know, I don't know.

Maybe I'm -- I hope --

GLENN: Here's the thing I -- here's the thing that I -- that causes me to say, no. You should have jumped in.

And that is, you know, you've already killed one person on the train. So you've proven that you're a killer. And anybody who would have screamed and got up and was with her, she's dying. She's dying. Get him. Get him.

Then the whole train is responsible for stopping that guy. You know. And if you don't stop him, after he's killed one person, if you're not all as members of that train, if you're not stopping him, you know, the person at the side of that girl would be the least likely to be killed. It would be the ones that are standing you up and trying to stop him from getting back to your daughter or your wife or you.

JASON: There was a -- speaking of men and women and their roles in this. There was a video circling social media yesterday. In Sweden. There was a group of officials up on a stage. And one of the main. I think it was health official woman collapses on stage. Completely passes out.

All the men kind of look away. Or I don't know if they're looking away. Or pretending that they didn't know what was going on. There was another woman standing directly behind the woman passed out.

Immediately springs into action. Jumps on top. Grabs her pant leg. Grabs her shoulder. Spins her over and starts providing care.

What did she have that the other guys did not? Or women?

She was a sheepdog. There is a -- this is my issue. And I completely agree with Stu. I completely agree with you. There's some people that do not respond this way. My issue is the proportion of sheepdogs versus people that don't really know how to act. That is diminishing in western society. And American society.

We see it all the time in these critical actions. I mean, circumstances.

There are men and women, and it's actually a meme. That fantasize about hoards of people coming to attack their home and family. And they sit there and say, I've got it. You guys go. I'm staying behind, while I smoke my cigarette and wait for the hoards to come, because I will sacrifice myself. There are men and women that fantasize of block my highway. Go ahead. Block my highway. I'm going to do something about it. They fantasize about someone holding up -- not a liquor store. A convenience store or something. Because they will step in and do something. My issue now is that proportion of sheepdogs in society is disappearing. Just on statistical fact, there should be one within that train car, and there were none.

STU: Yeah. I mean --

JASON: They did not respond.

STU: We see what happens when they do, with Daniel Penny. Our society tries to vilify them and crush their existence. Now, there weren't that many people on that train. Right?

At least on that car. At least it's limited. I only saw three or four people there, there may have been more. I agree with you, though. Like, you see what happens when we actually do have a really recent example of someone doing exactly what Jason wants and what I would want a guy to do. Especially a marine to step up and stop this from happening. And the man was dragged by our legal system to a position where he nearly had to spend the rest of his life in prison.

I mean, I -- it's insanity. Thankfully, they came to their senses on that one.

GLENN: Well, the difference between that one and this one though is that the guy was threatening. This one, he killed somebody.

STU: Yeah. Right. Well, but -- I think -- but it's the opposite way. The debate with Penny, was should he have recognize that had this person might have just been crazy and not done anything?

Maybe. He hadn't actually acted yet. He was just saying things.

GLENN: Yeah. Well --

STU: He didn't wind up stabbing someone. This is a situation where these people have already seen what this man will do to you, even when you don't do anything to try to stop him. So if this woman, who is, again, looks to be an average American woman.

Across the aisle. Steps in and tries to do something. This guy could easily turn around and just make another pile of dead bodies next to the one that already exists.

And, you know, whether that is an optimal solution for our society, I don't know that that's helpful.

In that situation.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Max Lucado on Overcoming Grief in Dark Times | The Glenn Beck Podcast | Ep 266

Disclaimer: This episode was filmed prior to the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But Glenn believes Max's message is needed now more than ever.
The political world is divided, constantly at war with itself. In many ways, our own lives are not much different. Why do we constantly focus on the negative? Why are we in pain? Where is God amid our anxiety and fear? Why can’t we ever seem to change? Pastor Max Lucado has found the solution: Stop thinking like that! It may seem easier said than done, but Max joins Glenn Beck to unpack the three tools he describes in his new book, “Tame Your Thoughts,” that make it easy for us to reset the way we think back to God’s factory settings. In this much-needed conversation, Max and Glenn tackle everything from feeling doubt as a parent to facing unfair hardships to ... UFOs?! Plus, Max shares what he recently got tattooed on his arm.

THE GLENN BECK PODCAST

Are Demonic Forces to Blame for Charlie Kirk, Minnesota & Charlotte Killings?

This week has seen some of the most heinous actions in recent memory. Glenn has been discussing the growth of evil in our society, and with the assassination of civil rights leader Charlie Kirk, the recent transgender shooter who took the lives of two children at a Catholic school, and the murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, how can we make sense of all this evil? On today's Friday Exclusive, Glenn speaks with BlazeTV host of "Strange Encounters" Rick Burgess to discuss the demon-possessed transgender shooter and the horrific assassination of Charlie Kirk. Rick breaks down the reality of demon possession and how individuals wind up possessed. Rick and Glenn also discuss the dangers of the grotesque things we see online and in movies, TV shows, and video games on a daily basis. Rick warns that when we allow our minds to be altered by substances like drugs or alcohol, it opens a door for the enemy to take control. A supernatural war is waging in our society, and it’s a Christian’s job to fight this war. Glenn and Rick remind Christians of what their first citizenship is.