Filipinos nailed to the cross in Good Friday rites

[panzerfaust]

Source: MSNBC

SAN FERNANDO, Philippines - Filipino devotees had themselves nailed to crosses Friday to remember Jesus Christ's suffering and death — an annual rite rejected by church leaders in the predominantly Roman Catholic country.

At least 23 people were nailed to crosses in three villages in northern Pampanga province's San Fernando city to mark Good Friday, with foreigners banned from taking part this year except as spectators, said Ching Pangilinan, a city tourism officer and one of the organizers...



Many gathered at San Pedro Cutud, a farming village where devotees dressed in robes and tin crowns walked to a dusty mound carrying wooden crosses on their backs. At the mound, men nailed their hands and feet to the crosses.

Among the devotees was Ruben Enaje, a 49-year-old sign painter who was nailed to a cross for the 24th time as his way of thanking God for his survival after falling from a building....

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36146108/ns/world_news/

---

Well ... OK

They also practice flagellating each other through the streets - which was popular in Europe during the Dark Ages when The Church ruled the land.

A local bishop, Rolando Tirona, condemned these actions as being "...expressions of superstitious beliefs," how this then distinguished these beliefs from those of Holy Mother Church was not addressed.

[Ken Burch]

1. To be fair, they did volunteer for this.

It's not like this was a punishment for having overdue library books or something.

[caseymoz]

5. Which is what makes the whole sick and silly.

You could debate whether in the Passion narrative he voluntarily to be arrested, scourged and crucified. I mean, he was after all, God and could have stopped it. Even so, he definitely didn't ask people to do it.

Same with scourging. There's a real difference if you are doing it to yourself, and having it done by somebody who has no care for how painful it is for you-- without a safe word.

There are some orders in the Church that still do this. This doesn't show faith. This shows sickness. It's really the equivalent of anorexia or cutting.

But no one who goes insane ever gets less religious.

[Raoul]

9. Kudos

I'm having trouble typing this because I'm laughing so hard at your comment.. ROFL

[TankLV]

49. Or chewing gum in Singapor...

[Ken Burch]

53. They do caning for that, not crucifxion.

At least for the first offenders.

[saigon68]

2. This has been going on since the Spanish Conquered the P. I.

[Ian David]

3. Does anyone ever do this twice? n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. From the cited portion of the article

"a 49-year-old sign painter who was nailed to a cross for the 24th time"

[MattBaggins]

16. How the hell Can he still use his hands?

[Ian David]

32. It's an extra hole to masturbate with. Also makes it easier to carry home the dry cleaning. n/t

[3waygeek]

42. He's a painter --

he can stick the brushes in the nail holes.

[TankLV]

50. I sometimes feel like that when I show up for work lately...

[pattmarty]

14. Why not, the "holes" are already there.

:sarcasm:

[Ian David]

33. Thanks! I hadn't thought of that! n/t

[TankLV]

51. Must not be too good at swimming either...

[Drops_not_Dope]

6. Didn't Jesus get nailed so

the "sinner" never had to?

[Uncle Joe]

34. Jesus got nailed for throwing the money changer lobbyists out of the Temple which also served

as the government.

This lone violent act; committed by Jesus threatened the long established cash flow loop and power structure of the day, and this kind of sin to those in power was unforgivable, thus Jesus did indeed die for our sins.

But these types of sin continue to play out whether it's "Indulgences" or bribery/lobbying of the Congress.

[pattmarty]

7. And these are the same nuts that call the Muslims crazy? ALL.................

............organized religion is fucked up, period. If you have "beliefs", fine you DON'T need a "cult" to practice what are your own beliefs.

[Soylent Brice]

8. *sigh*...

[stlsaxman]

10. ... let's see- Jonestown, Branch Davidians, Hale Bopp... now this. Kool-aid, indeed.

[KurtNYC]

11. Jesus told his disciples to wash each others feet...

Not fair to use the unapproved actions of a few to condemn the larger church; especially when the larger church joins in the condemnation of their actions.

[Bluenorthwest]

12. Is the 'church' fair in its condemmation of others? Nope.

They organize and spend millions to slander their neighbors, to strip us of rights. They use many unethical and hypocritical methods to do this. The worst is probably their editing and selective reading of their 'Scriptures'. They will select anti gay verses, they edit out the verses that apply to themselves. The do in fact take up the mantle of the divine for the pursuit of their own agenda, which includes doing harm to others. So fair? You reap what you sew, you cast your bread it returns. The fair you take is equal to the fair you make.
Would you rather speak of Pat Robertson, or of the Irish kids or the German kids or the deaf kids? Or the Inquisition? Of course, what the 'church' wants to speak about is not itself, that is not fair you see, so they want to talk about the speck in their brother's eye. They want to cast the first stone and take their chances.
The church would not know fair if it bit it in the liturgy. Was Prop 8 fair?
Fair indeed.

[DeSwiss]

13. These people are sick.

- Religion ruins everything.

[icee]

15. I have no idea whether the original crucifixation took place or

whether it is simply another religious fable. However, if it did, then this action is a mocking of it and Jesus Christ.

[Stuckinthebush]

17. Serious psychological help needed there

Wow. Talk about taking religion too far.

[Ganja Ninja]

18. We should pass a law requiring every preacher/priest that wants a tax exemption

for his church to undergo this. That would weed out the phonies. :sarcasm:

[2Design]

19. A cult that worships violence and this is the result n/t

[zoff]

20. To each his own.

We have enough difficulty understanding people in our own communities, let alone people thousands of miles away.

[BagongBansa]

39. we've just forgotten

They aren't so crazy over there. They are just experiencing religious feelings at a way higher intensity. Maybe they feel guilty about something in their lives, or maybe they are asking God for something. The article quotes that man as thanking God for the fact he survived a fall. Over in the west, we've just forgotten what this level of feeling is like.

[Toasterlad]

21. They Should Go Ahead And Castrate These Sick Fucks While They're Up There, Too.

Preventing them from breeding would be a great service to the world.

[Bette Noir]

24. Wrong cult. You're thinking of the Castrati, in pre-Revolutionary Russia.

[Toasterlad]

25. Either Way Is Good. As Long As Some Crazy Cult Members Get Castrated.

[TankLV]

52. and that was done for musical entertainment...

[proteus_lives]

27. Wow, how hateful.

[Toasterlad]

29. LOL. If Denying Relgious Crazies The Ability To Breed Is Hateful, Sign Me Up.

The last thing the world needs is more religion, especially the zealot kind.

[proteus_lives]

30. You're signed up herr Lad.

Any other groups you want sterilized? How about the Amish? They're pretty weird.

Could you give us a list of the groups of people no longer deserving of human rights because of their religious beliefs?

[Toasterlad]

31. The Amish Are Awesome!

One of the very few religious groups to actually practice what they preach. If the rest of the chrisitans were like the Amish, instead of the lying hypocrites that most of them are, the world would be a much, much better place.

And I didn't say anything about taking away RIGHTS. I was talking about taking away BALLS. So that this superstitious voodoo can die off like it should have done when we first realized that the sun doesn't revolve around the earth.

[proteus_lives]

37. Who are they hurting?

I haven't seen that they force people to participate in this festival.

You should work on your bigotry Herr Lad.

[Toasterlad]

38. They're Hurting ME. And The Rest Of the Gay People Of the World.

THAT'S who they're hurting.

I'll be glad to renounce my bigotry once the catholic church stops working to forbid me from getting married.

I really do enjoy how religious people LOOOOOOVE to yell "Bigotry!"

[proteus_lives]

41. It's too bad you didn't learn anything from your experiences.

You respond to bigotry with bigotry.

Oh well, it's not surprising. It's part of the human condition.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sudopod]

44. I know I love it when people tell me that I and all of my loved ones are going to hell.

They're great at parties, too.

[elocs]

22. The clean and modern nail through the hand is historically wrong

since someone crucified that way would simply rip their hands free from the nails because the weight of the body could not be supported. The crucifixion at the time of Jesus would have used large and rough nails driven between the small bones of the wrists, crushing the median nerve which would cause severe and agonizing pain in the arms.

Crucifixion was and long and tortuous way to die and death came as a result of asphyxiation when the crucified could no longer raise their body enough to allow them to take a breath. In fact since crucifixion is such a horrible and painful and tortuous way to die one wonders why Bushco did not employ this technique.

So even though the mock crucifixion by the Filipinos is no doubt painful, it is a shadow of what real crucifixion was and what the crucified had to endure.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

23. Religious insanity at its best.

I have long thought there is an element of mental illness in the excessively devout -- and shit like this just confirms it for me.

[Betty]

26. Why isn't his hand bleeding?

?

[snooper2]

28. It's a miracle

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Ian David]

35. I've seen video. They bleed pretty well. n/t

[wickerwoman]

46. It's his 24th time. He's an old hand.

:P

[Ian David]

36. I prefer the Kanamara Matsuri festival. Nobody gets hurt.

Kanamara Matsuri
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus, かなまら祭り?) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere—in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights (vagina dentata). As a result, the young girl sought help with a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

Today, the festival has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanamara_Matsuri

[alphafemale]

47. Now THAT'S an awesome holiday.

Why has Hallmark neglected it?

This war on Steel Weenies must stop. :cry:

[IDemo]

40. "rejected by church leaders "

Any particular reason this practice is not banned by the government? Self mutilation, voluntary or not, is plain sick regardless of whether for "religious" reasons.

[TankLV]

48. Good thing Jesus wasn't sent to the ELECTRIC CHAIR!!!

or hung (of course, who knows if Jesus was hung!)

[alphafemale]

54. People would be walking around with mini "old sparkies" round their necks

And certain sects would actually have a guy being fried to death still sitting in it!

[marshall]

55. This seems like an influx of traditional South East Asian belief

Very similar to rituals performed in Indonesia. It harkens back to the early days of the Christian church, when the local beliefs were co-opted. Thus Easter is celebrated with some of the trappings of the pagan goddess Eostre.