The Case For Christ

to the cross by ropes.' Won't you concede that this raises
credibility problems with the New Testament account?"
Dr. Metherell. moved forward until he was sitting on the edge of
his chair. "No," he said, "because archaeology has now
established that the use of nails was historical-although I'll
certainly concede that ropes were indeed sometimes used."
"What's the evidence?"
"In 1968 archaeologists in Jerusalem found the remains of about
three dozen Jews who had died during the uprising against Rome
around A.D. 70. One victim, whose name was apparently Yohanan,
had been crucified. And sure enough, they found a seven-inch nail
still driven into his feet, with small pieces of olive wood from
the cross still attached. This was excellent archaeological
confirmation of a key detail in the gospel's description of the
Crucifixion."
Touch', I thought. "But one other point of dispute concerns the
expertise of the Romans to determine whether Jesus was dead," I
pointed out. "These people were very primitive in terms of their
understanding of medicine and anatomy and so forth-how do we know
they weren't just mistaken when they declared that Jesus was no
longer living?"
"I'll grant you that these soldiers didn't go to medical school.
But remember that they were experts in killing people-that was
their job, and they did it very well. They knew without a doubt
when a person was dead, and really it's not so terribly
difficult to figure out. "Besides, if a prisoner somehow escaped,
the responsible soldiers would be put to death themselves, so
they had a huge incentive to make absolutely sure that each and
every victim was dead when he was removed from the cross."
THE FINAL ARGUMENT
Appealing to history and medicine, to archaeology and even Roman
military rules, Metherell had closed every loophole: Jesus could
not have come down from the cross alive. But still, I pushed him
further. "Is there any possible way-anypossible way-that Jesus
could have survived this?"
Metherell shook his head and pointed his finger at me for
emphasis. "Absolutely not," he said. "Remember that he was
already in hypovolemic shock from the massive blood loss even
before the crucifixion started. He couldn't possibly have faked
his death, because
you can't fake