Filipino Christians crucify themselves on Good Friday.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-06/philippino-fanatics-crucify-themselves-for-good-friday/3937448
Would Jesus want us to do this?

Interesting question.

He wanted us remember how he died, but he wanted to live the way he lived.

So- id vote no- he would not approve of it.

i've been to the philippines twice and i know this sort of thing goes on. It also goes on in Mexico, so its a hangover from spanish colonialism.

The point of Jesus dying was not to suffer but to be "the perfect Lamb" offered up to the Father for the remission of sin.

None of the Fillipinos are "perfect Lambs".

ruveyn

they think by crucifying themselves they are somehow retroactively alleviating the suffering of Christ by taking on some of his suffering.

Of course its nonsense, but thats what they believe. They take it really seriously, the ones doing the crucifying even dress up as Roman soldiers.

WWJD?

"Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh." -- Philippians 3:2 (NIV)

Ya gotta wonder...

I would think those Filipinos should have been raised with Christian doctrine that clearly states Christ alone had died for the remission of the world's sins. To put themselves through such agony seems to imply that they had played hookey through confirmation class.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Those Filipinos have been raised in a culture that is an amalgam of Catholicism, Spiritism, Animism, Ancestor Worship, and Islam (to name a few beliefs). Some of them take the admonition to be more Christ-like very seriously. Thus, some believe with every part of their being that by going through their own very real crucifixion, they are drawing as close to Christ as anyone possibly can without actually dying and going to Heaven.

They are a very proud and passionate people, and their devotion to their beliefs would put an evangelical Southern Baptist to shame.