World Good Friday crucifixions in Philippines

[The Helper]

DEVOTEES re-enacted Jesus's crucifixion in gory scenes while millions of other less extreme faithful across the Catholic Philippines prayed with their families on Good Friday.

A handful of people are traditionally nailed to crosses while hundreds more have their backs whipped until they bleed in Asia's major Catholic outpost, to remember the day when Christians believe Jesus Christ died 2,000 years ago.

In the small farming town of Cutud, a couple of hours' drive north of Manila, thousands of tourists gathered to watch what has over the years become the biggest and bloodiest Good Friday spectacle.

Fourteen people were nailed to crosses and hundreds were whipped as they walked through the town, their blood splattering onto the ground and walls of buildings.

Whole story here.

[YOUTUBE]d9IjbgHRwow[/YOUTUBE]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9IjbgHRwow

 

[Hatebreeder]

Geezus !! :d

EDIT:
Or...

CHEEZUS !

 

[Ninva]

Yep, I heard of this years ago. The people being nailed to the cross doing it willingly to portray Christ's passion. It's not what you think, but I would not condone this type of behavior in my community. As a Christian, I think this is extremely unnecessary. I would love to condemn this as sin, but I'm not in the position to judge so. And I can only watch in wonderment.

Sometimes I wonder if the men who "willingly" shed their blood are actually forced to do it by peer pressure.

 

[Lyerae]

No sane man (or woman) would willingly harm themselves in such a manner.

 

[13lade619]

more vids.

[youtube]JcLO_uef9bE[/youtube]

[youtube]P27AKEonIWs[/youtube]

 

[FhelZone]

It's kind of common here though this practices should be stopped at once I say.

 

[Ninva]

It's kind of common here though this practices should be stopped at once I say.

But why should it be stopped?

Here's the reason: these acts of penitence are counter productive and superficial if no amendments are made.

"Repentance is nothing but a disavowal of our will and an opposition to our fancies, which leads us about in all directions. . . Any man can play his part in the side show and represent a worthy man on the boards; but to be disciplined within, in his own bosom, where all is permissible, where all is concealed - that's the point . . . These men make us believe that they feel great regret and remorse within; but of amendment and correction, or interruption, they show us no sign." - Montaigne

But why does this practice continue? Well, according to the church that they worship at, God has commanded many things that can not be done, so in order to help yourself with these commandments, you must make self-sacrifice. This is just wrong. God does not want you to destroy your body. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit! Instead, Christian should follow the commandments as a guide and acknowledge their evil and confess them. Then they should make amendments, which we call the fruits of forgiveness. But apologizing should not be done unless you not only intend to fix your vice but actually have fixed it.

Now an atheist may just raise his nose up into the air and call religion a waste of time and effort. But I have a question for such audiences. Did you ever apologize for anything? If so, you're being counter productive unless you have made amendments and fixed your vice.

If you've never apologized, then you're a perfect example of a noble savage. Thank you for being an example. The end.

 

[Winterherz]

An act of faith comes in many forms

 

[BANANAMAN]

Meh.

 

[Sui-cookie]

I read the small description, not watching any of the videos until afterword, and had a horrible(and quite bloody) assumption for what this looked like... it made me cringe a little thinking of someone being nailed through the wrists and ankles(might have been somewhere in the shin area? idk) and having their body weight be put entirely on those three nails x.x all willingly at that.

Then i watched the video... and it made me feel a little better. I can see why someone wouldn't be totally against this in terms of what it would do to their body :/ Not saying I would come even close to having a stammering decision, but if someone really had faith that it was the right thing to do, then it probably wouldn't seem like too big of a deal.

His body weight was supported almost entirely by the rope tied to his arms, and the people at the bottom holding him up/to the bottom of the cross. His feet weren't actually pierced at all (good thing, that wouldn't have been nearly as bearable as the hands), and his actual hands were penetrated, in what seemed to be, the center of the hand, carefully positioned to miss the major tendons that control the fingers, so as to not take all that long to heal :| I've actually seen common peircing that made me go "WtF! How do you even walk around with that?! D:''

(so'z you can see the gap between the tendons)

Other than that...
I'm not a very bold or knowledgeable religious person, but i do agree with:

An act of faith comes in many forms

I'm sure that they think they are doing the right thing, a very common justification in many religions, and because of which, I doubt they can really have it held against them :/

This obviously is horrible to Ninva (I'm sure that finding this to be a bad thing is probably quite widespread amongst the people who've read about /watched them, including myself), but I'm sure there are plenty of people there who are set on the very opposite, able to point out many things they think are wrong with our religious systems.

So, what can we really say in religious regards? :/ "You're wrong dammit >:c I'm right. Listen to me!" Seems like it sums it up.. but anyone who's even had an argument on the internet knows where that leads :| probably a ban of some sort and/or a bunch of ragequits and flaming. Which I'm sure has been seen countless times Irl (crusades?... Holocaust?... probably every other day somewhere in africa x.x pirates here... rebels who give guns to six year olds and say "the more people you shoot, the cooler you are =3" the next. Either way, i don't really think that pushing what you believe is right yourself onto another communities way of thinking is really the best way to counteract it(in most cases... I'm not saying we should agree with daily sacrifices to the gods, so we don't get hit with lightning x.x please don't mistake me that way)

I just think that it's more good than bad, when you weight it's religious benefits there to it's counter productiveness(?) here.

Idunno... sorry for going on some, probably totally wrong left field, tangent guys.