Thursday, April 1, 2010

Hematohidrosis

This is from ChristianAnswers.net, and it describes hematohidrosis, the sweating of blood that Jesus experienced in Gethsemane. Here at Easter time, we want to be especially sensitive to Jesus' suffering, and as described here, not all of it was physical. Praise Jesus for "setting his face toward Jerusalem," "sweating great drops of blood" and going to the Cross, "scorning it's shame" in his
agony for us.



*******

Before the crucifixion, as Jesus Christ prayed in the Garden of Gesthemane, the disciple and physician Luke noted that:
“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
Luke 22:44 (NKJV)
This was written by the physician Luke, a well-educated man and a careful observer by profession.
Luke is also the only gospel writer to mention the bloody sweat, possibly because of his interest as a physician in this rare physiological phenomenon, which spoke elequently of the intense spiritual agony Jesus was suffering… (Dr. Henry M. Morris, The Defenders Bible, margin notes for Luke 22:44)
Although this medical condition is relatively rare, according to Dr. Frederick Zugibe (Chief Medical Examiner of Rockland County, New York) it is well-known, and there have been many cases of it. The clinical term is hematohidrosis.” “Around the sweat glands, there are multiple blood vessels in a net-like form.” Under the pressure of great stress the vessels constrict. Then as the anxiety passes “the blood vessels dilate to the point of rupture. The blood goes into the sweat glands.” As the sweat glands are producing a lot of sweat, it pushes the blood to the surface - coming out as droplets of blood mixed with sweat.
What was the source of Jesus great stress and anguish? Clearly he was in intense spiritual agony. Being the Son of God, he would have in detail everything that was about to happen to him. He knew that he was physically facing one of the most horrible forms of capital punishment there has ever been. His body was human, and he would feel everything at least as intensely as we would. Was this the source of his severe stress? It is doubtful.

The really great weight upon Jesus was the knowledge that he would soon bear the terrible trauma of taking the guilt for all of our sins upon him—my sins and yours. He knew that under this weight of sin, the Father would forsake him and thus he would endure a form of hell itself for lost sinners.

As powerful as Jesus is, he could easily have avoided all of this and simply disappeared. He could have brought down a legion of angels to protect him. He could have made his skin impenetrable. He could have anesthetized his pain so that he felt nothing. But he chose to do none of these things. Rather, he willingly chose to genuinely be “wounded for our transgressions” and “bruised for our iniquities” so that he could truly pay for our sins and suffer human death.
“…He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.” (Isaiah 53:5,7, NKJV)

More information

  • How did Jesus die? Answer
  • If you would like to learn how to have a personal relationship with Christ, click here.
  • You can read an illustrated summary of the life and death of Jesus (click here). Better yet, start at the very beginning of God’s story to understand what God did and why Jesus died. Go… (ChristianAnswers.Net/godstory)
  • We have provided much more information and documentation about Jesus’s life, death and resurrection at ChristianAnswers.Net/jesus .
  • For further information on the subject of Christ’s death, we highly recommend “How Jesus Died: The Final 18 Hours,” a half-hour Christian video. This informative production can help you and others better appreciate what Jesus suffered to save us. It can be purchased online. Go… or by calling 800-332-2261 
How Jesus Died
For more information:
How Jesus Died: The Final 18 Hours 35 min./Teen to Adult

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8 comments:

  1. It is impossible for Jesus to have sweat blood. The Scripture doesn't even say he did. It says his "sweat" was like great drops of blood. "Like" is the keyword, and sweat is the other one. To base this view that Jesus suffered from hematadrosis is to slap God in the face with an insult that His son was not a perfect human sacrifice. This is blasphemy. The Lamb of God had the same requirements of perfection as any other lamb: He must be without spot or blemish according to the Torah, and he must not have an illness. This is a false doctrine floating around: Starting with both the Mormon Church and the Catholic church. It is the wine of the fornication of the whore of Babylon to become drunk on her wine... her doctrine. It doesn't matter how huge of pillar in the church any person might be... if he espouses to this doctrine that Jesus sweat blood, he is absolutely blind to the truth. He is breaking the rule of Biblical hermeneutics to arrive at this conclusion from reading just one single Scripture in the whole Bible. The rule says you must have at least two Scriptures that agree with each other and say essentiually the same thing. This doctrine is based on a misinterpretation of Luke 22:44 and no other verse in the entire Bible will substantiate this viewpoint. I myself have sweat great drops of sweat like as if it were blood when I work hard in the hot sun with my shirt off, and I watch the sweat drop off to the ground in huge drops as they gather into large formations and eventually fall from my skin to the ground. What's so unusual about that? Nothing: But it would be unusual for a person to pray so hard that he sweat this profusely. That was all that Luke was trying to say here. And being a doctor, I'm sure he had seen a lot of blood in his life time. Therefore it's easily understandable to see why he would use blood as an analogy to describe the profuse amount of "sweat" that Jesus released from while under the agony of his prayer.

    You really should seriously re-think your position and not just believe every wind of doctrine even if it is a popular one such as this one is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry, but (and I wish I could say this lovingly) I "really should" not take anyone seriously who posts anonymously on blogs...I thought everyone knew that by now??

    So this is all the response you will get...except to say that you were preachy and no one will take you seriously (I don't) when you anonymously slap them....sorry that's all....

    ReplyDelete
  3. alright, I'll throw this in too, not that 'anonymous' will ever come back to my humble corner of the blogosphere..

    http://earnestlyicq.blogspot.com/2010/01/theological-correctness-part-2.html

    ReplyDelete
  4. Well, I don't normally post to blogs, and I didn't see the option to enter my name as I did this time. All I could see was that BlogSpot was asking for my Wordpress account or Blogspot or Typepad, etc., or whatever... none of which I have.

    So do you love the truth? Just because I'm a bit preachy doesn't take away from the fact that it's true. And just because I was anonymous wasn't any reason to discard the truth... or to not take it seriously. I mean seriously, haven't you ever read an anonymous poem or something, and appreciated it? So I don't think my anonymity was a reason to reject my comments. Truth is truth no matter whose mouth it comes out of: Even a small child can teach me something. We should all be willing to listen to the truth in whichever way it is delivered. Love can be tough sometimes. But the Apostles clearly taught that sound doctrine can be used for not only teaching, but also for rebuke as well. How do you do that without it stinging the person being rebuked? Would it be wise to say it was not done in love, therefore I will go on my way and ignore it? Just an excuse to dismiss the matter, it sounds like.

    So I sounded a bit preachy, did I? Well I don't have any apologies for that! I wish I could be evangelistic! But I was just being real, and I was a bit fired up over this imputation Gospel message that Jesus sweat blood! I just hate false doctrine, but I love people! Can you find one other verse of Scripture besides Luke 22:44 to that suggests that maybe Jesus sweat blood? It might sound pretty amazing and even spectacular to a new convert, or even to a person who is on the fence: And maybe that is the whole point of inventing this false doctrine: to try and win people over to accepting the Lord in their heart. It does pull on the old heart strings and evokes an emotional response to a person who believes it and his soul is in the valley of decision. But do you think the ends justifies the means even if the means is a matter of lying? I sincerely hope you don't.

    So why do you hold to such a point of view in the first place? Were you a victim of being told this false doctrine and you just accepted it: It's nothing more than sensationalism based on a lie? Does it ever occure to you that the devil likes to teach such false things that have the appearance of lifting Jesus up? He doesn't just teach people things that make them doubt you know! He also gives them false illusions that seems so amazing to some people.

    But what's even more amazing is the truth, because it sets us free from the devil's tricks. We are not ignorant to his ways. The Spirit of God in us is greater than he who is in the world!

    So shake this thing off, or else prove it to be true with other facts or Scriptures!



    So do you want to believe theory and church traditions over and above what "thus sayeth the Word of God?" If so... then think about what Jesus said to the Pharisees when he told them that their traditions of men have made null and void the Word of God: (or something to that effect). The point is that traditions can be full of bright and shinny and glittery objects that take our eyes off the Scripture: Another trick of the enemy!

    In fact the Pharisees have so many traditions even to this day, that it's a burden for a person to be yoked to them in his religion. It's known as the Oral Torah, and it has been passed down since the Second Temple times. It is a "Second Torah" and it has nothing to do with Torah that Moses presented to Israel. It was because of the oral Torah that the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath: Not the written Torah of Moses. For instnace the Oral Torah has over 1,600 laws regarding the Sabbath alone! It teaches that a person cannot walk on the grass on the Sabbath day, because his robe might brush some of the grain onto the ground: Then he would be guilty of reaping. And reaping was forbidden according to the Torah of Moses on a Sabbath day.

    continued on next post

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  5. Did any of the 11 disciples at the time just moments before Jesus' arrest make any comment or show any concern whatsoever about the blood that would have been on his face? Or did any of them refer to it in any of their epistles? It would have been a pretty big deal don't you think? I mean... one of the disciples would have had to see all of this blood on Jesus' face or robe, or they would have had to see it when he was praying. Certainly Luke was not there to see it. He was not one of the 12. He wrote his Gospel based on eye witness testimony, as you can varify be reading the first few verses of chapter one. So who told him that Jesus sweat blood?

    Am I saying that hematidrosis doesn't happen? No. I'm not saying that at all. But I will say that I don't believe that Jesus was afraid to die! The Scripture says that for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross and he despised the shame. So wouldn't it be a slap in the face to say he was afraid to die? I think it would be. And hematidrosis is triggered by a fear of dieing. Why is this so simple to me? It just doesn't make sense for true Christians to believe this idea that Jesus sweat blood. The theory has too many holes in it. And that's what it is: Just plain simple theory!

    Well, that's just one of many examples I could present to you. But it's not necessary. I suspect you understand my point about tradition. You have to separate it from the truth of God's word. The church fathers and even more recent Bible scholars have formed many ideas in the church that would fall into the category of tradition. Such is the case of the teaching that Jesus sweat blood.

    I came by your website a couple of times a day or so after I posted, and glanced at your site, but I never saw your June 1 posts. I don't know why... maybe I was in a hurry or something. I just thought you weren't paying attention to your blog.

    And I haven't been using FireFox to browse for about a week now, because I have so many tabs open that it slows down my computer: And I don't want to take the time to sort them all out, and get rid of some of them. So I didn't use it until tonight by accident. It's my default browser and I clicked on a link to see something, and it triggered Firefox. I had forgotten all about the default thing. So I have a bunch of tabs open, and one of them was yours. That's what brings me here to your website tonight: The default in FireFox opened up all the tabs and one of them was still there that takes me to your site.

    I could have found you some other way. All I would have had to do is to Google "Hematidrosis"
    and I think you are about the sixth or seventh one down. I hope that is not the case in the near future!

    Shalom,

    Jerry

    ReplyDelete
  6. I just wanted to say also that Jesus Christ was a perfect human sacrifice. If he was not perfect, then he would have been unacceptable to God. God's rules and requirements for Israel regarding sacrifices, were laid out in the Torah.

    Jesus was the Lamb of God when he laid down his life. Being the Lamb of God, required that he be without spot or blemish: That meant that he must have no diseases or broken bones... just as any sacrificial lamb that the children of Israel ever brought before the Lord had to be sure of, regarding their sacrificial lambs.

    I don't believe God has two standards regarding sacrifices: One for his people to live by, and a lower standard for Himself. And it is a lower standard than the standard in the Torah, if in fact He did not require that Jesus be free of all disease! That includes the disease of hematidrosis. For this reason, I say it's an insult to God The Father, and to His Son Jesus for someone to say that Jesus suffered from hematidrosis.

    If you follow the teachings of the Mormon Church, then come out and say so. And if that is the case, then I clearly understand why you cannot give this doctrine up!

    The Mormon Church teaches that our atonement of sins came through the shed blood not at Calvary... but in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus prayed and great drops of blood were (supposedly)sweated from his pores of his skin.

    Of course Mormon doctors will support this false doctrine to give it even more validity.

    So this is just another reason why Mormons are said to have another Jesus than the one that is presented in the Scriptures of the New Testament: And not the scriptures (lower case "s" deliberate) of the Book of Mormon.

    This doctrine is sort of like "a foot in the door" of the Christian Church. Many high profile Christian leaders are advocating this doctrine that Jesus sweat blood, and this gives Mormons a sense of validation to see mainstream Christianity falling in-line with their teaching.

    So if your not a Mormon, then I ask you why do you believe this Mormon doctrine? And if you are a Mormon, then I simply say my preachy post was right on target.

    Preaching by the way is how the Apostle Paul says we are saved: Some are teachers and some are preachers, but it was preaching that Paul said we are saved through. So I wouldn't poo poo the preachy post I maid because it was preachy if I were you: Even though Paul was speaking of preaching as being oral and there was no intention of it being considered as written preaching. However your comments about it being preachy opens a little crack into the window of your mind and attitude of what you must also think of preaching. Maybe you don't like preaching... I don't know: Only God knows... and maybe you too!

    Shalom,

    Jerry

    PS I made a mistake in my spelling of the word imitation in the third paragraph of the first post I made early this morning. And when the spell checker presented a choice of words I didn't see it very clearly, and I chose the word "imputation" by mistake: Two mistakes on one word! But the word "imputation" may also be a good choice of words for this doctrine too: Imputing a false doctrine to the truth! Or in other words: Superior sophism!

    ReplyDelete
  7. OK, it's June 21 now. I just went to your link above at: http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t018.html

    Since you have not made a reply here to my most recent posts, I thought I would dig a little deeper into your sight and your research. So I went to the site mentioned above.

    Then by scrolling to the very bottom of that page, I see a link that says: "Submit Your Questions". By clicking on that link, it takes me to yet another page that reveals your sources to me. At the very bottom of that page, it has yet another link that says: Mormonism/LDS Church issues

    So I was right in suspecting previously in my earlier post that your viewpoints were either based on Catholicism or Mormonism. Both denominations teach this as well as many Protestant leaders in the Christian Church. All are unfounded and unsubstantiated by Scripture.

    So, I was probably right in suspecting you to be a Mormon as well, when I said above that if you are a Mormon, just come out and say so.

    A few days ago, I was at a friends house who happens to be a Catholic. She mentioned to me that Jesus sweat blood. It was an opportunity for me to explain to her that that just was not the case. However, it was more difficult to do so since her Spanish Catholic Bible (she's from Columbia and doesn't speak very good English) did not read with the word "like" in verse 44 of Luke 22. This word "like" was omitted from her Catholic Bible. I find this to be appalling, but also normal for the Catholics to torture the Scriptures.

    So we went to the Internet, because I didn't have my Bible with me. Online we could see 4 or 5 English translations: None of which omitted the word "like" from this verse.

    One little word added or omitted from a verse changes the verse's entire meaning and builds a false doctrine! The Bible clearly says in both testaments to not add or take away from God's word. Satan works in many ways! Some seem so innocent. But the Bible clearly says that he can appear as an "Angel of Light". Such is the case with this doctrine that Jesus sweat blood.

    Hope this all helps in some way, but I won't push the issue any further.

    I'm moving at the end of July, and I just a few hours ago, called my Internet provider and requested that my service be shut off tomorrow. I need the time to sort things and pack. My wireless will pick up a very slow service nearby, so my Internet activity will be very minimal. Maybe I'll come by... maybe not. Hope you do well and all reading this as well.

    I don't expect to change your mind, as this doctrine is one of the LDS's hard line positions.

    Maybe I'll check back after I'm resettled from my move.

    Shalom,

    Jerry

    ReplyDelete
  8. are you really calling him a mormon over picking out one verse which isnt even that big a deal?? Hematidrosis often isn't even a disease, you can get it from having too much iron in your diet. youre really willing to go that far to accuse him of being a mormon because of this? have you read any of his other posts? since it seems like you haven't, i'll enlighten you. his wife has had cancer for the past six years and recently passed away about a month ago. chris has stayed faithful to god and relied on him 100%, even when he doesn't know his plan. there's posts about his wife's treatment and how awful it is to watch, and then in the same post he'll move on to say he has complete faith in god to be in control. (sorry for not capitalizing the 'g' in god by the way, hope you don't take it as blasphemy)

    but overall, lets say chris is wrong. do you really think that when he dies and sees god standing there at the pearly gates or whatever, do you really think that god will see him and be like "woah there cowboy, where do you think you're going? you think jesus sweat drops of blood and you think you can come in here? i dont think so, and we don't take to your kind well here, sorry."
    NO WAY! thats ridiculous! if god was that meticulous about little beliefs like that in the bible, than so many people will be going to hell. because if he's going to be that strict about believing jesus could have hematidrosis then what about all the actual big debates within christianity between calvanists, armenianists, pentacostals, baptists, emergents, you name it. if you have to have the bible interpreted 100% correctly to be saved, then i'm not sure if anyone will actually be able to go to heaven.

    so can we just lay off the accusations about the smaller, sometimes insignificant details and just focus on the big picture of what jesus did for everyone, hematidrosis or not? if you have an opinion, thats fine, but you dont have to storm in and say he's a bad christian because of it. heck, start your own blog saying why jesus couldn't possibly have hematidrosis! but you don't have to come in here and start firing off accusations like some triggerhappy cowboy (might as well continue the old western analogy from before). and if you do feel lead to share something, share it with love.

    i'll just end with romans 10:9 (esv)

    "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved"

    and i dearly hope i didn't misinterpret that =P

    ReplyDelete

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