I have long been interested in the medical evidence for the physical death of Jesus Christ. When I was an atheist I did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth even existed. However, I spent months investigating scientific evidence for the existence of God, the historical reliability for the Bible, and the reality of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.

Though many ancient Christians believed that Jesus did die from the crucifixion, I wanted real medical and historical evidence. I found it during my investigation, along with other evidences that pointed to reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Though I’ve kept much of the information I gathered during my investigation, some has been lost during more than 50+ years of moving from one city to another in my career as a journalist.

I had found ancient non-Christian writers who attested to the death of Jesus of Nazareth by Roman crucifixion. They included the Roman historian Tacitus, Pliny the Younger – Roman governor in Asia Minor, Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, Lucian of Samosata, the Babylonian Talmud and other Jewish Rabbinical literature.

Everything else I read about the practice of crucifixion in the ancient Roman Empire supported what I read about the crucifixion of Jesus. The brutal method of crucifixion was also used by the Seleucids, the Persians, and the Carthaginians over a period of almost a thousand years (6th century BC to 4th century AD). Roman Emperor Constantine the Great abolished crucifixion out of veneration for Jesus Christ (Britannica).

I did happen to come across a small article in USA Today written by Steven Findlay in 1986 titled, A doctor’s opinion on the death of Jesus. I found it in a file among some other papers and writings from the 1980s. You can read the brief article below.

I was not able to locate the original article in the USA Today archives, so I’m glad to still have a copy that I cut from the paper almost 40 years ago. I was also able to locate a portion of the JAMA article on the National Library of Medicine website –

Jesus of Nazareth underwent Jewish and Roman trials, was flogged, and was sentenced to death by crucifixion. The scourging produced deep stripelike lacerations and appreciable blood loss, and it probably set the stage for hypovolemic shock, as evidenced by the fact that Jesus was too weakened to carry the crossbar (patibulum) to Golgotha. At the site of crucifixion, his wrists were nailed to the patibulum and, after the patibulum was lifted onto the upright post (stipes), his feet were nailed to the stipes. The major pathophysiologic effect of crucifixion was an interference with normal respirations. Accordingly, death resulted primarily from hypovolemic shock and exhaustion asphyxia. Jesus’ death was ensured by the thrust of a soldier’s spear into his side. Modern medical interpretation of the historical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead when taken down from the cross. W D Edwards, W J Gabel, F E Hosmer, JAMA – 1986 Mar 21;255(11):1455-63. – National Library of Medicine

Evidence-Based Apologetics

I am an ‘evidence-based’ apologist, meaning I want to see evidence that supports a truth claim. I suppose having spent my career as an investigative journalist and manager plays a big part in my apologetic perspective, but I don’t think a Christian has to be a professional journalist to search for evidence to support truth claims of Christianity or any other worldview.

God exists. The Bible is trustworthy. Jesus lives. Evidence supports all three.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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