Is it possible to miss the point more than this guy?
What in the world is possessing people to do this?
Philippine devotees nailed to cross
SAN FERNANDO, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine devotees re-enacted Jesus Christ's suffering Friday by having themselves nailed to crosses in rites frowned upon by church leaders in Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation.
Fernando Mamangon, 37, was among the first of some 30 men scheduled to go through the Good Friday rites in three villages in northern Pampanga province's San Fernando city. Five other devotees, including a woman, were nailed to crosses in nearby Bulacan province.
It was Mamangon's 13th straight year for the rite, which penitents endure to fulfill a vow or pray for a cure for illnesses.
"I started having myself nailed to the cross in 1995 because my eldest son got sick and almost died," Mamangon, clad in a maroon robe with a crown of vines and thorns, said minutes before he was nailed to a wooden cross on a dusty mound in Santa Lucia village....
The yearly tradition has become a tourist attraction, especially in San Fernando's San Pedro Cutud village, which sometimes draws thousands of local and foreign tourists.
Aside from the cross nailings, scores of men pound their bleeding bare backs with bamboo sticks dangling from ropes in a flagellation rite meant to atone for sins.
Aniceto lamented that a surge of vendors and tourists has injected too much commercialism into Holy Week celebrations.
But Mamangon vowed to continue with the practice handed down by his late father, who was nailed to the cross 15 times.
"After being nailed to the cross, I feel so refreshed, like all my sins are washed away," Mamangon said. "I will continue this until my son Alex is cured."
How are the sins of Christians atoned for? By getting ourselves nailed to crosses? Maybe if people bothered to read their Bibles, they might come across these clues...
Romans 6:10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
Hebrews 7:27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Let's think about that, we are sanctified through the offering of Christ's body once for all. Note that it doesn't say we should go and get ourselves crucified in order to feel our sins washed away. What these people are up to is not any form of Christianity, but is rather a pagan mysticism peppered with Christian terms. If we could sanctify ourselves by our own actions, our own righteousness, there would have been no need for Christ and His perfect obedience. Praise God that He sent His Son, to do for His elect what they are unwilling and unable to do for themselves.
Someone ought to hook these guys up with some Cadbury Eggs and Peeps, that is closer to the spirit of Easter than nailing oneself to a cross.
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