Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I recently saw a documentary on the history of Stigmata. I don't really know what to believe on the subject. Some people claim that it is God giving Stigmatists the wounds of Christ, but others believe that it is merely proof of the extreme power of the human mind over physical being and is being shown by unconsiously CAUSING onself to bleed. After watching the documentary, I was left thoroughly confused.

If the idea of God giving Stigmata then I'm confused about the following:
If Christ was tortured and died for our sins, why do Stigmatists have to suffer also?

If the idea of Stigmatists' own minds causing the wounds I'm confused about the following:
If someone can cause wounds to appear on their body (and this has been proven to be able to happen through hypnosis), are Stigmatists under hypnosis that they interpret at (religious) ecstacy?

In the documentary, they showed a woman who could easily be hypnotized, and while under hypnosis, she was told that she had a crown of thorns on her head, and she almost immediatle started bleeding in little droplets from her head. That's really creepy: one can bleed just by thinking that one is...

Your thoughts on it?

_________________

I don't know what to make of it either. On one hand, since it is beyond my experience and understanding, I am suspicious. On the other hand, I cannot discount the power of God at work, either.

Christ did indeed die for our sins, but he also commanded us to take up our crosses and follow him. That and all through the New Testament, Christians are told that they will suffer with Christ. I can testify from my own experience that this is sometimes the case. I'm sure Buz would agree.

As for the wounds themselves, I've always understood that the Stigmata were supposed to be signs to those who received them that they were indeed suffering with Christ. They were received by such people as badges of honor, as though God were specially blessing them. Alot of that goes back to the mindset of the early church, which considered martyrdom the ultimate test of faith; to be martyred was to be specially honored by God.

Again, I have not experienced Stigmata, nor witnessed them, so I cannot say with any resolution what exactly to make of them.

_________________

the only case of stigmata that i know is of Padre Pio

_________________

Power of suggestion. If an Atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, or any other non-Christian suffers this, I will give it a second thought.

_________________

Actually, there are PLENTY of non Christians that go through things that are similar to Stigmata. Plenty of very holy Muslims experience getting wounds similar to the war wounds of Mohammad. (Of course, you're power of suggestion theory still fits that case...)

_________________

Actually, Zaius, I would think that if non-Christians also suffered from it, that it would be evidence in favor of Power of Suggestion. If it were only Christians, I would be inclined to lean the other way. But I think it probably is POS, anyway. But I don't know.

_________________

I think what he means is that the constant reiteration (in some cases) of the crusifixion (sp?) of Christ can lead, through the power of suggestion, one's mind to almost copy the images onto one's own body. And as I mentioned in the post above, there have been Stigmata-like cases in non-Christians. I don't think he meant that it would make it any more true (considering he doesn't believe in God) but rather he'd care a little bit more

_________________

That's a really weird blessing, you think that you would get something less painful and more a gift to say "you are awsome in my religion"

_________________
RIP Nathan "Buz" Buzdor

You kind of have to understand the mindset of the Medieval church. People used to consider it a supreme honor to suffer for the sake of Christ. For them, to receive the Stigmata was the ultimate. It's kind of like how some veterans like to show off war wounds and such.

Personally, I hate cutting myself shaving...

_________________