Jesus had a Nervous Breakdown

[BrendanD]

It's blasphemy. Period.

We laud the fact that martyrs go bravely to their deaths for Christ but we dare to entertain for even a moment that Jesus became mentally unhinged before he gave Himself up...  Are you kidding me?

That daft old bastard ought to shut up and go wait for death

(Apologies to those who "never criticize a priest")

[jonbhorton]

Ah..the "Catholic" Verbo-Maniacs strike again. Que the apologists who will soon tell us what was "really" meant here.

There's no apology for it, if'n you were implying me.

I won't defend it because it's utter trash in the way he explains it.

However, St. Luke's gospel does give medical insight into the extreme amount of stress Jesus was under. For many years naysayers scoffed at the sweating of blood, until medical science proved one could. Most generally die from it within a few hours if not minutes. The entirety of the events in the Sorrowful Mysteries on their own were enough to kill a man, excepting the Crowning with Thorns (unless it cut a blood supply of significance).

But the Agony in the Garden was enough to kill a man according to medicine. So too was the Scourging at the Pillar. And after all those things, how He managed to still carry the Cross as long as He did escapes me.

Calvary was the work of God, for sure.

Jesus was perfect in all ways, including His mind. Our Lord did not suffer a mental/nervous breakdown and this claim that He did is utter trash.

[SCG]

Is it a sin to have a nervous breakdown? I don't like to think of Our Lord being "out of control" either.. but, what is extreme anguish? agony?

No, Lisa, it certainly isn't.

However, a mental breakdown implies instability and a momentary loss of one's ability to cope with present circumstances rationally. Agony or anguish is more an acute awareness on a physical and mental level of something causing pain, but agony does not imply any loss of one's mental integrity.

I find it hard for Christ to have possessed the potential of losing His wits, temporary or otherwise, as His intellect and will were not weakened by original sin.

Yes, you're right. I actually had a nervous breakdown once before, a long time ago, and I can't imagine our Lord in that position. The words "nervous breakdown" make me think of an hysterical woman, for that's what I was. You are right. "Agony" does not imply the loss of one's senses...or ability to make a sound decision.

[ggreg]

Exactly!  If Christ did not rise from the dead, Christianity would be among all the other false religions.

Only according to St. Paul - who himself was a Christian and therefore in on the scam.

I think I'd still be partying with Tim, however, (while we still had some time left at least.)

[salus]

The Bishops were told to teach the faith by JESUS not theologians who the bishops can use to look up a Bible verse when they need it.

[Gerard]

Fr Murphy-O’Connor even goes so far as to ask the question: “How do we know the words of Jesus’s prayer? If the disciples were asleep and they had no time with Jesus after he was arrested and before he was put to death, how does anyone know what Jesus prayed? Where is the source for the content?”

His answer came as a shock: “They made it up!”
This was the sort of remark one might hear from an atheist or a non-believer, not an august Catholic biblical scholar.
He continued: “The only possibility is that certain disciples projected on to Jesus the emotions that they imagined they would experience if they themselves suddenly realised their death by torture was imminent.”

The only possibility....hmmmm.....so I guess Our Lord couldn't have possibly told them about it after his resurrection if they didn't actually overhear it or witness it before falling asleep?

[jonbhorton]

Does this priest not believe in inspiration and inerrancy of Sacred Scripture?

He needs to loosen that collar.