TORTURE

In this Christmas season, I am sitting here pondering a curiosity. Latest statistics report

that 78% of U.S. citizens report that they are Christians. And the latest polls taken

indicate that two of three people in the U.S. approve of the torture tactics of the CIA in

the war on terror. Here lies the curiosity. A child will be born that will become the

Prince of Peace. He is destined to be tortured and murdered. He will have a crown of

thorns pressed into his skull. He will flogged leaving raw bloody exposed wounds. He

will be forced to carry a heavy cross up a mountain path while being subject to

humiliation and ridicule. He will be stripped of his robes left only with a loin cloth.

While being laid on the cross large spikes will be driven into his hands and feet to

secure him on to that cross. The cross will be lifted into a standing position. The

weight of his body will drag on the spikes in his hands and feet. Water will not be made

available to him and he will soon die in the most ignominious manner. This is called the

Passion of the Christ in some traditions, but it still meets the definition of torture. My

curiosity is; how can a Christian in any good conscious condone torture.