Crucifixion in philipines.

Hello my friend, I came from Philippines and I have heard a lot of people doing and sacrificing their own self just for the sake of repentance an self-sacrifice.Actually they were always doing it every Good Friday and they wanted to repent all their sins but not for the sake of saving other people.They just do it for their own sake.

im a catholic but i do not agree with self sacrifice by imitating the crusifixion of Jesus Christ. you dont have to be crusified to imitate Christ. you just have to be compassionate like Him and you shall be rewarded in heaven. going to heaven is the award itself. saving you from eternal damnation.

its not a nice traditions because its dehumanizing. If such activities is not dehumanizing, they can call theirselves christians. In this case, those people who do the imitate christ through this kind of activites, are not Christians. If they want to follow Jesus Christ, they should not do this, but they should follow Jesus's preachings and they preached it to other people too.

i am catholic too. and i dont approve of those people who does that as well... they are fanatic of their faith... again.... faith... at least dont try to take faith away from someone especially if that is the only thing that they can hold on... and besided they are hurting themselves not other people right?

First, it is only catholics doing this. Other christian denomination despise it also. In catholics, it is only those fanatics doing it believing that by doing so will cleanse their sins. These are already banned recently by catholic authorities in the Philippines. They considered that this belongs to supetitious belief. Once and for all, this was already done by Jesus. No other man can do this (cleansing of sins). It is already through God's grace that we will be forgiven. I am a catholic, but I criticized this fanatics doing it. I considered it as a blasphemy in mimicking christ.

Wow, human behaviour never ceases to amaze me!

it's a self-imposed form of sacrifice by some Christian faithfuls. they do it for reasons like :(1) to thank Jesus for coming into the world to save us.(2) to thank Jesus for responding to a request.(3)to request for something to solve a major problem. the heads of the Roman Catholic Church does not approve of it simply because we don't need to do it to glorify God. And the church knows it is dangerous since they can die from infections and heavy loss of blood. we can't stop people from doing what they want. what is bad is when we impose it on them,and there is involvement of murder ( or any similar crime).

it's a self-imposed form of sacrifice by some Christian faithfuls. they do it for reasons like :(1) to thank Jesus for coming into the world to save us.(2) to thank Jesus for responding to a request.(3)to request for something to solve a major problem. the heads of the Roman Catholic Church does not approve of it simply because we don't need to do it to glorify God. And the church knows it is dangerous since they can die from infections and heavy loss of blood. we can't stop people from doing what they want. what is bad is when we impose it on them.

yes, it is not a good tradition, I am from the Philippines but I am not agree to those people who also crucify themselves, they are not Christ.

No, I don't think that these people can be called Christians. You are correct, no one Christian in the right thinking can do those things. If they had just read the Bible, instead of hurting themselves as a sign of repentance.. Then I think I would be more proud of them, as the things that they do is absolutely "against" to God's will. As I am very sure, all of them will also get back to their natural sinful ways after that certain ocassion.

I agree with everlasting. They are a form of penitence, sacrifice here in our country. I think we should respect and understand others beliefs and traditions. That's how it goes here in the Philippines. I feel terrible for you to completely define that as demonism. Learn to respect other's beliefs as the way you want others to respect yours okay?

thanks for opening this discussion dan. anyways.. as what everlasting and the other filipinos here would say, those are just act of penitence. and i hope you wont judge them as satanic or wicked... besides... they are not offering themselves to any pagan god or to lucifer himself but they are doing that again, as PENITENCE. it may be weird, gory and strange to others but that is their FAITH, and that is what saves them somehow (at least they think it does)... they wouldnt be doing that if nothing happens to their lives in the first place... why do you think would people allow themselves to be crucified for 20 times if they do not see any change? or miracle? i dont think people would spend blood and time and sweat just to SHOW OFF... OR to be satanic or wicked...

Worry yourself not, my friend. I have always believed that religious fanaticism is the major bane of world peace. If somebody is so madly insane about his/her faith as to inflict self-torture of a calamitous dimension, how much more another person or group of persons will be destroyed without any second thought. Anything done out of moderation is dangerous. Some people engage in satanic cultism in an erroneous belief that they are answering to the calling of God. God is not sanguinary; neither is He part of anything that is irrational. God have mercy!

The tradition started during the Spanish era. If the Catholic church was or is against it, they could have the power to stop it, considering their power at that time. But they didn't. But again that was then. Actually, there are dozens of other so-called religious traditions out there that should be put to an end because they defy the teachings of their church. But why only this one? Then again, they won't. Why? Because it is their identity. It is what separates out culture from them. It shouldn't be called, or even compared to satanic/demonic traditions, which are practiced in some parts of the world before (or maybe up until now). If people here really are who they claim they are (that is, a true Christian) and not someone who tries to act "LIKE HE KNOWS ALL ABOUT THIS AND RELIGION", is it right to judge something before understanding it? is that the teaching of the church? Even comparing it with those extremists who inflict harm on innocent people? Think. Crucifixion is a form of punishment even before Christ was compelled to undergo it. The only thing exclusive to Christ is about "Cleansing our sins". These people does not aim to cleanse the sins of all the people in the world by playing as Christ. I believe it is just their way of expressing what they can withstand because of their beliefs. Just like other religions, like the Hindus. They can withstand pains because of their beliefs. I wish some people here had seen the Feature Presentation of National Geographic Television about these kinds of traditions, and if they did, I hope they'd UNDERSTOOD something about what I'm talking about.And please, don't try to sound like someone who has an AUTHORITY. It felt like an attack to Filipinos. Really, that's what I felt. Don't be a hypocrite.

actually im not in favor of such acts by my fellow filipinos..but its their convictions to immitate christ and suffer themselves by doing so..if they think its fine with them then so be it..for me i rather help others in need than to make myself suffer in the process each their way of repenting and thus mine also..

Ahm...they are not doing it to save people just like what Christ did. And, it is not demonism.

OH PLEASE!!! True Christian will never do that!! only those who want their name to be heard from all over the place, they just want to be popular to others.. what Jesus' done is enough for all of us we don't need to do that.. when you do crucifix, are you saying that what have Jesus done is not enough??... oh! men! they must be more than crazy..