Posted on 02/26/2004 6:03:26 PM PST by Hank Kerchief
There is a peculiar aspect of all religions that glorifies and embraces pain, suffering, and torment as virtues. The glorification of suffering is certainly not missing from the Christian religion, recently and wonderfully illustrated by Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
In my criticism [Passion Prattle] of Rebecca Hagelin's praise for the film as an, "artistic achievement beyond any scale you could imagine," I compared the brutality of Gibson's created images to the real thing depicting the atrocities of Sadam Hussein and the Taliban to point out how the religious, revolted at images of today's sadistic murderer's excesses, are positively delighted at watching hours of much worse.
"The center-piece of the movie is an absolutely disgusting and despicable piece of sadism ... It shows a man being flayed alive - slowly, methodically and with increasing savagery. We first of all witness the use of sticks, then whips, then multiple whips with barbed glass or metal. We see flesh being torn out of a man's body. ... Then we see pieces of human skin flying through the air. ... We see blood spattering on the torturers' faces. We see muscled thugs exhausted from shredding every inch of this man's body. And then they turn him over and do it all again. It goes on for ever. And then we see his mother wiping up masses and masses of blood."
This is how Anrew Sullivan graphically describes this, "artistic achievement beyond any scale you could imagine." [We do not often agree with Andrew Sullivan, but thank him for this honest description, and for having the fortitude to watch this horror in order to provide it.]
This pathological fascination with suffering in religion is not an anomaly, it is fundamental to the whole superstitious perversion which are "religious" values. Pain, suffering, and human torment are regarded as positive values, to be embraced and fostered.
I do not know Scott Holleran, but was surprised to see this astute observation in his article,"Jesus Christ Superscar" from Box Office Mojo:
"... Actors have always used celebrity to promote their principles. Redford's environmentalism – Cruise's Scientology -- animal-loving starlets (Bardot, Hedren, Novak, etc.) -- what's the point of fame if you can't use it to apply your ideals?
"In Gibson's case, that means spreading religion in its fundamental sense. The Passion of the Christ's theme is that suffering, not joy, is man's proper fate." [Emphasis added.]
Pain Lovers
This despicable inversion of values, that evil (pain and suffering) is good and good (pleasure and joy) is evil, colors the Christian's perspective on everything. H. L. Mencken once defined puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." The Christian perspective is worse than that, they are terrified by the suspicion that someone, somewhere, might not be suffering and actually enjoying their life.
Worse than Marx's perversion that based the value of things on the labor required to produce them, the Christian regards the source of value of all things, not the human pleasure they give or suffering they relieve, but very opposite; the value of a thing in the Christian value system is how much pain, suffering, and self-deprivation it requires.
Recent comments to my previous article illustrate this perverted view. "It is apparent," one commentator said, "that the writer knows absolutely nothing about Christianity or faith or sacrificial love. Parents endure pain and suffering all the time for their children - if they truly love them," as thought it were the "sacrifice," "enduring pain," and "suffering," that made the love real and valuable.
It evidently does not occur to Christians, it is not the cost of what one provides one's children that determines its value, but how much real benefit it is to the children. There is something sinisterly evil in the view that the measure of love is how much pain and suffering it costs. There is hardly any other way Christians measure the value of anything. Consider what they "value" in, The Passion of the Christ.
Pain Promoters
Another comment was this: "It's not exactly a Christian discovery that good and virtue are frequently paired with the enduring of pain and suffering. Considering the way everyone of us comes into the world, that shouldn't come as a surprise to even the most secular minded."
It is certainly no surprise that Christians are opposed to anything that relieves suffering in this world, and if Christians had there way, not even the suffering accompanying childbirth would ever be relieved.
Ronald Bruce Meyer, in "Religion v. Anesthesia" records, "The controversy over the use of anesthetics has a sad history of clerical opposition, especially when suggested for women in childbirth. The clerical prohibition issues from the Bible, Genesis 3:16, and from the very mouth of God: "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children."
The article, The Under-treatment of Pain - Part I, some history records, "This divine curse [Gen. 3:16] was taken so literally by religious fanatics that in 1591 King James VI of Scotland had burned at the stake a gentlewoman named Euphanie Macalyane who secretly used a remedy to relieve her pangs of childbirth." An example of Christian "compassion" and intolerance for anything that relieves the human suffering they worship.
If you are tempted to think this hysterical hatred for anything that relieves human suffering or provides human pleasure is limited to history, remember the disaster that, the mostly Christian driven, prohibition of alcohol foisted on this country, or worse, consider the untold suffering the so-called, "war on drugs," wreaks on the innocent today. Whatever their motives, it is not concern with human suffering.
"Torture, despair, agony, and death are the symptoms of "opiophobia," a well-documented medical syndrome fed by fear, superstition, and the war on drugs," begins this article, "No Relief in Sight" from Dr. Alexander DeLuca's WEB page.
"Superstition," is the author's kind word for religion. Here are the stories of real living human beings with chronic intractable pain, suffering continually and unnecessarily, many driven to suicide, by the grace of the Christian driven WOD. This is real horror, not a movie creation.
Virtue is What Virtue Does
While the Christians talk about compassion and, "real love," they promote the very policies that punish those who are actually doing something about human suffering. Katherine Eban Finkelstein, in "Deadly Morals", subtitled, "The DEA is Busting Doctors for Prescribing Drugs - and Patients are Dying in Pain," describes the persecution and prosecution of those truly compassionate doctors who risk their professions and freedom to help those suffering chronic and debilitating pain. Include in that number of persecuted, Dr. Bruce W. Wilkin, a rural physician in Nevada, whose ordeal I noted in my article, "Doctor Faces License Revocation."
All this human suffering and persecution of the innocent is the direct result of that ideology that glorifies suffering and hates human happiness, that psychology that can watch hours of crafted unspeakable horror which they call "uplifting," and "inspiring."
Evil is What Evil Does
While Mel Gibson's film may be shocking to some and bewildering to others, who cannot understand how Christians, who claim the moral high-ground and concern for the welfare of others, can take such delight in such horrid depictions of gratuitous bloody and sadistic cruelty, it should not be surprising at all.
My mother used to say, "if you want to know what people really believe and truly love, don't listen to what they say, watch where they spend their time and money." Those who really believe in human happiness and truly love what is good and wholesome and benevolent will not be wasting their time and money on that glorification of torment and suffering called The Passion of Christ. You know who will.
Hank
Or, did it get bounced?
It has only been posted once, so far. Do a search.
(Maybe it is similar to another post.)
Hank
(If you want on or off this list please freepmail me.)
Not exactly philosophy, but there are definitely philosophical questions raised by this article.
Hank
Crawl under.
"But, I do not like to see suffering. I want people to be happy." the girl in white said.
"You must not be a Christian, then."
LC
You haven't even learned lesson #1 though. That part of love is sacrificing for others. You want false happiness that doesn't exist, an illusion.
Love is a verb that requires pain.
Loving others is painful, you always have to sacrifice whether you're putting your kids through college, feeding the poor, cleaning up after somoeone, putting up with an idiotic internet poster or dying for others because you love them dearly.
You love yourself and want to be happy, though you're not. You hate Christianity and can't even take the pain of leaving your brothers and sisters alone.
Your philo-sophy is not very attractive.
A lover of God.
Wow, that's exactly what the article said you would say.
Thanks for the confirmation that Christians worship pain.
Hank
Which God? Allah, Jehovah, Zeus?
Hank
Not "A" god, but of God.
Certainly my perception and personal relationship with God is different from yours, though. And I would not presume to push my personal relationship with God off on you.
Sigh..., wishing this to be true does not make it so. Demonstrate the veracity of the above statement from the article by citing; Christian Scripture or other Christian dogma universally held. Please provide links to sources.
Thank you
Sigh..., wishing this to be true does not make it so. Demonstrate the veracity of the above statement from the article by citing; Christian Scripture or other Christian dogma universally held. Please provide links to sources.
You expect there to be a Scriptural reference that explains the theme of Mel Gibson's film?
The statement is about the theme of the film, not the theme of the Bible. But, if you are asking if that is the theme of the Bible, how about these?
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
2 Cor 12:9 ... Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
James 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
While Christians universally use such passages to promote the idea that human suffering is a virtue, I personally do not believe that is the intended meaning of these verses.
Hank
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