“[Cannery Row's] inhabitants are, as the man once said, 'whores, pimps, gamblers, and sons of bitches,' by which he meant everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, 'saints and angels and martyrs and holy men,' and he would have meant the same thing.”
― John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
Martyrdom, that special holy ordination, is a club which requires suffering or death to get in, inspiration for acts of insanity. A martyr is the embodiment of true faith, a devotee, willing to lay down life and limb for God. In earlier days men and women dreamed of dying for the cause, going to the distant ends of the earth to get roasted for the cause. No wonder a psychological condition was named for the act called “martyr complex”, the mental state of feeling sorry for oneself through often self-inflicted or imagined suffering to fill an emotional void. Everybody works with a pain in the posterior sporting one of these.
We see most martyrs today in stained glass beset with hungry lions or arrows, images horrible enough to make the tears run down the faces of elderly pew perched widows. But I do not see martyrs so much as heroes as misguided people caught up in events, latched on by pagan authorities and made examples of to the local populace – Christian authorities would soon return the favor once they came to power.
Christian martyrs were then used to inspire later generations to obedience and servitude. An example of this is Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity (other than Christ of course). He criticized Jewish authorities, who took exception to the challenge and had him stoned to death for blasphemy. In the crowd stood Saul of Tarsus, who converted to Christianity. Saul claimed to witness Stephen looking up with the face of an angel to watch heaven open and Jesus sitting by God the Father.
Later Christians were so inspired by the story they took off for far off lands to preach and be martyred too; Peter Chanel in Futuna, Jean de Brébeuf in Canada, and Luis Jayme in California, John de Brito in India, Francis Ferdinand de Capillas in China, Narcissa Whitman in North Western America, Joseph Marchand in Vietnam, Esther John in Pakistan, and so forth and so on the bodies piled up into one great mountain. These great men and women came to civilize the natives, get them to trade baloney for hogwash, where upon they received torture and death for their pains.
The glorified pedestal also became a tool for Holy men (who would never themselves risk a hair on their precious heads) to convince soldiers to sacrifice life in this world for the promise of Heaven and Everlasting Life. Their dirty work may produce an immediate result (like to retain Catholic Church dominion) or to create a story to encourage the rest of the flock to remain faithful and obedient.
To the Islamist, 72 virgins sounds good, especially to the dirt poor, uneducated boy. He takes on the only role he knows to lift himself up in the eyes of a society which considers him a blight and a nuisance. The kid goes out with the bomb strapped to his chest and a lot of angry words pumped into his head, steps on to a bus and blows up innocent people and himself. The radical cleric, who convinced him to do so, is not required to produce any tangible reward (though sometimes a collection is taken up for the remaining family), a mighty I.O.U of convenience.
In course of Eternity, do not the virgins all lose their virginities and eventually turn into shabby old whores? Or does a heavenly hymen reform like phoenix rising from the ashes? It begs further questions in which I imagine myself with the dynamite vest and trigger wire, asking the cleric for clarification related issues. Now just how hot are these girls anyway?
We know many of these cowards (a.k.a. terror recruiters) prey on the hopeless parts of society, those that have it hardest in their society, the mentally challenged, the deformed or just women. They provide a way out of social misery and a means to serve Allah by making the ultimate sacrifice. For those of you who believe there is any difference between what these men do and what Christian ministers have done for centuries you are miserably mistaken.
The old promise of Heaven ploy - if you do X, I will give you Y. Oh, I can promise you Y. I can make it smell, sound, feel just like you want it, put you into a grand mansion filled with your loved ones and your favorite flavor of ice cream, forever and ever, as long as you do this favor for God. It’s hard to turn down Y when everyday life is medieval for the poor and the wretched. Who does not want an eternity of bliss? It’s the Great Intangible. Religious leaders have been dangling Y in front our faces ever since religion was invented.
The Vatican City incorporated the “Keys of Heaven” into their symbol as a reminder of who has the earthly powers to provide or deny access. Popes past have promised paradise to those who unquestionably performed their bidding (e.g. Crusaders who ravaged the Holy Land) and excommunicated those that did not.
I was reading some Catholic literature on-line which outlined the suffering of Christians in the early church. There are many accounts of the followers of Christ being tortured and killed for their belief. According to the Catholic Dictionary, St. Cyprian said "he cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church; he cannot attain unto the kingdom who forsakes that which shall reign there." But then I wonder what the Catholic Dictionary’s definition of those murdered horribly, be they 5th century Jews or 20th century Rwandans, both at the hands of faithful Catholics. Perhaps it’s something like “insufficiently converted”.
― John Steinbeck, Cannery Row
Martyrdom, that special holy ordination, is a club which requires suffering or death to get in, inspiration for acts of insanity. A martyr is the embodiment of true faith, a devotee, willing to lay down life and limb for God. In earlier days men and women dreamed of dying for the cause, going to the distant ends of the earth to get roasted for the cause. No wonder a psychological condition was named for the act called “martyr complex”, the mental state of feeling sorry for oneself through often self-inflicted or imagined suffering to fill an emotional void. Everybody works with a pain in the posterior sporting one of these.
We see most martyrs today in stained glass beset with hungry lions or arrows, images horrible enough to make the tears run down the faces of elderly pew perched widows. But I do not see martyrs so much as heroes as misguided people caught up in events, latched on by pagan authorities and made examples of to the local populace – Christian authorities would soon return the favor once they came to power.
Christian martyrs were then used to inspire later generations to obedience and servitude. An example of this is Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christianity (other than Christ of course). He criticized Jewish authorities, who took exception to the challenge and had him stoned to death for blasphemy. In the crowd stood Saul of Tarsus, who converted to Christianity. Saul claimed to witness Stephen looking up with the face of an angel to watch heaven open and Jesus sitting by God the Father.
Later Christians were so inspired by the story they took off for far off lands to preach and be martyred too; Peter Chanel in Futuna, Jean de Brébeuf in Canada, and Luis Jayme in California, John de Brito in India, Francis Ferdinand de Capillas in China, Narcissa Whitman in North Western America, Joseph Marchand in Vietnam, Esther John in Pakistan, and so forth and so on the bodies piled up into one great mountain. These great men and women came to civilize the natives, get them to trade baloney for hogwash, where upon they received torture and death for their pains.
The glorified pedestal also became a tool for Holy men (who would never themselves risk a hair on their precious heads) to convince soldiers to sacrifice life in this world for the promise of Heaven and Everlasting Life. Their dirty work may produce an immediate result (like to retain Catholic Church dominion) or to create a story to encourage the rest of the flock to remain faithful and obedient.
To the Islamist, 72 virgins sounds good, especially to the dirt poor, uneducated boy. He takes on the only role he knows to lift himself up in the eyes of a society which considers him a blight and a nuisance. The kid goes out with the bomb strapped to his chest and a lot of angry words pumped into his head, steps on to a bus and blows up innocent people and himself. The radical cleric, who convinced him to do so, is not required to produce any tangible reward (though sometimes a collection is taken up for the remaining family), a mighty I.O.U of convenience.
In course of Eternity, do not the virgins all lose their virginities and eventually turn into shabby old whores? Or does a heavenly hymen reform like phoenix rising from the ashes? It begs further questions in which I imagine myself with the dynamite vest and trigger wire, asking the cleric for clarification related issues. Now just how hot are these girls anyway?
We know many of these cowards (a.k.a. terror recruiters) prey on the hopeless parts of society, those that have it hardest in their society, the mentally challenged, the deformed or just women. They provide a way out of social misery and a means to serve Allah by making the ultimate sacrifice. For those of you who believe there is any difference between what these men do and what Christian ministers have done for centuries you are miserably mistaken.
The old promise of Heaven ploy - if you do X, I will give you Y. Oh, I can promise you Y. I can make it smell, sound, feel just like you want it, put you into a grand mansion filled with your loved ones and your favorite flavor of ice cream, forever and ever, as long as you do this favor for God. It’s hard to turn down Y when everyday life is medieval for the poor and the wretched. Who does not want an eternity of bliss? It’s the Great Intangible. Religious leaders have been dangling Y in front our faces ever since religion was invented.
The Vatican City incorporated the “Keys of Heaven” into their symbol as a reminder of who has the earthly powers to provide or deny access. Popes past have promised paradise to those who unquestionably performed their bidding (e.g. Crusaders who ravaged the Holy Land) and excommunicated those that did not.
I was reading some Catholic literature on-line which outlined the suffering of Christians in the early church. There are many accounts of the followers of Christ being tortured and killed for their belief. According to the Catholic Dictionary, St. Cyprian said "he cannot be a martyr who is not in the Church; he cannot attain unto the kingdom who forsakes that which shall reign there." But then I wonder what the Catholic Dictionary’s definition of those murdered horribly, be they 5th century Jews or 20th century Rwandans, both at the hands of faithful Catholics. Perhaps it’s something like “insufficiently converted”.