Glorifying Death?

Source: John Sellars, Stoicism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2006) 145-146.

“What [Nicolas Malabranche (1638-1715)] found most objectionable in Seneca’s Stoicism was the arrogance of the claim that it is possible to be happy in this life. For Malabranche the Christian, human life here on Earth is inherently miserable, for we are all sinners, and so we must wait for the next life before we can be truly happy. Stoicism’s claim that one can indeed be happy here and now is, he argues, simply the product of human pride and arrogance.”

The issues that this quote touches on have cropped up in my readings and daily quiet times.

I’m reading the letters of Ignatius in The Lost Books of the Bible and the Forgotten Books of Eden. Ignatius was a second century church leader. Basically, he had a death wish: he wanted to be a martyr. He saw this as a path to purification, and he eagerly anticipated being with Jesus Christ forever and ever.

At first sight, that looks rather selfish. After all, he can only serve people on earth when he’s alive, right? Paul wanted to die and be with Christ, too, but he realized that God may have other plans: “I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you” (Philippians 1:23-24). There were people who needed Paul, which was why he left his time of death up to God.

But Ignatius didn’t exactly view himself as selfish, for he thought that his death as a martyr could be an expiation for the Christian community. Ignatius was not the first to maintain that martyrdom is meritorious. In II Maccabees and IV Maccabees, God stops punishing Israel after Jewish martyrs give their lives for the laws of God’s Torah. Their deaths bring expiation and divine benefit to the community of God’s people.

I have problems with a religion that celebrates death. When I was at Jewish Theological Seminary, Mary Boys of Union Theological Seminary was giving presentations against Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ. She said that Jesus did not come to earth to die; rather, he died because of how he lived. I think she meant that Jesus preached God’s love for all people–including the marginalized–and this incited Jewish religious leaders to plot against him. But I could be wrong, since she tried to pin a lot of the blame for Jesus’ death on Pontius Pilate, not so much the Jewish leaders. In any case, she tried to shift the focus of Christianity from death to life.

I admire her attempt, but I’m not sure if it’s biblical. Ignatius talks about experiencing Christ’s passion. Where’d he get such an idea? Presumably from passages such as Philippians 3:10: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death[.]” Paul wanted to be intimate with Christ, even in terms of knowing Christ’s passion.

When I was at Harvard, a friend told me about Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative Catholic group that had people wear nails in their shoes to experience the pains of the Lord. That sort of outlook may explain why the Opus Dei character in Da Vinci Code whipped himself over and over. “Isn’t the point of Christianity that Jesus suffered in our place, meaning we don’t have to suffer?,” my friend asked? Apparently not in the eyes of certain Christians, who try to identify with Jesus in his sufferings.

I’m reminded of something a friend of mine at JTS said. America was about to go to war with Iraq, and my friend was a West Point graduate. He said that the army glorified death, since there were many monuments to people who gave their lives for their country. My professor asked him if all that death was actually necessary. Similarly, Christianity seems to glorify martyrs, as if they were athletes–people who took their faith commitment to the ultimate level.

I can understand that Christians may find themselves in a position where they’d have to die. If the world threatens to kill them because of their faith in Christ, then what are they supposed to do? What I don’t get is Christianity’s glorification of suffering and death. I like the Old Testament and Ben Sira’s focus on blessings in this life, in terms of enjoying this life to the fullest, and helping others to do so as well.

There are other things that I can say about this quote, but I’ll stop here for the time being.

Bad Birds!

Source: George W.E. Nickelsburg, “Stories of Biblical and Early Post-Biblical Times,” Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, ed. Michael E. Stone (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984) 42.

“Sarah’s suffering [in Tobit] is caused by the demon Asmodaeus, Tobit’s blindness is caused by sparrows. For birds as instruments of Satan, cf. Jub. 11:19-24.”

The Satan part of the Jubilees passage actually occurs in v 10: “And the prince Mastêmâ sent ravens and birds to devour the seed which was sown in the land, in order to destroy the land, and rob the children of men of their labours.”

I wonder about the role of birds in various movies I’ve seen. First, there’s Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Were they Satanic? No, but they were mean and destructive. I think they were mad at that one woman for bringing songbirds in a cage, so they launched a mass protest against the captivity of their own kind. But Alfred Hitchcock is playing to something within us that doesn’t like birds.

Second, there’s Stephen King’s The Dark Half, in which birds take away the evil side of an author. There, the birds do good in that they defeat the bad guy.

Third, there’s the bird on the Passion of the Christ, who takes out the eye of one of the malefactors on the cross. A former nun at Jewish Theological Seminary once said that this is a common medieval Christian motif, though I don’t remember her precise words on this topic.

Can God use Satan to accomplish good? That would explain how the birds in the Dark Half and the Passion happen to do God’s will, assuming that Stephen King and Mel Gibson are familiar with the motif of birds as Satan’s emissaries. The answer is “yes.” In Revelation 9, God uses the scorpions of Apollyon to execute his judgment. Apollyon is the lord of the bottomless pit, which is the abode of demons and the source of the Beast (Luke 8:31; Revelation 11:7).

Judith on Faith and Wisdom

For a rough summary of the Book of Judith’s plot, see Faith and FAITH.

I got a few thoughts about faith and wisdom in my Judith quiet time, which I finished last night:

1. The Ammonite Achior tells the Assyrian general Holofernes that God will fight for the Israelites if they’re good. Holofernes then exiles Achior to the besieged Israelites, angry that Achior doesn’t recognize the only god to be King Nebuchadnezzar. The beautiful and pious Jewess, Judith, then decks herself out and goes to Holofernes’ camp. Her goal is to find Holofernes in a state of vulnerability and to kill him.

Judith tells Holofernes that God is angry with the Israelites, since they have eaten from the tithe in their hungry desperation. (Remember that Holofernes has cut off Israel’s water supply!) Judith then says that, with God’s help, Holofernes can defeat the Israelites, and she will assist him in that endeavor. She just needs to seek God’s guidance on what to do.

What’s interesting here is that Holofernes seems to believe in Israel’s God. He shipped off Achior with the claim that there is no god but Nebuchadnezzar, but that may not be how he feels deep-down. He wonders if God truly will help the Israelites. He’s probably relieved to learn that Israel has sinned and that God will help him defeat her.

Of course, there’s a possibility that he really does believe that Nebuchadnezzar is the only god, and he’s only playing along with Judith because he wants to get her in bed. But let’s assume that he actually did believe in the power of Israel’s God. Do atheists think deep-down that there might be a God? I’ve heard evangelicals claim that homosexuals are defensive about their lifestyle because they feel that God condemns it, regardless of what they may say out loud.

Who knows? I can’t read the thoughts of non-believers. I do know that one thing that hampers my own faith life is my belief that certain parts of the Bible may in fact be true. For example, Jesus says in Matthew 6:14-15: “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” That verse really troubles me, since I have a hard time letting go of grudges. Often, I don’t feel as if I’m holding on to them, but rather that they’re holding on to me. I can blow off the passage and focus on the “God is love” texts. But there’s a question that haunts me deep-down: Maybe God will ditch me if I don’t forgive others.

2. On a more positive note, Judith is an example of someone whose relationship with God leads her to have wisdom. Judith fasted throughout her widowhood, except on Sabbaths and other holy occasions. Judith 9 indicates that she was familiar with Israel’s religious history, as are Christians who regularly study the Bible. Her devotion enabled her to be a fountain of wisdom to her people as well as come up with a plan to defeat Holofernes.

The people of Israel are giving God an ultimatum: they will surrender to Assyria if God does not help them in five days. But Judith tells them not to put God to the test. She states:

“Who are you to put God to the test today, and to set yourselves up in the place of God in human affairs?…You cannot plumb the depths of the human heart or understand the workings of the human mind; how do you expect to search out God, who made all these things, and find out his mind or comprehend his thought?…For if he does not choose to help us within these five days, he has power to protect us within any time he pleases, or even to destroy us in the presence of our enemies…Therefore, while we wait for his deliverance, let us call upon him to help us, and he will hear our voice, if it pleases him…But we know no other god but him, and so we hope that he will not disdain us or any of our nation. For if we are captured, all Judea will be captured and our sanctuary will be plundered; and he will make us pay for its desecration with our blood. The slaughter of our kindred and the captivity of the land and the desolation of our inheritance–all this he will bring on our heads among the Gentiles, wherever we serve as slaves; and we shall be an offense and a disgrace in the eyes of those who acquire us” (Judith 8:13-22 NRSV).

Like me (and many people with Asperger’s), the Israelites see the situation as a binary: either God helps them in five days, or their only option is to surrender to the Assyrians. But Judith gives them other things to think about: God can help them at the last minute, God loves them as his people, slavery to the Assyrians is not very pleasant, surrender can make things worse, etc.

Judith’s words are wise. She had something to offer the Israelites because she gained wisdom through her relationship with God (Proverbs 10:11). Testing God is a sign that we do not truly entrust ourselves to his love. And God can act at the last minute any time he wishes. I often wonder why God hasn’t blessed me with a job or a woman thus far. Well, the Israelites could easily ask the same sort of question: “Why hasn’t God helped us so far? We might as well not even wait for him. Where’s it gotten us up to now? Let’s give him five days, and, if he doesn’t help us, we’re doing it our way.” But God could help them at the last minute, within whatever time-frame he chose. Why he didn’t help them until that point is a mystery known only to him.

But Judith doesn’t just believe: she also acts. And she gets her plan on how to act from the Bible. In Judges 4, Jael kills the evil Canaanite general, Sisera, in her tent, after lulling him to sleep. And that’s pretty much what Judith does to Holofernes! The Bible gave her a game-plan on how to help her people.

That reminds me of the movie Signs. Mel Gibson plays an Episcopal priest whose wife dies in a car accident. Her last words seem so random: “Tell your brother to swing away.” Mel’s brother, played by Joaquin Phoenix, is an ex-baseball player who lost out on a promising career. Well, at the end of the movie, an alien is in Mel’s house and is about to hurt his family. Mel then looks at a wall, sees a baseball bat, remember’s his late wife’s words, and tells his brother to swing away. Joaquin then slams the bat at the alien!

A lot of ideas don’t come to us automatically. They need to be prompted by something, and Mel got his strategy for how to deal with the alien from his wife’s last words. Similarly, Judith gained wisdom on how to confront her situation from the word of God. She may have immersed herself in Israel’s tradition, so she had an idea of what to do.

This happens for so many Christians. God can use the Bible to provide us with general guidance on how to live a righteous life. But there are also times when he uses it to give specific instructions. I’m not saying that we should see the Bible as an oracle for every situation, since that can be disastrous. But God has guided his people with his word on many occasions, and things have worked out. That’s one reason I believe in God: because he has worked in other people’s lives. But, in any case, whether God speaks to us or not, the Bible is still a source of ideas on what to do.

Christian Actors

I was watching the pilot for Doc last night (I know, I watch too much TV!). Doc was a popular show on PAX, and it starred country-singer Billy Ray Cyrus of “Achy Breaky Heart” fame. Billy Ray plays Clint Cassidy, a small-town, Montana doctor who goes to New York City to work for an HMO. He brings his home-spun, Christian values with him, and it’s funny to see how those interact with New York City’s cold sophistication!

I remember reading about Doc on a Christian web site, and it said that Billy Ray Cyrus often led the cast and crew in prayer before the show (see here). Not surprisingly, Doc is popular among a lot of evangelicals. It has absolutely no sex. Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman played on an episode. Focus on the Family sings its praises. It is a decent, wholesome show that the entire family can enjoy.

But what was weird was something I read in wikipedia’s article about Billy Ray Cyrus (see here). It stated that Cyrus “had a small part in David Lynch‘s 2001 film Mulholland Drive as Gene, a pool cleaner who had been having an affair with the wife of Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux).”

I’m not sure when Billy Ray became a Christian, so maybe he wasn’t one when he depicted an adulterer. But reading that got me thinking about Christian actors and the roles that they play.

There are many devoutly Christian actors who play in not-so-Christian roles. Ultra-conservative Catholic Mel Gibson has depicted characters who have pre-marital sex. Liam Neeson is a Catholic, and, while he certainly did well as the Christ-like Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia, he also played Dr. Alfred Kinsey, whose ideas on sex were not exactly Christian (to put it charitably).

I recently read Kirk Cameron’s autobiography, Still Growing. Kirk Cameron played Mike Seaver on the popular ABC sitcom, Growing Pains. When he became a Christian, he alienated much of the cast and crew. He refused to play roles where there was the slightest implication that his character used drugs or had pre-marital sex. He thought he needed to set a good example as a celebrity and a Christian. And he continues to hold many of the same standards. For example, he will not kiss anyone other than his wife when he plays a role. One time, when he had to do a kissing scene for a movie, the director brought in Kirk’s wife and gave her a wig so she’d look like the actress Kirk was supposed to kiss. Kirk takes his beliefs pretty seriously!

Kirk’s little sister Candace played on Full House, which was another popular ABC sitcom. And she has the same moral standards as her brother: she will not play in sexually immoral roles. She brings her Christianity into the workplace. The same goes for Jim Caviezel, who played Jesus in The Passion of the Christ. As a devout Catholic, Caviezel refused to do sex scenes with Jennifer Lopez in Angel Eyes.

One thing that interested me when I read Kirk’s book was that a lot of non-Christians work on Christian movies–as part of their casts and crews. When the movie Left Behind was being made, Kirk was one of the few Christians on the set. Some of the other believers kept their faith a secret because they feared ridicule. And this was a Christian movie! What went through Kirk’s mind when he met those closet Christians was Mark 8:38: “Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels” (NRSV).

So I guess that Billy Ray was pretty brave when he lead the cast and crew of Doc in prayer! At least he was being open about his faith. I remember reading in TV Guide that Danny Glover didn’t even know Mel Gibson was religious, and the two of them worked together on who knows how many Lethal Weapon movies!

It’s so easy for a Christian actor to give in to the popular, morally decadent culture of Hollywood. And that’s why it’s great that there are some actors who truly are salt and light for Christ: they stand for Christian values in a community that continually scorns them, even as it spiritually searches. Some of the actors give in to the world totally. Some give in at times, while at other times they make a bold stand for Christ (Mel Gibson). And some are thoroughly consistent, almost to the point of zealotry.

Is Revenge Sweet?

I watched Braveheart during Memorial Day. On that epic movie, Mel Gibson kills the smug English general who had killed his love, in the exact same manner that the general had killed her. Basically, he tied him to the tree and slit his throat. (Ouch!)

Also on Braveheart, the English had a rule in which English soldiers and nobles could sleep with any Scottish woman they wanted–on her wedding night to a fellow Scotsman. That was really throwing their power around, wasn’t it? Well, one of the Scots whose wife was a victim of this got to kill the soldier who slept with his wife.

And you know what? I felt a sense of satisfaction when Mel Gibson and the Scotsman got their revenge.

And I don’t want to hear any sanctimonious criticisms of that. I’m sure I’m not alone, here. That’s why movies and TV shows exist in which the good guy kills the bad guy. Don’t you enjoy the times on Walker, Texas Ranger in which Walker kicks the bad guys in the face? In the words of one of my relatives, “Walker doesn’t bear the foot in vain” (a reference to Romans 13:4).

In a Bible study that I once attended, a Christian said that his sister was such a sensitive Christian, so sensitive that she cries whenever someone is hurt on a TV show or movie. He may have even mentioned the Three Stooges, if memory serves me correctly. Most in the group were impressed by her profound spirituality, but my reaction (in my mind) was, “Oh, come on! Give me a break! How self-righteous can you be?”

I watched the final episode of Roots last night, and Tom the blacksmith was about to whip the white racist Klansman who had recently scarred his back. But he dropped his whip at the last minute. He refused to do it. He was better than the Klansman! I was disappointed. To be honest, I would have enjoyed seeing the Klansman get his whoopin! Sure, I liked seeing him squirm and sweat, but hearing the cracks and the cries would have pleased me more.

Is this good or bad? Is it a love for revenge or justice? I can understand why some would disapprove of my attitude, since showing mercy demonstrates concern even for the bad guy. Perhaps it can give him something to think about and help him change his ways. But, on the other hand, he can easily look down with contempt on the person who shows him mercy. On one hand, he can learn that what he did was wrong when someone refuses to do the same thing to him. But, on the other hand, he can also learn that lesson by truly experiencing the pain that such actions cause–by having those actions inflicted upon him.

Dilemmas, dilemmas!

Barge of the Dead

I just watched “Barge of the Dead,” which is an episode of Star Trek: Voyager. You know, there are some episodes of shows that I like to watch more than once, since they speak to something within me. This is one such episode.

In “Barge of the Dead,” B’Elanna Torres goes to Klingon hell. As Star Trek: Voyager viewers know, B’Elanna is an interesting character. Her mother was a Klingon (and an obsessive one at that), while her father was a human. She dropped out of the Star Fleet Academy and joined the Maquis, a renegade group that resisted Cardassian tyranny. When the Maquis encountered Voyager in the far-out Delta Quadrant, the two groups teamed up to find their way home. On Voyager, B’Elanna is a Star Fleet engineer.

She is often very moody, yet she displays a lovable, vulnerable side every now and then. On this particular episode, we get to know her a little better. Essentially, B’Elanna has problems fitting in anywhere. She doesn’t care for her Klingon heritage, for her mother tried to shove it down her and her dad’s throats. In the process, she drove B’Elanna’s father away. B’Elanna also doesn’t like humans because she sees them as weak, and her Klingon heritage leads her to admire tough warriors. Yet, ironically, she is engaged to Tom Paris, a human on Voyager.

In Klingon hell, she decides to take the place of her mother, yet (for some reason) that is not enough. In despair, she cries out to her mother, “What do you want from me?” Her mother tells her that she must decide that for herself, yet B’Elanna continues to plead for guidance.

She encounters images of her Voyager crewmates, which means that she views her service on the ship as hell. They say that her anger has dragged them down along with herself. The vulcan, Tuvok, tells her to defend herself, as he throws her a Klingon weapon. B’Elanna then complains that she has tried to fulfill all of these roles: Star Fleet officer, Maquis, lover, and daughter. She asks what all of them want from her. Neelix, the cook, responds that they only want her. B’Elanna’s mother tells her to embrace life, and B’Elanna finally reaches a point of resignation. “I’m just tired of fighting,” she says, as she tosses her weapon into the air.

One reason I identify with B’Elanna is that she lacks inner peace. She is always fighting with someone because her main fight is with herself. She doesn’t know who she is and where she is going. She is lost. I feel that way a lot of times.

Yet, she seeks answers. She wants someone to tell her what to do. I cried during this part of the show because I was thinking about that very thing this morning, before I even saw the episode. I thought about how I stumble through this life feeling lost. I don’t know what people want from me, or even if I can give them what they want. And virtually everyone has advice. “You need to be the life of the party–a super extrovert. People aren’t attracted to those who are reclusive!” “You need to be yourself–be at peace, then people will be attracted to you.” “You need to speak out more at events.” “No, just listen, then you can hear something that can help you out.” “Do this, do that!” “No, do them when you’re truly ready!”

I realize that I’ve probably confused my readers, but I hear all of this advice, and I don’t know who’s right. I recognize that certain approaches work for me better than others. For example, beating myself up because I’m not the life of the party has never produced good fruit in my life. So should I only follow advice that I like? The problem there is that I don’t fully trust myself, for I’ve made a lot of mistakes in the past.

When The Passion of the Christ was coming out, Mel Gibson gave an interview to Diane Sawyer. Mel was telling the story of his commitment to Christ. He said that he once stood out on a ledge, and he found himself in a dilemma: he didn’t want to live, and he didn’t want to die. He realized that someone higher than him had to have the answers for life.

I need guidance, yet I also should do what works for me. I can only be me, not someone else. I want to be attractive, yet that will be hard if it requires me to have something witty to say on every occasion. Maybe, like B’Elanna, I’ll eventually reach the point where I’m just plain tired of fighting, as I embrace all of the good things that life has to offer.