εδακρυσεν ο ιησους
"Edakysen ho Iésous", the original Greek text of John:11:35 … "Jesus wept."
Jesus wept for the death of Lazarus, out of compassion for his grieving family, but today is Good Friday and today day we meditate on Jesus' own death, and what has become of that compassion.
Good Friday.
The one day of the year when even this lost soul heads off to church to mourn the torture and murder of a blameless man.
This year, however, I am staying home, reading John's account of that awful day and listening to Bach's dark masterpiece the St.John Passion together with my favourite Stabat Maters.
I do not want to sit among hypocrites and mourn Jesus.
I do not want to be surrounded by what Christianity has become.
Good Friday.
There's nothing good about it. It is the worst of days.
It commemorates the day when a man who had taught nothing but compassion, forgiveness and unconditional love was beaten, flogged, humiliated and nailed to some wooden cross pieces where he took six agonising hours to die.
Some of my Christian friends believe that three days later he rose from the dead, then ascended to Heaven and will come again.
I used to believe that, but nowadays I don't.
After what we put him through, do you really think he would be happy to see a bunch of self-righteous and hypocritical bigots waving crosses at him?
His crucifixion is surely the last thing he would want to be reminded of.
Good Friday forces me to contemplate Jesus' life and teaching, the human condition and what Christianity has become.
Good Friday seems to me to be the day that Christians forgot everything Jesus taught them and learned to hate.
They started early, at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD.
The Emperor Constantine had become a convert and convened a meeting of church leaders to thrash out which particular version of events would satisfy the majority of the population of the Roman Empire and therefore keep him in power.
They threw out Gospels by Mary Magdalen (because she was a woman; women played a great part in the early church shortly after Jesus' death but the patriarchal bishops wanted the show all to themselves, so women were excluded), Peter, Judas, Paul, Thomas, Philip and many others, keeping only the Gospels we know and that suited their political purpose. They so thoroughly destroyed all copies of the rejected accounts - accounts written by Jesus' own friends and followers and of immeasurable historical and religious importance - that we only know of them from a single copy discovered in an Egyptian archeological dig in 1945.
They also set out to destroy anyone who did not agree with their particular version of the "truth", a nasty habit today's Christians still enthusiastically embrace.
First up, they set out to completely destroy paganism, the traditional way of worship in the Greek and Roman world.
How did they go about it?
Did they follow Christ's teachings and persuade by example, loving their enemies and forgiving them?
No.
Let's take Hypatia of Alexandria as an example.
She was a mathematician and teacher of Aristotlean and Platonic philosophy at the Platonist School in Alexandria around 400AD.
Bishop Cyril didn't like her. She was an uppity pagan woman in a position of power and even taught more enlightened Christians in her classes.
Here is Socrates Scholasticus, a Christian writer at the time:
She was "… hurried away by a fierce and bigoted zeal, whose ringleader was a reader named Peter, waylaid her returning home, and dragging her from her carriage, they took her to the church called Caesareum, where they completely stripped her, and then murdered her by scraping her skin off with tiles and bits of shell. After tearing her body in pieces, they took her mangled limbs to a place called Cinaron, and there burnt them."
Christians? Following Jesus' example? …
Read the passage again.
Bishop Cyril, who set off this disgusting event and published a fake letter from Hypatia shortly after her brutal murder, claiming she attacked Christianity was made a Saint for his sins.
Let's skip forward to the Inquisition.
Here we have the official policy of the Christian Church for hundreds of years: torture and burn alive anybody who publicly disagrees with us.
They did this in the name of Jesus. For Christ's sake.
Okay, so they've calmed down a little now but they're still hating.
The so-called Christian Church is split into thousands of fragments, each and every one of them claiming exclusive right to the TRUTH; each and every one of them bitchily claiming they are RIGHT and all others are WRONG (and they do it loudly, too, hence the upper case).
They may not go in for torture and murder quite so much these days, but they still vilify and persecute those who they are frightened of: Jews, Muslims, Atheists and just about anyone else who doesn't bow down before their superior knowledge, before their own particular twisted version of the TRUTH.
In a particularly ludicrous (and grimly hilarious) twist, these so-called Christian Churches spend a great deal of time and money sending missionaries to other so-called Christian Churches to tell them the error of their ways and to try to SAVE them by forcing their own TRUTH upon the UNBELIEVERS.
We in England are flooded with US Evangelical missionaries, standing on street corners, shouting and waving pamphlets, telling us how WRONG we are. They even send missionaries to the Vatican! Sheesh! I mean, do they really expect Ratzinger to say "Oops! We were wrong these past two-thousand years; what we should really be doing is giving all our money to some mall-like church in the Mid-West"?
They are all hypocrites. All they really want is power over others.
Jesus' suffering should have brought about an end to suffering.
Instead it taught Christians to hate, and they gave themselves license and free rein to cause suffering wherever they went.
In his name.
And they are still doing it.
Today - Good Friday - above all other days, Christians should look at Jesus' own humble life and meditate on his teachings:
Compassion.
Forgiveness.
Unconditional love of others.
Stop pointing and shouting at other people and look at yourselves.
You claim to be followers of Christ.
This weekend, share something you covet with a stranger; go and worship in another denomination's church (HORRORS!); forgive the people you disagree with.
Be compassionate.
If you cannot bring yourself to do even that, you cannot truthfully call yourself a Christian.
And Jesus will have died in vain.
26 comments:
Wow, Dive. I almost don't know where to begin commenting on this complex piece.
I'm in analytical mode, so please excuse me. I'm about to get windy.
My first reaction was, "I wonder why Dive is so angry at Christians. Did something happen to him personally?" I ask that because usually, it takes something personal to make us react this strongly to any ideal, government, belief, behavior, etc. I can understand the "you're not saved" bit annoying anyone, but your reaction goes beyond annoyance.
My second reaction was more academic: "I wish he had cited his sources."
My third reaction: "Dive's perception is that most Christians are what we in the U.S. call the 'far right.'" I used to think those folks represented mainstream Christianity, too, until I realized it's just that they get the most publicity and are the most abnoxious, much like Muslim extremists. But I know a bunch of Christians and Muslims who certainly aren't extremists. Also, Unitarian Universalism came from Christianity. It's not perfect, but it's at least philosophically expansive. I don't like hypocrisy or extremism, either.
Fourth reaction: "Dive feels about Christians the way I do about politicians." I'm sure I am generalizing when I do this, just as I thought there was generalizing in this piece. However, people usually generalize because they are angry or because they are illogical. "Dive is anything but illogical."
Fifth: Didn't the Salvation Army start in England? They do a lot of good over here, even though they tout that annoying "salvation" thing.
Sixth: All religions and philosophies have followers who are extremists. It's some kind of human trait that I hypothesize about but don't quite understand.
Seventh: "Wow. Dive is so right in many ways." Hypocrites need to be called out on their hypocrisy. And Good Friday is indeed a day of sorrow, a day when humanity showed nothing but complete lack of humanity." And we do the same thing again and again.
Eight and final: I remember how as Catholics we attended the Good Friday services and what that felt like. The readings gave me tremendous empathy. They also seemed to aim to pass on guilt which I rejected. Mostly, I think I absorbed what you are saying here about what Good Friday SHOULD be.
Dive, this is one of your most powerful posts ever—maybe the most powerful. "They did this in the name of Jesus. For Christ's sake" says so much about the history of the Church. Mankind tends to ruin everything it touches, even when the thing they're promoting was meant to be humbling and introspective instead of power-seeking and shouty.
I have to say, I have never understood this business of wearing crosses. It was a despicable form of torture and murder, and it wasn't the point. They could have stoned Jesus to death and had the same effect on his message.
That was one of your finest posts ever. I will be pondering it all day Im sure. You made some really good points. You didnt waste a word either.
Hee hee, Katherine. Don't read anything into it, it's just Dive's predictable Godbothering rant for Easter.
Hokay, let's reassure you:
1) I'm not angry at Christians, just disappointed.
2) The Bible, The Oxford History of Christianity, The Oxford Companion to The Bible, The Gnostic Gospels, The Imitation of Christ, Who's Who in The Greek World.
I know it's silly to rant at the Godbotherers without having some heavy backup. The first reaction of the rantee is usually to say "Yeah? Says who?" and to try to discredit their critic rather than to look at the criticism and answer it truthfully.
3) I have learned that most US Christians are moderate, God-fearing, ordinary people, but there is a sizable minority who are completely and dangerously insane and they wield a disproportionate power.
4) Politicians are just sick, twisted, bitter, greedy, vengeful, stupid and evil; Christians are all that, too, but they say they have God on their side to back them up.
5) The Sally Army play brass band concertds at Christmas and look after the homeless. They don't evangelise here; they're too smart.
6) Please see my old posts on the necessity of extremism.
7) Yup; I am always right.
8) I miss the wonderful certainty and joy I felt as a Christian. I lost my faith and I'm trying to get it back but I feel most so-called Christians have forgotten to follow Christ and are merely badmouthing one another and the rest of us.
Hey ho.
Thanks for the great comments; I thoroughly enjoyed responding.
Robyn: Thank you so much for your understanding. It was you, I remember, who told me about your church's mission to the Vatican (I remember the hearty laugh that gave me); you have spent the past two and a half years reassuring me that not all US Christians and Evangelists are as mad as they are depicted outside your borders and for that I can only thank you.
Mark: You are too kind. Thank you, my friend.
Dive, your Godbothering rants are some of my favorite. This was a great way to start my Friday.
Yes, I'm just starting my day at 11 am. Why? Because I was up past 3 listening to my neighbors scream and throw furniture at each other.
And the Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make an help meet for him...and in the middle of the night, when all the rest of Eden is peacefully dreaming, she will heave dresser drawers at his head and eleven remaining ribs."
Thank you, T.
Yikes! You sure need that quiet new apartment you've been hunting for.
And hee hee hee! I love your revised translation from Genesis. Much better than the original!
I've become lax in 2 religions now, Sugar. The interesting thing, for me anyway, is that I feel as if I've found the way for me to live my life and be in harmony with my surroundings. It's become a s sort of family joke to call ourselves lapsed reform moderate anarchists ********** (no religion is being mentioned). I know I've wandered off topic, but y'all know how I am! (have you noticed my attempt at a (marginally) grammatically correct comment?)
xoxoxooxxo
Hee hee, Savannah. Thank you for the upper case!
In harmony with your surroundings is a good a way to live your life as is possible. Amen to that. xoxoxoxo
Jeeeeeezz........
Dearest Dive, my apologies for over-analyzing. : )
And thanks for reassuring me, though you needn't have because you know I love you--as a blogger friend of course : )
I find religion and philosophy interesting. I might have minored in philosophy if I could have gotten past some of the more academically clouded language. When a book opens with the words, "In order to understand language, signs and symbols, I will take two examples from differential topology," I know it's time for me to leave the classroom.
"5) The Sally Army play brass band concertds at Christmas and look after the homeless. They don't evangelise here; they're too smart"
I didn't know this! Cool.
I love the Army. I love their thrift shop, too.
Oh, good hell...I am planning to print this out and read it at the Easter dinner table at my sister's this weekend. Ah...fun!
Dive,
I must say that I agree with you almost 100% (scary). I am a huge admirer of Jesus and a huge critic of most "Christians". I think the Nicean Council of 325 totally fucked up Christianity.
I have had some very deep spiritual experiences including living in a "Christian" community. We had all things in common and tried to live like the "early Christians" until the "pastor" fucked us over and... I don't want to go there on your space. I have read most of the texts you posted.
To summarize, I have become very cynical towards American Christianity. I was blackballed by Christians because I chose another path. I have had shoes thrown at me by fellow Christians because I disagreed with the "pastor" who tried to use Christianity for personal gain.
I identify with Jesus tossing out the money changers and the Pharisees. I think he'd be tossing out a lot in this day and age.
I will meditate on the person Jesus was this good Friday, not on what religion wants us to believe.
Lynn: Hee hee hee hee hee! Excellent! The perfect response in one word.
Katherine: I do love long, analytic comments, so don't worry about that.
I'm with you on religion and philosophy; most people find them boring subjects but I am totally fascinated by them.
The Sally Army here are quite wonderful. Everybody loves them. They don't evangelise, they don't preach, they just volunteer and do good works, which is truly Christian and as it should be and that makes them far more popular than any other established church.
They have wonderful brass bands and one of the joys of Christmas here is to hear them playing carols in the streets.
They run a vast network of homeless shelters and don't preach in them or care if the homeless people give a damn about Christianity.
The nearest they come to getting preachy is the lovely lady who comes round the local pubs on a Friday night selling copies of "The War Cry" which everybody buys because she's so nice (yes, she sports a tambourine with her uniform).
And yes, their charity shops are cool. I love the big one in Norwich; I can find all sorts of stuff there (one of my favourite lamps, my flower vase and a whole stack of books come from there).
I tend not to think of them as a "church" but they are the closest thing I know of to a group of people living as Jesus intended. Hoorah for them!
Maria: Oh, my. That would be so funny!
They'd crucify you! Hee hee.
Neetzy: Thank you. What a wonderful comment.
I wish we knew more about how the very early Christians lived, but - as you say - once the Romans adapted the Gospels to make Christianity the Empire's official religion the greater part of Jesus' teachings were lost and replaced with prohibitions, rules and persecution of non-adherents.
It's nice to discover that people are still trying to recapture the innocence and wonder of those first days, even though human greed and stupidity appears to have messed things up in the case of your 'pastor'.
To have been blackballed (and to have shoes thrown at you … sheesh) by so-called Christians simply proves they have lost any vestige of Christ's teachings. They are truly lost.
You are a far truer Christian than them and right to be cynical.
Have a truly happy Easter.
Dive, the Army sounds lovely over there, even more visible than they are here. What you describe IS true Christianity as far as I am concerned. It doesn't do a bit of good to go preach the word of Jesus and then be a total, lazy ass.
If people want to know why you do the things you do, then that's great. Isnt' that what Jesus did? He didn't try to go round up a posse of potential believers.
Neetzy, what a horrible experience! What you describe sounds more like a cult than a "Christian community." Yikes!
Thanks, Katherine.
And yes, in honour of your no longer being able to eat pork or pasta, my next cookery post will be dedicated you you and will feature "pig fat pasta".
Hee hee.
This, I believe, is how religion should be discussed, and can be, when people respect each other.
Dive, you said to Neetzy: "You are a far truer Christian than them and right to be cynical."
Maybe you haven't lost your faith, Dive. Maybe you've simply lost your faith in Christianity. You don't have to be a Christian to believe in Jesus and his teachings.
I appreciate this post because everything you said is right. I also appreciate Katherine's first comment, where she put much of what you said into perspective. The extremists of a religion don't necessarily represent the entire body, just as the government of a country doesn't necessarily represent its people.
I lost faith long ago. I agree with Jesus' teachings and try to practice them. But my mind is too empirical, I can't go along with the hooey part, the "magic" stuff. That doesn't make me a bad person. Paraphrasing what Dive said to Neetzy, I'm more Christian than a lot of Christians I know.
As far as religion itself is concerned, I think most people try to practice their beliefs with honesty and kindness. But many others out there use their god or gods as an excuse to hate and kill. For thousands of years, in this way organized religion has been the scourge of humankind. I wish the sane practitioners were more powerful than the extremists, because then this world might be a peaceful place.
Sorry to go on and on. I like the Salvation Army, too. Went to a free irrigation workshop at their tabernacle just the other night here in Pasadena.
Our rector gave a very pertinent sermon on Good Friday. Her message was the question: What are the things that must die in our own lives? The answer included pride, anger, envy and fear, among others.
That would be a good start. Thank you for writing such a thought-provoking post.
That's a good point, Petrea. If I had truly lost my faith would I be trying so hard to get it back again?
I am definitely disillusioned with "organised religion", though I do seem to have lost my belief in God and in Jesus' resurrection, but that won't stop me trying to lead a decent life according to his teachings.
It's nice to know there are like-minded people out there in Blogville.
Lupine Lady; that's a good start by your rector. Fear especially seems to have a tremendous hold on modern organised religion.
It is ignorance that breeds fear; knowledge brings understanding.
Rather than being frightened of a few militant Islamic extremists, Christians should study the Qur'an and Islam; they will see that Islam's message is peace and love and surrender to God's will.
Rather than being frightened of other Christian denominations … of gays, of Marxists like me, of science and of reality in general, they should reach out and understand instead of vilifying and shutting their ears against what does not fit in with their tiny worldview.
It is a sad fact that each year brings many more tiny splintered extremist Christian sects to the US when if they listened to Jesus the opposite would be true.
Sigh …
Thanks Dive,
My good experiences will stay with me, but I cannot to this day go into a so called Christian church (except for weddings and funerals)
Katherine,
Yes, it turned out to be more of a cult. It didn't start out that way. Religion does weird things to people's minds.
Happy to say I've developed my own spirituality. I find the "force" within.
Neetzy: I'm the same way these days. I feel uncomfortable in an "organised" church, though around here most of them date from around 1100AD (we have the world's greatest concentration of Saxon-Norman churches here in Norfolk; one of my old architectural jobs was to look after the fabric of five hundred or so of them, carrying out quinquennial inspections and overseeing the repair works) so I can at least marvel at the architecture while I'm in there.
Your discussion regarding fear having a hold on modern religion brings to mind a couple of quotes:
Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
- Ecclesiastes, 12:13
Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.
- Yoda, Star Wars Episode I
Jesus' suffering should have brought about an end to suffering.
- Dive's predictable Godbothering rant for Easter
In fact it seems to have brought on more suffering through fear itself. Did Jesus die in an attempt to stop what his dad started?
Hee hee, Vic.
Maybe.
You can't beat a good Yoda quote.
Vic, I'm stealing your Yoda quote.
Incidentally, "Do or do not do. There is no try."
You of all people should know the truth of that one, Katherine.
Hoorah for you for "Do"ing!
Ah yes, I see. Beat a Yoda quote, you cannot.
Hee hee hee!
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