Blast from the past
So Good Friday and Easter has just come and gone, with the twinkling of an eye. I'm glad this Easter has been a much more fulfilling one for me than all my Easters spent in the church in the past. Attending a totally cool amazing Sunday service and then going to my district to bring the elderly to church, seeing them enjoy themselves, getting healed, and getting to know the love of Christ, it is all so rewarding in the end, and makes one feel that it is worth every little iota of effort and sacrifice.
I came across Marilyn's new blog a couple of days ago and read about how radical, yet very unknowledgeable and irrational religious zealots are resorting to acts of self mutilation to express penance for their sins.
As Marilyn puts it on her blog:
in fact, i was shocked by the images of people crucifying themselves in the likeness to Christ as "penance". somewhere in this planet, believers are whipping their backs red, dragging the cubersome cross and nailing themselves in the likeness of crucificion to commemorate good friday.
I was highly disturbed by this shocking piece of news, and proceeded to comment on her post. ( By the way, good work Marilyn! Your new blog has tons of potential.) Anyway, a seemingly inconceivable act of self mutilation to express repentance can actually be easily explained.
These group of people obviously have a good intention of wanting to repent. They want to express remorse over their sins. However, even in that intent itself is an inherent flaw in attitude. It is one thing to express remorse over sin to God, and it is another to want to express it before the eyes of the public. These people, at least in my opinion, are flagrantly playing a game of 'I-am-holier-than-thou' by choosing to express their 'holiness' before the eyes of everyone. Perhaps it is wrong to judge them because we never really know whether it was their intention to publicly portray their "repentant heart". In fact, they could genuinely be wanting to show penance to God for their sins.
Either way, I was also troubled by this fact because it is clearly stated in the bible that we are saved not by works, but by grace. Yes, the Bible statest that "faith without works is dead", but that does not mean we go about trying to redeem ourselves by our own human means. Acts of goodness and love should be a by-product of our faith in God, and it is also a natural progression of our character. But acts of goodness should never be elevated to the point where it becomes, in our eyes, more instrumental to ur salvation than God's grace itself.
Part of me can't help thinking that these people are subjecting themselves to such archaic, stone-age means of self torture because the pain they receive from such acts may do a little to soothe their conscience. Maybe for the 363 days besides Easter and Good Friday, these people live out lifestyles that are ungodly and totally unbefitting the name of a Christian. Smote by their consciences, the only way they can actually receive some kind of soothing is to channel those raw feelings of guilt and emotion to a physical outlet and thus they chose to endure physical pain.
I'm glad this Easter that I've got such a God of grace as my Saviour and my Lord.
I came across Marilyn's new blog a couple of days ago and read about how radical, yet very unknowledgeable and irrational religious zealots are resorting to acts of self mutilation to express penance for their sins.
As Marilyn puts it on her blog:
in fact, i was shocked by the images of people crucifying themselves in the likeness to Christ as "penance". somewhere in this planet, believers are whipping their backs red, dragging the cubersome cross and nailing themselves in the likeness of crucificion to commemorate good friday.
I was highly disturbed by this shocking piece of news, and proceeded to comment on her post. ( By the way, good work Marilyn! Your new blog has tons of potential.) Anyway, a seemingly inconceivable act of self mutilation to express repentance can actually be easily explained.
These group of people obviously have a good intention of wanting to repent. They want to express remorse over their sins. However, even in that intent itself is an inherent flaw in attitude. It is one thing to express remorse over sin to God, and it is another to want to express it before the eyes of the public. These people, at least in my opinion, are flagrantly playing a game of 'I-am-holier-than-thou' by choosing to express their 'holiness' before the eyes of everyone. Perhaps it is wrong to judge them because we never really know whether it was their intention to publicly portray their "repentant heart". In fact, they could genuinely be wanting to show penance to God for their sins.
Either way, I was also troubled by this fact because it is clearly stated in the bible that we are saved not by works, but by grace. Yes, the Bible statest that "faith without works is dead", but that does not mean we go about trying to redeem ourselves by our own human means. Acts of goodness and love should be a by-product of our faith in God, and it is also a natural progression of our character. But acts of goodness should never be elevated to the point where it becomes, in our eyes, more instrumental to ur salvation than God's grace itself.
Part of me can't help thinking that these people are subjecting themselves to such archaic, stone-age means of self torture because the pain they receive from such acts may do a little to soothe their conscience. Maybe for the 363 days besides Easter and Good Friday, these people live out lifestyles that are ungodly and totally unbefitting the name of a Christian. Smote by their consciences, the only way they can actually receive some kind of soothing is to channel those raw feelings of guilt and emotion to a physical outlet and thus they chose to endure physical pain.
I'm glad this Easter that I've got such a God of grace as my Saviour and my Lord.
