Sunday, April 25, 2010

Are You Proud Of Your Humility?

"The Modern Christian Credo: 'Since we're definitely going to heaven, let's start looking down on people now just for practice...'"
-Saint Brian the Godless

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The Christian system of morality, being based in coercion and not in teaching genuine empathy, and thereby promoting an egocentric rather than an 'other-centered' worldview, is as noted here before, heavily flawed. It too often accomplishes that which it pretends to guard against. It produces a type of love based in fear, a type of empathy based in self-centeredness, and a type of humility based in pride. It teaches people to look outside themselves for evil, but never within.

Let’s face it, it’s hard to be humble when you know that you’re right. It’s hard to be humble when you’re one of the chosen few that are beloved by God. It’s hard to be humble when you know that God is going to save you when so many others will not be saved. (heh heh) It’s very hard to be humble when you know that you are a good and righteous person, beyond a shadow of a doubt, and that those who disagree with you are evil, because you belong to the Right Faith and they do not.
Hey, let’s face it; it’s hard to be humble when you’re a Christian.

Franklin Graham is in the news lately. He’s the son of Billy Graham, so he definitely has a lot of name cred. Mr. Graham is in the news because he is of the opinion that Islam is an evil religion, and is not afraid to say so. (He should look in a mirror sometime…) The Pentagon disinvited him to one of their Prayer Services due to this. So now he’s the darling of the right and Sarah Palin; ‘the poor soul, censored by the Obama Socialist Regime for merely telling the ‘truth…’’

One of his comments during all of this stands out to me. He mentioned that he loves all Muslims and wants to let them know that they do not have to strap explosives to themselves in order to get into heaven; they merely have to give up their own evil religion and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Way to go, Frankie boy! Now, that’s what I call Pride with a Capital ‘P.’ In his overweening pride, he has, in reverse, actually managed to echo Osama Bin Ladin himself, who said that if the West wanted the terrorism to stop, the first thing it had to do was to ‘convert to Islam.’

You see, Mr. Graham is not in doubt as to his humility. He knows perfectly well that he is good, humble, righteous, and loving. And he knows that he knows best here. He knows this, because his faith in his religion tells him so. It informs him of his goodness and of the wickedness of others. It is his guide and his very being is based in it. It’s what helped him to be what he always wanted to be, after all, a good and righteous man. A humble man of God. Heck, he'd even be the first to tell you that he's only a wretched sinner, because he loves how humble that sounds. So, by 'knowing' all of this, by believing in this manner, he has no need to question himself in any of these areas ever again. He’s covered!

Good thing too, because it allows him to concentrate on ‘saving’ everyone else so they can be as perfect, as acceptable to God someday, as he is now. God willing, of course.

Mr. Graham is now free to be proud of his humility.

What Mr. Graham is missing for some reason here is that if one is proud of being good, of being humble and proud of acting humble and of being thought of as humble by others, then one is still as caught in the grip of pride and egocentricity as if they were an outright braggart braying their virtues to the world.

I guess that's why pride is the deadliest of all sins, and also the root of all evil. It's so deceptive. When you try to fight it you wind up playing right into its hands, unless you are really aware of what's happening and unless you are able to question yourself with an open mind. Sadly, this is actively discouraged by Christianity, both the ‘self-questioning’ and the ‘open mind’ parts.

Real pride is not necessarily overt. Real pride does not always show itself. The man who openly brags about his accomplishments is one example, but so is the man who does not brag solely because he knows that it would not look good to do so, and the second type of person is much more common.

And so also is any man an example of pride that truly believes himself to be humble; for no truly humble being would be able to know that they themselves are humble and remain so. It is not possible for a truly humble person to know in their own mind that they are humble, for such knowledge is the very death of humility itself. Such knowledge is the seed of pride. Such knowledge ends the process of self-questioning and self-examination which is the very key to genuine humility.

So basically, the proud man believes himself to be humble, but the humble man knows himself to be proud.

Christianity, by teaching that evil is always easy to see and to define and that pride is something obvious, does the faithful a great disservice. By painting the very subtle as simple and overt, it leaves it’s believers in a state of vulnerability. They always look to the sins of others, while being totally blind to their own. This allows them to actually become proud, evil wretches in the world, all the while being absolutely convinced that they are the diametric opposite of all that.

Once a man truly *believes* that he himself is definitely not evil (or is definitely good) and therefore that he would not do anything that was evil, that’s precisely the moment when he becomes capable of doing real evil. Real evil, the darkest kind of evil, always comes wearing sheep’s clothing. Real evil always masquerades as goodness. Just look at the Catholic Church. This is not because Satan likes it that way either; it is because Satan is a (very twisted) myth designed to cover up the fact that the real source of evil in the world is merely living and breathing people who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they themselves represent only the highest good and that they know what's best for everyone else, too.

People just like Franklin Graham. Or Osama Bin Ladin, for that matter. Or maybe... you?

25 comments:

  1. Young Mr. Graham is in an unenviable position. He inherited a public place and must function in that place without his father's years of experience. That such lack of experience should place him at the side of Palin is equally unenviable.

    You correctly observe that Christians are flawed, broken people. Quite astute. Is there One who can redeem and heal flawed, broken people?

    From what you say, apparently not. Pity, that.

    Mike

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  2. Is there One who can redeem and heal flawed, broken people?

    From what you say, apparently not. Pity, that.
    --------------------
    I think I'm going to surprise you with my answer.

    Yes. There is One that can heal them.

    If they truly believe in Jesus Christ and follow him and not the Bible and associated dogma, follow the spirit of his examples and words, truly learn to examine themselves, find real humility, and discard the entire idea of HELL and PUNISHMENT and DAMNATION and all the negative, horrific crap in the religion, then they definitely can be 'saved' from this fate. Basically, all I'm asking here is that they learn to worship Jesus without all the EGOTISM associated with that.

    Of course, I maintain that they can do it without Jesus just as well, simply through self-examination. However, if they just cannot bring themselves to let go of their savior, then they should simply follow the spirit of his words and not the other crap in the bible which is a lot more about power and control than loving kindness and empathy. Jesus' message is one of the very best at directing people toward a peaceful attitude, if they would only listen to it and not to all the other dogmatic crap. So become 'red-letter' christians and learn real humility and other-focused morality, and then I will have no problem with it at all. I'm caring about results here, not the method of acheiving them.

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  3. You correctly observe that Christians are flawed, broken people.
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    Moreover I'm observing that they are *more flawed* because of their belief system. Don't forget that part. The belief system, being based in coercion rather than in inducing feelings of genuine empathy and *other-focused* sentiment, is part of the problem and not the cure. Christianity builds up the ego rather than tearing it down. It says to the believers 'be good in the world or else' rather than 'see how good it feels to be good to others?' The former method is excellent at producing sociopaths, but not balanced, loving people.

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  4. He inherited a public place and must function in that place without his father's years of experience. That such lack of experience should place him at the side of Palin is equally unenviable.
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    So he's not 'experienced enough' to keep his incredible bigotry to himself, you mean. Because that's all his dad ever did. It's not as if they don't BELIEVE that their way is the only way, to the exclusion of all other ways. It's not as if they don't believe that Islam is pure evil. They most certainly do, the both of them.

    That's the only difference between Billy Gtaham and his son, or Palin, as I see it. Just that kernal of common sense, so as not to be a total embarassment to their faith. Palin doesn't care about that, since her base is so very 'base' that she could advocate for 'ovens for atheists' or 'death to Obama' and her sicko-phantic followers would all just cheer and drool a lot as per usual.

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  5. It says to the believers 'be good in the world or else'
    ***
    I forgot to expand upon this. Actually, christian morality more often says 'you don't even need to be good in the world as long as you believe that Jesus Christ is your personal savior' etc. It's an execrable way to train a person to be moral. It doesn't even seem to care about morality, just belief. In fact, it substitutes 'belief in God' for 'morality' completely.

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  6. Mr. Graham doesn't give a damn. He and his have, in their own minds, managed to put the burden of proof on to everyone else.

    I think that they've discovered, like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, the entire Republican machine and the entire Catholic and Evangelist machine, that ANY press is good press, it's 'all' just a show.

    Now I'm sure that they can turn-tables on the other side on this issue too. You can't fight fire with fire without getting a bit singed yourself, so to speak.

    Off topic, I'm watching an evolution show, 'bears'. Seems like just to make it 'simple' or 'interesting' they're willing to couch evolution in terms of the 'will' of the animals concerned.

    "A population of grizzly bears got trapped in(some area) and they found that they had to evolve or die!"

    What? Like they had the group meeting and decided among themselves, proposed, seconded and passed unanimously, the point of order, "Whereas we, the stranded bears will will otherswise die off, we resolve to evolve!"

    No wonder literalists watch shows like this and laugh. Who writes this stuff, literalists?

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  7. I know... It seems so sometimes. Apparently being a science writer for a special in no way requires real knowledge of science anymore.

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  8. When I was in seventh grade science class we learned not to ascribe human motives or qualities to nature. We were told it was a huge, common logical fallacy, a 'teleology.' So you don't say that 'an electron always wants to travel the shortest distance between two points' or 'bears found that they had to evolve or die...'

    Apparently that's gone by the wayside now. The public wants SIMPLE and EASILY DIGESTABLE. We're dumbing ourselves down at an alarming rate.

    I miss Carl Sagan. (sigh)

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  9. He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson

    You're spot on right here Brian. Most religious KNOW they are right - regardless that every other, differing, viewpoint KNOWS the exact same thing.

    They may not express it a vociferously as others, but the Grahams KNOW that every religious follower that doesn't believe as they do is going to Hell.

    I kind of see this as a major flaw in Blasphemy laws, like Ireland has recently enacted.
    If one is very devout in their own religion, they MUST deny every other religious view. They have to, it's the basis of their respective religions....

    The Jews disrespect Jesus when denying him as mesiah.
    Christians disrespectJews by claiming they can't recieve salvation without Jesus.
    Muslims disrespect others when they claim Allah is the only way.

    They can't help it, their god tells them all to be that way. Or rather, their god's handlers want it that way.

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  10. Brian:
    One of your better posts!
    As usual, I will point out that all of this (both organized religion and "belief" in the Abrahamic/any God) is the result of people's unwillingness to accept the reality that we eventually die and inevitably return to whatever state of (non)existance we may have had before the moment of our individual conception. If you need to believe that there is some sort of afterlife and, furthermore, that there is some activity one can espouse during this life that optimizes your chances of being accepted into it, you also need the affirmation of convincing/forcing everyone else that you "have it right" This is especially necessary because there is no other way to "prove" your hoped for heavenly reward, at least during the present reality. As a result, all believers have no choice but to "put down" any expressed belief that differs from their own particular choice among the myriad versions that exist/have existed/will exist. Whether this takes the form of agressive proselytizing, attempts to force agreement by law or coercion, or simple denigration of all creeds that do not agree is beside the point. Such activity remains essential to all "believers" who do not actually have confidence in their own beliefs. And, by the way, when one can actually make money/gain power by doing so, the result is often very much like the younger Reverend Graham and his all too numerous ilk.

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  11. I should mention that there is still a discussion going on back on the last post. So help me out, lol!

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  12. Brian; "I should mention that there is still a discussion going on back on the last post. So help me out, lol!"

    Would love to, but for some reason, the counters are screwed up and I can't get to the last page any longer.

    Give Eric my best...

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  13. That's weird. Other people have posted there since you did.

    Must be your browser?

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  14. Mac left a post indicating a simlar problem. It really is weird because it's multiple computers too. I suspose it could be a problem with blogspots regional server (since I'm in FL and Mac is in TN we might share one).

    But, I found a backdoor way in (that's what she said?) and have posted.

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  15. And believe it or not, another NEW POST is up. Feel free to comment wherever. Even the old one is still apparently going strong.

    I hope we all get our browser issues straightened out or whatever.

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  16. I want to re-iterate something here from my post:

    "the real source of evil in the world is merely living and breathing people who are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that they themselves represent only the highest good and that they know what's best for everyone else, too."

    I want to ask everyone here a question. Can you think of one single famous evil person that does NOT fit this description? I can't.

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  17. Even spending the last twenty years working in jail I have met only a few truly evil people. Fortunately, they were either too stupid or too crazy (or simply lacking in vision) to do evil on a large scale.

    They were all sociopaths, and none had any higher interest than their own fulfillment of appetite. I tend to assume (perhaps erroneously) that evil ideologues are self-seeking rogues trying to legitimize themselves. The "higher good" is what fulfills their own appetites.

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  18. Self-seeking rogues are never aware that they are self-seeking rougues, if you really think about it.

    Don't you think Hitler had a glowing vision of world harmony and progress? (In his sick mind, I mean of course)

    And 'in order to make an omelette ya hafta break some eggs...'

    I agree with you, but I'm going further into it than that.

    Pride makes people see themselves as the answer to all the world's woes.

    Do you really think that a Stalin or a Pol Pot looks in the mirror and says "Oh you dirty evil self-centered self-righteous self-seeking rogue, you; muah!?"

    I think it's a lot more likely that they say some variation of "In the end they'll all understand that I was doing it all for their own good" or perhaps "I am the only one who can make the world right" or "God has chosen me to make the world over again" or some such pride-based thing where they see themselves as *good* somehow and not *evil,* no? Even if it's only "I am doing this in the service of the Great Nation of FillInTheBlank, all other people be damned."

    I just don't think evil people see themselves as evil. I think it's the opposite, and that empowers them and allows them to bypass their own morality such as it may be. They're lying to themselves, in denial, as to their own nature.

    I see this a lot in general, btw. It makes me paranoid that I might be doing it, so I'm constantly checking myself... still, no way to be sure.

    I know that I am still proud, in spite of my efforts not to be.

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  19. They were all sociopaths, and none had any higher interest than their own fulfillment of appetite.
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    I think that even a sociopath feels justified in being as he is, and likely does not think of himself as a sociopath. Although I must listen to your experiences in this matter considering your expertise. I find this interesting.

    Perhaps I need to amend this to 'no famous evil person who was sane enough to be able to gain real power' because I see your point about sociopaths and must consider it further. I was more thinking of the Hitlers and Stalins of the world. Not so much the Dahmers.

    Discuss?

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  20. I'm thinking, and I could be wrong, not being a psychologist, that there are two kinds of evil people we're talking here. The sociopath you describe's evil is not the same kind as say, Hitler's. It's less complex. Both are based in ego (I want...) but in the latter's case the egotism is more modulated and manifests as a desire for dominion over others *and adulation from them* rather than merely gratifying needs, and can produce the illusion of actually doing 'what's best' for the others involved (or for the country) even whilst oppressing them, since the ego causes the person to believe that they know best, regardless.

    I think such people lie to themselves and so they have no guilt over just taking what they want and destroying so many lives. They lie and convince themselves that their ultimate motives are pure, when it's all just their ego whining for attention.

    Of course, there are likely variang degrees of this, and blends of it within the same individual. Nothing in the real world is ever as black and white as it seems.

    I can feel confident however as to Franklin Graham's motivations here. His are very plain. He 'knows better' than anyone else because of his faith. Therefore he's using his faith to facilitate his ego desires, among which is to tell others how to live their lives and feel powerful and Godly while he's doing it.

    Religion is heady stuff.

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  21. While I have had some rare opportunities for observation of humans, especially particularly warped or broken humans, I rarely understand much. I have the same problem with office politics and such.

    I have little understanding of the will to power. I have observed devious and complex machinations to attain power in jail cells and on the other side of the badge, in jail administration.

    It always looked like a struggle to be king of the shit pile. You may be king, but it is still a pile of shit.

    The only power I desire is the power to be left alone. I desire only the freedom to be me and express who I am. Unfortunately, that desire is offensive to the creatures compelled to seek power.

    Yes, the sociopath does seem to see the fulfillment of their appetites to be the measure of what is right, to the degree such creatures even contemplate to any abstraction.

    Society and socialization is a dance of enormous complexity. I generally try to exist on the edges of the social order, where only a minimal skill at the dance is sufficient to get by.

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  22. The only power I desire is the power to be left alone. I desire only the freedom to be me and express who I am. Unfortunately, that desire is offensive to the creatures compelled to seek power.
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    A rather profound observation. I 'feel your pain.'

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  23. Brian said,

    If they truly believe in Jesus Christ and follow him and not the Bible and associated dogma, follow the spirit of his examples and words,
    --------------------------------------

    You mean the words of Jesus from the Bible… the same words you just said not to follow…lol

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  24. Harvey said,
    we eventually die and inevitably return to whatever state of (non)existance we may have had before the moment of our individual conception.
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    Would you care to prove this ? Are you now saying you have proof of what awaits man beyond this life?

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