The man pictured above cut off his penis. He is a devout Christian, a member of
the Redeemed Christian Church of God in
Lagos, Nigeria. His reasoning…if one can
call it such…is that his penis was a distraction, leading him astray from
God. He expects it to grow back in three
weeks. I’d proffer that he is in for a disappointment. The whole story here:
http://aquavibes.blogspot.com/2015/01/rccg-member-cuts-off-his-penis-in-order.html
http://aquavibes.blogspot.com/2015/01/rccg-member-cuts-off-his-penis-in-order.html
There is a passage in the bible about plucking out ones eye if it "offends thee" or dismembering a part of the body that is doing evil. It’s a parable. Here's the preferred Christian explanation that evidently no one mentioned to this fanatic:
"The cutting off of the hand or foot, or the plucking out of the eye will not solve the problem of sin. Since Satan uses these avenues to make us commit evil and sin, Christ was advising us not to give the members of the body to be instruments of the devil. Our hands, our eyes, our feet, our tongue, our ears, and all our body parts need to be guarded and protected from the evil one as he uses these avenues to make us corrupt."
But
there is also Matthew 19:12 in which Jesus is purported to have said:
”For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Uh-oh! Sounds like an endorsement of genital amputation to me. Origen, a 2nd Century CE Christian and scholar, is purported to have castrated himself for the faith based on this verse.
Now some people would take a sympathetic view point on this unfortunate’s action. I cannot. People blow themselves up in the name of their god, they kill others in the name of god, and they initiate wars in the name of god. Many obscene and tragic things are committed in the name of god/religion. My sympathy is reserved for their innocent victims, not for the religiously inspired / driven / obsessed perpetrators of religious horror.
Some would say that those who are entranced / deceived by scripture and who thus hurt themselves are also victims. Perhaps so. But then, shall we also shed a tear for the third generation adult Christian Snake Handler in the Appalachians, who after seeing his father and grandfather die from venomous bites, knowingly and gleefully takes up the cult practice because he was deceived by his progenitor and the scripture they embrace in spite of what his own eyes tell him? I'll shed not a tear for his demise. His religious affliction is ostensibly terminal. I will only hope that his child can avoid it, and that the cult will eventually die out either via extinction from snake bite, or abandonment through the recovery of long lost common sense.
I'd rather 10,000 hyper-religious neurotics or psychotics castrate themselves than for one child to be born to them and be subjected to the madness inherent in fanatical superstitious belief - not only for the child's sake, but for the sake of civilization which will benefit from the prospective parent not procreating and thus contributing to the eventual demise of religion and its hurtful, often insane, practices.
”For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.”
Uh-oh! Sounds like an endorsement of genital amputation to me. Origen, a 2nd Century CE Christian and scholar, is purported to have castrated himself for the faith based on this verse.
Now some people would take a sympathetic view point on this unfortunate’s action. I cannot. People blow themselves up in the name of their god, they kill others in the name of god, and they initiate wars in the name of god. Many obscene and tragic things are committed in the name of god/religion. My sympathy is reserved for their innocent victims, not for the religiously inspired / driven / obsessed perpetrators of religious horror.
Some would say that those who are entranced / deceived by scripture and who thus hurt themselves are also victims. Perhaps so. But then, shall we also shed a tear for the third generation adult Christian Snake Handler in the Appalachians, who after seeing his father and grandfather die from venomous bites, knowingly and gleefully takes up the cult practice because he was deceived by his progenitor and the scripture they embrace in spite of what his own eyes tell him? I'll shed not a tear for his demise. His religious affliction is ostensibly terminal. I will only hope that his child can avoid it, and that the cult will eventually die out either via extinction from snake bite, or abandonment through the recovery of long lost common sense.
I'd rather 10,000 hyper-religious neurotics or psychotics castrate themselves than for one child to be born to them and be subjected to the madness inherent in fanatical superstitious belief - not only for the child's sake, but for the sake of civilization which will benefit from the prospective parent not procreating and thus contributing to the eventual demise of religion and its hurtful, often insane, practices.
Perhaps it is not religion but nutso brainwaves.... as a prosecutor I had a police officer describe for me an instance in which a male was sitting on a step with a hammer in his hand and more than once striking his testicles against the steps.... it hurts to describe. Still, I know not if it was religiously inspired or just broken brain syndrome. so how do we distinguish such infected beings claiming religion as their spark?
ReplyDeleteMUFOG
Well, Neale, in the case illustrated above, I'm willing to take the guys word for it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be a matter of degrees. On the less extreme end there are people who just do the insane thing of praying for positive outcomes at the same time they seek professional medical attention. Then there are people who rely totally on their faith for healing. Then on the other end, there are people who willingly mutilate themselves or put themselves in danger to demonstrate their piety. I think it's all the same mind set. The distinguishing factor seems to be level of education and indoctrination. The more educated religious people are, the less likely they are to cut off their penis.
ReplyDeleteYikes! This is one more example of the irrationality of religious belief; self-flagellation, hated of the body, the denial of human sexuality, all this in the name of mindless devotion to an all powerful supernatural entity. This man mutilated himself as an act of adoration for the god he worships and would not hesitate to do it to another if commanded by a fellow votary or through direct revelation from god, this is nothing but psychosis.
ReplyDeleteLonghorn... I concur with the education aspect. Wherever Xtianity is spread in the third world the degree of fanaticism is off the charts. The least educated countries are prime candidates for Xtian extremism and literal interpretation of the bible...not unlike the US Bible Belt.
ReplyDeletegerard ... indeed,I think you are correct. One has to wonder how many more acts of extreme brutality and mindless abuse in the name of Christ never even get reported in places like Nigeria.