(no subject)

[unbibium]

Suppose our planet had no concept of martyrdom.

No suicide bombings.

Christianity would have to find a better argument than "Jesus died on the cross, and it hurt really really bad!"

And people with low self-esteem wouldn't have their precious "the more you suffer, the more it shows you're really good, right?" meme, to convince them that their self-loathing gives them character, and their self-destruction gives them virtue.

Does martyrdom really benefit anyone on any level?

This is a young idea and I haven't put it to much scrutiny.

Comments

[davetheinverted]

Suppose our planet had no concept of martyrdom.

Then our planet would be a vastly poorer place. Remember, the essence of martyrdom is not "taking other people with you," it's that you value some principle, some belief, some person or people not including yourself, something more than you value your own life. A world without that would be a world inhabited entirely by the self-absorbed.

A man who won't die for something is not fit to live. -- Martin Luther King Jr.

Christianity would have to find a better argument than "Jesus died on the cross, and it hurt really really bad!"

A better argument for what?

And people with low self-esteem wouldn't have their precious "the more you suffer, the more it shows you're really good, right?" meme, to convince them that their self-loathing gives them character, and their self-destruction gives them virtue.

Like any virtue, it can be misapplied...and the folks you describe here are, in fact, Completely Missing The Point. Martyrdom isn't about you. It's about whatever you're being martyred for. Anyone who forgets that is doing it wrong.


Dav2.718

Re:

[pentomino.livejournal.com]

A better argument for what? For converting others to their religion, legitimizing themselves to the dubious and skeptical, and so forth. The born-again Christians who have made their pitch to me seem to know the details of the crucifixion in excruciating detail. Ouch.

Jesus gets points for dedication, but I have yet to see it explained adequately why I would consider this "for my sins" in any sense of the word "for". The first 35 years of his life, I suppose, he was just biding his time by dispensing some good advice and miracles?

Perhaps we need another word, besides martyrdom, to describe the way people in many cultures seem to view dying, or suffering, as an end unto itself, and that avoiding either is somehow a weakness of character.