Mad World

Since the Bible speaks about being in the world, but not of the world that in some regards Christianity is a pretty countercultural religion especially in this day and age. The Bible tends to be either negative or mixed about what the world celebrates, until you realise why Biblical writers and God are like this. They’re not entirely against certain things, maybe to a certain point and within reason. But at other times I feel what the Bible has to say may go against what many Christians do, love and believe.

Admittedly this depends on the church and country, but there are some places that do link dogs to witchcraft not helped by that the Bible mostly has a low opinion of dogs and that there’s this one verse that mentions both dogs and witches together. It seems like how the dominant culture (even the dominant Christian culture) treats children as a burden, beings needing to be harshly disciplined and scolded whereas dogs seem to get off easily.

But in light of dog predation and pathogenesis wiping out species that dogs would emerge as the bigger liability of the two, though that involves seeing dogs as what the Bible knew them as. Even if positive portrayals of dogs exist in the Bible and throughout Christianity, the evidence is mixed at best so the Biblical stance on dogs could be inconclusive at times if the Book of Tobit and even the story about Jezebel were taken into consideration. So the general attitude to dogs is also mixed depending on the locale and version of the Bible.

It’s even more mixed in extrabiblical beliefs where on one hand you have dogs linked to saints like St Francis of Assisi and Saint Dominic, but on the other hand they’re linked to witchcraft and the Devil himself not helped by that there’s one Bible verse that mentions both dogs and sorcerers together as said before. Admittedly this is the same with cats too when it comes to saints like Saint Gertrude and Saint Agatha, the latter who’s even said to turn into a cat herself.

(Coincidentally both animals get used in Christian monasteries the world over.)

Then we get to how Christians get accidentally complicit in someone’s vices or sins, especially if they themselves aren’t particularly aware of what they’re doing is wrong. Sort of like the thing about nudity in art, if it leads somebody to lust then avoid it. It’s this simple but that involves becoming more responsible with what one does, because they shouldn’t be a stumbling block to others. That involves being more careful with what they do, because it too could lead someone to sin. But one people will not be comfortable with.

Because this involves realising they’ve set up stumbling blocks for people, or aren’t aware of their actions leading others to sin. This is something those in the art community will not admit or realise in any way, because they are accidentally complicit in some way that they too need to bear the onus of their actions. I don’t think a lot of Christians, especially if they’re into the arts, seem deeply aware of how deeply entrenched perversion is into them. I guess a lot of it dovetails into the school of thinking that self-expression dominates them.

But when it dovetails with the satanic ‘my will be done’ thing, this is the real answer why perversion persists and grows in the arts. This is also likely the reason why so many artists are into the occult and the Devil, even if Christian artists do exist but they are a minority compared to these people. I don’t think Christian artists will comfortable with this, even if it makes itself evident with the numerous references to the Devil as well proliferating depictions of various paraphilias.

Then we get to Christians being really strict or harsh on children, perhaps far too harsh at times because I think deep down inside it’s their way of getting back at secularisation. But without knowing that it comes off as wanting to be better than everybody else, it’s a holier than thou mentality that alienates everybody and the likely reason why we have so many exvangelicals. I do get the feeling why Christians support spanking and harsh discipline is because they think it’s the right thing to do, but with seeing others as beneath them.

Children, Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, everybody else who seem to be enemies of Evangelical Christianity; I feel a lot of Evangelicals (and Protestants in general) get far too proud of themselves, thinking they are better than everybody else. Ironically atheists might be humbler than them, in the sense of not knowing any better. The Bible emphasises the need to love one’s enemies, which is something Evangelicals fail to do so often. More often than not, they tend to be snarky and harsh towards everybody else.

They tend to be harsh on children, even though the Bible insists that they shouldn’t provoke children to anger. No wonder why so many of them quit Christianity because of those awful experiences, they shouldn’t be proud of themselves because they are ultimately human like everybody else. I feel Evangelicals have the need to seek an enemy, just so they can scold and chastise them a lot whilst mostly ignoring certain things the Bible also condemns.

No wonder why they condone spanking, sexism, sexual abuse, racism and other vices because they see nothing wrong with those, or at least see others as violating their standards and beliefs a lot. But then again the same principle holds for exvangelicals, who are evidently fed up with their every whim and hypocrisy. Then we get to another sin or vice that many Christians don’t seem particularly aware of, some may even condone it and it’s gluttony.

Part of the problem lies with how some Protestant churches tend to hold potlucks, which contributes to gluttony for some people but one they ought to be careful with. Then the other part is that Christians see nothing wrong with gluttony, they barely ever talk about and oppose the way they do with LGBT. If only they kept the same energy for gluttony, then that would mean gluttony got off easily out of all the seven deadly sins. This dovetails with the need for fasting in Christianity, but the problems lies with enabling gluttony in many ways.

Because Christians unwittingly enable certain things that God condemns, this is why Evangelicalism and the like have so many problems that could be solved by following God’s word.

Bibliography:

What should be the Christian perspective on nudity in art?

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT DOGS

What Does the Bible Say About Dogs?

Beware of dogs! The position and role of dogs in biblical discourse

An Elephant in the Room-Sized Post on Gluttony

Obesity in the Body of Christ

Unowned& Feral Dogs and Wildlife

The global impacts of domestic dogs on threatened vertebrates

Cats of Valaam (Russian)

THE DESERT LISTENS TO GOD (Russian)

Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands” (French and English)

COMMENT ÊTRE DÉLIVRÉ DES SORCIER(E)S EPISODE 7, DOCTEUR HENRI KPODAHI (French)

Discovery of Witches, by Thomas Potts

The Cat Saint

https://www.booksite.ru/fulltext/myt/hsr/uss/kih/9.htm (Russian)

The Witch turns into a Dog (Russian)

The witch turned into a black dog and milked the goats (Russian)

Free-ranging dogs as a potential threat to Iranian mammals

What Does The Bible Say About Spanking?

The Eighth Beatitude (Or the Six Deadly Sins)

According to a post on Reddit, well one for Christians, there are way too many Christians who complain about and warn against homosexuality but too little focus on gluttony. As what somebody else in that thread pointed out, there are a lot of pastors who don’t eat healthily or fast (well in the western world) and if it were pointed out they’d be too sensitive about this. To be fair, there are Christians and especially pastors who fast. In Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, there are dietary restrictions on a given time and some monks even forgo meat altogether.

The problem with why there are so many obese and overweight western Evangelical pastors isn’t just the lack of expectations for fasting, but also and most importantly the lack of clear dietary restrictions. Actually with dietary restrictions around, it makes sense for gluttony to be a sin. Especially if you don’t know how to control yourself while eating, that you not only not share food with other people but also develop health problems like cavities (I’m a victim of this), diabetes and more. One of my relatives shun carbonated drinks a lot and she’s a practising Methodist.

She also encourages exercising, which means a greater deal of self-restraint than what others are used to. While sports and exercise shouldn’t become idols, then again a love of junk food and overeating aren’t any better either. I have encountered Christians who condemn or distrust sports and athletes, but are also silent on junk food and fast food (with very little exceptions). I guess these two are seen as so good that it’s a blessing, though one that they keep on overdosing and their contempt for sports risks being rather hypocritical.

Especially if they don’t condemn the equally sinful tactics that fast food restaurants and junk food companies do, though it goes back to Evangelicals preferring to lead unhealthy lifestyles because they think paying attention to the body is idolatry. So they’d rather let themselves go and gorge on a lot of food, than to actually fast or at least restrain themselves from eating certain foods even if they may not do them good in the long run. Especially if they have certain health problems like lactose intolerance.

Gluttony, I feel, has become the eighth beatitude so the Seven Deadly Sins have become the Six Deadly Sins since gluttony doesn’t seem to arouse Evangelical concern and wrath as much as lust does in relation to homosexuality. It’s much more common for Evangelicals to condemn anything LGBT than to condemn anything relating to junk food and overeating, I even notice this from personal experience. It’s rather unfortunate that Evangelicals tend to turn a blind eye on gluttony.

In fact, I have a nagging feeling they see gluttony as a good thing. While there are Christians who are genuinely interested in sports or at least are sympathetic to it and athletes (Athletes in Action and Sports Spectrum come to mind), there are Christians who condemn sports like football and basketball a lot but don’t use the same energy for things like obesity and love of junk food. Since they see it as just food, it’s a nonissue for them even if it’s not helping in the long run.

So overeating is seen as a nonissue, even if there are Biblical instances of people fasting. It’s one thing to be a hearty eater, it’s another to restrain yourself from overeating especially if you’re full or from certain foods as they don’t do you any good. Perhaps dietary restrictions are a good thing, self-control in diet is and should be just as important as self-control in emotion, sexuality, relaxation, pride, possessions and jealousy. But I still think gluttony has become the eighth beatitude.

Not helped by that many Christians tend to be rather silent about it, especially Evangelicals and that many of them tend to be fat would explain their reluctance to address it in any way.