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54 Anti-Christ?
The Trauma – An Allegory
Three-year-old Miguel pressed tight
against the back of the couch, frozen with terror, while the
robber bludgeoned Miguel’s aged grandfather to death using the
only heavy article in the room: a large heirloom crucifix that
had been in the family for decades. Miguel’s parents returned
home soon after the robbery murder, found the sobbing child, and
began the process of healing with him. Young children are
resilient. Family and friends were relieved at Miguel’s
recovery.
A decade later a proud Miguel bid his
parents farewell and set out to the resident mission school. He
had worked hard for the privilege of attending and looked forward
eagerly to further education. He was willing to work.
The school administration thought it
natural to require all their students to have a crucifix
displayed prominently in the classrooms and dormitory rooms. The
custom emphasized the religious commitment of the
institution.
Three weeks later, Miguel suffered his
breakdown. For the next decade he struggled to wipe out the
memory of the fatal crucifix.
The newlyweds happily occupied their
first apartment. The unpacking of their possessions included the
bride’s crucifix, her cherished family heirloom. She eagerly
affixed it to the wall where she could look upon it from her bed
as she had done all her life. She was not prepared to encounter
disaster.
The proud groom was deeply committed to a
religious tradition that counted a crucifix as idolatry. He could
not tolerate the display of that object in any house he was going
to own.
The marriage officially expired
three children later. Each party bitterly remained faithful to a
childhood fixation.
The Metaphors – Baring and Relief
My first attempt at allegory provided
rich material for several discussions. Today’s allegory also sets
a fertile stage with economy of words. It is cathartic because I
am Miguel. The details of the metaphor are mixed, as dreams
usually are, with objects representing feelings. Unconscious
relationships have been hidden for decades. Facing them is a
relief. Long meditation has given me many perspectives on every
aspect of the story.
In my life the grandfather was an
interracial teen romance. The trauma was my return from the
university to my birth home, opposite to Miguel’s sequence going
from home to school. Variations aside, the dream or allegory
taught my conscious mind that the murderous crucifix is
unmistakably “Bible as weapon.” All the racism I know traces back
to the Bible. Using “crucifix” as the metaphor stands for the
fact that in my upbringing being anti-racist, therefore
anti-Bible, was being anti-Christ. You and I do not want to
believe that, but I had to live through the bludgeoning of
intelligence.
The Challenge
The true divorce account is essential to
the allegory. Breaking free from the Bible is not an isolated act
of the self. Real-life religious adherence to forms does not
remain private. It affects other people, as it did in the
ill-fated couple. We live in a world where crucifix-lovers and
idolatry-haters are wedded into a single society. Survival
requires forbearance. Children require parents.
Notwithstanding the burden the “good
book” has placed on Western Civilization, I realize I am not
going to wean people off their Bibles. Instead of being a
spoiler, I am a gentle mediator who gives students a higher
understanding of what they have. We make something good of it.
Recent material here has taught that we create our own worlds and
our own heavens (article
52). The lesson applies equally to our religious beliefs. We
need to make something good of them.
Being anti-anything is not Positive
Mental Attitude, a major requirement of this blog and course.
Life is being for, not against. Let us remember that bullies are
healed only by the outpouring of our love. If you cannot love the
perpetrator, my teaching will not solve your problem. That is
what my parents and I mutually worked out before they died, and I
am here to help you in the same way.
In July 2015 I used Ernstraud Magazine to
criticize the Old Testament.
Article 22 “Rising above altruism” recognized a distinction
between “us” and “them” in the text and acknowledged gentler
passages. The discussion has not ended. Years of analysis have
illuminated three general areas where I have difficulty with
scriptures:
-
Depravity of fallen man—the myth that makes organized
religion necessary
(Convince people they are sick to sell them the medicine; this
dogma underlies self-limiting beliefs in general.)
- Cleansing by slaughter—removal of “others” (unbelievers)
whether by genocide or natural calamity
(The Bible is the genocide manual; in Book of Mormon, nature
wipes out unbelievers.)
- Racism—variations on the theory that certain identifiable
chosen (elect) people are separate and superior
(Bible separates the chosen; Book of Mormon explicitly identifies
dark skin as God’s curse.)
The books juxtapose positive glories of
salvation to depressing pleas for mercy and victory over enemies.
The negative aspect contaminates my reading; I find no solace.
That does not justify depressing my readers. I suggest three
rules:
- Be reverent toward what other people value, at least as a respect to
them.
- Be vigilant against negative mindset cloaked as humility or another
virtue; subtle attack on self-worth is dangerous.
- Find positive replacement; choose constructive action instead of
debilitating dogma.
Being For Others Blog copyright © 2020 Kent Busse
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