To die for something you believe in. That is perhaps the most
noble of all human endeavors.
Seeking martyrdom on the promise of a "get out of hell
free" card. That is perhaps the most idiotic of all human
endeavors.
Martyrdom is one of those theological Catch-22 situations.
On the one hand, who wants to deny paradise to a believer who
has given his or her all to the cause of their particular
brand of religion? On the other hand, unless you have some
other political agenda at work, you don't want to encourage
people to go die either.
The theological quandary is deepened by the fact that there
are ALWAYS political agendas at work.
The idea of the martyr has always been around (the word is
Greek for "witness," its modern meaning dates to the
Christian era). After all, it's a general rule of life that if
you find someone minding their own business happily believing
whatever, you can quickly find someone else who wants nothing
more than to fuck it up.
While in ancient times, people were frequently called on to
die for their beliefs, it was generally just referred to as
"dying." Heaven and Hell were not advanced
concepts in the pre-Christian world, at least not in terms of
a potential reward or punishment for your behavior on Earth.
Christianity, however, was born in one extremely
high-profile act of martyrdom. The religion is predicated
around the concept of triumphing over death. And for the first
two or three centuries, Christians lived under the constant
threat of death by crucifixion, the same method employed
against its founder.
It only stands to reason that under such circumstances, the
concept of dying for one's religion had better count for
something. The problem was that the early Christians were
expecting the Apocalypse to come at any moment, with its
attendant glorious resurrection of all those who had been
killed. When several decades passed without any sign of said
resurrection, a new justification for martyrdom had to be
developed, and pretty damn quick.
By the fourth century of the Christian era, the original, very
simple expectation that one just naturally died on behalf of
Jesus Christ had fully metamorphosed into the idea of
martyrdom, in which dying for one's faith was not just a duty
but an honor and a privilege. At the same time, the martyr
club was becoming more exclusive, as the Christians finally
overtook their Roman persecutors and laid claim to political
power.
For Catholics and many Christians, martyrdom is considered a
free ride to heaven under canon law, a stipulation which is
increasingly kept under wraps in light of current events.
Every religious movement known to man has seen its adherents
suffer and die for the cause, but Christianity and Islam are
the two major religions that offer this ironclad guarantee of
eternal bliss. Martyrdom even wipes the slate clean of
previous major sins, including lust, gluttony, sloth, the
whole array.
These religions do not extend the benefit of martyrdom to
those whose beliefs differ from their own, for instance the
Cathars , who were martyred at the hands of the Catholic
church, but people have a tendency to die for their beliefs
even without a formally sanctioned incentive.
Islam raised the art of martyrdom to a whole new level.
In Islam, there is a built-in theological basis for martyrdom
that trumps most previous belief structures. Islam, especially
in its fundamentalist branches, includes a dramatic element of
struggle. Fundamentalist Islamists believe that they have a
moral obligation to jihad, which they define as a war to
create Islamic nations and expand the scope of the religion
using force. (Moderate Muslims do not see jihad in the same
light.)
According to the fundamentalist view, martyrdom is the highest
privilege of Islam, with its attendant rewards. Charismatic
fundamentalist leaders have long recruited soldiers who would
fight to the death on the promise of heaven. The view of
heaven promulgated in this context is a much more carnal and
appealing concept than the Christian harp-playing eternal
chastity-fest, including mystical sex toys and an eternity of
Allah-sanctioned carnal bliss.
The earliest incarnations of Islamic martyrdom as a weapon
for effecting political change came in the form of the
Assassin cults of the 11th century, which were mystical
offshoots of mainstream Islam. Assassin leaders used hashish
and brainwashing techniques to condition their disciples to
follow any order given by their spiritual leaders, no matter
how insane or suicidal. The Assassins demanded and received
the sanction of many Islamic leaders by virtue of these lethal
footsoldiers, who were practiced in the arts of deception and
assimilation. They could blend in with virtually any culture,
even to the point of being formally excused from the usual
dietary and moral requirements applied to normal Muslims.
The techniques and theological trickery of these original
Assassins is still in use today, most notably by international
terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Hambali, who goad their
followers into death with promises of eternal frat parties.
The organization and underlying concepts that fuel [ambiguous:
suicide bombers] working for groups like al Qaeda and Jemaah
Islamiah are directly descended from the Assassin cults.
Many people comment derisively about the jet-setting playboy
lifestyles of terrorist superstars like Ramzi Yousef, Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed and the 9/11 hijackers, but when viewed in the
context of the Assassin cults, these behaviors are completely
understandable. In the interests of infiltration, the
Assassins allowed virtually any behavior by its advanced
operatives. And with the promise of instant salvation at the
moment of martyrdom, well, let's just say the motivation to
live a pure and chaste life drops off considerably.
But the most serious flaw in the concept of martyrdom is that
it makes you a patsy for unscrupulous and insincere religious
leaders who just want to get you to do something really
moronic which will somehow advance their agendas. The ancient
Assassins were definitely victims of this syndrome; modern-day
terrorists are also highly susceptible to this problem,
although it's sometimes tricky figuring out whether a guy like
bin Laden is sincere or not.
"I have some Florida real estate that you might be
interested in. You pay me now, and I promise I will give you
the land in the world to come!." You see the problem
here. If you're convinced that you will be rewarded after
death for doing something suicidal in life, you're just
begging to be taken advantage of.
The Better Business Bureau has not been able to verify
conditions after death. So if you're buying into a line of
goods that involves only posthumous rewards, just remember
that there will be no opportunity for refunds or exchanges!!.
Not even if you keep your receipts.!!
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