Christ: The Hero for All Men

A post for International Men's Day.

Imitation is perhaps the single greatest driving force in all of humanity's history. Great men all over the world have been inspired to become either heroes or villains. Unfortunately, imitation have led, for the most part, to conflicts which then resulted in scapegoating. This is true when we decipher most of the world's greatest mythologies. But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shows us how imitation can be a force for good.

Every man needs a hero. When a boy is growing up, the first person he idolizes is his father. The father is often the first source of a boy's imitative learning process. The boy picks up mannerisms, communication skills, and body languages from his father. Our entire culture is a resulting factor because of this kind of imitation. By observing this phenomenon we can conclude that imitation is innate in human beings. And it is because of this that, in order to fulfill our potential as true human beings, we need the greatest source of imitation. That source is none other than Jesus Christ.

Christ is a role model unlike any other. Being a true human being, he is certainly someone we can imitate. But, being a figure of divinity, he cannot be competed against. This is the brilliance of God's positive mimesis. Today, we can imitate and stumble so easily into rivalry because of the near-absence of divine hierarchies. Imagine how many rivalries have sparked into violent conflicts. The unique imitation of Christ does not allow us this worldly rivalry that almost always leads to violence. Christ himself said that he imitates the Father, and therefore, serves humanity. This is the subtle combination of power, authority, and servitude. Who can compete with that?

Christ is the highest order of humanity; therefore, he is the highest order of masculinity. He is both the beginning and the end of the true man. Nietzsche once spoke about embracing the 'beast within' in order to fulfill one's potential. For example, men have an inherent aspect of aggression. Christ, being the fulfillment of true man, beautifully channeled that aggression into an undying love for God's creation, which is why you see Jesus refusing to give up on his people. Even on the cross he cried for the forgiveness of his tormentors. This zeal for his creation would not have been possible if our Savior had been a harmless man.

In his earthly life, Jesus was a polarizing figure--a revolutionary in the truest sense of the word. He made bold claims on just about anything and everything. He did not provide anyone the luxury of calling him a 'good man.' He was either someone you loved or someone you hated. In other words, he was a force to be reckoned with. He dared to eat with the dirty outcastes. He dared to associate with the hypocrite priesthood. He dared to converse with women. He dared to converse with the Romans. He talked to anyone and everyone who were both the impure of society and enemies of the people. He dared to speak boldly, and he didn't mince his words either. He embraced suffering and took on the consequences of his actions. He exuded authority and even claimed divinity. Need there anything else be said about his bravery and will power?

To paraphrase Jordan Peterson, the archtypal male hero is one who 'slays the dragon and rescues the virgin.' Christ is the epitome of this hero-figure. Each of us has a story, and a chance to be a hero of that story. Christ's story is the same as that of us today. We live in a time not too different from his own. There are tyrants and there are manipulators. There are virgins and there's gold. And then there are dragons, both inside and beyond. How can we become heroes of our struggles? I believe the key lies in imitating Christ, for Christ courageously stepped out into the unknown and confronted the ultimate dragon, slaying him by boldly speaking the truth, and proclaiming the love of God on the cross.

As a boy, I've had many heroes or 'role models.' But it was and still is Christ who inspires me. When I think of bravery, I see Christ. When I think of determination, I see Christ. When I think of compassion, I see Christ. For every highest virtue, Christ is the peak of the mountain. Today, I see many men who are starved of inspiration as they drown in an ocean of shallowness and vanity. This is a result of the imitation of false gods. These men need a true hero--someone who can lift them up from the endless pit of defeat and shame, and guide them into becoming men of honor and principle--someone whom others can rely upon. What better inspiration than Jesus? What better guide than the rabbi who pulled Peter from out of the water? What better Savior than the defender of the adulterous woman? What better hero than Christ Jesus?

Christ: The Impetus for True Science

Recently, I was watching a discussion on the topic of 'truth' between Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and Bret Weinstein. The three debated for a short time on which is the superior truth: scientific truth or religious truth? Whilst Weinstein argued that scientific truth is superior in the scenario where different beliefs contradict each other, Pageau made the bold claim that science itself was nested in religion. This got me thinking.

Science--the means to understand phenomenon--and the truth it establishes are unable to tell us how we ought to act in a life replete with tragedy and suffering. Though many people have tried to explain away social sustaining elements like ethics and morality, they are not able to explain why human beings have the capacity to develop things such as morality and, more strikingly, have transcendental religious experiences. Authentic Christian ethics and morality are brought forth by the rejection of violent contagion and ignition of the positive mimesis of Jesus Christ. Much of life-affirming scientific advances have come from people who have adhered to a hierarchy of ethics and values, and this heirarchy itself comes from Christian imitation.

Science can be a positive force for humanity only when it seeks to emulate Jesus Christ. For example, scientific advances in medicine can be achieved only when one has the best interest of the neighbor's health in mind. In other words, the heart of the healing Christ gives birth to medicine. On the other hand, medicine can also be used for selfish gains and, in such a case, science does not benefit mankind and medicine ceases to be medicine. Then there are instances when science turns downright sinister. Think of the experiments in the Nazi concentration camps or look up Unit 731, and you'll have those nightmarish images sticking in your mind for a long time. Aushwitz and Unit 731, in their very essence, constitute science without God.

What is truth, and how does this truth benefit us? In the Christian revelation, truth is embodied in a person, and that person is Christ, and in Christ we find the epitome of religious and cosmic truth. In Christ we have not only a role model but the impetus for society and the individual to do good and put a stop to evil. Scientific truth, in and of itself, is unable to stop the violent contagion that multiplies misery and resentment of being. It is no good to have facts presented to us just as they are; we must be able to do something with them. This is where God comes in. Only a positive mimesis of Christ can provide a foundation for scientific endeavors that seek to alleviate the ills of the world and the human soul.

In summary, any scientific achievement, in order to be 'good' for humanity, must be rooted in God for it to become true science and not sadism. Likewise, it must also be noted that belief without science is just as shallow as science without belief. An unbelieving scientist has the potential to become a sadistic Henry Cotton while an unscientific Christian has the potential to become a manipulative Rasputin.

Christ, who is the root of all life-affirming morals, is the role model for true science. He becomes the driving factor for all that is good. Humanity and all its accomplishments, including that of science, are clueless without him.

The Scapegoat Mechanism in the Ancient and Modern World

Before the non-violent Christian revelation, society was largely steeped in child sacrifice and witch hunting. Conflict and disease were widespread as usual, but the solution to these problems was almost always a lynching at the hands of a mob. We see this in an episode in the life of Apollonius of Tyana. When the Ephesians were faced with a plague epidemic, Apollonius urged the Ephesian mob to pick up their stones. He directed the crowd towards a dirty beggar, designated that beggar as an 'enemy of the gods,' and ordered the crowd to execute the filthy man. The heavily mythologized version of this story narrates the beggar turning into a demon-hound as he is being killed, thus vindicating the crowd's outrage. The story of Oedipus is similar. Oedipus has to be the scapegoat to save his city, but he must also be guilty, therefore he is guilty of murder and incest.

The Minotaur of Greek mythology is another victim depicted as a villainous half man, half animal. This otherizing and animalizing of the victim in ancient mythologies is very common. They hide the fact that the victim is made in God's image and is precious before God's eye. In ancient societies, individuals who were physically deformed or mentally disabled were picked out, identified as demons, and sacrificed for the 'greater good' of many. Children were routinely dispensed with in order to quench the thirst of violent gods. The eating of human flesh--cannibalism--was another aspect to this scapegoat phenomenon where the victim is consumed for the 'health' of the society. This was the mechanism of pre-Christ humanity. The crucifixion of Jesus turns this machine inside out.

On the cross, Christ thoroughly deconstructs the scapegoat mechanism. He deconstructs witch hunting, child sacrifice, and cannibalism, and lays them bare for the evil that they are. He reasserts the Judaic concept of the innocence of the victim, and shatters the violent machinery of Satan by turning the accuser's very own machine upside down. No longer can humanity hide the scapegoat machine under the cloak of mythology, for Christ simply stripped it bare.

In the Christian age, scapegoating and witch hunting did not cease, but they were also recognized as evil acts repugnant to God. In other words, the blood of sacrifices haunted Christian societies, reminding them of Jesus being crucified all over again in the form of witches, heretics, and Jews. Eventually, the scapegoat phenomenon came to be universally decried as an act of evil.

Today, we are witnessing the return of scapegoating. With the abandoning of God, no more is an individual seen as precious and part of the transcendent. The only identities are worldly identities. The so-called secular humanist principle is that goodness can be achieved without the divine. But what secularism fails to understand is that humanity stripped of its transcendent value is even more susceptible to violence than it already is. This is why the twentieth century gave us the nuclear bomb--the single most potent weapon capable of wiping out the entire human species. Secular ideology also fails to recognize that diversity and equality are not synonymous with the scapegoate mechanism. This is why scapegoating has returned with a vengeance, but under the clever guise of social justice. Whereas once social justice movements involved the use of non-violence, today just about any street thug can pick up a weapon and declare that he/she is out to protect victims. It is as René Girard says in his book 'I See Satan Fall Like Lightning,'

'The Majestic Inauguration of the "Post Christian era" is a joke. We are living through a caricatural "Ultra Christianity" that tries to escape from the Judaeo-Christian orbit by "radicalizing" the concern for victims in an anti-Christian manner.'

The postmodern ideology of social justice is a subtle but obvious weapon of Satan. The ideologues of this outfit are in constant search for victims, and they are also always on the lookout for oppressors. Child sacrifice has also returned. 'Demon children' suffering from conditions such as Down Syndrome are often eliminated through abortion. It is disturbing that many of today's Christians no longer stand with the victim who is the single most persecuted being in society--the human child.

If we are to be known as Christians today then we must abandon the mimetic games designed for us by other humans. We must realize that many of our own has bought into the lie of the accuser. Those that have sold out to the lie can be found 'defending victims' from their pulpits and using guilt-inducing terminology most often related to a person's social identity and class. When a Christian uses words terms such as 'you're privileged' and 'you're mansplaining,' he/she is in effect saying that 'you are Oedipus--a murderer and a rapist. You must gauge out your own eyeballs to save the "victim" whom you are oppressing.' The Christian who uses such kinds of words and phrases that were designed by the secular state's priesthood has effectively chosen to worship the accusing Apollonius instead of the crucified Christ.

Christians must reject violence and coercion or else they will knowingly or unknowingly become violence unto others. The spirit of the accuser is alive and well. It roars like a lion eager for prey. A Christ follower must become aware of these hungry roars behind the prevailing hateful ideologies that masquerade as social activism and secular humanism. Our allegiance is to the King above, not to the ones below. Our Master and Savior is brother to all. He ate with both the rulers and the marginalized. He befriended both Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. He healed both the Centurion's servant and the blind man. His mission is not of worldly justice but of world reconciliation.