Crazy Evangelicals

 

 

I just had to comment on an article titled “Shame of Lust Is Cross Known to Evangelicals” published in the March 21, 2021 edition of the New York Times. This article was related to the recent murders by a 21-year-old evangelical in the Atlanta area. Various individuals were quoted in reference to the evangelical teachings of Southern Baptists pertaining to sexual desire. Evangelical is defined as “of our according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian religion.”  This disquisition addresses the inhumane sadomasochistic evangelical teachings regarding sexuality.

Let’s take a quick look at sex from a religious, philosophical, psychological and physiological points of view. The 10 Commandments of Moses and Jesus described how man should be and how man should treat others. For example, thou should not commit adultery and not covet [yearn to possess or have] thy neighbor’s wife. The word commit suggests action or behavior and covet is defined as an intense feeling or longing for something. In other words, wanting something is simply a thought and not a feeling. Coveting a neighbors wife could mean for sexual, prestige monetary or other purposes. On the other hand, committing adultery is the only commandment pertaining to sexual behavior.

According to St. Thomas Aquinas, sexual intercourse within marriage was meritorious. More recently, Melvin Tinker, an evangelical, said “sex outside of marriage is okay because neither of us are really married. I’m not sleeping with another man’s wife, so it isn’t adultery, she’s my girlfriend.” One could argue that having intercourse can be rationalized differently.

Let’s turn to the Greek philosophers for other examples of man’s motivation. Aristippus of Cyrene along with Socrates are considered to be the originators of the philosophy of hedonism. They believed that pleasure was the only thing worthy of striving for .Pleasure was good and brought happiness. Further, pleasure of the moment and virtue were identical along with the ability to enjoy. Self-control was advocated and “the wise man was or who is susceptible to the enjoyment of life, he knows what animal satisfactions are, and how to prize spiritual joy, riches and honor.” Furthermore, friendship was the best and safest of the social pleasures. Socrates was concerned about virtue or right conduct. In his search for truth, Socrates was guided by the belief that knowledge and virtue are identical and that right knowing always leads to right acting. The purpose of inquiry, for Socrates, was largely the discovery of knowledge of good since he believed such knowledge would lead to virtuous action. Hedonism and knowledge were powerful motivators for these Greeks.

 Freud hypothesized that sexual and aggressive were the two main instinctual drives for man. These instincts were in man’s nature and necessary for the survival of the species. Further, under certain circumstances, sex can become pathological as in sadomasochism. Later, Henry Murray postulated that sex was one of man’s needs. He defined sex: “To form and further an erotic relationship. To have sexual intercourse.”

In physiology, testosterone is an important male sex hormone. Testosterone is the main hormone produced in the testicles and secreted by the testes. Major effects of testosterone are that it promotes libido, aggressiveness and sexual desire; stimulates sperm production; nourishes all the tissues of the male urinary and reproductive system. The major growth of testosterone are most pronounced during puberty. After puberty, levels of testosterone drop gradually. Testosterone contributes to one’s physical health; mood and libido for well-being. Testosterone production is affected by a number of external factors such as illness, medications, psychological state, obesity, exercise, and a lifestyle of smoking, drugs and alcohol.

Taking into account the above information, sex is a main motivation from philosophical, psychological and physiological points of view. With religion, we have the man made concept of sin that can exist in one’s heart. Obviously, sin doesn’t exist in one’s heart but exists between man’s ears. Sin has many different interpretations and viewpoints. According to secular law, one can’t be prosecuted for an idea in one’s head but can be for one’s behavior.

The evangelicals emphasize “sexual purity.” In other words, a sexual drive, thoughts and/or behavior are considered sinful. They teach that man should hate their minds because it leads them into lust and sexual desire and women should hate their bodies because it’s a source of temptation. As a boy, now as an associate professor of religious studies at Skidmore College, stated “I spent my teenage years tearing out any advertisements in surfing magazines that featured women in bikinis.”  Let me get this, to attain sexual purity, find a surfing magazine or magazines with young beautiful bikini-clad women? What an enjoyable task that must’ve been for that young kid. It’s a good example of employing rationalization in one’s fictional story.

Another evangelical leader, said that Ted Bundy’s addiction to pornography fueled his crimes. “There’s a possibility at least that it would not have occurred if that 13-year-old boy never stumbled onto pornographic magazines in the garage dump.” These evangelical followers are supposed to control their own desires yet discriminatorily look at women as being the temptresses. At their junior and senior high schools, there are strict rules for the length of girl’s skirts. What a solution to combat raging hormones.

So these evangelicals are supposedly “battling sin”   by hating and demeaning themselves with the made up word called “sex addiction.” Somehow, Asian women have been characterized as super sexualized as well. So, a group of white men, are attempting to control man’s nature and compensate themselves through the use of religious guilt.

Frustration, stress, and anxiety is conflictual and therefore results in aggression turned inward and/or outward. We know that, in man’s nature, the sex drive is extremely powerful during adolescence and young adulthood. These young evangelicals are supposed to repress and/or avoid their “dangerous” thoughts, ideas, and desires or wish fulfilling fantasies pertaining to sexual desire, as if they didn’t exist. But, in humans, they do exist. This is our nature.

 The repressed or unconscious memories are supposed to be forgotten. However, this initially sets up in the mind, before the expression of behavior, two competing or opposing forces -seeking pleasure or avoiding the seeking of pleasure and/or fear. Because of the strength of the sex drive, one cannot simply or easily avoid or control these impulses in a secular society. To be “successful,” one limits pleasure thus gaining approval of the teachings of the authoritarian leader. More than likely, there will be unconscious negative feelings toward that leader. Also in play are potentially limiting pleasures in one’s distant future. Success is defined as?  Just ask the Catholic Church, the various popes, the priests and even the leaders of the Boy Scouts regarding successful abstinence.

 Obviously, the repression of sexual wishes or desires can be diminished through alcohol, drug intoxication and dreams. Lack of gratification, in the flesh, tends to increase the drive or the desire for that individual who has been sexually deprived. These repressions are also related to the duration or length of the deprivation. Another factor which likely weakens the repressions are seduction and/or temptation. Man, not surprisingly, has created a pleasurable, profitable and sexualized society.  

However, as is often the case, the repressed sexual components often break back into consciousness. When this occurs, it’s called a displacements or a symbolic expression of the repressed wish. The symbolic expression occurs because of all the anxiety, frustration, and conflict taking place between our ears.  The expression of behavior is often transformed into a hostility and then likely displaced onto another in sadomasochistic ways as in murder and sexual assault. When turned inward or not outwardly displaced, we find symptoms of anxiety, shame, guilt and depression. In any case, sexual repression results in neurosis.

That 21-year-old individual was obviously sexually disturbed. How neurotic was he prior to his entry into his current sadomasochistic program? That early history coupled with current history would provide a more clear understanding of his pathology. What is clear is that his mental disturbance, not pornography, resulted in murder. Murder is in the 10 Commandments and punishable by the law while masturbation and viewing pornography is not.

 It’s clear, that we live in a sexualized society with messaging around birth control, beauty, wearing apparel, nutrition, weight loss, exercise etc.  Man is supposed to be handsome, rugged and virile and women young, slim, attractive, seductive and receptive. These authoritarian evangelicals with their draconian, non-psychological and non-physiological policies and ideas are perpetuating neuroses in their flock. They are exploiting the young by falsely attempting to distort man’s nature and imposing a self-serving industry. This industry promotes, reinforces and generates “sex addiction,” books, magazines, treatment centers, and schools for the followers. There were reports that one founder had a pattern of groping and exposing himself to massage therapists among other sexual misconducts. Another owned a two day spa in the Atlanta area as well.

Another article provided additional information pertaining to Southern Evangelical Baptists. In this article, the granddaughter of Rev. Billy Graham” We have seen homophobia, hostility toward women’s rights, xenophobia and lack of concern for the poor.” She added “I hope is that we moved to a season where Jesus followers are no longer seen as synonymous with hate, exclusion and hypocrisy, but as beacons of love and grace.”

In conclusion, Jesus do you agree with Karl Marx’s philosophy that man should have the opportunity to develop fully intellectually, physically, spiritually with the important ability to love self and others? Jesus, do you agree with Karl Marx’s writings that industrial society contributes to man’s alienation by interfering with his opportunity to develop fully intellectually, physically, spiritually with the important ability to love self and others? Jesus, do you agree with Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic writings that a healthy man is one that’s able to love and work? Jesus, do you agree with Sigmund Freud in the importance of the sexual and aggressive drives; improper parenting nurturance during psychosexual development; that stress and anxiety are related to natural disasters; mortality of the body with its increasing diseases; and civilization’s man-made rules, restrictions and contradictions results in the likelihood of psycho neurosis in man? Jesus, do you agree that Southern Baptist’s are committing blasphemy when they are teaching to hate and exclude self and others with their crazy, exploitive, sadistic culture regarding sexuality for teens and young adults? Jesus, do you agree that teachings regarding sexuality of the Southern Baptists are contrary to man’s nature and thus are evil? Jesus, do you agree that secular ideas regarding sexuality should be taught to the followers of the Southern Baptists? Jesus, do you agree that the inhumane sadomasochistic sexual teachings of the Southern Baptist leaders should face criminal consequences for their actions?

 Moses, Jesus and other prophets promoted man as having the ability to treat fellow man more humane as in the 10 Commandments and the Golden rule. If the evangelical leaders and followers were following these teachings, they would likely become more humanistic and not neurotic, authoritative, aggressive, sadistic , hateful,  rigid, and exploitive using fear, guilt and sin. If you hate yourself, you can’t love another. Send these followers to community college and widen their horizons. Let them learn to interact with others who believe differently and have darker skin tones. Instruct them about spirituality [spirituality has nothing to do with the amount of time looking at porn] by creating a type of or aspect of a Peace Corps in which they volunteer and contribute to the larger society. Give them a chance to develop their self-esteem and ability to reason. Give them a chance to interact with the opposite sex not in terms of domination or blame but more on an equal basis to develop interpersonal skills. Give them a chance to learn about love as opposed to hate.

PS

A few days ago, one of my simpatico friends said that religion was “gobbledygook.” He said that he likely learned that word from his mother. He added, my mother would give me a dime to attend church. Instead, I did not go to church and used that dime at a Tasty Freeze until she found out that I was playing hooky.