Empathy -- Post by Breanna Poole
While reading the description of Romanus's torture and prosecution for being a Christian, I found the language, while compassionate for the plight of the man, to be more factual than empathetic. At first I was surprised by this, why is the emotional weight of the torture done to this man not being recorded as completely as the physical. I didn't understand, then I remembered the Sermon on the Mount and I understood why.
If Romanus's story was told more of a tragedy than the historical record it was, the reason why he was being tortured might have been lost in those times. At that moment in history, Christianity was still at the baby steps phase; the distinction between the Jewish and Christian religions just barely established. The Sermon on the Mount is where Jesus warns his disciples of many things and sins, but one of particular remembrance is the idea that deeds and suffering done for following Christ are not done for the self but for the Lord.
At such an early stage of Christianity and perhaps even now, telling that story more empathetically than it already was (which to be fair, it is compassionate, but not at the level most modern descriptions of torture are) would perhaps make people look to Romanus as a martyr, when in fact they should be looking to the reason why he was facing that torture -- because he was following Christ -- so that perhaps readers would chose to be like Romanus and follow God.
If Romanus's story was told more of a tragedy than the historical record it was, the reason why he was being tortured might have been lost in those times. At that moment in history, Christianity was still at the baby steps phase; the distinction between the Jewish and Christian religions just barely established. The Sermon on the Mount is where Jesus warns his disciples of many things and sins, but one of particular remembrance is the idea that deeds and suffering done for following Christ are not done for the self but for the Lord.
At such an early stage of Christianity and perhaps even now, telling that story more empathetically than it already was (which to be fair, it is compassionate, but not at the level most modern descriptions of torture are) would perhaps make people look to Romanus as a martyr, when in fact they should be looking to the reason why he was facing that torture -- because he was following Christ -- so that perhaps readers would chose to be like Romanus and follow God.
It’s kind of a shame that church historians would need to take such steps to keep the focus on God, but it’s certainly necessary. We have a tendency to glorify anything and everything in addition to (or instead of!) God. We see this even today, especially with denominations that glorify the saints and artifacts. Few religious leaders today advocate open worship of saints, I know, but glorifying and praying to them in the way that is openly taught and practiced is a step on the wrong side of the line and distracts from our privilege to come boldly before the throne of God. If martyrs are made out to be spiritual superheroes who lived their own version of Christ’s Passion Week, people will direct the wrong kind of spiritual attention to them.
ReplyDeleteOf course martyrs deserve to be mourned and respected, but it must be kept in mind that it was by God’s power that they had the strength to face persecution and by God’s grace that they were counted worthy to die for His name and receive a heavenly reward. As with everything, it isn’t about us—it’s about Him.
Very good point! If the writings recorded showed favor towards Christians they would almost certainly be thrown away by the Romans. Also, Christ did emphasize how all attention should be directed towards God. Personally, I read Romanus and thought about how much faith and boldness God gave him. If there was a great emotional appeal towards Romanus, I likely would not have concluded with the same thinking. Will concluded it very nicely in saying its all about God. Absolutely everything should work to glorify God, and if it does not, then we have a problem.
ReplyDeleteSo, my computer is being a drama queen again and not letting me back on my old post, so I once again I have to record who I commented on in the comment section. I commented on Moriah and the post "Not quite persecution" (it had no name for who it was by).
ReplyDelete