Musing on Freaks, Matrydom and Jesus Freaks

The Budget Macquarie Dictionary is only budget (bought on a uni student budget) but still tells the truth. A freak, it suggests, is something ‘unusual, odd or irregular.” Or someone.

Our friend Wikipedia helpfully extends upon this definition, purporting that being ‘freakish’ “also denotes a strong obsession with a particular activity.”

Meditating on this definition, or trying to stuff my brain full of it so I can write a decent article, I think it’s fair to say – with respect - that we’re all freaks of some description.

I firmly believe this and challenge anyone to a thumb war or scissors-paper-rock competition if you disagree. As any teenager will tell you, normal is so passé!

“Normal is like … weird! I’d rather be different and maybe that includes  piercings/doing up my Myspace page with html glitter pop-ups and scaring my mum with a green Mohawk,” muses my imaginary teenager – designed specifically for this article.

Sorry, she’s now left the conversation to plan her wedding with Bieber but you get the point…

When it comes to religion, there are different kind of freaks but most famously known of all these freaks are the ubiquitously known, Jesus Freaks.

But before we go there, I would be remiss to write an article on martyrs without mentioning Islamic extremist suicide bombers.

In terms of dying for one’s religions, this group takes the cake.
Infact, cake – or something sweet – seems to be the big incentive to go ahead and murder ‘infidels’ by strapping a backpack full of explosives via a public place. You see, in 2001, Hamas activist Muhammad Abu Wardeh gave the West a heads up on what he considered the ‘reward’ for Matyrdom. It read like something from a creepy man’s travel brochure … 70 virgin brides in Paradise, etc., etc.

Turns out, however, that for these Muslims who do this, Wardeh was wrong.

Check out ‘Traditions’ (Hadith in Arabic) which is a collected book of Muhammad’s sayings and “suicide” is forbidden.[i]

However, jihad in Islam is not just encouraged, it’s all part of the faith. It literally translated to the word ‘struggle’ and can mean, in some instances, waging a ‘Holy war’ for Islam.

When we’re chatting about Martyrdom and people dying for their religion, it seems like an opportune time to bring up the cultish aspect of religion which can rear its ugly head.

How many of you have heard of Jonestown? Jim Jones? If you have, you’ve heard of this awful cult which claimed the lives of more than nine hundred people in 1978.

What can we say about that? Apart from the fact it was a horrendous atrocity, we can see – with the advantage of hindsight – the “warning bells.”

No, it wasn’t Jim Jones’ obsession with holding funerals for dead animals as a little boy, it was this:

“Jones also began preaching that he was the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth, Mahatma Gandhi, Buddha, Vladimir Lenin, and Father Divine.”

Again, with the advantage of retrospect we are able to completely discredit at the notion of a forty-something American dude actually being these things, however what is not so amusing is the fixed and unassailable intentions Jones had in establishing his agenda.

Almost 1000 lives were laid down to rest before their time, as Jones encouraged his followers to drink poisoned Kool-Aid, “protesting the conditions of an inhumane world.”

This horrific act was – up until September 11, 2011 – the single greatest loss of American civilians in a non-natural disaster.
Key word = civilians. Those poor people weren’t actually martyrs but tragic victims.

Essentially, Jesus Freaks are people who love Jesus, are a bit obsessed with Him and live their lives accordingly.

I mean the Lord Jesus says himself in Revolution to the Laodicean (----) church: “I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!”

This is the bit where I tell you that I actually am a Jesus Freak as well. Any Christian technically is, when you think about what the name implies … Christian = Christ (follower of)
With this in mind, aren’t all Christians (over 2 billion worldwide) technically then Jesus Freaks, with anything else being akin to a Shop-A-holic telling, “Nah I can’t stand shopping.”

Jesus Freaks often are persecuted for their beliefs.

In fact, a recent study, cited by the Vatican, reported that 75 out of every 100 people killed for religious hatred are Christian.”[ii]

Ok so, that’s not that great but when you consider that the founder of Christianity actually died for His beliefs/mission to save the world, it’s not surprising that Jesus freaks often become martyrs.

Like the 17 year old Somalian girl who was gunned down because she wouldn’t renounce her faith in Jesus[iii], despite her parents’ requests.
 
That was only last year. Which indicates that Jesus Freaks are still very much around and only growing. But the good news is told by JC Himself in his famous Sermon on the Mount words: “Blessed are you when you when people insult you or persecute you … because you are my followers.”

[i] http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5
[ii] http://www.opendoorsusa.org/persecuted-christians/christian-martyrs/
[iii] http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/somalia/29407/

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