Christianity Today has a web article noting (and quoting from) our recent discussion of John Paul II’s practice of self-mortification.
The piece—written by an Evangelical—is noteworthy in that it doesn’t just lash out against the concept. (No pun intended! Honest! Didn’t even notice that until later!) Indeed, it devotes a significant amount of attention to understanding the practice from a Catholic perspective.
Though ultimately the author sees self-flagellation as “misguided,” he acknowledges and recommends the practice of self-denial, including fasting.
(So . . . why is self-flagellation “misguided” whereas fasting is to be recommended? As long as you don’t permanently injure your body with either—and both can be done in ways that do permanent damage—why is one more misguided than the other?)
In any event, I’d like to kudos CT and the author of the piece—Collin Hansen—for seeking to explore the issue in a fair-minded way!
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I don’t understand why this is such a big issue…paying thousands of dollars to have your face peeled off and reattached to get rid of those fine lines has been normalized (talk about self-mortification), but practicing a form of self mastery towards an eternally good goal is grotesque and offensive?
Mind you, I have a hard enough time fasting (I’m working on it!), but I just don’t get it.
While self-flagellation is certainly unusual (especially today), vast numbers of us undergo such voluntary physical suffering in order to become stronger or simply more attractive.
When we go to the gym and work out, what is it but physical suffering? You see people grimacing in pain, running to the point of exhaustion, lifting weights to the point of muscle failure. Why? Because they understand that in order to become stronger, they must first drive their bodies to the point of weakness. The body responds over time by becoming stronger. Interestingly, as we experience the benefits of this voluntary suffering, many of us actually find enjoyment or “joy” even in the very midst of that suffering - through the release of endorphins and adrenalin and also in the knowledge of what we are ultimately accomplishing.
People in the military may voluntarily endure “torture” (including water-boarding, I might add) in their training so as to become mentally and physically tougher, too, should they be captured. What is so different about self-flagellation? How many of us (especially in the self-indulgent West) are slaves to the needs of our bodies? Is it really so hard to understand how voluntarily undergoing such things can help to strengthen a person?
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