Examining Clever Examples of Christian Flag-Planting in Social Media Groups.
Post was this:
"You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh rather, serve one another humbly in love.
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Galatians 5:13-14 (NIV)
Christians and their most ardent supporters kept saying they don't see the problem with posting that in a "Stoicism" group.
Meanwhile, many group members continued to object to it.
My thoughts about it:
Regarding the OP we're posting under.
The OP's meme image is fine, by itself.
The quote contained in the image is a mix of
a.) rational/healthy
and
b.) irrational/toxic sentiments.
(I'll explain which part of the image-quote is problematic, in a moment).
Meanwhile,
the person posting the image/meme
used it to advertise for his religion and his religion's special book.
The passage he quoted
is of:
* specifically-religious people
talking to
* people in their religion
about how they should treat:
* all the people in (and aspiring to) their religion.
Helping others "up", in a general sense, is not-at-all a concept originating from biblical religions.
But I won't focus on that fact here, because the OP gives a more specific meaning to:
what count as "up".
This is where the next part (the troubled part) of the meme becomes relevant:
It posits that there is an objectively "top" level of people in the world.
- Like it's a competition.
Worse yet,
that is being defined by:
the biblical quote the OP attaches to it.
So then the "top" people who are winning
are the specifically-religious people:
speaking,
being spoken to,
and being spoken about
in Galatians 5:13-14.
And so the OP-posting person is posturing as one of those spiritual elites;
boasting of how they:
lead by reaching that true spiritual summit,
(which we all know is claimed ~by Christians~ to be the ONLY true spiritual path)
and then:
how they also lead by example of:
helping others reach that spiritual, exclusive "top level";
known, more specifically, as Christianity.
--
And to top it all off, ...
They add a cognitive-manipulations gimmick typical of Abrahamic religious fundamentalism (and clinical Narcissism):
by asserting that a specific virtue (in this case: being "humble") is being ~seen in action~
by what is actually the opposite of the virtue being claimed.
They do the same with all virtues.
They make the time to exhibit the opposite of those virtues, and then claims those opposites aren't opposites.
... and so, of course,
arrogance is humility.
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Related Links:
What is "gaslighting"?
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