First of all I want to say that I do not normally write on religious subjects because….well it is my choice…..but I have seen much on the web about the silliness of people dying and becoming martyrs.
The idea of martyrdom has become more closely scrutinized since Islamic extremism has been in the news…..the whole idea that someone in service to God that dies is immediately martyred and goes to Heaven or in Islam’s case Paradise.
I have heard many them call the idea ridiculous and in NO way a duty of the devout. With that I agree. A deity that requires me to die to show I am devout is NO deity that I want anything to do with in any way.
With that said….martyrs or the making of martyrs is not an Islamic idea solely…..Christians had their fringe that thought the only way to know Jesus was to be killed so that they could join him in Heaven…..
Ever hear of the Circumcellions?
- The Circumcellions were a heretical splinter group of early Christianity circa the fourth century.
- They were known for loving them some martyrdom and would go to great lengths to bring about their own deaths.
- Circumcellions would carry sticks and blunt clubs to attack unwary people in order to entice said people to kill them.
………real Circumcellions were reduced to jumping out at random travelers on the road, shouting “Praise the Lord!” and swinging large clubs called “Israels.” The aim was to provoke retaliation. With a li’l bit of luck, the traveller would overcome his bemusement and fight back, hopefully kill the circumcellion attacker, making them, you guessed it, a Martyr. If the attackee was a magistrate, so much the better. When this source of martyrdom was cut off, circumcellions were driven to acts of mass suicide. Crowds flung themselves off cliffs, or into the River Chotts. The really radical ones burned themselves alive.
So you see the whole idea of martyring oneself in the name of God is not an exclusive Islamic thing………..like I said….if I must die to prove my loyalty to a deity then it might want to move past me….I prefer to let my actions determine my status. A true God does not demand the death to prove the devout….that is my opinion and I will stick with it.