Good question! But isn’t it obvious who we (human beings) are? Maybe not. There was a recent event where an English woman performed offensive acts for public display by posting a video of her actions online. I didn’t see the video nor the documentary about it (read on) but I saw a discussion about it on Unherd’s Freddie Sayers and former Professor of Philosophy, Kathleen Stock. They were discussing the level of moral outrage that should be elicited in the culture by this behaviour. What mostly caught my attention was how both interviewer and guest thought we should have a moral basis for outrage that is independent of a religious basis. But can we? I will try to set about explaining why I think we cannot. Our moral outrage tells us something about who we are in essence.
The action involved what I assume to be a new working model for prostitution. Dr Stock, a self-described lesbian, was likely offended by the exploitation of women by men and this being celebrated. But the mentioned performer possibly took this exploitation in a different direction. In the Unherd discussion, I saw brief footage of the woman and her interaction with the Channel 4 producer of the documentary made about her. She looks to be in charge of men. Her video of herself, without my seeing it, probably celebrates the supremacy of women over men within prostitution. Dr Stock described her as middle class and a former worker for the NHS. It may have been inferred that she likely did not become a prostitute as a result of childhood abuse so what business did she have engaging in such a way of life. In any case, moral outrage of some kind was elicited by the celebration of the re-working of such a way of life.
The cultural phenomenon shown by this woman’s behaviour is a demonstration of girl power. It is a particular form of feminism. It is triumphant feminism. It is a case of the woman being divorced from all emotion, slicing and dicing the human person so that only the body is left. Only the material world exists. The woman is also engaged in teaching poor, young girls involved in prostitution her methods and it is a growing fringe phenomenon. The men need the women but the women don’t need the men. Or so she thinks. If this is what the woman thinks, I imagine that her belief comes out of a culture of deep divorce of the spiritual from the physical; of a very low and weak idea of what it means to be a human being. These ideas will lead to the ruin of a person in time because God exists and has made her and all of us to live in a way that fulfills rather than diminishes our humanity.
This narrowing of personhood down to a material existence fits in with Marxism. It’s an odd thing because mastery of power matters to Marxists. Why? Is that not an emotional need – to overpower others? At the very least, Marxists compete with all spiritual expression. This includes Christianity. Because the West has been under the sway generally of Christianity for centuries, exemplified in good laws up until 5 minutes ago, Marxists have tried to dismantle the West and what the West has stood for. Being an indulged culture, how could they effectively do that to us? In Maoist China, Marxist takeover was not done through allowing free expression of bodily instincts but this can be usefully used in our indulged culture. This is a sign that Marxism is winning. The wicked get rewarded and the good get punished. Note those who dare to pray outside of abortion clinics. Some have been imprisoned. But this woman parading triumphant feminism is safe from the law. Why? Because she is feeding the Marxist monster – she is promoting feminism. Marxism is about oppressor and oppressed. As a woman, she is one of the oppressed class. Racism works the same way – oppressor and oppressed. All except for the fact that there are black Christians and black conservatives who do not see themselves as oppressed and in fact are not oppressed. This so-called racism is another lie promoted by Marxists. They have invented other divisions – gender-based ones. And so it goes on.
There is sharp contrast between the Christian understanding of the human person and that of the Marxist. The Christian understanding of relationship centres around giving, not competing as in Marxism. Marxism fractures not only relationships but also the human person. Within Christianity, the unity of the human person is seen despite consisting of various parts – body, mind, emotion and spirit. These aspects of our personhood are interconnected. For example, the emotions can produce hormone effects in the body such as the hormone adrenalin increasing in response to the emotional experience of fear. Cortisol can be increased through stress. The body is important and Christianity teaches that. It will one day be resurrected in a new and glorified state. The body matters. It can affect the emotions, mind and spirit. Use of drugs can induce depression. Drugs affect the body and in turn, the body affects the mind and emotions. Sunlight exposure can induce better, calmer mood; exercise can reduce depression. These are bodily effects on mind and emotion. I do not wish to trivialise people’s struggle with depression but sometimes changing bodily habits over time can impact people’s emotions. Demonic possession, a spiritual activity, can manifest in the body. The spirit, the mind, the emotions, the body are interconnected entities that make up the human person, every boy and girl, man and woman. To deny this is to deny reality and God.
God tells us in the Bible that He has created human beings in His image. I believe this image-ness of God refers, at least in part, to the conscience. If the conscience is consistently denied a right to speak to us over a long period of time, it can be lost altogether. Ignoring conscience leads to estrangement from God. Marxist fracturing of the human being makes for all sorts of dysfunction – on individuals and eventually on a society and nation. Are not the explosion in easy access porn, drugs and the growth of sex slavery in our culture all indicators of human dysfunction? Has this been foisted on us through a planned scheme of takeover? Well, to believe that is to believe in conspiracy theories. I do believe that so I guess that makes me a conspiracy theorist. The term ‘conspiracy theorist’ has been used as ridicule by the creators of the sadly real conspiracies. In order to displace an existing order, you have to destroy it from within. That’s fairly easily done in our culture because so many prior lies have been accepted, lies promulgated by those who hate Christianity.
As a Christian, I am offended at the mis-portrayal of relationships between men and women, relationships given to human beings by God for their blessing. I find cultural and legal acceptance of free content about prostitution, as well as prostitution itself, offensive and lamentable. Here, I return to the outrage expressed by Dr Stock over the published video content and documentary which she claimed did not go far enough in denouncing the behaviour. Although I am unsure which aspects of the phenomenon most offend Dr Stock, and I am not sure that her reasons would align with mine, she does object for whatever reasons. Objection, outrage itself, I find to be the basis for the claim of her being made in the image of God, recognised or not. I believe that her objection, as well as that of Freddie Sayers, give evidence for that truth.
The world makes sense if you explore what is true and real by turning to alternative voices. One of those alternative voices in our day and age, it would seem, is the Bible. It gives explanations of who God is and who human beings are, explanations that do not fit with the commonly accepted beliefs of many today. I urge you to question who is throwing commonly accepted memos at society today and why they are doing it. At the same time, turn to the truth. Watch Christian YouTube channels, be open to alternative ‘conspiracy theorist’ voices, read the Bible for yourself and question what is being thrown at you by the culture. Many would like nothing more than to see the collapse of Christianity and its good effects on all people everywhere. I caution you against the destroyers.
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