Photo by Frantisek Duris on Unsplash
In case you’ve lost track of time, today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week, and that means I’m dashing from one thing to another, and thinking a lot about my sins and how grateful I am that Jesus was willing to go to the cross, something that I deserve to endure, but because of the great love with which he loves me, I won’t ever have to face–not in the fullness of its alienation and ruin. So anyway, Matt sent me a TikTok yesterday that, well, the title alone will give you a sense of what it’s like. It’s called “This is why I hate Christianity.” If you want to watch it (language and overabundance of Satanic tattoos/piercings alert), you’re more than welcome to go over to the X app and then come back here. For all the rest of you, I’ve taken the trouble to type most of it out:
I’m in the beauty section (of Marshalls). I mind my own business, like, I don’t talk to anyone. I make sure not to get people in my videos. And this Psycho Christian comes up to me trying to hand me like paperwork for her church or something. And she was like ‘Be forgiven of your sins.’ And I’m like, ‘Dude, leave me the ** alone.’ Do I look like someone who wants to read the Bible? Or be forgiven of my *** sins or be reborn again? To me, if you have to use scare tactics to make someone believe in a religion, none of it’s real. And if somehow it is real, I don’t care because I’m not gonna be living my life in fear of sky daddy. Christians always say they’re all about love and acceptance, but quite literally they are the most hateful people I have ever encountered in my life. You guys sit in front of a Planned Parenthood on like a Monday morning when you should be at work trying to make medical decisions for women that are quite literally none of your business and you guys condemn the existence of gay and trans people for literally no reason. You guys are so bothered by like how other people live their lives and you can never just leave non-Christians alone, like ever. …and I cussed her out and I felt bad about it because there was a mother and her kid next to me. I talked to the mother afterwards, and she’s like ‘Honestly, I don’t blame you, and it’s not the right way to go about it.’ And I was like ‘Yeah, you’re absolutely right.’ But also, do I look like the type of person who wants to get into reading the Bible? Like no, Dude. And you know, Satanists like myself, and also Pagans, and other religions are not going up to people’s doors and harassing them. Being like, ‘Do you want to learn about the word of God today?’ As a Satanist, we leave people alone, but we welcome people with open arms if they want to learn about the lifestyle. I used to be ok with people being Christian and whatnot. It’s none of my business. To be honest, now, I will not associate with anyone that’s a Christian or any branches of those religions because if you’re a person that identifies with a religion like that, your morals are obviously not right.
On my way to the contemplation of the cross, I must just address some of the legalistic and judgmental proclamations articulated by this young lady. First, the appellation, “this Psycho Christian,” which, though meant to be a condemnation, seems to me fairly reasonable, all things considered. For the kind of love that the Lord Jesus calls us to have for the lost and perishing must certainly appear to be insane. What sort of person would take her courage in her hands and go up to a well-pierced and tattooed young person–the tattoo right at the throat is of a sort of demon with fangs and horns, or maybe it is Satan himself–with the offer, probably not of “paperwork” but of a flier, an invitation to a human creature, made by God, to creep out of the darkness and be welcomed into a glorious Light. Who even does that? Well, a person who was once caught in trespasses and sins, who was hostile to God, alienated and in the dark but who, by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, that great High Priest, eternal in the heavens, who interposed himself between the just wrath of God and her sin, was brought into eternal Life. That’s the sort of person who takes pity on someone who thought it made sense to quite literally worship Satan.
I wish I knew this young person’s name, so that I could pray for her more comfortably, though God does know, and so I, as usual, will have to entrust my faltering efforts to his perfect love.
Incidentally, any sensible Christian looking at this young person knows she doesn’t want to read the Bible or be forgiven of her sins. None of us did, because we were content to be in league with the Prince of the Power of the Air. We were fine with it that way. The “rebirth” is the bit where God takes your cold, dead heart away and gives you a heart of flesh in its place, one with the capacity to be moved to pity when confronted with other people’s death.
The comforting thing, now that I’ve watched it several times, is that Madmouiselle Satan Worshipper seems disturbed by this encounter. Her voice quavers slightly when she says “None of it’s real. And if it is somehow real, I don’t care because I’m not gonna be living my life in fear of sky daddy.” My prayer, which I’ll be praying through the whole week, is that fear does grow. That the line “I don’t care” begins to feel stupid.
You can tell she is troubled because she escalates the matter so quickly. “Christians,” she explains, “are quite literally… the most hateful people I have ever encountered in my life.” Not to be pedantic, but this can’t be true because she is a Satan-worshiper, and Satan quite literally is the most hateful being ever to exist. You can’t get more hateful than the Devil. But I can understand why she would feel this way. Discovering you are wrong and are committed to the wrong people and ideas is painful. So painful that each of us resist it to the outermost parts of the sea. But even there the Lord can go and snatch a creature out of the clutches of Satan. This is technically the most loving thing that can ever happen to anyone, even though it might be unpleasant in the moment. But how comfortable is it to get your cheeks pierced and your kneck tattooed? I feel like having to chat with a Christian in the beauty section of Marshalls wouldn’t even barely compete.
The reason Christians are hateful, though, are the two most satanic issues of the day. “You guys,” she says, “sit in front of a Planned Parenthood on like a Monday morning when you should be at work trying to make medical decisions for women that are quite literally none of your business and you guys condemn the existence of gay and trans people for literally no reason.” The murderous death of the unborn, and the effacing of God’s image, both male and female, is a jolly good reason to endure the wrath of the Planned Parenthood supporting Satan worshipper. Kudos to any Christians who stand there, praying for the souls of the women and the lives of the babies. What an act of Christ-like love.
Now we come to the question of morality for Mademoiselle Satan Devotee. However convinced she is of her own goodness, she does have a pang of conscience here, cussing in front of a mother and her child. But the twinge, so briefly felt, is squashed by self-justification and bad-mothering. The mother in Marshalls doesn’t mind the bad language. She agrees with our Young Lady about the wickedness of that Christian. Recounting the incident brings to mind the difference between Satanists and Christians–the Satanist will always “leave people alone” unless they are curious and want to know more. Christians, by contrast, insert themselves, Jesus-like, into the lives of other people. This is so shocking to our Young Lady that she lays aside the two most blessed attributes of our age–inclusivity and tolerance. No longer will she “associate with anyone that’s a Christian or any branches of those religions because if you’re a person that identifies with a religion like that, your morals are obviously not right.”
And here we must leave her, gnawing on her malaise, contemplating her next piercing, for there ahead, if you strain your eyes, you can see One high and lifted up. Though he was in the form of God, he did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped the way our great Enemy, Satan grasped at it before he was flung out of heaven, clawing his way to drag each of us down with him. No, the Lord emptied himself, humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Death is the necessary consequence of walking in the way of the Devil. Death is the thing that snatches us each. It is a fearsome thing, inexorable, inescapable, the circumstance that finally and eternally separates us one by one from the love of God. That God himself would come to rescue us, would pay the price in his own blood for the death that belongs to us is such a wondrous thing, a love that is too deep and broad and wide for us to understand.
Think, what a loving thing it was for that strange, awkward woman in Marshalls to approach a person so committed to death and damnation, and offer her the free gift of eternal life. May I know such a love and such courage. May the power and glory of God work so mightly in each of us.
Go to church! And find me on Substack as I stagger my way to Easter.
