{"id":1582,"date":"2012-11-06T02:42:13","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T20:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intelligent-torvalds.74-208-171-134.plesk.page\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2024-08-23T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T20:56:16","slug":"you-must-be-gentle-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/?p=1582","title":{"rendered":"You Must Be Gentle, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neither Alexander or his evil stepfather appear during the whipping sequence in \u201cFanny and Alexander<\/a>.\u201d \u00a0The whipping was implied with a sound effect and a series of close-ups of the witnesses.\u00a0\u00a0 There was nothing titillating for a spankophile (though Justine\u2019s pained expression was ambiguous and difficult for me to read).\u00a0 There was no homoeroticism.\u00a0 There was nothing to distract one from the bitter irony of a man who, in the guise of punishment for lying, bullied and tortured a boy into a false confession.<\/p>\n

Alexander made a brave, if short-lived, stand against confessing something he didn\u2019t believe.\u00a0 One stroke of the cane later he caved like a little girl.\u00a0 Frankly, I was embarrassed for Alexander.\u00a0 The boy Jose in \u201cFor Greater Glory<\/a>\u201d was tortured to death rather than deny his support for the Cristeros, who rebelled against Mexico during Plutarco El\u00edas Calles\u2019 persecution of the Catholic Church.\u00a0 To be fair, Jose may have been based on a real boy strengthened by the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n

Alexander, though Bergman\u2019s alter-ego in the movie, was a fictional character whose reactions were dictated by the writer\/director\u2019s rhetorical or dramatic needs.\u00a0 The pyrrhic victory of Alexander\u2019s evil stepfather stands as a brilliant illustration of Jesus\u2019 warning to hypocrites, You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves!<\/em>1<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 The real Ingmar Bergman, as far as I know, rejected his real father\u2019s Lutheran faith with as much vigor as Jose refused to forswear himself.<\/p>\n

It got me thinking about growing up in the cult of boyhood.\u00a0 The cult derides a boy who can\u2019t take it<\/em>, whether pain or derision.\u00a0 It lauds a boy who runs at full speed, throws his body down, and slides through dirt and gravel, to be called \u201csafe.\u201d\u00a0 Bruises and blood are marks of honor.\u00a0 Tears are forbidden.\u00a0 The only acceptable response to pain is swearing or responding in kind, returning blow for blow.\u00a0 Boys are little soldiers in training. \u00a0Anyone attempting to use physical pain to force a boy to forswear himself should be prepared for the violence that may require.<\/p>\n

I have no idea if Erik Bergman treated his son Ingmar as ruthlessly as the evil stepfather treated Alexander.\u00a0 I only know that any attempt to produce faith and repentance in another through bullying and torture is a folly of the religious mind.\u00a0 Faith and repentance come from the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know<\/em> (\u1f00\u03b3\u03bd\u03bf\u1ff6\u03bd<\/a>, a form of \u1f00\u03b3\u03bd\u03bf\u03ad\u03c9<\/a>) that God\u2019s kindness leads you to repentance <\/em>(\u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f71\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd<\/a>, a form of \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03ac\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03b1<\/a>)?<\/em>2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 And Paul counseled Timothy, the Lord\u2019s slave must not engage in heated disputes but<\/a> be kind toward all, an apt teacher, patient, correcting opponents with gentleness<\/a><\/em> (\u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u1fe3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b9<\/a>, a form of \u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b0\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2<\/a>).\u00a0 Perhaps God will grant<\/a> them repentance <\/em>(\u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u1f71\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03b1\u03bd<\/a>, a form of \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4\u03ac\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03b1<\/a>) and then knowledge <\/em>(\u1f10\u03c0\u1f77\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd<\/a>, a form of \u1f10\u03c0\u03af\u03b3\u03bd\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2<\/a>) of the truth<\/em>\u20263<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

As the ghost of Alexander\u2019s \u201cgood\u201d father said, \u201cYou must be gentle with people, Alexander.\u201d\u00a0 And gentleness<\/em> is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness<\/a><\/em> (\u03c0\u03c1\u03b1\u03b0\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2<\/a>), and self-control.\u00a0 Against such things there is no law<\/em> [Table<\/a>].4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n
You Must Be Gentle, Part 3<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
Back to My Reasons and My Reason, Part 6<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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1<\/sup><\/a> Matthew 23:15 (NET)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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2<\/sup><\/a> Romans 2:4 (NET)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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3<\/sup><\/a> 2 Timothy 2:24, 25 (NET) Table<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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4<\/sup><\/a> Galatians 5:22, 23 (NET)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neither Alexander or his evil stepfather appear during the whipping sequence in \u201cFanny and Alexander.\u201d \u00a0The whipping was implied with a sound effect and a series of close-ups of the witnesses.\u00a0\u00a0 There was nothing titillating for a spankophile (though Justine\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1064,6],"tags":[1063,415,1062,834],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gentle","category-section-two","tag-2-timothy-224-25","tag-galatians-522-23","tag-matthew-2315","tag-romans-24"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24778,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/24778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religiousmind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}