Biblical Victimology, Part 2
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” — Acts 19:23–27
His words lack self-awareness and any regard for logical consistency. Such is often the case with men like Demetrius. The silversmith fomented violence against Paul and his associates by claiming that Paul was victimizing the goddess Artemis. Of course, the lady Artemis wasn’t a real god at all and would not be so easily victimized if she were! So what we have here is an early example of weaponized pearl-clutching. And these things were written for our instruction.
Half-baked as it is — this is a recipe that continues to pop out of modern day ovens. False goddesses. False Victims. False victims as false goddesses. Something like that.
This is another way of thinking about the conclusion of the previous post (Biblical Victimology, Part 1).
“Contrary to the current cultural perspective, victimhood, however genuine, does not lead immediately to sainthood. It is far more likely to make you angry, bitter, and even cruel.”
There I granted the possibility of real victims becoming real victimizers. Statistically, that is more than mere possibility. When thinking about the world of victims and victimizers, this is an essential thing to understand. We will not be able to discern right and wrong without this category!
Think of it this way, if a woman who was sexually abused by a man, then moves on to abuse others, is she a victim or a victimizer? When she is abusing others, she is a victimizer. That doesn’t eliminate the other status from her history but it certainly is not the just or proper way to address her as she abuses.
The tricky thing lies in those dual identities. They are both legitimate and that’s what makes discernment so important. Well, that and the very high likelihood that a woman such as the one we’re describing knows how to use one identity to camouflage the other. When she does so, she is wearing her victim status like a wolf wears sheep’s clothing. She is presenting herself as a victim-goddess.
You might be a faux-vitcim-godddess if…
Of this I can be certain — goddesses are not victims and victims are not goddesses. If someone purporting to be a victim starts acting like a goddess, there’s a good chance they are actually playing the part of victimizer. What does goddess behavior look like? Here’s a handy diagnostic guide you might want to print and fold up into your wallet.
Does the person claim omniscience? Do they claim to know what other people are thinking? Do they purport to know the motives of another person’s heart?
Does the person stand above the scriptures? Do they simply ignore scriptures against slander, gossip, and so forth because they know better? Do they lie because the justness of their cause allows for the violation of some of the ‘biblical fine print?’ Do they obey Matthew 18?
Does the person demand propitiation? When a person prescribes a series of extra-biblical actions that must be taken to satisfy, appease, or propitiate their wrath, that’s a good sign they’re pretending to be a god.
Does this person have a savior complex? Is this person assuming an outsized role in ridding the world from evil? Does ridding the world of that evil just so happen to look a lot like revenge? It could be that they are simply godly crusaders or it could be that they are simply imposter gods. A good way to discern is how publicly ambitious they are in ridding their own hearts and lives of evil.
Do they present both fragility when it suits them and ferocity when that suits them better? Or, perhaps even more sinister, is there a kind of ferocity hidden behind a mask of fragility?
Do they sound like Nietzsche’s “Tarantulas?” Anticipating the weaponization of pseudo-equality in a godless society, Frederick Nietzsche’s Thus Spake Zarathustra describes as tarantulas, “those in whom the impulse to punish is powerful.”
There it comes willingly: welcome, tarantula! Your triangle and symbol sits black on your back; and I also know what sits in your soul. Revenge sits in your soul: wherever you bite, black scabs grow; your poison makes the soul whirl with revenge.
The tarantulas, of course, would have it otherwise. “What justice means to us is precisely that the world be filled with the storms of our revenge” — thus they speak to each other. “We shall wreak vengeance and abuse on all whose equals we are not” — thus do the tarantula-hearts vow. “And ‘will to equality’ shall henceforth be the name for virtue; and against all that has power we want to raise our clamor!”
You preachers of equality, the tyrannomania of impotence clamors thus out of you for equality: your most secret ambitions to be tyrants thus shroud themselves in words of virtue. Aggrieved conceit, repressed envy …
Their jealousy leads them even on the paths of thinkers; and this is the sign of their jealousy: they always go too far, till their weariness must in the end lie down to sleep in the snow. Out of every one of their complaints sounds revenge; in their praise there is always a sting, and to be a judge seems bliss to them.
But thus I counsel you, my friends: Mistrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful. They are people of a low sort and stock; the hangman and the bloodhound look out of their faces. Mistrust all who talk much of their justice! Verily, their souls lack more than honey. And when they call themselves the good and the just, do not forget that they would be pharisees, if only they had — power.
Although they are sitting in their holes, these poisonous spiders, with their backs turned on life, they speak in favor of life, but only because they wish to hurt. They wish to hurt those who now have power, for among these the preaching of death is still most at home.
What seems clear is that fragile egos, fragile ideas, fragile lifestyles, fragile psychologies — all have something more than their fragility in common. They are prone to violent over-reaches of power precisely because they lack it. How else can they protect the house of cards they have constructed?
Next time on Biblical Victimology…
Next time we will think further about Demetrius — a fearful man in love with a fake lady.