For Nothing Art Thou, And Unto Nothing Shalt Thou Return
Some guy named Jeff Hanneman died yesterday. Facebook is "blowing up" about it. I even got into a bit of an argument over it. Some people would like you to believe it's big news because, apparently, he did something major for music...or something. So why don't I think this is "big news?" Because people die every day. Yes, even "important" people. The thing is, your level of notoriety doesn't make your death any more important than that of anyone else; the importance is not who died, but why they died.
But that's not the only reason I'm annoyed by all the hype surrounding Jeff's death. Jeff was one of the guitarists, and a founding member, of the metal band Slayer. Yeah that Jeff Hanneman. In the metal world he's what you'd call "a big deal." If you don't know anything about Slayer then nothing I say about his perceived influence is really going to make one jot of difference to you, so I won't bother. But the important point here is that he was actively against all things Christian.
Why is that important? Because of the plethora of RIP's I've seen over the last 24 hours, with regard to him. If it weren't so pathetic, the irony would be comical; for two primary reasons:
- If you don't live in peace, then you can't rightly expect to rest in it.
- Rest in Peace is a Christian phrase from a Catholic prayer.
Let's examine my arguments one at a time.
Argument 1: If you believe in an afterlife, then you should understand that the spirit you lived with, is the spirit you take with you to the other side. That means, whatever kind of person you are right now, is the same kind of person you will be in the spirit world. If you don't believe in an afterlife, then the sentiment is meaningless and pointless. Don't understand that? I'm not going to do all the work for you; think about it.
Argument 2: "Rest in peace" is an actual part of the actual Catholic burial prayer and the phrase has been found on tombstones as early as the 8th century (so don't try to argue that the Christians simply stole it from some local pagans - have you still not figured out that the reason there seems to be overlap is because "Christianity" existed before paganism? [Can't wait to hear about that one!]). So to use this phrase for someone who disdained Christianity, doesn't make it look like a slam on Christianity, it just makes you look like a fool; especially if you also disdain Christianity.
Okay, what about the other phrase that's being tossed around?
Rest in Chaos...first of all, it doesn't make a lick of sense. Nobody, and I mean nobody, can "rest" in chaos, and if you don't believe in an afterlife then there is no "rest" anyway;
Only Nothingness.
Kommentarer
Trackback
