A Filipino villager is nailed to a cross for the 35th time on Good Friday to pray for world peace

A Filipino villager has been nailed to a wooden cross for the 35th time to reenact Jesus Christ’s suffering in a brutal Good Friday tradition he said he would devote to pray for peace in Ukraine, Gaza and the disputed South China Sea.

On Friday, over a hundred people watched on as 10 devotees were nailed to wooden crosses, among them Ruben Enaje, a 63-year-old carpenter and sign painter. The real-life crucifixions have become an annual religious spectacle that draws tourists in three rural communities in Pampanga province, north of Manila.

The gory ritual resumed last year after a three-year pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. It has turned Enaje into a village celebrity for his role as the “Christ” in the Lenten reenactment of the Way of the Cross.

Ahead of the crucifixions, Enaje told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday night that he has considered ending his annual religious penitence due to his age, but said he could not turn down requests from villagers for him to pray for sick relatives and all other kinds of maladies.

dragontangram88,
@dragontangram88@lemmy.world avatar

This just seems like blasphemy to me. He is trying to impersonate Jesus Christ with this reenactment. This goes beyond a church play to reenact the crucifying of Christ.

Maeve,

Certain people are hung up on suffering without ever moving on to what the Easter story is about: redemption.

turtlepower,

what the Easter story is about:

Chocolate bunnies pooping out candy eggs!

Maeve,

Made me smile IRL. Make sure it's chocolate, not chocolate flavored.

eran_morad,

Religion is blasphemy in and of itself.

dragontangram88,
@dragontangram88@lemmy.world avatar

Really? I believe it is there to teach morals and principles. I feel like it’s a comfort for those who have lost others, or have lost hope. Some people take it to an extreme, and use it to justify actions that aren’t always moral. I don’t see how worship and faith are blasphemy, though. Could you explain a little more about that?

eran_morad,

All one needs to do is look at the shitty things that god asks of us. Why was it okay for god to fuck with Abraham and command him to murder his son? Why did god fuck with Job, because some other imaginary friend (who is somehow inferior to god and yet never vanquished by god) decided to talk shit? Where is the morality here? Why were the Israelites commanded to kill even the livestock of Amalek? What happened to “thou shalt not kill?”

It’s all a bunch of contradictory horseshit meant to keep the feebleminded in their place. You can contort it any fucking which way you want (and I have heard a lot of these contortions, having been indoctrinated into this shit at a young age), but all one need do is to examine the tremendous evils perpetrated throughout history to see that religion and morality have not a thread in common.

Got_Bent,

He should be more like Peter who refused to imitate Jesus and was thus crucified upside down.

RagingRobot,

So if they nailed through their hands why isn’t there any blood? Especially when the nail is pulled out in the video? I would assume it would cause permanent damage too.

wkk,

It’s like piercings that healed except the hole is in the hands? I want to believe he did something so that they didn’t have to mutilate his hands every 35 times they did this… But at the same time the face he makes when they remove the nails is not reassuring me :/

Dadifer,

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Matthew 24

Why pray for something that Jesus Himself said wasn’t going to happen?

GlassHalfHopeful,
@GlassHalfHopeful@lemmy.ca avatar

Humans.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

I can’t say I’ve ever seen John 14:12 interpreted this way elsewhere, but I also can’t deny his conviction.

kromem,

To everyone saying “it isn’t working” - you’re reading an article spreading the message of a Filipino villager in US media.

It’s not like that happens all that often.

So yes, it is working pretty well actually.

Not my choice for PR stunt, but to each their own.

Mastengwe,

If his goal is to popularize his own stupidity, sure… it’s working.

spujb,

absolutely the correct take

almar_quigley,

But to what end? 5 minutes of fame and then back to exactly how it was before?

pop,

What are you even talking about? His name on US media is all it takes for “world peace”? In what fucking sense of the word? What part is working?

the part where he did something stupid for attention? sure… okay… we totally needed that

afraid_of_zombies,

We really need more people to learn the difference between good attention and bad attention. That is how we get morons blocking ambulances in London, throwing food at paintings, and people getting crucified.

Be the change you want to see in the world doesn’t mean do performative stunts for likes, clicks, and views. It means you do the hard work of fixing issues.

Noodle07,

It’s not working too well but maybe we should just try to crucify rich people

harrys_balzac,

Yeah, they’re definitely crucifying the wrong people.

spiderman,

what he might have wanted people to understand: world peace, remembering people about current wars, people should know love should be put front forth all other things

what people in comments understand: “lol this guy has a fetish” “did that achieve anything, just get on with your work” “he’s a freak”

spujb,

thinly veiled racism. it’s not often lemmy gets to voice its most bigoted thoughts without fear of consequences so they are taking full advantage of the situation.

spiderman,

i wished lemmy to be a replacement of reddit but not in this way

Caligvla,
@Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

… That has to be a fetish.

spujb, (edited )

fuck these spiteful and useless comments.

disturbing and violent self flagellating protest has been a tradition throughout most of recorded history. name calling and holier than thou attitudes are blatant ignorance of both history and ongoing attrocity and violence.

there’s also almost certainly a racial element at play, given the language being used. like the words “freaks” “whackos” “backwards” just happen to show up when it’s not a white guy doing the protest. i truly hope this comment can help with some self reflection on why our knee jerk reaction is the way it is here.

edit:

CW: very edgy meme showcasing the racist undertones going on here.https://lemmy.cafe/pictrs/image/d8cb2f86-8a4d-4c88-8c51-76113e55b054.webp

Syntha,

It’s like wandering into r/Atheism but even worse lmao

afraid_of_zombies,

Enjoy your “monotheistic” holiday tomorrow.

spujb,

what the hell lmao

didn’t expect literal 8th century religious bigotry to show up on lemmy. cringe, buddy.

afraid_of_zombies,

Hey I am not against you having your equinox party. Go right ahead and honor the goddess Estor. I just find it amusing that you lot call yourself monotheistic. It isn’t bigotry that I know your religion better than you do.

spujb, (edited )

ok troll, tell me again what my religion is based off of pure extrapolation from nothing (you were wrong from the start)

afraid_of_zombies,

Nietzsche said it best: Christianity is Platoism for the masses.

Paul and the Gospel writers took the very worst part of Greco-Roman thought and Judaism then combined it together. Then as it infected the Empire it grabbed holidays from various pagan groups.

spujb,

https://lemmy.cafe/pictrs/image/d1246ea2-4800-4e5c-a0a8-dff554e9ee44.webp

jordanlund,
@jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

Now, now, it’s not THEIR fault the Bible was dumbed down and sanitized through translations.

Most Christians don’t realize the polytheistic undertones started from the very first line. It carried through into the Latin version but not much further than that:

“In principio creavit Deus caelum et terram.”

“In the beginning the GODS created heaven and earth.”

The only remnant, really, English speakers have left is the first commandment “^6 I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

^7 Thou shalt have none other gods before me.”

Which makes sense if you understand that the Old Testament is the history of the Jews, not the history of humanity. Of course there are other Gods, but I AM YOUR GOD.

That un-confuses a lot of the Old Testament, such as “where did the wives for Adam and Eves kids come from?” Well, easy, Adam and Eve weren’t the first people, they were the first Jews. The mysterious wives came from outside the faith.

afraid_of_zombies,

I almost feel bad for those ancient Hebrews. They were just trying to understand their world with very very imperfect tools to do so.

They “knew” that every tribe had its own protection god and they knew that they were different from the tribes around them. So they built a narrative to explain the facts of their existence. “We are different than our neighbors, therefore we must have came from some places else. Egypt is some place else”. “Other tribes eat pork and we don’t. It must be because our protective god doesn’t like it. How did he tell us? Well there must have been some time when he told one of us.” They kept on reasoning backwards, trying to find the effect from the causes.

I feel a lot less bad for people in modern times who take these bronze age ideas seriously.

ExcursionInversion, (edited )
@ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world avatar

35 times and so much peace accomplishment

Also nothing to do with race, what he did was pointless as well.

spujb,

re: your edit

don’t worry not accusing you of bigotry yet; it’s the other comments which are the problem.

spiderman,

and do you think it’s his mistake for trying to send a message even though it still hasn’t been achieved?

afraid_of_zombies,

I think if you message someone 35 times and they don’t respond you should take the hint.

ExcursionInversion,
@ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world avatar

Think he should take a different approach after all this time.

spujb,

It’s protest. What protest accomplishes is messaging. Communication of violence, in protest of atrocity.

Thousands of people, including foreign tourists, came to watch the annual religious spectacle in San Pedro Cutud and two other nearby rural villages.

I swear just the other day we were deeply moved by the self-immolation of Aaron Bushnell in protest of genocide. But when brown people do it it suddenly becomes “yikes this backwards culture,” “get a load of these whackos.” Really revealing our Western-centrism and implicit racial bias here.

To be clear, I also find it disturbing. That is the fucking point. But if your first instinct upon seeing this, like many of the comments here, is to speak derogatorily of this individual? You are the fucking problem.

ExcursionInversion,
@ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world avatar

Aaron bushel joked on reddit about his fellow coworkers being killed. Also was never moved by him lighting himself on fire.

archive.li/cp3Kg

Sanctus,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

If he is u/acebush1 I’m not really seeing what you are referring to as a joke.

ExcursionInversion,
@ExcursionInversion@lemmy.world avatar

Post title is literally them trying to be an edge lord.

%5Blemmy.world/pictrs/image/e1cc0c9d%5D(https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/e1cc0c9d)-5c4d-4acd-bd31-7532092d8a12.png

As for the account

We started by investigating who owns/owned the “acebush1” Reddit account, and we came to the same conclusion: It does appear to be owned by Bushnell. The posting history of the now-suspended account contains plenty of references to the Air Force and a confirmation that the user was an active-duty member. It also contains a lot of posts supporting leftist, mainly anarchist, viewpoints.

snopes.com/…/aaron-bushnell-antisemitic-posts/

Clent,

deleted_by_moderator

    •
    eatthecake,

    The backwards whackos are the religious people. Nothing to do with race. You’ll see the same type of comments on any post about the latest crazy republican shit pulled in the US.

    megane_kun,

    I agree with your sentiment, but I felt compelled to comment on one crucial element here: what he has been doing isn’t a protest, but some form of a religious pledge. It just so happened that this year, he’s praying for world peace. This is akin to some traditions in India and other parts where self-flagellation is part of religious ritual, but only for those who pledge themselves to it. It’s touched upon in the article, but he’s been doing it since the 1980’s as thanksgiving for his survival in an accident. Some people just do it once, but some devote their lives to it, and it seems to me that he’s one of the latter.

    Whether or not his actions will lead to results doesn’t matter, as far as I see it. He’s already devoted to the bit, and only old age (and poor health) will likely stop him.

    spujb,

    i don’t disagree at all, except with your implication that doing it in a religious context somehow invalidates it.

    at the core it’s the same thing as an atheist or agnostic performing a hunger strike or locking themselves to a fence. literally no functional difference, it just has different sociocultural aesthetics.

    they are both fucking disturbing and controversial as hell. but to verbally come down on the perfomers of the protest is to entirely miss the point.

    megane_kun,

    Ah, my bad. I didn’t mean to imply that it being done in a religious context invalidates it, just that the religious context would inform us more about the man’s intent and whether or not they’d continue on doing so regardless of the result.

    I used the term “pledge” earlier, but maybe it’s better to use the word “vow” to refer this. The term in Filipino is “panata” (which wiktionary translates to “vow”). It usually isn’t as dramatic as this, however. And as far as I’ve observed, a lot would do these vows after they deem their prayers to have been heard (usually recovery from illness or accidents, or recovery from financial ruin), and thereafter, no matter what, they’d try to fulfill their vows, whether that’d be a crucifixion reenactment, or attending processions, or even just as simple as foregoing alcohol or vices or letting their hair grow.

    edit:

    I must clarify my position here, I‌ guess. I am neither in favor nor against the practice. But having grown up in the country where these practices occur, I just felt I have to clarify some things. Personally? I don’t mind. They’re doing these things with good intentions, and they’re hurting no one. As far as I know, they don’t force anyone to join them, but rather, make sure that those who are following their footsteps are sure they want to.

    spujb, (edited )

    fair enough. it’s definitely a complex topic and i’m glad to see there are at least some individuals on here who don’t just divert to insults and thinly veiled racist remarks. thx 4 being chill and not like the guy who assumes i am christian and is currently trying to convert me via harassment? i assume?

    lemmy has shown some interesting colors lately lolol

    re your edit:

    yes, neither am i for or against the practice. i value informed consent and i value when people bring attention to global violence. and when those come together in a disturbing way that hits the associated press, that’s also cool i guess.

    not cool with people invoking bigoted rhetoric against the people protesting. guess that’s the tldr of my position.

    megane_kun,

    Thanks as well. It’s certainly a POV I didn’t consider (that it’s akin to a protest) having grown up in the culture that produced such practices. Again, thanks!

    pop,

    Holier than thou is thinking your stupid act is somehow powerful enough to magically fix problems in the world you foot snot. just like this guy and people with thoughts and prayers.

    Is any of the money raised in the spectacle going to help the victims in Ukraine or Gaza? No? Then who’s here being “holier than thou”?

    if you think it’s anything more than self-agrandizing act of “holier than thou”, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.

    Tulitaa,

    It ain't working. Cut down down your losses and do something constructive.

    FartsWithAnAccent,
    @FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world avatar

    Surely it will work this time.

    tygerprints,

    What a sick idea that we should celebrate a human being nailed to a cross, yuck. Another example of how religious beliefs are grotesque in the extreme and I'd rather believe in humanity instead of some supernatural shit like this.

    There was no such person as Jesus and there never has been and there never as any such thing as "god" either. Stop being ignorant blind fools, people. Leave your shackles of religious nut-jobbery behind, go out and enjoy life and have some fun. Turn this "good Friday" into a GREAT Friday.

    NOT_RICK,
    @NOT_RICK@lemmy.world avatar

    Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judæa, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.

    -Tacitus

    afraid_of_zombies,

    Hearsay written a century after the supposed events. Gets Pilatus’s rank incorrect indicating he was repeating stories not consulting records.

    Proof that stories are circulating aren’t proof that the stories happened. I am sure your parent’s Facebook feed is full of Covid vaccines stories.

    tygerprints,

    Which is proof of absolutely nothing, which is what we're actually talking about - nothing.

    HumanPerson,

    I think Jesus probably did exist, and he was probably a very successful cult leader who may have taken a lot of hallucinogens.

    afraid_of_zombies,

    I don’t think he existed and there just isn’t evidence that the mushroom thing was going on in that time and place. No traces of it have been found and no writings or art mentions it.

    tygerprints,

    Well it's sort of like Mohammed - I'm sure that a person with that name DID exist around that time at some point. And maybe they were a teacher and a self-proclaimed "speaker for god." But so was Charles Manson and David Koresh and Jim Jones and Joseph Smith and many other horrible cult leaders.

    There never has been any "god" in the way we mean it, so there could never actually be such a thing as the son of God, nor any need for one. If we were smart as a species, we'd see why it's more important to support human beings than go around believing in religious nut jobbery.

    afraid_of_zombies,

    Mohammed is not fully comparable. His life was on the outskirts of most of civilization meaning we should expect bad record keeping. Jesus was right in Jerusalem a major city in a major empire that documented stuff. We should expect that they would have records and that the records would have preserved since Christians controlled said records. Exactly what we do see. We have an abundance of records about the man from 2 centuries later. Nearly all Empire writings are missing from that time and yet Jesus is found repeatedly. If there were a letter talking about him or a court record or a particular landmark, and this guy really existed, we should have it. Which we don’t.

    Where is the Kaaba of Jesus? Where is the tomb he was in? Where was he executed exactly? Where are all the relics of what he touched? History can’t say anymore than history can tell you the first time Batman threw a Batarang.

    Now it is possible a man named Jesus son of Joseph existed in those years in that area. Just like it is possible someone named Bruce Wayne existed in NYC in 1939. That doesn’t mean this possible person was the minimum historical Jesus. That would still have to be demonstrated.

    mr_sifl,
    @mr_sifl@lemmy.world avatar

    I thought this was an Onion article as I scrolled, wtf.

    Twinklebreeze,

    Maybe I’m alone, but this seems fine to me. I think evangelicals should take a page out of his book. Spend less time being horrible, and crucify themselves instead.

    otp,

    As much as I don’t condone needless violence, even against oneself…

    You have a great point. They should be putting their money where their mouths are.

    ReiRose,

    They can’t even wash people’s feet, despite all the superbowl commercials.

    rottingleaf,

    This is definitely closer to the spirit of the Christian religion than most other extreme manifestations.

    Dunno why I remembered Frisians bricking people alive into dams in the Middle Ages.

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