The Banshees of Inisherin

 Spoilers

This movie stars Colin Farrel, who plays Padraic, and Brendan Glee, who plays Colm, as two life-long friends, who live on the small island of Inisherin. Colm decides one day that he no longer wants to be friends with Padraic because he no longer finds him interesting. He desires instead to spend the rest of his days writing a song for which he will be remembered with his violin. This turn of events has a tragic effect on both of them. The rejection of his friend turns Padraic slowly from a kind-hearted, gentle man to a cold-hearted, violent man. On the other hand, Colm so desires to communicate his end of their friendship by making a vow that if Padraic will not leave him alone, he will cut off his fingers. This leaves him mutilated by the end of the movie (ironically so, since he can no longer play the violin with his fingers). As a result, one of the fingers, thrown at Padraic's house, chokes Padraic's beloved donkey, causing Padraic to seek revenge by burning down Colm's house (even hoping that Colm would be inside). 

The movie has many layers to it but one of the main points is to show that relationships form us, or deform us, in ways we don't realize until we lose them. The loss of these relationships is the loss of a part of ourselves, as our friends influence who we are and who we are not in many ways. Both men become less human in a way, Padraic in his loss of his kindness and Colm as a literal example of the deformation that takes place when we fail to invest ourselves in the lives of others and to be invested in by others. 

Although the movie is primarily about the necessity of friendship in maintaining our humanity, I want to apply it today to the friendships God has commanded us to have with one another as the church. 

I have been in ministry since I was 18 years old. I have been a variety of churches and witnessed a lot of people come in and out but the one constant I have witnessed is that those who invest in the friendship of the church (of both elders and the laity), regardless of how deformed they may have been before, begin to take upon themselves a human formation but those who do not really invest themselves to befriend both the elders and the laity either remain malformed or become so over time.

God has so made it that we will not be conformed to the image of the Son, true humanity, apart from our friendships with one another. Although many know how to make friends with some of the laity, some laity are left out and it is perhaps some of these people that may hold the key to one's own completion. Even if this is not the case, we might hold the key to theirs and are so commanded to love them by seeking friendship with them. 

However, one of the most impactful friendships I believe a Christian will ever have will be with his elders. This type of friendship is really most formative as a mentorship. Hence, God commands the church to obey their leaders as mentors. The elder functions as a father over a household. Imagine trying to be formed into an adult as a child without reference to a father. 

We know that the lack of a father severely stunts the maturity of people but so does having a father but not having a good relationship with him. Many attempt to replace their fathers with mothers or siblings but it leads to malformities all the same. I believe this is where most Christians fail to realize that having a right relationship with their elders is not merely a luxury but a necessity for their Christian growth, and they and their families will not survive the neglect of it.

It also destroys the family of God as a whole. When one is malformed his relationship with other Christians deforms them as well. No man is an island. The weeds you plant will not merely stay in your yard. This is why it is so vital that we make and maintain right relationships with elders as fathers and church members as brothers and sisters, noting the deep familial connection that we are to have with one another. The neglect of these relationships is the neglect of our human growth in Christ. We become warped, and much like the characters in the story, don't seem to notice until it is too late and our entire lives are in ruin.

The movie is a sad one. It ends somewhat ambiguous as to whether they will become friends once again but the tragedies that had come as a result of their broken friendship cannot be undone. Let us heed the lesson of this simple parable.

“Pretty Is a Cultural Construct” and How Atheism Has Taken Over Our Culture

When I was younger, as many of you, I spent a lot of time pulling weeds. I pulled them out of my dad’s yard, my grandmother’s yard, and even many a stranger’s yard for some pocket change. The problem is that it took forever. If you’ve ever pulled weeds, you know why. If you just yank at the leaves or the stem, the weed just grows back within a week. You actually have to dig out the root or you will simply exhaust yourself and accomplish virtually nothing. You soon learn, then, that if you are to pull weeds, you either take it out at the root or you might as well just give up and let them grow and take over the yard.

I was watching a feminist panel discussing why we need to discuss “pretty privilege.” What is that? “Pretty privilege” is the idea that our culture views youthfulness, smooth skin, bodies of certain sizes and shapes, vibrancy in the eyes, etc. in a woman as beautiful, and therefore, women who look like this are exalted over women who do not, and that this is an injustice that must be acknowledged and rectified in some way.

Let me first get out of the way a caveat. I do think we have a problem in our culture as seeing physical beauty as the only type of beauty for which a woman should be exalted. A woman who has spent her life being a solid wife and mother and no longer looks like the young pretty thing she once was is a beautiful woman, but only those who understand what beauty is objectively will get that. Our culture doesn’t honor these women because it is atheistic in nature and only praises what it views as physically superior. However, the fact that our culture is atheistic is also the problem of the above view of “pretty privilege.”

You see, in atheism, we make up what is beautiful. It's subjective to us (via evolution and culture). Hence, if there is privilege, it because we, as a people, have perpetuated it. Now, to this atheistic presupposition we add the Enlightenment religion of inclusivism/egalitarianism that tells us that no one should be considered above any other. What we end up with is the idea that culture has supported these privileges, not God, and that it is an injustice that breaks the golden rule of egalitarianism for it to have done so. Hence, we need to see all bodies as beautiful and all characteristics of a person as beautiful no matter what they may be. This is where the whole idea of exalting healthy-looking women over unhealthy-looking women is "fat-shaming" comes from.

So I wanted to point out that this problem is really just a symptom of the fact that even though atheism as a theory has not gained significant ground in our culture, it has almost completely taken over the assumptions of the modern West.

We can see this by assuming a theistic worldview. God gives all privilege so society is simply recognizing what God has allotted to each person. This is the biblical view of justice. You must give the honor that God gives to someone. You cannot take it from them or you are being unjust. Hence, if God gives a certain amount of your money to the poor, it is unjust not to give it to them. If God has given riches to a man, it is unjust to take that from him and redistribute it to others to whom God did not give them. If God gives beauty to a woman, it should be recognized, acknowledged and honored as such.

All of this would be seen by our culture as unjust because of its atheistic and egalitarian assumptions. In fact, I would argue that the inclusivism/egalitarianism that is the religion of the Enlightenment must assume a non-biblical worldview where God either makes all people with the same amount of privilege, something self-evidently false (are all men the same height and strength?), or men make the rules because there is no God who is giving anything to us.

Now, back to “pretty privilege.” This ridiculous idea is actually connected to the fact that we have divorced what we find sexually attractive in the opposite sex from the Christian teleology of the sexual act itself, i.e., children.

You see, a woman is attractive, i.e., pretty, when she is healthy looking. Everything I mentioned above, vibrancy of the eyes, certain body shapes and sizes, youthful skin, etc. are simply markers of health. A woman with healthy looking hair, a woman with healthy looking skin, features that look healthy in general, subconsciously signal to the man that this woman is desirable for childbearing. Likewise, a man who is tall, muscular, wealthy, confident, powerful, etc. subconsciously signals to the woman that this man will be a good provider for her and her children. He, therefore, becomes attractive to her.

In other words, our view of beauty surrounds God’s purpose of making them male and female, which is procreation. Beauty, since it is objectively given by God, therefore, is not rooted in culture. Since it is objective, it is given by God to some and not others, as looking healthy, height, riches, etc. are things given by God to some and not others. He makes some kings and some paupers, some tall and some short, some weak and some strong, some healthy and some sick, some beautiful and others plain.

Now, some actual atheists in our culture will agree that our view of beauty is based on health, height, riches, etc. but will then argue that these things are simply a part of evolution, and some will then argue that we must now evolve our minds to view beauty differently since the telos of our sexuality is no longer primarily about children.

My point in all of this is simply to expose that when someone talks of privilege, whether it be about riches, height, health, or whatever, you are not merely encountering some nebulous “wokeness” of a few crazy people with ideas rooted in nothing. You are encountering the religion of the Enlightenment which is antichristian and atheistic in its assumptions.

This is where the conversation actually needs to be. We need to ignore the branches of the tree and start addressing people at the level of their worldviews. “Where are you getting your ideas?” “What worldview does your belief about privilege stem from?” “Is your view of sexuality consistent with your view of the God of the Bible?” These are some of the questions I frankly don’t hear discussed but they are the ones worth pursuing lest we end up just arguing in circles because the assumptions are never addressed.

We are now in a culture that has assumed it religion to be true and has forced itself on everyone, all the while never realizing that it is a religion. This is the most dangerous kind of religion because it will be assumed as self-evidently true, and any denial of it, an obvious evil. If an obvious evil, those advocating for evil are clearly evil and must be destroyed as monsters. Canceled, degraded with names, fired, excluded and exiled, beaten or even killed, these people must be made an example of if they dare to defy the self-evident truths of privilege. 

We can no longer allow this worldview to be assumed. This weed has already taken over the yard. We must stop pulling at the leaves and start digging up the root. Perhaps, with God’s help, we can still make a difference.