Marcel, televangelism and a DVD Player
February 2, 2007 | 12:00am
Recently my brother brought home a DVD player that he won in a raffle.
Thank God. There is now some respite from all the reruns, B-movies, and not-so-good shows aired on local TV. Not that I mind reruns, B-movies and not-so-good shows – TV is still "da bomb" no matter what – but one can only handle so much. True, watching DVDs isn’t the same because the power to channel surf is eliminated. But it’s okay; nothing’s really sacrificed when you’re flipping through three channels (four, counting the one that’s totally distorted by static.) There’s some really peculiar stuff on late-night local TV, though, and sometimes I resist and switch the DVD player off just to bask in the weirdness of it all.
Aside from all the interesting "available only through this special TV offer" products, the breast enhancers and the aphrodisiac teas, there are the late-night televangelism shows. One of them is hosted by this guy who breathes really heavily after each idea in his spiels: "In the name of Jesusaaaah, who art in Heavenaaaah, the Almighty Lordaaaah!" Like that. Extra emphasis on the "aaaah!" This is the same guy who says that a little green square of cloth can directly connect you to the lord and solve all your problems. As an example of the cloth’s powers, he then pulls out some lady from the congregation and tells the story of how praying with this green cloth answered her prayers for $10,000. Wow. I want me one of those. Is it because the cloth is green just like US dollars? If I get one of those blessed green cloths should I only pray for green things? A green car, a green thumb, or a green mind, perhaps? I don’t know. But I don’t think that that lady was kidding about her prayers being answered because she looked pretty happy and was crying really hard. Or she could have just been an actor hired by these people, selected from the crowd to do her rehearsed testimony. We’ll never know.
At this point, the televangelist guy calls everyone to get up out of their seats. They all raise their arms to the Lord, green cloths in hand, and start crying in unison. Then some people walk towards the stage and collapse from I don’t know what even before they get there. The host picks one of them up, a lady, and asks what’s wrong. She says that she has some really bad ailment, like a brain tumor or something like that. What follows is the most amazing thing I have ever seen on local TV to date. With dub-style church organ blaring in the background, the host closes his eyes really tight and prays: "Dear Fatheraaaah, heal thisaaaah, your loyal servantaaaah, let her troublesaaaah, be overaaaah!" Then he screams, "Be healedaaaah! Heal! Heal!" and aggressively grabs the lady’s forehead. The lady convulses a bit before her knees buckle and she falls to the ground. Stage assistants have to pick her up and help her back to her seat. And while she’s walking, she’s still crying her eyes out, but smiling brighter than ever.
Okay, so we all know that no matter how much chi or whatever someone collects between his or her hands, it’s not enough to touch someone to cure something as serious as a brain tumor. You need hardcore surgery for something like that. So why do the followers of this televangelism thing think they’re healed after falling to the ground? Is it genuine faith or do they just think that they possess genuine faith? Again, that lady could have been a hired actor, but for the purpose of this article, let’s just allow that there are no thespians and everyone is really randomly selected from the crowd. If they are actors, then I understand that they need the dough. I don’t care if the whole thing is fake or not, but actors need to eat too, right? And everything’s a business anyway. But if these people truly believe, then they have faith or something like it. How? Why? Is it because the heavy breathing of the host reminds them of the breath that God breathed into everything He created?
Obviously, I won’t be able to answer questions as deep as these. Questions regarding faith have always put history’s best thinkers in a pickle. How can one say that he or she wholeheartedly believes in something they’re not sure of? The simple answer would be because it’s just a matter of faith. I really can’t argue with that; it’s what some people really believe. But I never thought that it could be a really strong opinion that just somehow looks like faith. Besides, I’ve always wondered: "What if I attend one of those prayer meetings and approached the stage? Would I buckle and fall to the floor once that guy touched my forehead?" That would be testing my faith in concrete terms.
In philosophy class, we’re examining an article by Gabriel Marcel entitled "From Faith to Opinion." Apparently, Marcel is a really bad-ass philosopher. In the article, he differentiates an opinion as something made from a distance and something we are detached from, unlike faith, which is something we hold on to and, ultimately, is something we "are." (This is how my brain understands the article; so for those who have read it and reflected upon it more, please excuse my condensed explanation of it.)
This makes sense because when we make opinions, we oftentimes make them based on things we don’t know. These opinions become stronger within us when we see certain things that run in consonance with what we initially believed in. Like for example, with the televangelism thing, I can state an opinion and say that "I think the healing on TV really works." And when I do see it happening in front of my eyes, when some lady collapses on stage and receives the healing glory of the Lord, my stand and my opinion become strengthened.
Genuine faith, on the other hand is already strong to begin with. Besides, everything is at stake when it comes to faith because we give ourselves wholeheartedly and completely to something even if we lack concrete proof. So again, if I had genuine faith in televangelism, then that lady’s problems would be all over. Her brain aneurysm would be cured after that guy who breathes hard and sometimes speaks in tongue grasped her forehead. Of course, the tumor would still be in her brain, but it no longer would be an issue to her because her genuine faith would guide her through any rough patches that she may encounter.
It seems that it is really so much easier to believe and say that one has faith, because it means that troubled times are over. But Marcel adds that those closer to their faith are also closer to despair. Since opinions are formed from a distance, the "faithless" people can be protected somewhat from things that may rattle their beliefs. I agree, because opinions only seem to become stronger with each affirmation. The deeper you go into faith, however, the more it seems that there isn’t going to be an answer. Like someone knowing so much about something that, in the end, he or she can’t talk about it in an objective way because the scope of knowledge is too broad.
Going back to televangelism, it’s not for me to say whether or not those involved have genuine faith or are just strongly opinionated individuals. Marcel’s article, however, has added that second dimension to my understanding of televangelism. I first thought that practitioners of this manner of "faith" were just blind in their beliefs and could not see through the spectacle of it all – huge congregations, blessed green cloths that answered all of life’s problems, flamboyant requests through prayers answered, and especially the guy who breathes heavily into the microphone. Now, I know it’s not blind faith, because some way or the other, these people really believe in something. It gets them through the day, and that’s excellent. What that something is, I don’t know. But they seem to be forming their own opinions on these things, and if these opinions someday cease to be opinions and they become genuine faith, then that’s just great. They can tell the story of how it all started with the TV and how this one guy who breathed heavily called out to them because they needed spiritual healing. And it would be a great story to tell. Imagine that, discovering genuine faith through television.
I’m not sure if you can put televangelism and genuine faith in the same sentence, but it could happen somehow. And if it happens, then that’s great.
Tonight, though, I’m strengthening my faith in our relatively new DVD player and popping in some movies.
E-mail me at enricomiguelsubido@yahoo.com.
Thank God. There is now some respite from all the reruns, B-movies, and not-so-good shows aired on local TV. Not that I mind reruns, B-movies and not-so-good shows – TV is still "da bomb" no matter what – but one can only handle so much. True, watching DVDs isn’t the same because the power to channel surf is eliminated. But it’s okay; nothing’s really sacrificed when you’re flipping through three channels (four, counting the one that’s totally distorted by static.) There’s some really peculiar stuff on late-night local TV, though, and sometimes I resist and switch the DVD player off just to bask in the weirdness of it all.
Aside from all the interesting "available only through this special TV offer" products, the breast enhancers and the aphrodisiac teas, there are the late-night televangelism shows. One of them is hosted by this guy who breathes really heavily after each idea in his spiels: "In the name of Jesusaaaah, who art in Heavenaaaah, the Almighty Lordaaaah!" Like that. Extra emphasis on the "aaaah!" This is the same guy who says that a little green square of cloth can directly connect you to the lord and solve all your problems. As an example of the cloth’s powers, he then pulls out some lady from the congregation and tells the story of how praying with this green cloth answered her prayers for $10,000. Wow. I want me one of those. Is it because the cloth is green just like US dollars? If I get one of those blessed green cloths should I only pray for green things? A green car, a green thumb, or a green mind, perhaps? I don’t know. But I don’t think that that lady was kidding about her prayers being answered because she looked pretty happy and was crying really hard. Or she could have just been an actor hired by these people, selected from the crowd to do her rehearsed testimony. We’ll never know.
At this point, the televangelist guy calls everyone to get up out of their seats. They all raise their arms to the Lord, green cloths in hand, and start crying in unison. Then some people walk towards the stage and collapse from I don’t know what even before they get there. The host picks one of them up, a lady, and asks what’s wrong. She says that she has some really bad ailment, like a brain tumor or something like that. What follows is the most amazing thing I have ever seen on local TV to date. With dub-style church organ blaring in the background, the host closes his eyes really tight and prays: "Dear Fatheraaaah, heal thisaaaah, your loyal servantaaaah, let her troublesaaaah, be overaaaah!" Then he screams, "Be healedaaaah! Heal! Heal!" and aggressively grabs the lady’s forehead. The lady convulses a bit before her knees buckle and she falls to the ground. Stage assistants have to pick her up and help her back to her seat. And while she’s walking, she’s still crying her eyes out, but smiling brighter than ever.
Okay, so we all know that no matter how much chi or whatever someone collects between his or her hands, it’s not enough to touch someone to cure something as serious as a brain tumor. You need hardcore surgery for something like that. So why do the followers of this televangelism thing think they’re healed after falling to the ground? Is it genuine faith or do they just think that they possess genuine faith? Again, that lady could have been a hired actor, but for the purpose of this article, let’s just allow that there are no thespians and everyone is really randomly selected from the crowd. If they are actors, then I understand that they need the dough. I don’t care if the whole thing is fake or not, but actors need to eat too, right? And everything’s a business anyway. But if these people truly believe, then they have faith or something like it. How? Why? Is it because the heavy breathing of the host reminds them of the breath that God breathed into everything He created?
Obviously, I won’t be able to answer questions as deep as these. Questions regarding faith have always put history’s best thinkers in a pickle. How can one say that he or she wholeheartedly believes in something they’re not sure of? The simple answer would be because it’s just a matter of faith. I really can’t argue with that; it’s what some people really believe. But I never thought that it could be a really strong opinion that just somehow looks like faith. Besides, I’ve always wondered: "What if I attend one of those prayer meetings and approached the stage? Would I buckle and fall to the floor once that guy touched my forehead?" That would be testing my faith in concrete terms.
In philosophy class, we’re examining an article by Gabriel Marcel entitled "From Faith to Opinion." Apparently, Marcel is a really bad-ass philosopher. In the article, he differentiates an opinion as something made from a distance and something we are detached from, unlike faith, which is something we hold on to and, ultimately, is something we "are." (This is how my brain understands the article; so for those who have read it and reflected upon it more, please excuse my condensed explanation of it.)
This makes sense because when we make opinions, we oftentimes make them based on things we don’t know. These opinions become stronger within us when we see certain things that run in consonance with what we initially believed in. Like for example, with the televangelism thing, I can state an opinion and say that "I think the healing on TV really works." And when I do see it happening in front of my eyes, when some lady collapses on stage and receives the healing glory of the Lord, my stand and my opinion become strengthened.
Genuine faith, on the other hand is already strong to begin with. Besides, everything is at stake when it comes to faith because we give ourselves wholeheartedly and completely to something even if we lack concrete proof. So again, if I had genuine faith in televangelism, then that lady’s problems would be all over. Her brain aneurysm would be cured after that guy who breathes hard and sometimes speaks in tongue grasped her forehead. Of course, the tumor would still be in her brain, but it no longer would be an issue to her because her genuine faith would guide her through any rough patches that she may encounter.
It seems that it is really so much easier to believe and say that one has faith, because it means that troubled times are over. But Marcel adds that those closer to their faith are also closer to despair. Since opinions are formed from a distance, the "faithless" people can be protected somewhat from things that may rattle their beliefs. I agree, because opinions only seem to become stronger with each affirmation. The deeper you go into faith, however, the more it seems that there isn’t going to be an answer. Like someone knowing so much about something that, in the end, he or she can’t talk about it in an objective way because the scope of knowledge is too broad.
Going back to televangelism, it’s not for me to say whether or not those involved have genuine faith or are just strongly opinionated individuals. Marcel’s article, however, has added that second dimension to my understanding of televangelism. I first thought that practitioners of this manner of "faith" were just blind in their beliefs and could not see through the spectacle of it all – huge congregations, blessed green cloths that answered all of life’s problems, flamboyant requests through prayers answered, and especially the guy who breathes heavily into the microphone. Now, I know it’s not blind faith, because some way or the other, these people really believe in something. It gets them through the day, and that’s excellent. What that something is, I don’t know. But they seem to be forming their own opinions on these things, and if these opinions someday cease to be opinions and they become genuine faith, then that’s just great. They can tell the story of how it all started with the TV and how this one guy who breathed heavily called out to them because they needed spiritual healing. And it would be a great story to tell. Imagine that, discovering genuine faith through television.
I’m not sure if you can put televangelism and genuine faith in the same sentence, but it could happen somehow. And if it happens, then that’s great.
Tonight, though, I’m strengthening my faith in our relatively new DVD player and popping in some movies.
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