Page 3 - Hawaii Island MidWeek - May 17, 2023

MAY 17, 2023 HAWAI‘I ISLAND MIDWEEK 3
Nonconsensual spiritual conversion is wrong. A person who takes advantage of another to spiri- tually violate someone who is too young to understand or too incapacitated to resist should be ashamed. Spiritual abuse should be a crime.
How The Spiritual Needy Justify Their Abuse
I am a survivor of spiritual molestation. When I was 11 years old, I was hospitalized for three weeks because of a kidney infection. At one point, the prognosis was not good. Despite this, my parents had to return to their jobs because they couldn’t afford to go so many days without pay. They had no choice but to leave me alone during the day. An ac- quaintance of theirs would then visit me while they were away and spiritually molest me. This happened as I lay in the hospital bed unwell and afraid. Here is part of our daily conversation:
If you feel compelled to im- pose your faith on a person on their deathbed, stop and reflect for a moment. There is proba- bly a good reason why the per- son has not accepted your reli- gious faith up to this point. Why disrespect that person’s values in order to please your own? Moreover, how would you feel if someone tried to convert you to their faith on your deathbed?
If so, I have something to look forward to when I’m gone. IguessIamabadboy.
bad boy.”
“Jesus, I’m a bad boy.” “Tell Jesus that you are sorry
the hospital. I felt embarrassed and confused by the whole experience and didn’t want to
at someone else’s expense? This seems selfish to me. It is common for the dying person in their helpless state to fidget and raise their arms in their last days. They can’t help it. They are transitioning from this world. They are not asking to be saved. The dying may also hallucinate in their final days. My mom saw an angel with white hair hiding in a vase of flowers; my dad saw a little Chinese girl peeking out from the bedroom wall. This is a spe- cial time to simply be there for our loved ones, not take advan-
tage of their situation to satisfy spiritual needs.
kinky to me. Why not let the dead rest in peace? But how can they do so if they are being spiritually molested? I wonder, though, if spiritual molestation works the other way, too, the dead molesting the living?
“Do you care that much about giving yourself spiritual gratification even if it comes at someone else’s expense? This seems selfish to me.”
“Jay, do you want to die?” “No, I don’t want to die.” “Then let’s pray to Jesus,
then smear a drop of oil on my forehead and leave. I have never felt entirely comfortable around this person because of this secret between us. I struggled for a long time with a deeply ingrained sense that I was a “bad boy.”
OK?” “OK.”
My parents have since passed away and I never told them what happened to me in
Do you care that much about giving yourself spiritual gratification even if it comes
“Tell Jesus that you are a
for being a bad boy.”
“Jesus, I’m sorry for being a
relive it. Even now I feel hu- miliation and anger well up inside me when I recall those encounters.
Nearly as bad are religious groups that have a practice of converting the dead. That’s
Jay Sakashita teaches reli- gion courses at Leeward Com- munity College and University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Reach him at misfitspirit808@gmail. com.
bad boy.”
“Ask Jesus to forgive you for
Fill in the blank cells using numbers 1 to 9. Each number can appear only once in each row, column, and 3x3 block. Use logic and process of elimination to solve the puzzle. The difficulty level ranges from Bronze (easiest) to Silver to Gold (hardest). Answers are on page 7
RATING: SILVER
being a bad boy.”
“Jesus, forgive me for being
This is why I do not rejoice when people share with me how a loved one finally ac- cepted Jesus on their deathbed. I am appalled instead when I hear how they used the last mo- ments of a dying person’s life to convert them to their faith. This strikes me as arrogant and self-centered. It’s an anathema to faiths that teach humility and kindness.
a bad boy.”
The acquaintance would
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