Joy Division: "Atrocity Exhibition"

This British new wave band hit on a theme rarely sung about. People tend to delight in the misfortune of others. The Germans have a word for this: scha·den·freu·de.

Check out this song here:

Ever since Cain killed Abel, people have done cruel things to one another. And as at every schoolyard fight, a crowd gathers to watch. Jeremiah 20:10 (Bible in Basic English) is one example. "For numbers of them say evil secretly in my hearing (there is fear on every side): they say, 'Come, let us give witness against him;' all my nearest friends, who are watching for my fall, say, 'It may be that he will be taken by deceit, and we will get the better of him and give him punishment.'"

Jesus was one whom the Pharisees watched in order to use his actions and words against him. As Mark 3:1 and 2 (BBE) reads, "And he went again into the Synagogue; and there was a man there whose hand was dead And they were watching him to see if he would make him well on the Sabbath day, so that they might have something against him."

Stoning's were also something which drew crowds. Christianity's first martyr had a crowd of participants and one watcher when he died. Acts 7:57-59 (BBE) reads, "But with loud cries, and stopping their ears, they made an attack on him all together, Driving him out of the town and stoning him: and the witnesses put their clothing at the feet of a young man named Saul. And Stephen, while he was being stoned, made prayer to God, saying, 'Lord Jesus, take my spirit'".

Resisting the pull of the crowd is what we ought to do when wicked folks entice us. As Solomon wrote in Proverbs 1:15-18 (BBE), "My son, do not go with them; keep your feet from their ways: For their feet are running after evil, and they are quick to take a man's life. Truly, to no purpose is the net stretched out before the eyes of the bird: And they are secretly waiting for their blood and making ready destruction for themselves."

We believers are called to holiness, not maliciousness. As Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22 and 23 (BBE), "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, a quiet mind, kind acts, well-doing, faith, Gentle behaviour, control over desires: against such there is no law."

If Christ hasn't returned to reward his faithful servants by Thursday, I hope to post about how we wish we were true life heroes.