PLASTIC GANGSTERS & PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
As Spiritualists we believe that as we sow so shall we reap, in other words we are personally responsible for all our actions both good and bad. This is not the way that some religions teach responsibility, in the Christian faith for example they state that by accepting that ‘The Lord Jesus Christ’ is the saviour all sins shall be forgiven. Now I don’t know about you but I am absolutely certain about me and I have indeed committed many sins but they are my sins, a part of what makes John G. Sutton the person that he is. I am not hiding away behind a ‘saviour’ I did what I did with clear intent and accept full responsibility for my admittedly sinful actions. With me we are not talking murder or molestation of under age children, my sins mainly involve administering physical retribution on those making a good case for a beating and to be totally honest, I would do it again. So what would be the point in forgiving me, I am unrepentant, I half enjoyed dealing with those that had the gall to provoke me, so what is the point the Christians are trying to make offering absolution to someone like me?
I confess my, at times. aggressive nature has overtaken my spiritual side, let me give you an example: I was walking along an avenue in East Acton, London, the month was June, the weather fine and sunny I was in a really happy mood on such a glorious day. As I walked alongside a hedge by the side of an open grassy area I heard the loud screaming of a woman who sounded to be terrified and calling for help. The screams were coming from directly behind the hedge so I pushed the bushes aside and stepped through to see a large man holding a woman by the front of her dress in a threatening manner. Without hesitation I immediately confronted the man and as I did so the situation changed as he let go of the woman and turned on me. Not only did he begin to approach me in a menacing manner but so too did the woman. ‘Wallet mate or you get it’ the large lout demanded and his female accomplice moved forward alongside him. I almost laughed, what a treat I thought as I smacked him straight in the mouth and dropped him to the floor where his lady friend started to scream all over again. I realise I could have left it there but sometimes the temptation is too much, I mean he was intending to assault and rob me, so I slapped him, very gently of course, till he too started to scream. I confess it was perhaps a little more than was called for, I am a sinner, but those two would have stolen my money, possibly injured me if they had the chance. Who knows maybe I taught them a lesson, I hope I did, but I seek no forgiveness for enjoying thumping that thug.
Recently I saw a documentary film made by Donal Macintyre titled ; ‘A Very British Gangster’ which featured as its main subject a bloated low life villain from the broken back streets of Manchester. I will not name the disgraceful cheap bully but suffice it to say that this ‘plastic gangster’ has made a somewhat dubious reputation for himself by terrorising the immature, often intellectually challenged and docile residents of housing estates in the Greater Manchester area. His crimes that he openly boasts about are numerous, they include armed robbery, police assault, fraud, possession of firearms, handling stolen goods etc. etc. His general modus-operandi involves intimidation, brutality and bullying. In this documentary the petty hoodlum announces that he is so tough that Strangeways Jail can not deal with him, whilst at the same time showing images of this goon in a body-belt locked up in The Block of that notorious Victorian prison. What we are shown in this film is an obnoxious, egotistical, mindless thug who has no intention of redeeming himself in the eyes of society. Indeed a close member of his family was recently shot dead in cold blood in revenge, it seems, for some violent crimes committed elsewhere. The man in question is seeking retribution whilst at the same time accepting absolution for his previous acts of violence from his local Christian parish priest. The documentary actually shows this brute and his fellow thugs in a Christian Church where they state that they are confessing their sins for forgiveness before they go out and commit some more!
The doctrine of personal responsibility is, in my humble opinion, the only thing that makes sense and I have been there during a very near death experience. I have been interviewed by what we may term angelic beings about my incarnation on Earth and they did not mention religion, they asked me to briefly detail what I had done with my life. As Spiritualists we believe absolutely in the survival of the personality after the death of the physical body so we must therefore also believe that if we are good people here, then we will be good people there in the next dimension and vice versa. So the wicked will be faced with their personality intact as villains, thugs, murderers, rapists etc. There is simply no way to escape that fact, I know I have been there and I was myself, I stood before a panel of three quite reasonable ordinary looking individuals who questioned me about my life and I had clear recollection of all that had transpired. Not only did I know what I had done with my life I knew that it was with me, I was now answering for all my actions. As I said at the start of this column I am an unrepentant sinner who has committed sins and whilst I seriously do regret some there are others, such as thumping the would be mugger, that I actually enjoyed and would likely do again. What I am I am, cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am and we all are, believe me there is no escaping what you are.
The point is that personal responsibility for our deeds is something that should be taught to all, each individual must accept that whatever they knowingly do will be with them into infinity and beyond, as Buzz Lightyear said. Any religion that teaches the forgiveness of sins is without a shadow of any doubt, misleading its adherents and potentially placing them on a difficult pathway to perdition. That cheap ‘Plastic Gangster’ from Manchester is in for a terrible but well earned shock as he offers to the angelic beings in explanation for his life of violent crime the excuse that he was forgiven by a Parish Priest in the name of The Lord. As you sow so shall ye reap and I would not want to be facing an accounting of my life if I had wasted it on sinful debauchery and wickedness. As I stated above, some say they are too much, too tough for the likes of Strangeways Jail to deal with. But be assured, there awaits something after death, in that undiscovered country, far worse than any mortal punishment that exists here and it is waiting for such fools.
