OK, so here’s the deal, all day long and all weekend long
most of the cable networks and pay per view channels will be emphasizing every
Friday the 13th movie ever made as well as all the Jason, Alien and
Psycho franchise movies as well. The whole emphasis will be about evil, murder,
mayhem and people becoming psychotic. In so many ways and on so many levels
this is both sad and wrong.
I for one as a pastor,
theologian, counselor and psychologist absolutely resent this whole evil
emphasis about a very important religious and historical event as well as the associated
negative mental health connotations.
Now that doesn’t mean I dislike
the occasional walk on the dark side or the good horror movie from time to
time. I saw all of the Alien movies, loved Attack of the Killer Tomatoes as
well as The Birds and original Psycho; so don’t think I’m simply seeking out
the proverbial “rainbows and unicorn” genre
for everyone.
Just because it's Friday the 13th however, does not mean the day is bad, evil or that you're more likely to have a major
accident.
For those who are extremely paranoid, they do have
a more significant chance of minor to large accidents happening throughout the
day. Their chances for impending doom are greater personally because they’ll be
so busy trying to avoid calamity that they’ll walk right into it.
Authorities
tell us that just like a full moon, due to this paranoia of Friday the 13th
mentality, emergency rooms are fuller, emergency response teams and first
responders are busier, DUIs and DWIs increase and violence as a whole is more
prevalent due to Friday the 13th parties, bar and pub specials,etc.
In other words, these increases
have nothing to do with the date and yet everything to do with the date simply
because of the fear and anxiety of people over the day itself. Most of the fear
however in recent years is the result of movies on impressionable young minds.
Historically and religiously Friday
the 13th is a very sad and serious day which many tend to forget. Although
the facts were a bit distorted and exaggerated, most wouldn’t even be aware of
the historical side apart from the movie, “The DaVinci
Code” based on the book of the same name by Dan Brown. It was on Friday,
October 13th, 1307 that Politics and Christianity had one of the
greatest confrontations ever.
King Phillip IV of France set his
sights on the fabled riches of the Knights Templar (by all accounts the first
bankers of the western world) who were constantly traveling back and forth to
the mid-east, Holy Land and some think possibly even North America near Nova Scotia.
The Templar’s, although often at
odds with the church were also loyal to their belief in Christ and as such (at
least to some degree) their allegiance to the Pope.
King Phillip IV of France set a
trap for the Templar’s issuing warrants for their arrest on Friday, October 13th,
1307 in which the original plan was to torture them, get confessions out of
them forcing Pope Clement the V to issue more arrest for others and ultimately
find the Templar treasure and King Phillip and France to become the ruling bank
throughout Europe.
The Templar’s true to their faith
refused, accepted torture and only acknowledged partial facts never leading to
the location to this day where the treasure was.
Here is where the history gets
somewhat unclear. Although apparently
625 Knights Templar were arrested, by many accounts, not all were imprisoned,
many escaped and some were even freed.
In a second attempt to get hold
of the treasure, King Phillip ordered the slow and agonizing execution by
burning at the stake of fifty four of the Templar. Some historians state this
did not happen until 1310 while others want to put the event within the Friday,
October 13th, 1307 date.
Regardless, of what or how things
went down for the Knights Templar, Politics and the Christian church it was a
very bad and sad day.
So that's the “skinny” as they
say on Friday the 13th. Have a safe and wonderful day.
©Copyright 2012 Dr. Lee W. Outlaw III
