To their credit, GotQuestions.org covers an incredibly wide range of topics. In such a huge collection of brief answers, a few prejudiced mistakes seem inevitable. There’s a surprising contrast in the ways they discuss sadism and torture. For the definition of “sadism,” they do a good job of highlighting the ambiguity. The word gets used haphazardly in casual conversation:
“Over time, the definition of sadism has become more general, and modern references to sadists and sadism typically occur without implying sexuality. The terms are often applied in an exaggerated way to people or situations to which those labels don’t meaningfully fit. Today, referring to someone as a sadist usually means that person is carelessly inflicting some type of misery on others.”
“What is sadism?” at GotQuestions.org
“50 Shades of Grey”
The Marquis de Sade, the namesake of sadism, provides some historical context. The answer then focuses on the fictional sadist, Christian Grey, in the “50 Shades of Grey” series by E. L. James:
“The author presents the main characters’ relationship, as pathological as it is, as something akin to love—or at least something pleasurable and desirable. The effect of the novel, its sequels, and its films is to normalize the sin of sadism and mitigate its social stigma.”
The team at GotQuestions might be unaware that many in the BDSM community condemned 50 Shades. The fictional billionaire behaves like an abusive stalker. Do the books or movies mitigate the social stigma? Arguably, they promote the myth that most sadists (like Grey) are psychologically damaged by childhood abuse. Some critics focused on the quality of writing and the story’s origin as Twilight fan fiction. Whatever the flaws of the series, E. L. James helped many readers discover turn-ons they didn’t expect.
Christian Grey represents real sadists about as accurately as Esmeralda, the crazy Christian woman in Edward Scissorhands, represents all Christians. Instead of focusing on Christian Grey, GotQuestions could have tried to learn about real-life, consensual BDSM relationships.
Scripture Against Sadism?
This answer cites two verses. Neither one provides much help for defining sexual morality within marriage.
“Biblically, there is no room for any form of sadism. The Bible specifically calls on us to love each other (John 13:34) and defines love using terms such as patience and kindness (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love has nothing to do with seeking personal pleasure or causing pain to others.”
In John 13:34, Christ is telling the disciples how to love each other. We can safely assume that he wasn’t telling the disciples to enjoy erotic or romantic love together. 1 Corinthians 13 remains popular for readings at weddings, but it’s similarly broad. Rather than condemning BDSM, these verses condemn the people who rush to judgment and rejection.
In effect, Christians should love the BDSM community with patience and kindness.
Is Sadism Selfish?
Instead of trying to understand the reality, the GotQuestions response condemns BDSM relationships as selfish, unloving, and miserable.
“By definition, all forms of sadism are self-focused and involve acting in ways that cause others pain, suffering, or misery. This is totally contrary to the character of God and to the instructions we are given in Scripture.”
How exactly is sadism self-focused? Sadism in consensual BDSM is mutually enjoyable, often guided by the preferences and boundaries of the masochist or submissive. Yes, an abusive partner might ignore the needs or objections of their spouse. But then, plenty of husbands are selfish and abusive without ever claiming to be kinky.
It’s interesting that GotQuestions chose to invoke “the character of God,” who C. S. Lewis describes pointedly as “the Cosmic Sadist” in A Grief Observed. The Bible supports corporal punishment in a wide range of scenarios. God’s instructions in the Old Testament frequently include a significant amount of human suffering. Of course, those parts of the Bible don’t lend themselves to quick and decisive answers. It’s a complicated subject, no doubt, but this particular answer makes it seem like the GotQuestions team is more familiar with 50 Shades than they are with the Old Testament.
Curiously, GotQuestions has a much more favorable view of literal torture.
Part 2: “What does the Bible say about torture?”
After the sweeping condemnation of “all forms of sadism” and BDSM, it’s surprising to see that the GotQuestions team was unable to reach a similar conclusion on the ethics of torture. Naturally, as they say, “The Bible neither condemns nor condones a government’s use of torture,” but that ambiguity didn’t prevent some strong words against both sadism and BDSM.
In the relatively innocent years before 50 Shades, politicians defended the torture of prisoners as a necessary tool in the War Against Terror. America’s euphemistic “enhanced interrogation techniques” included sleep deprivation, stress positions, waterboarding, rectal feeding, and more. The goal was to cause as much suffering as possible without technically qualifying as “torture” under international law.
The Slippery Defense of Rhetorical Questions
The GotQuestions answer defends torture with a series of rhetorical questions. They imagine a scenario where it’s possible to save thousands of innocent lives by merely threatening a prisoner:
May a government, in order to protect its law-abiding citizens, engage in “highly coercive interrogation” (the use of strongly persuasive techniques to obtain tactical information)? What if these techniques do not inflict physical pain?
“What does the Bible say about Torture?” GotQuestions.org
What if the goal of torture is to prevent further tragedy? What if a prisoner is withholding information that could save the life of an innocent person? What if a hundred lives could be saved? A thousand lives? Should that prisoner be threatened with physical pain until he reveals the information? What, then, if his information is wrong? And what about unlawful enemy combatants who are, legally, not prisoners of war and therefore do not fall under the rules of the Geneva Convention?
Was it ever realistic to interrogate a large number of prisoners by “threatening” but never actually inflicting physical pain? The appeal to the Geneva Convention is interesting since it admits that the treatment would be illegal for uniformed soldiers. Overall, the question and answer’s use of the word “torture” suggests that legal-vs-illegal isn’t particularly important.
Contrasting Perspectives and Values
Much of the BDSM community strongly objected to the American government’s use of torture and enhanced interrogation techniques. Widespread liberal political views probably play a role. Some BDSM groups experimented with consensual waterboarding as a kink, while at the same time condemning the government’s use of similar techniques on prisoners. The apparent contradiction may seem hypocritical, but it’s really an example of the extreme importance of consent.
Clearly willing to go beyond the direct statements of scripture, the GotQuestions team hotly condemned BDSM and sadism. When it came to the treatment of prisoners, they stopped with a lukewarm word of caution.
“These are all questions not addressed in the Bible and that are beyond the scope of this article, but they highlight the need for us to pray ‘for kings and all those in authority’ (1 Timothy 2:2). May our policy makers have the wisdom to distinguish good from evil and to provide true justice.”
For those who can justify waterboarding prisoners and other forms of torture, it’s hard to define a clear limit. If you felt confident that harsher torture might save a thousand innocent lives, then why stop with waterboarding?
Was Torture Effective?
In the Congressional investigations that followed, there were no “success stories” where a single interrogation saved a thousand lives or even a hundred. The infamous pictures from Abu Ghraib shocked Americans, but they didn’t cause a major backlash in the Middle East. After all, dictatorships and terrorists have used much harsher forms of torture.
Some of the Americans who worked in Abu Ghraib seem to have had sadistic tendencies, but not in the consensual BDSM sense of sadism. Rather, the open-ended approval of “enhanced interrogation techniques” led to terrible kinds of abuse and humiliation. No doubt, there are many Americans who still support torture. Television shows and movies show detectives “getting rough” in order to catch the bad guys. Mainstream viewers seem to enjoy watching fictional torture under the right circumstances.
The line between torture and interrogation remains controversial. For someone who doesn’t feel any personal attraction to BDSM (like the team at GotQuestions), it’s easier to pass judgment on sadism. There’s no personal inconvenience in calling others sinful, especially when the subculture is mostly anonymous.
Resources
“What is sadism?” at GotQuestions.org https://www.gotquestions.org/sadism-sadist.html
“What does the Bible say about torture?” at GotQuestions.org https://www.gotquestions.org/torture-Bible.html
Christian Grey memes: https://familyfitnessfood.com/fifty-shades-of-gray-memes/
“A Lukewarm Defence of Fifty Shades of Grey” Folding Ideas (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzk9N7dJBec
