Mob Psycho 100 is perhaps most known for being written by the same author as One Punch Man. The second season started this January, and I was all ready for another season of senseless fun and action. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the season this time around seemed to be more interested in pushing actual serious topics more than the first season. In episode 3, Reigan and Mob are asked to exorcise an “evil” spirit. However, after confronting the spirits and talking to them, Mob finds that they are a peaceful family who are only trying to complete the regret of not being able to be a happy family together while they were still alive. As such, Mob does not think they need to be exorcised like the usual spirits he eliminates. However, the clients (who can’t hear or interact with the spirits) don’t care what they or Mob have to say. The mere concept of spirits is that of evil and fear, and so to them, it is necessary to exorcise them regardless of any other reasoning. In this way, Mob is confronted with two different sides: the human side and the spirit side. Although the problem is resolved peacefully, Reigen realizes that Mob is someone who interacts with spirits on such a regular basis, that there is nothing abnormal about spirits to him. Rather than being a “fearful unknown,” spirits are simply a natural part of everyday life. It is a perspective that only Mob understands because of his affiliation with the spiritual.
So the natural comparison to draw here is that as Christians, we perceive the spiritual in terms of morality, sin, and mercy in ways that others do not comprehend as instinctively as we do. But rather than focusing on a holier-than-thou approach, I really want to focus only on the part that Christians perceive and think about things differently, without assigning any implication of that perception being better or worse. One frustration I have with Christians is that we tend to leap to judgmental assumptions about people who don’t share the same values or sense or morals as we do. Morality is a very tricky and sensitive subject because it is by definition a topic of right or wrong, good or evil. So it is understandable that people, especially those who believe in an objective morality determined by an all-powerful God, are so insulted by those who disagree with their sense of morals. As such, Christians get so upset when they see or hear about people who are not following the morals of Christianity. There are two problems with this. The first is that just because people are not following Christian values does not mean they are bad people or intentionally breaking any sense of moral code. There are probably hundreds of millions of people who, by any reasonable standard, are “good” people despite not believing in Christianity’s morals. I personally know many wonderful people who I strongly disagree with on certain topics. But they still care for others and try to be understanding about others’ feelings and perspectives, such as my own. They may be perceiving morality differently, but they are still striving to be people of respectable morality. These people are very different than those who actually lack a sense of morality or actively break laws for their own gains. The second is problem is that we Christians should not even be getting so judgment in the first place. The entire crux of Christianity is that we are all sinners; there is not one infallible person among us. Yet somehow Christians who sin are more acceptable to us because they “repent.” If anything, I would imagine it to be the other way around; Christians are the ones who should know better than to sin.
Reigen recognizes how different Mob’s perspective is compared to others. It’s not a matter of being special or more knowledgeable. It is nothing more than a statement of fact. He sees the world differently, and as a result, has feelings regarding things that completely contradict how others feel. It is not necessarily a matter of being right or wrong. Certainly, one can argue that Mob was in the right because the spirits were determined to do no harm. Even when tempted into anger, the father ghost resists and would rather be exorcised than harm a person. However, the real point of contention was not who was morally correct; it was the contradicting perspectives of the characters at no fault of any of them. Even if we are to assume Mob was morally correct; even if we are to assume Christians are morally superior, the lack of perspective of the other side makes it so that they are not choosing to be wrong. They are simply unable to even perceive the “right” choice as a potential option. Therefore, rather than judging and becoming “morally” angry at people who do not follow Christian morals, what we should be doing is conversing about our different perspectives, why we believe them beyond “because my pastor says so,” (and I could rant a whole lot about the differences between morals described in the Bible versus morals described by “Christian” leadership) and broadening perspectives of both parties – because as much of a perspective as others may be missing out on compared to Christians, Christians are missing out on the perspectives of others.
Therefore, let’s flip this moral superiority assumption Christians love to talk about and listen to. What if Christians are the ones who are morally wrong? What if we are the ones who simply don’t understand the reality of the world? The only way to prove otherwise is to go out and learn everything about the perspectives of others and then still decide Christianity to be the most moral option. As long as Christians don’t understand the perspectives of other beliefs, then we can’t say we are choosing Christianity or Jesus –we have not considered any other options. The fact of the matter is Christians rarely argue in good faith. Whenever they debate other perspectives, they always enter with the belief they are right; to be fair, opposing parties tend to do the same. Regardless, the point I want to make is that Christians all too often fail to understand or even consider other perspectives. Even when they legitimately attempt to, they can’t help but let their beliefs dye their interpretation of other perspectives with bias. And no wonder this happens when we are indoctrinated with beliefs from before we know how to speak.
No matter how much we want to believe we are being open-minded, we cannot fully escape from beliefs that have been repeated by everyone we know for our entire childhood. It is so difficult to truly approach a new perspective with an unbiased point of view. Sure, this happens to everyone, but when your belief is that you are on the side of an all powerful God who has decided the moral objectivity and superiority of life, that’s a far more powerful influence than anything else. And so, we become like a normal human who believes spirits exist to terrorize the living and demands an exorcism of innocent and peaceful spirits. Christians are so bad at actually learning about other perspectives. Not only does this prevent us from successfully reaching out to other people, but it also hurts our own spirituality. Because if you haven’t gone out and learned about other beliefs and made a real, unbiased choice to be a Christian, then you never chose to be a believer; you only followed the path that your limited perspective allowed you to make.