BP 227
Today, we will look briefly at the psychological pros and cons of the Christian faith. Let’s begin with the cons.
In way of introduction, I think many of us would agree that one difficulty in looking at the psychological negatives of Christianity is that there are two angles from which to view this faith. First, there is faith in God as Jesus taught it and as the Bible communicates it, and then there is the faith that psychologically unhealthy men and women preach and practice after it has passed through their human filters.
These unhealthy filters exist due to transference, projection, and even using religion to protect one’s own immature psychological self. (See blog post 200 for a fleshed-out discussion of how humans can use a distortion of the Christian faith to protect their fragile selves.)
Personally, I totally agree that Christianity can be psychologically distorted by some people—even by those who seem to get the theology correct. Many of the Designer Therapy for Life posts directly or indirectly address these distortions. I also believe that there is not a man or woman on earth who receives and then lives out the Christian message without some distortion due to their own fallenness or past psychological development.
Certainly, I believe that God’s word is inerrant in the original form but that our internalization of it is not. Thankfully God, by the power of His Spirit, teaches us and gives us a wisdom as we read the word of God that transcends our own limited human ability to receive and interpret divine truth.
So, back to the original question: what are the psychological cons of the pristine, God-given Christian faith when separated from unhealthy human filters?
Some examples are that Christianity says people come into this world inherently evil (are not people basically good?); it creates unhealthy guilt in men and women when it harps on the consequences of breaking God’s commandments; it says that people will go to hell if they don’t believe in Jesus (how can that be loving?); it claims that God killed His own Son to save us (what sadistic parent would do that?); it teaches that there is a terrifying spiritual world of demons and Satan that can create fear in children; and it insists that healthy sexuality (e.g., masturbation) is sinful.
I can see how nonbelievers especially would struggle with some of these basic, pristine truths of Christianity because they are interpreted not through the eyes of faith but through eyes of limited human sight. 2 Corinthians 2:14 tells us, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”
We need God’s eyes, for example, to understand why the holy God had to send His own perfect Son to live a perfect life and die in our place as the perfect sacrificial lamb to atone for our sins. To eyes that are blind to faith, this action by the Father appears mean, unloving, and certainly unnecessary.
My main response to all the above examples of the psychological unhealth of pure Christianity is that if these things are true, how can we not speak of them? Would it be helpful, for example, to deny the evil in the heart of humanity the awareness of which often leads many to cry out for help from a loving God who provided deliverance for them through the (“sadistic,” in human eyes) death of His Son.
Does not Christianity explain the reason for evil in this world, namely, because of the fall of creation which included the rebellion of the human soul against God? Is it not more confusing to teach a child that people are intrinsically good when these children will grow up to witness adultery, divorce, rape, murder, road rage, and even white-collar crime?
Christianity tells it like it is even if some people would prefer their own view of reality.
As a psychologist for decades now, I have not witnessed any aspect of pristine Christianity that is psychologically unhealthy. Faith in Jesus helps us make sense of the human heart and it invites us to an amazing relationship with a loving servant-God as the means to escape sinful desire and unrighteousness and instead to be filled with righteousness totally apart from our own striving to be good.
Humans who don’t know God must find a way to be (or at least to feel) good since it is hard-wired in us to feel good about ourselves. Being told by the Bible that we are born sinful does nothing to satisfy our need to see ourselves as good. Instead, it points out the problem in the human race, namely, that we are sinners who need to be saved by someone outside of us.
Tragically, humanity divorced from God is missing one massively important ingredient (among others) that is required to help them see the Christian faith correctly: grace.
Grace enabled God to send His Son to make us holy, to grant us access to the Father, and to fill us with something far more satisfying than feeling good about ourselves, namely, The Father’s love, Jesus’ righteousness, and the Holy Spirit’s presence!
No, I have seen nothing in following Jesus rightly that leads to psychological unhealth. Even guilt that comes from sinning against God and others is a healthy experience because it leads to godly sorrow, to owning one’s mistakes, and to asking for forgiveness and repairing relationships.
So, what about the benefits? What about the psychological pros to following Jesus? There are many. Below are some examples:
+ As already alluded to, humans don’t need to strive to be good enough, living under a constant threat of being rejected by God and others. They can come to Jesus and He will make them perfect (holy) thus removing the pressure of performance and the dark cloud of never feeling that they are enough.
+ Jesus did not come to shame men and women or to condemn them. He came to set them free from the condemnation they are already under due to sin and divorce from God.
+ As you walk in relationship with God, He will slowly develop in you all the ingredients that will lead to growth and to a healthy relationship with yourself and with others. These ingredients are love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
+ Jesus’ promise of eternal life removes the fear/anxiety/dread of death. Dying may still trigger some fear but dying is not the end of it all. Life after dying brings peace, joy, and the anticipation of eternal relationships with God and other loved ones. A man or woman can make it through dying a lot easier if one knows that “this too shall pass” and then the best will follow!
+ Losses in this world are easier to stomach if one knows that true, eternal treasure is found in heaven.
+ If someone feels that they never became who they wanted to be in this world, she will be comforted by the truth that her Creator came not to be great or to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.
+ When suffering comes, the believer holds onto the truth that “we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” ~ 2 Corinthians 4:14-16.
+ If a man or woman did bad things in this world, they may experience consequences in human court and yet be declared innocent–as if they had never sinned–in the courtroom of heaven.
+ Even mental illness is seen for what it is: as a signpost pointing to a disturbance in the soul not simply something that is all bad. Mental illness does not need to be a source of humiliation but, just like physical illness, it exists amazingly to call attention to the need for healing which will lead, in turn, to freedom and joy in Jesus.
+ The closer you are to your Creator, the more you know your own personal identity. The farther you are from Him, the less you know your identity—who you really are.
+ The Christian faith reveals to every man and woman why they are here: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” ~ Matthew 22:37-40. Is there a more important truth for humans to know about their purpose on this planet? Just imagine what the love of Jesus does in your heart when you go to marriage counseling!
So, take it from a psychologist who has been spelunking in human hearts for decades—Jesus and His truth is healing for the human soul and for relationships with God and other humans and even for your relationship with your own heart.
Remember the aim of Jesus’ mission:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” ~ Luke 4:18, 19.
Spiritually, relationally, and psychologically you will be far healthier as you live out faith in Jesus. And if you get stuck in a bad place as you journey forward, remember to seek help removing all the obstacles that interfere with your relationship with God. Don’t forget that everyone who follows Jesus in this world will be opposed. That opposition, my friend, will be the most difficult challenge to faith as you live your life loving Jesus.
Just remember that Jesus faced the same opposition but endured because He looked to the joy that lay before Him.
So, run the race of faith!
