Modern Psychology and the Fundamentalist August 14, 2009

I think it should be required by law of every Christian in America to take at least a few college courses in modern psychology.  It’s appalling and becoming increasingly apparent to us and to the rest of the world just how ignorant we’ve allowed ourselves to become concerning even the most basic subjects of secular studies.  I am learning more and more what a disconnect there is between what we as Evangelicals believe to be true and what is actually true.  Many of us are waking up to reality with symptoms similar to that of post traumatic stress disorder.  We are taught to believe, in 5 point sermons, that if we live and behave in certain ways, then God will bless us and we can expect certain results to follow.  But then what happens when we find the opposite is true?  We’ve done all the good stuff we know to do, but then we find ourselves deeply in debt.  Or a child dies.  Or a spouse leaves.  Or we’re clinically depressed.  Then following that logic, we must have done something to deserve it, right?

We believe that if it’s in the Bible then it must be true, and, conversely, that if it’s NOT in the Bible then it must NOT be true.  But what happens when life and Bible aren’t so black and white on certain subjects?  For example, the Bible doesn’t really address what to do when it comes to mental illnesses.  Sure, the Bible describes that which, today, thanks to modern science and medicine, we can now name.  It describes those who struggle with depression or even personality disorders, but back in those days were said to be struggling with “demons.”  So, we’ve taken that literally to mean that there are in fact demons plaguing everything, when in fact there might just be a perfectly sound medical reason behind it.  I think this is where the “demon behind every bush” mentality comes from, from which many Christians suffer.  Whenever someone had symptoms of what we now know to be biologically explainable, it was reasoned that a “demon” was behind that behavior.  Could it possibly be that they simply lacked the knowledge and the vocabulary that we have today?  Demons are, after all, a whole lot easier to explain and shift blame upon than abandonment issues and schizotypal personality disorder!

This is where I think the life of the American Evangelical is guided by a sense of Christian “superstition” more than it is on true Biblical knowledge and sound wisdom.  In an effort to remain untouched by the evils of this world, we have separated and sheltered ourselves, at the cost of being in touch with reality, and allowed our lives and our faith to become something resembling that of an ancient relic in a museum:  interesting to look at, but having no legitimate function and thus serving no real purpose in today’s world.

Many church leaders give counseling, while they are hardly qualified to do so.  Very few of them have had any training.  Even fewer have any respect at all for modern psychology as a legitimate science.  Many of them are, in fact, in dire need of counseling themselves.

I have, for years, struggled with depression and anxiety.  Several of my family members have struggled with these conditions as well.  My aunt and my first cousin (my dad’s sister and her son) both committed suicide due to mental illness.  Of course, I went for years without being diagnosed.  Once I became a Christian, I heard that depression was a “demon” and that if I just prayed enough, fasted enough, read my Bible enough, stopped listening to all that rock ‘n roll music (it is the “Devil’s music,” after all), stopped watching R-rated movies, stopped drinking alcohol, and a whole host of other prescriptions offered by misguided but well-meaning believers, that I would no longer be plagued by that demonic spirit of depression.  I think all that was missing from this spell was the addition of an eye of newt, frog’s breath, and the bark of a dog at the moon at midnight!  Ren and I have remarked on how similar witchcraft and Christianity can be in certain circles.  We call it Witchianity.  We read our book of special magic words (the Bible) and recite our incantations (prayers) over whatever situation we currently need help with and–POOF!  Your wish is my command.

Needless to say, here I am 13 years, 4 children, 3 mortgages, and 2 bouts of postpartum depression later, and I find myself on Zoloft.  *Screech*  What?!?!?  You mean all that praying and scripture recitation didn’t help???  I have been on Zoloft now for about 4-5 months.  And what can I say?  It doesn’t feel like I’m “on” anything at all.  I feel, for the first time in a long time, normal.  Whatever that means.  I feel more like myself than I’ve ever felt.  I feel like this is the real me; the “me” that was previously being hidden by and shrouded in guilt, fear, anger, shame, and depression.  It’s honestly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.  I now think to myself, “So this is what it feels like to love what you do.  This is what it feels like to be thankful and not be afraid all the time.  This is what it feels like to actually enjoy your life.”

I now understand why the rest of the world is so completely fed up with us and our message.  I get it.  I’ve been told the same thing.  “Just change yourself by doing X, Y, Z.  You’ll be much, much happier.”

Yeah?  But what if it’s not that simple?  Because I’m living proof of that it isn’t.

I don’t think the Bible is supposed to be an owner’s manual of answers for all problems we have in this life.  I’ve often thought that instead of reading the Bible as a prescription for life, is it to be read more as a description of the lives of men and women, who were inspired by God.  The Bible is not a science book, nor is it a self-help manual.

We preach values that even we cannot keep.  What are people supposed to think of parents who tout the political message of abstinence, while their children are getting pregnant out of wedlock?  Or a pastor that preaches against homosexuality, and yet has clandestine affairs with a male prostitute in his spare time?  How is the rest of the world supposed to take our views on marriage seriously when even we do not, and those within the church are experiencing the same divorce  rate as those outside the church?  There’s a serious problem here, and it’s high time we paid attention to it.  It might seem that I’m coming down too hard on my peeps here, but I think it might be necessary.  We are smarter than this.  We can do better.

A few years back there was a popular baby-rearing method floating around in Christian circles called Babywise or Growing Kids God’s Way (rather presumptuous title, don’t you think?) developed by Gary and Anne Marie Ezzo.  While many have used and praised the method for getting children to sleep through the night, much of their advice goes directly against what the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends.  Still, because they were Christians, many well-meaning but misguided believers put their methods into practice.  Since then, thankfully, their teachings have become quite controversial and less popular, since much of what they taught has been debunked by actual doctors, as unfortunately many babies suffered as a result of their lack of expertise.

I am tired of the lie that we must either choose between the Bible or what the secular world has to offer.  There’s the world’s way or there’s God’s way.  God’s politics or the world’s politics.  Is God really a card-carrying Republican?  Must there always be such an ultimatum?  Is God really so far removed from the ways of men and women?  This is fundamentalism at its very worst, because it limits the ways in which God can work.  Talk about putting God in a box.  Fundamentalism, no matter what it’s based upon, is a dangerous way to approach this complex, complicated, vast world in which we live.  If we choose to believe only in science, then we’ve turned our backs on all the wonderful ways that faith in God can enrich a person’s life.  If we choose to believe in JUST the Bible, then we reject all the valuable information that field experts have dedicated years of their lives to discover.  I think the challenge for us to try and find a balance somewhere in between, for it is there where we will find the most peace.

Once again, Michael, over at The Christian Monist, has a lot of insight on this as well.  I thought this post was outstanding.

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