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The Christian Psychosis

By psychosis I don't mean to imply Christians are crazy per se, after all I am a Christian and I hope I'm not crazy -- however as a humorous aside, how would a crazy person really know they are crazy?  Anyhow, by psychosis I do mean that many people who claim to be Christian do seem...well a bit odd.  I know, I know.  Define odd.  But I think most people know what I mean. 

Many Christians behave in an unstable or socially untenable manner. For example, many Christians while supposed to be well grounded in source-able biblical precepts are instead champions of vagaries.  Did I just prove my own point? 

Actually, what I mean is that many Christians will use phrases and concepts not even found in the Bible or if found in the Bible they so personalize the concept as to make it biblically unrecognizable.  An example of this is how many Christians speak of "love".  Unfortunately, many Christians will chastise others, even other Christians for being "unloving".  The problem is, it seems they define love as simply being overly nice, overly passive whereas the Bible defines love as obeying Jesus' commands (John 14:15).  This is what I meant by Christian psychosis.  It most likely has nothing to do with the person being a Christian.

This psychosis is also often manifested in aggressive rather than passive ways -- actually it is typically manifested in passive-aggressive ways.  An example of this is how some Christians view themselves as mighty righters of wrong, or master "apologists" out to defend the faith against all foes foreign and domestic -- against pagans and against supposed "wolves in sheep's clothing Christians".  That is the "aggressive" part.  The passive part is how such a person usually will only do this mighty "work" from a safe distance or when he or she has the backing of some support group, otherwise he or she is usually not really up to the task.  Please understand the distinction between this kind of person and the kind of person that ACTUALLY and simply points out facts, evidence, sources in an effort to distinguish Christian doctrine from all other ideology.  The latter kind is a REAL "apologist/defender" of historic Christianity.

But my question is, were these people in these psychoses BEFORE they ever claimed to be Christian?  I highly suspect they were.  Christianity simply becomes a conduit to channel the delusions of self-worth and ability.  The person is able to fashion a role for themselves.  They often will be narcissistic, calling on people to "watch what they do next" as if people are interested in and rely upon the person's ability or persona to guide them.  It really is a form of grandeur which is actually counter to the ideology of humility which is Christianity's core. 

If there were a way to go back and examine the lives and actions of these psychotics (wow, that didn't sound nice to even type), we would probably see they were like this even before claiming to be a Christian.  Self-absorbed, starving for attention, and being impressed with themselves.

I know, I know to say this is like a double-edged sword.  By pointing out this psychosis, maybe *I* am guilty of it?  Well, I'm always trying to self-assess why I do what I do, you know the whole "examine yourselves"  of 2 Cor 13:5.  I am convinced that the "disciples" mentioned in John 6:64-66 who after hearing Jesus tell them people can't even believe in Him unless the Father GRANTS it, I am convinced that some of these disciples as the text says abandoned Jesus specifically because they realized they weren't really Christians.  Perhaps they were following this Jesus guy around the countryside so they could see a cool miracle or because they wanted some of that free fish and chips He was handing out.

Look, I'm not trying to say who is and isn't a Christian EXCEPT that when folks inhabit more of a personal psychosis than textual, historical, biblical Christianity, then something else is going on there.  To make matters worse is when you have outright cults and heresies that are NOTHING like any kind of historic Christian expression yet these groups want to be accepted as "Christian".

I end with quoting 2 Cor 13:5

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in
you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

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A Question of Truth

Wow. I love your creative style! I'm REAL glad I discovered your site. I'm inspired! :)

With respect, thanks for this article. It was very informative. I couldn't help but chuckle at its humour though. I know you were being serious, but it kinda touched a funny bone...sorry. :D

With respect, in regards to your third paragraph: it was particularly insightful to me. I'm a Christian, and while I do have apologetic-type spats with non-Christians on the YouTube forum from time to time, I recently became acquainted with a sweet Christian person who seems to be rigorously bent toward the "Christian evangelistic message" of God loves everyone (using John 3:16 as a reference), and went so far as to comment that God really isn't angry with sinners, and it's not showing love to call unbelievers "unregenerate" sinners--despite the fact that these particular foul-mouthed, perverse "sinners" were openly insulting this sweet Christian. But after it was told them that "God is really not angry with you, and loves you--and I do too" they relented...as I noticed. Not to come across as being a self-righteous prig here, but I am increasingly frustrated with those particular non-believing, arrogant, intellectual (at least they THINK they are!) bullies who taunt, deride and LOVE categorize all Christians as being equal: Irrational fools. From a biblical perspective, this comes as no surprise. The apostle Paul was mocked for his evangelical approach of, "God commands all men everywhere to repent", and by emphasizing the resurrection of Christ as proven fact. The other thing is...even though I'm liable to evangelical blunders myself, it is really heart-wrenching to read comments riddled with Scripture misrepresentation (even when it comes from unbelievers themselves), with adherence to biblical doctrine being abandoned for what might truly be called the "Emotion alone, What feels good alone" sola doctrine of new age Christianity. And by this method then, true biblical Christianity is misconstrued by the unbelieving masses as being something likened to "warm squishy feelings in my guts--hardly compelling doncha think?" as one notable atheist remarked. Add to that the compelling weight of error being fed to unbelievers by these type Christians, with its end result being positively detrimental to lost souls.

I appreciate reading what Stella said about spiritual maturity, and I wholeheartedly agree. As Christians, there certainly has to be--no, MUST be-- a progression of spiritual growth/walk with the Lord. We cannot continue to be "babes" when we really ought to be "teachers" and teaching others (those that are "babes") that Scripture is 2 Tim. 3:16,17, and encouraging others to 2 Tim. 2:15 ["Study" as KJV says], and importantly, for our character toward others: 2 Tim. 2:24-26! Then and only then, if we are truly abiding in God's Word can we know the Truth, and that truth will liberate us in Christ, as Jesus so labels the genuine disciples in John. 8:31,32. Yes, the Bible commands Christian emotions. We are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and minds, and our neighbor as ourselves. However, this should not be misunderstood and then granted the take-what-you-want-license for picking and choosing in Scripture that which best appeals to personal predilections, rather than on what is (or is not) commanded for us to do, whether we might appreciate it or not.   :\  

To Lewis

Welcome Lewis, glad you like the site.  I try to pepper the articles with humor.  Who says theology has to be dull and serious all the time.  Your comments and frustration about how Christians are often portrayed as irrational fools used to frustrate me too...but look at it this way.  Who is more irrational and foolish; A person who believes they are merely advanced hairless apes who because of their weakness must abide by the arbitrary society rules of stronger hairless apes, or the Christian who does what he or she does (even seemingly "irrationally foolish" things) because at least he or she believes there is a higher power running the show?

I don't know about you, but when non-believers, who think they came from apes yet they obey laws made by others apes come and try to claim I'm a fool, I have to laugh.

When you touched on Christian emotions, I agree with you but as you have probably experienced, there is a difference between expressing emotions and expressing emotionalism.  Much of what passes for Christian emotions today is merely raw, Oprah-like emotionalism.

As pointed out, John 14:15 tells us how we show love to Christ -- by OBEYING WHAT HE COMMANDS -- which means we need to know what it is He commands.  Many "baby" Christians want to ignore that and inhabit a world where "love" is defined as something other than what Jesus defined.  HOWEVER, saying this, let us be careful to realize that we aren't the epitome of Christian maturity and that God does use different tools in different ways.

Thanks again for the comments.  See Stella, there you go, you inspired interaction with a fellow Christian -- you're building that community already.

I'm not claiming anyone as a

I'm not claiming anyone as a fool here. I'm claiming both believers and non-believers to be human therefor trying to make their own sense of what the meaning of life is. It is a serious moment in time when people need to stop segregating. Science and religion are 1! A lot of scientists do believe in a higher power just as many Christians believe in the evolving knowledge of science. Why can't they go hand in hand.

Let's face it, no one can really claim the exact knowledge of the universe or "GOD". I am a believer in Christ. But I have speculations that the Bible, written by several different authors, and translated several different times by controlling governments has been interpreted in several different ways. How do we know exactly what the Holy Spirit was trying to convey. Sure every story throughout the Bible and every interpretation throughout history has been inspired by that amazing mystery which stretches beyong the material, physical realm. And that is what we need to focus on. That mysterious peace and balance which surpasses all understanding. You can't put an exact word or concept to it. It is and it pervades all of life. We can as humans inspire each other with poetry, stories, music, good morals, and community in order to better worship that dimension which we call HEAVEN! My personal interpretation of Jesus is just that. I don't believe his message was to segregate humankind but it was more to inspire us towards a greater sense of LOVE and COMPASSION.

I dream of the day when all of humanity can wake up and stop claiming to know the absolute truth. It has caused soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much pain throughout history. 

This post spoke originally of Christ psychosis. Well I lost the greatest love of my life because real "schizophrenic" psychosis along with extreme fundamental people who "councelled" him out of delusion took him away from our common thoughts towards life. I am a loving pure hearted person wanting only the best for others and the world at large. But due to my apprehension to accept everything written in the Bible as ABSOLUTE TRUTH, I am now viewed by these persons to be doomed to a lake of fire and everlasting judgement.

What is wrong with this picture? You tell me???? The Jesus I worship wouldn't judge me so harshly........

Insecure Psychosis

Rod,
Where in the world did you find the word "Vagaries" ?? He he
Anyway, I used to wonder why all the people at my old church were - how shall I put it - 'weird rejects' - (Myself included of course).
But actually, now that I've grown up a little spiritually, I'm finding the spiritually mature are actually more 'normal' to me than the lost or "baby-christians". Perhaps it's a perspective seen through being a citizen of heaven, not the world. At any rate, I know the 'normalcy' comes from the security we can have in our salvation and hope for what's to come. Insecurity leads to all types of insanity - at least in my experience.
Thanks for sharing.
Stella

Yo Stella

Hey there, now I see why you mentioned the "christian psychosis" in your last email.  Vagaries is a word...see.  When I hear Christians talk about a "journey" I think of aimless wandering...vagaries.  Rather, I see our Faith more as a relationship, a fidelity to something more than ourselves.

I like how you point out that perspective changes with maturity.  Maybe the problem is many of us get stuck at the "baby-christian" stage of development so the "weird rejects" picture is as if we are looking at grown people stuffed in the wrapping of toddler clothing :-)

Also what you say here about "insecurity", coupled with comments in your email about a need for community.  Christianity ISN'T a "Just me and Jesus" thing -- Christ came to found a community of saints, edifying, relying on, and building each other up...into that maturity.  Stella, you're more "mature" in your faith then you give yourself credit.

P.S.  You have an account here called STELLA  -- use the form to the left to resend your password.  This way you can comment without waiting for moderation.  :-)

Thanks