Jesus, my Opiate.

“We may even discover that much of our image of God, and even our reasons for coming to religious faith, have psychological roots. To discover such things creates a great deal of anxiety and can even shake one’s faith. A faith unexamined, however, always runs the risk of being a faith in idols rather than a faith in God.” –Dr. Michael Mangis

We have lived under auspices of modernity and Fundamentalism for so long that most of us have grown up with this need to be “objective” and absolute with our faith. Our churches, the tracts we hand out, the apologetic books we read exist to solidify certainty in our minds, that our faith is logical and worth believing apart from our own needs, able to stand empirically against the “demons” of post-modernity, evolution, and moral decay. We defend our faith against statements like, “Religion is the opiate of the masses,” because it paints us as needy people, and we sure as hell don’t want to be viewed as weak by the world.

The more honest I am with myself, the more I realize I am not objective. Everything I think, say, and do is affected by my experiences, culture, and upbringing. It’s about time that the myth of objectivity lies down to die.

We are so fond of saying, “There’s a God-shaped hole inside of everyone.” Is it so scary to admit that the God-shaped hole might be partly psychological in nature? Is it so wrong to admit that we are indeed weak, and that God is simultaneously our Lord and opiate? Why does it offend our sense of competency to confess that we could not breath without Him? (After all, don’t all things hold together in Christ?) Does our brokenness and need for love and community necessarily make God any less real? The more I know about myself, the more I must confess that I am not strong, but that it is only His grace that is sufficient. It is His strength in my weakness. Actually, I believe that we are all weak. Some of us merely choose to acknowledge it.

In attempting to reconcile the “hermeneutic of suspicion” (recognizing that we are not capable of objectivity) with some Christian absolute truth, Dr. Mangis says the following: “A Christian hermeneutic of humility and confidence, therefore, will answer yes to the first question- there is an authoritative heart of truth- but will answer no to the second- we cannot know that truth with objectivity.” We then, as Christians, are in the pursuit of that truth, but cannot know it absolutely until we see Him face to face, since, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Cor 13:12). We live in the process of coming to know the truth.

In the end, the person and work of Jesus Christ is whom we hang onto. It is the one thing that I know. As Paul said, “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

A quote from my journal:

“I’m so glad for Jesus. He keeps my feet grounded and my heart floating. He calls me to stay away from dwelling long in self-pity or anger. He calls me to lift my eyes beyond myself and shows me that there is more to this world than me. His love anchors me when my emotions throw me about. He is unchanging, yet our dynamic relationship is never stale. He is my Lord, for whom I am thankful.”