In the world of counseling, it is recognized that unresolved fear can morph into anger. An insecure man, afraid of losing his wife, begins to physically abuse her. Why? The fear turns to anger and he attacks the supposed source of his pain. We see that as clearly dysfunctional and absolutely wrong. However, can we not recognize a similar dynamic in some of our religious behavior?
Josh mentioned our tendency to attack other denominations- Here's the same dynamic at work- An insecure religious man, not sufficiently at peace in his walk with God, attacks fellow Christians of differing perspectives. Why? The christian of differing perspective represents an affront to the insecure christian's outlook, heightening his fear, now morphed to anger, so he attacks the supposed source of his pain.
Someone might say.., "That's all well and good, but I am not insecure."
That is exactly what wife-beater's say!
A key counseling concept here is Insight. The degree to which a person seems to be in touch with what really drives him is referred to as insight. Wife-beaters typically have poor insight. They are in complete denial of the powerful emotions coursing through their psyches. They are extremely hesitant to redirect the finger of blame from the external to the internal.
I think religious people are also prone to poor insight. We too often are totally unaware of powerful emotions driving us. We, too, are quick to point fingers at something external and rarely are willing to make ourselves the subject of scrutiny.
I am getting long-winded here.. so what do you think? Agree, think I'm nuts, jump in----
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Morphing into Anger
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3 comments:
Makes sense to me.
Jen
In response to Gabe, I think that it depends on how you go about questioning those beliefs. I often see two ways that people of other beliefs are treated. The first is when they are treated with respect in an effort to understand the differences and approach those differences with a healthy debate. I think this is the path to awareness. By understanding other's beliefs we can grow stonger in ours and hopefully be a witness to them. Unfortunately, I see too many that take a different, and in my opinion, ugly, approach. I think that Jason is correct in that these people are insecure in their own beliefs and therefore lash out at those that don't totally agree with them. This often winds up boiling down into fights about things that may be insignificant.
I can infer from your comments that you fall into the first group Gabe, an d I applaud you for that. I think we're right to question beliefs in false concepts and unfounded priciples. There are obviously some denominations and religions that are very different than ours and based on very shaky (or outright nonsense) concepts. I believe we must question these beliefs and make an effort to show these people the way of Jesus Christ. I worry, however, that the church (speaking generally, not specifically about Sunshine) spends so much time focusing on items like instrumental music that we miss the opportunity to focus on those that don't believe at all.
Sorry for the long-windedness, these are concepts that have been on my heart for some time. Jason, thanks for giving me an outlet to spew my ramblings.
Sorry to chime in so late in the discussion.
Gabe, You are definitely correct in noting that all questioning does not signal insecurity. My goal with this post is to stimulate us in thinking about the predominate emotions that "color" our thinking about all things biblical and Christian. I am not suggesting we move away from the intellectual, but rather, that we include the emotional into our purview. Again, I have been deeply influenced by my counseling training. If a counselor works with a client on a purely intellectual level, success is not very likely. Likewise, an effort informed purely by emotion is also likely to come up short.
As CofC guys, we can "probably" agree that no single person has left a more indelible impression on our heritage than Alexander Campbell. Campbell was a strict student of 17th century philosopher,John Locke. Locke was a strict rational empiricist. It should not be a surprise that we tend to sway heavily to the side of intellect over emotion (even seeing emotion as nothing more than weakness). We come by that honestly.
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