Christianity | A Crutch for Psychological Impairment

Is Christianity a crutch for the psychologically impaired? As a Christian who spends time preaching in the streets, prisons, and rescue missions, I encounter interesting questions. The one at hand relates to the utility of Christianity. Some genuinely ask questions, hoping to gain understanding. Others only ask to facilitate their scoffing. Common or repetitive questions tend not to be original thoughts but parrot some common source of influence. A few assumptions are implicit in our topic. First, Christianity is a mere crutch for the mentally halted. Second, psychologically impaired individuals compose Christianity while sanity exists in the secular world.

Social disasters are the result of a system of choices. As demonstrated in recent years, the world has no boundaries to limit its options. Morally speaking, the world consists of malleable creatures willing to conform to any perverse viewpoint. This conformity is seen as heroic, strong, and progressive. Toward what they are progressing is unbelievably unclear. But, this is where natural opposition from Christianity is brought to light. Our moral posture is defined biblically. It is outlined in writing by a righteous transcendent being. We are unwilling to move with the course of this world. This incites the idea that Christianity is a crutch.

Christians have clearly defined boundaries that tend toward righteousness. That does not mean we adhere perfectly, but goodly constraints keep us on track. The world hastily sheds constraint. Thus, they no longer desire the police. They want to arbitrarily empty prisons. We have entered an age in which culpability is despised.

Christianity is a crutch for the weak, a claim levied by people who often stumble in drunkenness. These, I presume, are psychologically fit. Weekly religious rituals of depleting finances at the local bar will suffice. People of this sort do not need a crutch like Christianity - they have weekends of drunkenness to assist their hobbling. They lack the wisdom required to realize their self-prescribed cure is an extension of their frail existence. When the highlight of a person's week consists of alcohol blackouts and perverse forms of sexual immorality, it's obvious a crutch will not help.

When preaching on the streets or in rescue missions, I often encounter society's "alcoholics." The Bible calls them "drunkards" and deals harshly with their chosen lifestyle. They are sad sights to behold, their lives ravaged, relationships cut off, employment long gone, but they have an opinion regarding the validity of Christianity. Their discontent is based on a desire to remove reward from conduct. They hope to receive positive recompense for sinful living.

More specifically, they hope to remove negative consequences, despite the merit. In their mindset, one should be able to live, feel, and think independent of reality. Connecting feelings to facts has tangible repercussions. Then, meeting people who adhere to a godly framework furthers elucidation. Realization between choice and consequence sparks righteous indignation. As long as one can freely play the role of societal victim, their feelings are justified.

The drunkard is easy to pick on from a biblical perspective. The Bible is clear regarding the abuse or the use of such substances. Proverbs 23:29-35 KJV describes the vicious cycle of an alcoholic. "Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again." This passage clearly describes substance abuse and the accompanying victim mentality. The two are inseparable. The addict seeks the damaging substance while claiming he had no choice.

Of course, this is not exclusive to individuals that drink; they are just one example. All who rejected Christianity could have received transformative help. They had the option to escape financial ruin, sexual perversion, laziness, lack of character, failed relationships, and broken families. The Bible says, "God gave all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue" 2 Peter 1:3 KJV. Yet, people approach life as though every approach is valid. Proverbs 16:25 KJV: "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

Christians are strange to this world. Their use of clean language. The denial of alcohol or drug use. The attachment to modesty and covering their flesh. The unusual lack of gender confusion. Then there is the uncommon practice of paying bills and the anomalous behavior of maintaining personal responsibilities. They even adopt the mindset of loyalty to their spouse. Moral degradation alongside scriptural drought produces a world ready to accept any form of perversion. But, there will be no place for a biblical framework.

I realize professing Christians have failed in one or more of these areas. Christians can not uphold every biblical expectation, but this does not infer trouble with Christianity. The word of God exists as light to sinful man, and all have sinned. I'm not attempting to argue Christians are perfect but that all men everywhere are imperfect and need God's help. Christianity is the solution. Luke 5:32 (KJV) "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." We might consider the level to which one life is broken versus another. We can accept that one life might have fared better than others, but regardless of the level of success or failure, the solution is the same. This is more than a mere pathological phenomenon that can be cured with a crutch.

"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus" 2 Timothy 1:13 KJV. The life of a Christian is built upon absolute truth provided in writing by the true and living God. The more individuals give themselves over to God's word, the more stability they should expect. But, this comes at the risk of being accused of lacking psychological soundness. Denial of responsibility is seen as a quest for human freedom, but the result has been a rise in nihilistic behavior, the likes of which I am afraid we have yet to see the depths. They are determined to sow one seed and yet to reap other than that which they planted. The cycle will continue, and everyone is supposed to pretend the wretched weed that grows is a beautiful rose.

That brings us to one of the world's most coveted doctrines: tolerance. Meaning: "Believe what we believe and live like we live so we can tolerate you." Oddly, the adherents of this doctrine respond to biblical morality with intolerant outrage. They offer no valid replacement for biblical standards, just shouting down dissidents into submission. Utopia would instantly appear if they could just convince Bible believers to forsake moral standards. A bloody and wicked utopia, but utopia, nonetheless. Blind ideology leads to open lunacy; the more the world declares itself tolerant, the more divided it becomes. Tolerance requires setting intolerant boundaries. If one decides they disapprove of nothing, why does the doctrine exist? It is used (mainly as a tool for Marxist Cultural Revolution) to facilitate life without restraints. But, the doctrine comes with forced beliefs that demand submission. The idea that people exist one must decide to tolerate is incoherent. The tolerant usurp a place of moral superiority, but morality is ground they gave up long ago. Selecting a group or individual and determining their need to either be tolerated or given special protection is discriminatory. But we all must pretend to be tolerant or suffer the consequences of not being tolerated.

It's difficult for Bible-believing Christians to have discussions along these lines. We face a world that renounced truth long ago. This detachment must exist to help facilitate corrupt narratives. Objectivity is relevant to individuals intending to live life with reality in view. Otherwise, biblical truth and objective data are offensive. In this brave new world, diversity means strict uniformity. Inclusion means selective exclusion, and man could mean woman. The basis for what is offensive or not is determined solely by fleeting opinion. Discussions intended to formulate some mutual foundation of truth spark games of bitter recrimination. Attempts at such conversations require a great deal of fortitude on behalf of the Christian. Woke mobs are inclined to use moral blackmail, and no matter how nonsensical the premise, the mob is on their side.

The standard response of certitude by reality is real; hateful people tend to become what they hate. Christians are accused of shoving religion down people's throats. One would think roaming bands of Christians were in the streets with hands-full of Christianity to force down the throats of otherwise tolerant victims. But, they have become what they hate, actual mobs who will force their perspective on dissenters. Enthusiastic assent will be required, simply disagreeing will be considered criminal.

Unfortunately for the disillusioned tolerant mobs, life does come with responsibility. The Bible defines those responsibilities and instructs us on how to maintain them. All men everywhere are expected to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. Once reconciled, we maintain fellowship with God through rigid adherence to his word. The world at this point is insane. Psychology was once man's attempt to direct this insanity, but now it is a weapon used to attack nonconformists. Christians are to be separate from this world. We accomplish this through obedience to biblical truth.

Defining Christianity as a crutch highlights confused presuppositions. It demonstrates a misunderstanding of the nature of man. It also exhibits the person's insufficient knowledge of the problem Christianity solves. These are matters of eternal consequence, not simply a crutch to help aid someone stumbling through life. Finally, man's first and greatest need is to escape condemnation. When a building is condemned, we do not add crutches to hold it up, it must be torn down and a new structure built in its stead. Christianity is the foundation for an entirely new building.