From: conditt@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Paul Conditt)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Christian Movement for the Dsyfunctional
Date: 26 Jan 93 08:25:42 GMT
Organization: Applied Research Laboratories, University of Texas at Austin

In article <Jan.25.00.39.34.1993.4514@athos.rutgers.edu> ap932@cleveland.freenet.edu (Larry Cuy) writes:
>It continues to amaze me how many dsyfunctional people are 
>attracted to the new Christian movement.  Much of its preaching
>of intolerance and hate seems to be an excellent channel for
>dsyfunctional people to redirect their anger and also their
>addictions.  Seems as though many of these people swept into
>this movement were searching for something and found a sense
>of community in the movemen.  However, they then become as
>addicted to beliefs in a fanatical manner believing that they
>have finally found a answer to their confusion.
>
>It appears that many of the radical people attracted to the
>movement are more clearly in need of long term psychotherapy
>rather than a new belief system, i.e.- Christianity.

Unfortunately, your assessment is very accurate.  When people are addicted
to something, if they don't work through the addiction, they will usually
replace one addictive behavior with another.  Religious addiction is
very common, because, like being a work-a-holic, the symptoms are very
acceptable.  Your addiction causes you to do more and more works, which
make it seem like your faith is growing, but in reality you are just 
acting out on your addiction.

Some churches and movements are starting to realize this.  The legalistic
stance that many congregations take is very appealing to someone who has
the propensity to become a religious addict.  The message of sin and
death must be complemented with the message of grace.  One message 
without the other is a distortion of the truth.  However, some churches
have gone too far toward focusing only on God's grace.  Sin is viewed as
a personality flaw or just a weakness.  The damage that sin does is
downplayed.  However, God cannot and will not be in the presence of sin.
But thank God that he decided to take care of that for us by sacrificing
his son.  This is grace.

The environment of most churches also fosters a great deal of co-dependency.
The idea of putting others before yourself is carried one step further
and turns into not being able to be yourself without others.  This is not
what God intended.

One of the dangers we face as a Christian community is to not let pop
psychology address these issues.  There is a lot we can learn from the
study of psychology, but unless it is applied according to the truth 
(God's word), it will provide incomplete and erroneous answers.

To this end, I am currently pursuing a new career in graduate school :)
to prepare me for a new career as a counselor.  I'm applying only to 
theological seminaries that also offer a PhD in psychology so that I
can learn the psychological principles in conjunction with applying them
according to the truth.  Although the accusations brought out above
are true, many people can, and are, doing something about them.  The
body of Christ will never be perfect until he comes back to take us
with him, but we can strive to make it more Christ-like.


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