Psychological need for religion?

[Bonnie]

I have this book called Atheism: A Reader, edited by S.T. Joshi. It's a very interesting book, it's basically just a collection of 31 excerpts and essays by various people; Percy Bysshe Shelly, Lucretius, David Hume, George Eliot, Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Paine, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are among them.

In the introduction written by S.T. Joshi, he states:

"A volume like this should not be necessary. After at least twenty-five hundred years in which some of the keenest human minds have established the extreme unlikelihood of the major religious tenets -- that God exists; that human beings are made in the image of God; that the 'soul' is immaterial and immortal; that God is guiding the human race in some particular direction -- the great majority of the human populace continues to embrace these views with blind and unthinking tenacity, and even those who claim a more reasoned 'faith' are unwilling to abandon them in spite of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Of course, religions have always used the inability of science definitively to disprove the existence of God as an excuse for continued belief, forgetting both that it is just as impossible to prove God's existence. In fact, however, the probable truth or falsity of religious beliefs seems nowadays to matter so little to the pious -- or, rather, the truth of religion is regarded as something so incapable of challenge -- that it is deemed rather offensive and disreputable even to make the attempt. But in the interests of truth and sanity, the attempt must be made.

"Let us not be deceived. The overwhelming majority of people on this earth -- including most of those 97 percent of the American population who profess belief in God in some form or other -- are beyond persuasion on this matter. They are, quite literally, incapable of comprehending the issues at stake. It is not merely that they are unable to conduct a course of logical reasoning on this (or any other) matter; it is that, even if the scientific and philosophical evidence were presented to them in a form they could understand, they would rebel at the evidence, because their religious belief is so essential to their psychological well-being that they could not abandon it. In an issue so emotionally charged as this, they cannot think rationally and objectively. To them this book is not directed. They would scoff, they would be offended (as if that reaction in itself were some disproof of its arguments), they would condemn it as heresy, impiety, immorality, and all the other obscurantist smokescreens used by religion from the dawn of time to deflect criticism from itself."

I think that Joshi brings up a lot of good points in this intro -- especially about religion being "essential to... psychological well-being." It seems like some people would be too upset about there being no real purpose to their life or about there being nothing after death if they were to abandon their religion.

I was just wondering what everybody's opinions/thoughts/reflections are about all of this.

Thanks!
Bonnie

[Overcomer]

Make no doubt about it. People do not have a psychological need for religion. Nor can spirituality be attributed to something wired into our brains.

People seek God because he made us and, because he made us in his image, we are spirit beings. This means that we all bear his imprint and the spirit within us seeks the Spirit who gave us life.

Every religion except Christianity is all about man seeking to connect with God. Christianity is all about God coming to earth in the person of Jesus Christ to connect with us.

There is a phrase that as been attributed to both Augustine and Soren Kierkegaard. I expect the latter quoted the former and that's why S.K. is given credit for the statement by some. The statement is simply this: We are all born with a God-shaped space inside of us.

People will put all kinds of things in that God-shaped space. Some will put education, money or power there. Others will put relationships with people, celebrities or sex there. The interesting thing is that even atheists worship something, be it science, logic and reason or their own intellect.

No one should settle for putting ordinary things in place of the extraordinary God who made us and desires to be in a relationship with us. I can tell you from personal experience that receiving the love, joy, peace and contentment from Jesus Christ surpasses anything else this world has to offer.

One last thing. Bonnie wrote:

Well, if somebody really does believe in hell, and they have committed a sin -- let's say for the sake of argument adultery -- that can be very psychologically distressing. Let's say a random Christian guy cheats on his wife. It happens. He went out of town on a business trip, got drunk, met a really tempting woman, the next morning... OOPS. Not only is he guilty because he loves his wife, but he is deeply religious and therefore has violated one of the Ten Commandments. He believes in Hell, and that sinners go to Hell. He has sinned... so why would he be exempt from Hell? No doubt that would make him intensely anguished. But he has been Christian all his life -- why would he abandon his religion now? That would mean abandoning something that he has believed all his life.

You don't understand what it is to be a Christian. It's not simply attending a church or following a belief system. A Christian is a person who is in a relationship with God in the person of Jesus Christ and who is filled with the Holy Spirit. As a Christian, I don't fear going to hell when I commit a sin. My sin has been atoned for by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I am going to heaven even though I am not sinless. That's what Jesus does. He gives his righteousness to the sinner who confesses and repents of his sin and accepts the gift of salvation.

When I sin, I feel badly because I have disappointed God. God is to me what my earthly father is to me, somebody who loves me and wants the best for me and from me. That means that, when I fail, I am upset and I want to do better to please someone who loves me very, very much. But I don't worry about going to hell because Jesus has already taken care of that.

Make no mistake though -- just because my sins are covered, that does NOT give me the right to commit them willy-nilly as I wish. Again, I point you to the love that I, as a Christian, feel for the Lord. Out of love, I want to be everything that he wants me to be. So I eagerly and joyfully work with the Holy Spirit to mature spiritually.

The process of improving one's self and gradually eliminating sins in life is called sanctification. The other thing that you need to know is that, being filled with the Holy Spirit, I have the power of God in me to help me NOT make that mistake again.

Is there such a thing as a perfect Christian? No, because, as I said, sanctification is a process and it lasts a lifetime. Perfection only comes when we enter heaven.

Therefore, when you talk about a man not abandoning something he has believed in all his life, you're missing the point. It isn't a matter of leaving what he has believed. It's a matter of not wanting to leave the one with whom he is in an intimate relationship, that is, Jesus Christ. No true Christian is going to give up that relationship any more than he is going to give up his relationship with his earthly father or his child or his brother or anybody else he loves. Only a nominal Christian, that is, one who isn't really a true Christian in that he doesn't know Jesus personally, would jump ship. A true Christian is going to go to God, knowing he has made a mistake, confessing it, asking for God's help NOT to repeat the error. But he has no fear of going to hell.

I hope that gives you a better understanding of just what it means to be a Christian.