Sigmund Freud, in his essay called The Question of the Difficulty of Psychoanalysis, claims that the Copernican Revolution, the concept of Darwinian Evolution, and his own Freudian concept of the unconscious represent three great humiliations of mankind that force us to reconsider our supposed superiority in terms of our position in the cosmos, our relationship with other species and, ultimately, our assumed control over our own minds.

That is a long sentence, but the implications are interesting, to say the least. Freud lived a long time ago and things have changed since then but the effects of his analysis are still felt on many levels of society.

The Copernican Revolution demonstrates that the Earth is not the center of the Universe but is merely a blue dot in the vastness of the universe. The church, at that time, believed that our importance and relationship to God meant that we would physically have a central position in the universe, physically as well. At the time, Copernicus was not well received by the church, to say the least, but today we don’t believe that the physical orientation of the Earth has anything to do with our relationship with God.

Besides, things in science have gone far beyond the Copernican Revolution to include concepts like the Big Bang and therefore the possibility of an intelligent, creative, and powerful “force” or “being” that created something out of nothing. And since we have never encountered anything in the history of mankind that was intelligent, creative, and powerful that was not also a “person,” the concept of God has once again taken center stage even in the world of science. Sure, there are many, including Stephen Hawkins, who was mostly responsible for the Big Bang Theory in the first place who are desperately looking for a way out of that conundrum but so far have failed.

When it comes to the Darwinian concept of Evolution, it is true that there are still those who hold on to some form of evolutionary development for mankind even though the Darwinian form of evolution has been largely abandoned. Attempts to resurrect it with the concept of “mutational development” at certain moments in the development of mankind from lower species have sparked great movies, such as The X Men, but little else.

For those of us who are Christians, mutational jumps in development sound more like creational interventions by this intelligent, creative, and powerful being who started everything in the first place. But Freud is correct that a couple of generations of young people have been taught this as gospel truth and it has led many astray.

The truth is that science has moved beyond these concepts and has become more agnostic in its concept of truth. Freud believed that science “fully revealed” the truth about our life and our world but today there is a sense that science has been wrong so often that it would be better to be a little more circumspect in our pronouncements of truth. Not many scientists would claim that science is the only source of truth in our postmodern world. Now we have a more disastrous concept that “perception is reality,” which keeps truth solely in the realm of the subjective subconscious.

That leads us to the third humiliation of man that Freud spoke about which was his discovery of the unconscious and the determinism that comes from that source. Mankind does not even have control over his mind and lives in the illusion of free will when, really, he is subject to the whims and wiles of an unruly subconscious that is full of desire, trauma, impulses, and all manner of “evils” that affect our daily lives. Although the concepts of Freud have also been developed by a variety of other psychoanalysts over time, the basic concept of the unconscious remains with us and the resulting determinism, now supported by more modern concepts such as the influence of DNA, and society on our subconscious, is still supported by evolutionary psychology.

I am not trying to give a deep analysis of these concepts and am hardly qualified to do so in any event. What I am saying is that for society to believe that “perception is reality” when it is precisely our subject “perception” that is determined by forces beyond our conscious mind and will, is a dangerous place to come to.

But to come back to the concept of the humiliation of man in these three concepts it is mostly found in this last idea of the Freudian concept of the subconscious and the resulting determinism that it implies. How much of our lives is determined by these dark forces shaped by DNA and the traumas of youth and so on is still an open question. The illusion of free will is still with us but most scientists believe that the determinism that controls us is “almost” complete.

That tiny space of actual decision-making that is left to us has given rise to such things as the Philosophers of Death (starting with Epicurus 341 BC – 270 BC) who believe that only in the face of death, or the real contemplation of death, can one throw off the dictates of society and the determinism of our subconscious to make our own decisions. There may be some truth in this approach but the issue, for Christians, is mute. There is a better way. We will get to that shortly.

In the meantime, it appears that the humiliation of man is somewhat true even if not entirely so. Earth is a blue spot in the vastness of space. Mankind is connected to the animal kingdom even if there is evidence for something more. But most of all, the determinism of the subconscious, DNA, and the influence of society are very true forces that need to be overcome by a more powerful force, perhaps the very “force” that we try to deny so vehemently in our world. The spirit of the age is unbelief and secular humanism still holds sway over millions of people but the very thing they deny is the only thing that will free us from the chains that we have placed on ourselves.

Now, I am moving into a Christian interpretation of reality.

One that started in a garden at the beginning of time. If we assume that there is a Creator and that Mankind is both a sentient “animal” with a soul and the capacity to relate to others and to his Creator, then we are off to a good start. But what happened? How did this darkness descend on the mind of man? How did he become a slave to his desires, trauma, dark thoughts, and the like? How did he become a sheep when he was destined to be a lion? Here we need to talk about the humiliation of God. After all, this entire section is about The Religious Spirit but without understanding its origins, we don’t understand anything, and it is important to be able to see it and recognize it clearly if we have any hope of defeating it in the church.

Do you remember the movie Notting Hill with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant? The key moment was when she said to him “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.” And he says nothing until he talks to his friends about it and realizes his stupidity and chases after her and the movie ends happily. That doesn’t always happen in real life, but we like our movies to inspire hope that it might, just might, happen to us that way as well.

Now go back to the garden at the beginning of time where God has created the man and the woman and has presented them with a choice to love him or not. Obey him or not. Prioritize the relationship with him over any and all benefits that they think may come their way or not. God’s question is “Do you love me enough to trust me to be in charge, to be your God, to take care of you and give you everything that you will ever need?” And then he waited for the answer they would give. With their actions in eating from the tree of good and evil, which God had told them not to eat, they said, “What’s in it for me?” They were more interested in the benefits than in the relationship with God. And that is the fundamental problem of all relationships ever since.

People get married for a lot of reasons. We claim in our vows that we will stay together and love one another “in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, until death do us part.” Lies. All lies. Mostly. We might believe that in the moment, but real life demonstrates that more than half of all marriages end in divorce, within the church as well and that most of those that stay together are loveless marriages held together by a focus on the children or the financial burden of an actual divorce. Very few get to old age, still intact, still in love, still focused on each other.

Statistically, men often leave their wives if they get sick with cancer since they no longer have the benefit of a wife (and sometimes a mother for their children) and he has to take on roles that he would rather not have. Statistically, women often leave their husbands if they have financial problems and can no longer provide the lifestyle that they have become accustomed to. People marry for social status, security, sex and the like but true love is rare.

The reason is simple. There is something wrong with us, deep in our subconscious so to speak, an almost primal commitment to ourselves that is more than a survival instinct, more than just protecting ourselves in a world that is dangerous. When we prioritize the “benefits” over the “relationship” with God, it affects all of our relationships to one degree or another. There are some exceptions obviously, but it still holds true in general. It certainly is true in reverse. When a relationship with God is at the center of a relationship, there is more hope for longevity in the marriage as well.

Point being that there is something wrong with us that comes from that primal rejection of God’s authority over our lives. Even Freud said something similar (not about God) that we all reject the authority of our fathers and embrace intimacy with our mothers. In other words, we want to be an authority unto ourselves, deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong and dedicating ourselves to the pursuit of happiness, or pleasure, or intimacy (or whatever you want to call it) to fill the void that is left behind when we reject the “intimacy” of a relationship with our Creator.

But let’s go deeper still in order to find and eradicate this cancer in our souls.

The problem is not just that we chose the “benefits” over the “relationship” when Eve said to herself (and Adam agreed with his actions in following the lead of his wife) that God was keeping something from them that would be to their benefit. The Bible tells us “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6 NIV). There was no consideration for the will of her Creator only what was good for them, what was “desirable” and what was “pleasing.” Benefits. Not relationship.

And that is at the heart of the problem of relationships the world over.

Do you remember the movie Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio who is a professional thief who infiltrates the subconscious of his targets to learn their deepest secrets and beliefs. Cobbs (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is wanted for his wife’s murder, but he believes that he can rescue her at the deepest levels of his subconscious where the most basic “concepts” or “beliefs” are held. It’s a great movie and makes an important point for us to consider. Even though the mind is still one of the great mysteries of life, and the concept of the subconscious is still under scrutiny and study (and even rejected by some), the idea that there are basic “beliefs” or “concepts” deeply rooted in our mind is a very Christian concept.

Once you see it, you see it everywhere.

The concept that what it means to be human is to be able to make your own decisions. Freedom is the freedom of choice, whether good or bad. Everyone has the right to “go to hell in their own way.” People have fought wars over this concept of freedom and rightly so. The alternatives proposed by the authoritarianism of Nazism and the like are intolerable. In this world, without God, it is the only solution to total chaos. The freedom of the individual is enshrined in our country´s DNA which states that everyone has “the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

I agree that it may be a necessary evil, one that even God grants us during this time of purgatory, but it is still an “evil” that we, as Christians, need to recognize and eradicate from our lives. Even without God, there is evidence of a better way. When a poor man comes to my door asking for a handout, I often resent it and him (whether or not I give him anything). But if my daughters ask for food, or a new bike, or something else which is in my power to give them, I do it gladly.

What is the difference? Love, of course. The slavery of love is the freedom of the will.

When you want to do what is good, you are free. There is no obligation, no regret, no takebacks, no sense of dread or difficulty. Whatever the cost to you, if you love someone, you are a “slave” to that love in the sense that your will has “willingly” chosen to prioritize that person over yourself. We value that kind of “freedom” even though we aren’t always sure what it is that makes us love someone, what it is that creates that love in us. Perhaps it is nothing more than chemicals in our brain as scientists like to claim or that my neurosis is being fed by the relationship. But I believe that these experiences of love are traces of God’s grace that give us hope and to give the lie to the primal concept of the “freedom of choice.”

So, there it is. The freedom of choice or the slavery of love.

What is true freedom? We all know that it is love but the experience of it is so fleeting and difficult to maintain that we often compartmentalize it as romantic love or give up on it altogether. When it is directed toward God, it has the power to last a lifetime and last into eternity and, at the same time, influence our lives for good here and now. It has the power to heal relationships, restore marriages, and produce love even for our enemies.

The point is that the “freedom of choice” is the true slavery and humiliation of mankind because we also believe that doing “evil,” however that looks, is an option for us. The Devil deceived us into his way of thinking but in the process made us slaves to the “option of evil.” God also knows the difference between good and evil and always chooses the good. He is not a slave to the “option of evil” but rather a slave to the “freedom of love” which he proved on the cross.

But the devil has convinced mankind that this choice we made to prioritize our own “benefits” even if they are wrong for us or the people around us, is true freedom. He has turned what is truly a “curse” and convinced us that it is a “blessing” that we need to be willing to fight and die for. Almost every movie, book, or theatre piece promotes it even if they also mention the beauty of “love.” The hero in the end wins the love of the woman he has saved. All the talk about love in contemporary culture does not associate the concept of “freedom” with it because there is always a price to be paid for true love and we are not always willing to pay it. At least not for a lifetime. Romantic love is simply not strong enough.

So, in the end, Freud was half right.

There is something wrong with us deep in our minds, deep in our innermost thoughts and beliefs about ourselves and the world we live in. That rejection of the authority of our Father that Freud mentions (although he didn’t mean it was God), is the heart of the problem. That rejection did not give us freedom but condemned us to slavery and that is also demonstrated everywhere in society. That is the true humiliation of man, but it is also the humiliation of God.

After all, he was just asking us to love him by obeying him and allowing him to be the loving authority we need in our lives and our answer was, “What’s in it for me?” Love unrequited. Love rejected. The deep humiliation of God is at the heart of our problems whenever we choose “the option of evil” in order to get what we want.

We have all done it and every time we do, we humiliate God even further.

And this is true even in religion for those that claim to love God or follow him. It is true of all religions in fact. To use animistic religions as a basic example, sacrifices were made, even of their own children, in order to secure the blessings of rain and a good harvest. Variations on that theme exist in every religion in the world, including Christianity. At it’s worse, the Catholic Church “sold” forgiveness to pay for their religious wars.

But even in evangelical churches, many people believe in some sort of prosperity theology or triumphalism that claims the benefits of healing, of prosperity, of answered prayers (whatever it is that they ask for) on the basis of being Christians. There is no concept of pleasing God whether or not you get what you ask for. There is no “Job testimony” that declares the goodness of God in the midst of terrible grief and personal disaster. There is no sense of “in sickness or in health, for richer or for poorer, until we meet in glory.” That kind of love for God is also difficult to find. But it is the most powerful and is the source of all true freedom of the will because you “want” to do what pleases him and you “want” to pay whatever price is necessary to do so. What a testimony to the transformation of the human heart. Getting there is the problem.

This is a post about the religious spirit that invades our churches.

Yes, it has the “form of godliness but denying its power” (2 Timothy 3:5 NIV) and the Pharisees and the Sadducees are great examples of what that means. The problem is that we don’t believe that we are like them when in fact we are. Just in a different way. Until we get it straight in our heads that we can make no claims on God or his promises and that he, alone, will determine what is good or evil for us, we don’t understand anything.

It isn’t about what we get out of the relationship (although peace and joy are abundant even in suffering), but about how we can please God, just like I want to please my daughters and I don’t even think twice about the cost. It is no sacrifice for me to give them (and my wife) what they need or even want. It is a pleasure, and it brings me joy and I am happy to do so every day of their lives. The question is whether or not it is also true in my relationship with God.

After all, he is “just” my Creator, my Father, the one who died for me on the cross, standing in front of one of his children, asking him or her to love him. If our answer is “What’s in it for me?” or “Will you answer my prayers?” or “Will you solve this or that problem?” then you humiliate God and are caught in the web of lies that make up the “religious spirit.” If our answer is based on love, there is nothing more to say. We will do anything and accept anything from our Father whether we get what we want or not, simply because he is the most important person to us, and we love him unconditionally. Getting there is the question, and we cannot do that without his help, so it starts with prayer. If you need more love for God start by asking him for it and then get to work reading his word to cleanse your mind and join him in his redemptive purpose.

The religious spirit is the humiliation of God. The only solution is loving obedience.

It isn’t automatic, even though faith is given as a gift, and hope for righteousness is born from that faith. As the Bible says, “These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV). Why is love the greatest? Because it lasts into eternity. Faith will no longer be necessary because we will be able to see the truth with our own eyes. Hope will be fulfilled in the mercy we receive before his throne. But love, love lasts forever and without it we would not survive his presence and would flee to the deepest regions of hell to escape his probing eyes.

Loving obedience is the answer, but love is developed in the context of life and ministry, especially the ministry of reconciliation where we are dedicated to bringing people to God and helping them to heal all of their relationships on earth. Our creational jobs are simply tentmaking opportunities to support our redemptive mission of reconciliation. That is why the sun comes up every morning, that is the meaning of our lives, and that is the way we show our loving obedience to his will by joining him in his great rescue operation underway at this very moment.

Love for God cannot exist in a vacuum. “If you love me, keep my commands,” (John 14:15 NIV) Jesus said. Loving obedience can only be developed in the context of your life ministry focused on the Ministry of Reconciliation, however you accomplish that with your combination of creational and spiritual gifts. That, in turn, can only happen if our minds are washed and cleansed by the truth of the Word of God which is also an ongoing process.

The interesting thing is that loving God, staying true to that North Star of pleasing him even though it costs you everything, developing the mentality of Christ through the word of God clears the mind, dampens the dark thoughts, replaces dark desires with new, glorious ones, and transforms the humiliation of man into the glory of man before the throne of God.

As the Bible says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Ephesians 5:25-27 NIV). Our minds are cleansed “by the washing with water through the word.” We think differently. We know the truth about God and ourselves. We prioritize loving others and God. It is contagious and can make our marriages great again, heal broken relationships, and testify to the transformation within. What’s not to like?

So, Freud is both right and wrong.

He is right that there is a great humiliation of mankind because of the darkness of his mind but he is wrong that there is no solution (other than his psychoanalysis according to him). The solution is in Christ and his love for the church, where he works together with us in ministry and cleanses our mind with his word as we lovingly obey and follow his lead in our lives.

Making that happen in the church is what we will talk about in the following posts but, for now, it is important to recognize that this tendency to the religious spirit and the humiliation of God is in all of us because of our connection with Adam and Eve and is the original sin of mankind against God. It doesn’t go away just because we ignore it or believe that somehow, we have overcome it in our church. It is always there, and it is a fight to the death every day and in every situation that we face and takes constant vigilance and prayer to turn our hearts to God.

Thankfully we have his help and continued support even though the fight is not over until we are standing before his throne on the final day. And what a glorious day that will be.