Identifying Poisonous Teachings
When Religion Causes
Pain
By Barrington H. Brennen,
August 4, 2011, July 26, 2018
WORD
Format
Over the years I have written a
few articles about toxic faith. In November 2008 I wrote in an
article entitled “The Church Must Change” that “Toxic faith
prevents one from searching deep into the word of God and one’s
life with an open mind. It makes one depend on someone else to
guide one’s life more than the Creator. If one can break away
from this poisonous faith, there will be a beginning of hope and
a prevention or avoidance of abuse in all its forms.” Stephen
Arterburn and Jack Felton in their book “Toxic Faith,
Experiencing Healing from Painful Spiritual Abuse” list the
forms and variations of toxic faith. They are: compulsive
religious activity, laziness, giving to get, self-obsession,
extreme intolerance, addiction to a religious high.
Toxic faith or
poisonous religion freezes people in a state of
legalism, rigidity, and oftentimes aloofness. When
religion should be bringing us closer with a spirit of
kindness and compassion, far too many religious leaders
are actually creating members who are judgmental, harsh,
and self-righteousness. The concepts of understanding,
tolerance, sensitivity has lost their importance in many
religious houses.
There are many
erroneous theological teachings that have mushroomed in
our churches that are really a corruption of teachings
we’ve held for centuries. For example: Spiritual leaders
are “demanding” that God answer a particular prayer.
They make statements like “I declare in the name of
Jesus that you are healed.” We have no power to declare
anything. That concept is toxic that leads many
committed believers into depression, severe doubt and
feelings of rejection. Trusting God to do what is best
for us has become impotent in the hearts of many
believers. Instead, they are demanding from God. They
are being taught that if there is any questioning about
doubting then there is no faith in God.
Some churches have
developed rituals that have no scriptural base and
really make no sense. For example, they lock doors when
praying or preaching. The leaders make the congregants
feels that “this is what God said,” or “this is the only
way to demonstrate true faith.” This kind of teaching is
leading people to cease taking much-needed medication or
medical treatments for diseases. They are being taught
that taking medication or doing chemotherapy is a sign
of lack of faith in Jesus. The truth is this a very
poisonous teaching. It is doing more damage to the
physical, emotional, and spiritual lives of people than
the effect of a class of wine.
Once again, I have noticed that it seems easier to start
a new church that to start a new business. We have so
many churches but not as much loving and caring. It is
as though as the number of churches increase so does the
crime and partner and child abuse.
In the Bahamas we claim to be a
people of religious faith. However, far too often the
faith displayed is toxic. There
is too much damming and condemning and not enough encouraging.
There is far too little teaching that transforms lives and too
much teaching that frightens people in to the kingdom. Far
too many church members are not being taught to think for
themselves or are not taught that they really should think for
themselves. Thus, I thought to share from the book “Toxic
Faith” these three topics for your personal enrichment and
discussion: “Erroneous Beliefs That Can Fuel Toxic Faith,”
“10 Rules of a Toxic Faith System,” and “Characteristics of
Healthy Faith.”
Get the together with your
family, church or community group and discuss each point.
Discuss with an open mind.
Erroneous Beliefs That Can
Fuel Toxic Faith:
1. When tragedy strikes,
true believers should have a real peace about it
2. If you had real
faith, God would heal you or the one you are praying for
3. Material blessings
are a sign of spiritual strength
4. The more money you
give to God, the more money he will give to you
5. I can work my way to
heaven
6. Problems in your life
result from some particular sin
7. I must not stop
meetings other's needs
8. I must always submit
to authority
9. God only uses
spiritual giants
10. Having true faith
means waiting for God to help me and doing nothing until he
does
11. If it's not in the
Bible, it isn't relevant (all truth is in the Bible)
12. God will find me a
perfect mate
13. Everything that
happens to me is good
14. A strong faith will
protect me from problems and pain
15. God hates sinners, is
angry with me, and wants to punish me
16. More than anything
else, God wants me to be happy (free from pain)
10 Rules of a Toxic Faith
System:
1. The leader must be in
control of every aspect at all times
2. When problems arise,
find a guilty party to blame immediately
3. Don't make mistakes
4. Never point out the
reality of a situation
5. Never express your
feelings unless they are positive
6. Don't ask questions,
especially if they are tough ones
7. Don't do anything
outside your role
8. Don't trust anyone
9. Nothing is more
important than giving money to the organization
10. At all costs, keep up
the image of the organization or the family
Characteristics of Healthy
Faith:
1. Focusing on a
personal relationship with God in Christ, not religion
2. Looking to God to
meet the needs for security and significance
3. Growing in faith as
evidenced by walking into pain
4. Respect for the
personhood of others
5. Serving others for
their sake
6. Being vulnerable
7. A trusting atmosphere
8. Celebrating
uniqueness by recognizing people's spiritual gifts
9. Relationships being
the heart of everything
10. People being taught to
think
11. Balanced thinking
rather than extremes in black and white
12. Non defensive
13. Non judgmental
14. Reality based
15. Able to embrace our
emotions
16. Able to embrace our
humanity as evidenced in the ability to allow for mistakes
17. The ability to laugh
HERE’S WHAT I BELIEVE (Added 2018)
Here are three beliefs that I believe are truly balanced and are
a part of the faith that I belong to. These are from a document
entitled “A Statements on Biblical Spirituality” by Andrews
University Theological Seminary.
-
I do believe that healing power continues to be
manifested through the name of Jesus Christ today, but
also through proper lifestyle, physicians, ministers and
mental health professionals as well as human families as
they express God’s love to one another.
-
I do not believe that all study of the Word of God, all
prayer, and all behaviors of service and devotion are
performed under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
Sinful humanity has the ability outwardly to do some of
these good things, but for the wrong motives or
sometimes in a routine fashion devoid of meaning. It is
easy for the unrenewed human mind to become blinded by
human learning and service and not be actuated by the
Spirit.”
-
I do not believe that spiritual practices earn us any
increased standing with God. Our salvation is through
the sacrifice of Christ alone, by His grace accepted
through faith (Eph 2:8R10).”
Barrington Brennen is a
counseling psychologist, marriage and family therapist and board
certified clinical psychotherapist in the USA. Send your
questions to
question@soencouragment.org or call 242-327-1980 or visit
www.soencouragement.org
