|
Pastor Jim's Newsletter
Is there a Biblical case for the “self-esteem movement” in Christianity?
-April 2010
Recently someone gave me a book, written by a Christian author, about self-esteem, and its importance. The writer has titled it so that it is purposely linked to Christianity, and his claim is that it is important in the Christian experience. The author of this book is a Christian Psychologist who has apparently dedicated his life to the vein of thinking and work surrounding his writing. The person giving me the book wanted to know what I thought about it, and I told them I would read it and let them know. In so doing, I have felt compelled to write this short paper for others who may have or will cross paths with what I would call the “self-esteem movement” in Christianity.
I have been aware for sometime about how modern psychology and thinking has moved into the church. There is a mega church in San Antonio that has at the heart of their message to the community that Christianity is all about getting people to feel better about themselves. I doubt they would claim that as their goal, but realistically that is their message. It is a message that if people get their head positive about themselves, they can accomplish great things. So practically, according to them, this is what Christianity is really all about. This would be the appropriate conclusion if you attend said church, and buy-in to their message. What is “self-esteem?” According to the book by the expert I just read (it is not my intention to mention the title by name or the author), “self esteem is a core felt belief formed in our hearts about our worth as a human being.”* The author goes on from this definition to describe the enormity of the problem of people with low self-esteem, and the importance of a person attaining high self-esteem. His primary focus is on Christians with low self-esteem. He uses the Bible mixed with his background of education in psychology to write 27 chapters expressing its life changing importance.
It is interesting to me that I had never heard of the concept of “self-esteem” until about 35 years ago. Now it is in our society, our school systems, and our churches. Many of the problems people have interfacing with others, doing their job, or dealing with life’s problems are blamed on low self-esteem. A check of all the old Christian writers through the 2,000 year history of the church will not turn up anything that I have ever read or can find concerning such thinking. Jonathon Edwards, inarguably the greatest theological mind to come out of America, certainly had no regard for man’s self esteem when he preached his famous message “Sinner’s in the hands of an angry God” which God used by the Holy Spirit to began the great awakening in 1741. Regardless, I do not want to launch into a long extended discussion of this subject, nor am I qualified to address self-esteem from the psychological side. I make no claim to psychology, nor am I putting down anyone who has legitimate mental challenges or agonizing perplexities of their human psyche. What I am best qualified to discuss is what the Bible says, and when someone attempts to place what I believe is a twist on Biblical teaching in order to justify or promote a concept using the Scripture, and claim that is the teaching of Scripture, than I feel compelled to respond to at least warn the flock that danger is present.
I would challenge anyone to look honestly at the focus, purpose, and clear message of the Bible to see how it fits with the focus, purpose, and clear message of the “self-esteem movement.” What is the Bible’s message when read in any normal natural manner? Does that message fit with the concept of boosting a person’s supposed low self-esteem? The message of the Bible is addressing a sinful, lost, and otherwise hopeless human race. Every individual is shown to be a desperate sinner, being under the federal headship of Adam’s sin and disobedience (Romans 5). Unless, the person is “born again” (John 3) he will not see the kingdom of God, and further if the person continues to refuse the gracious offer of God’s own Son, the person resides under the wrath of God (John 3:36). The Bible also clearly spells out the difference between those lost and those saved (Galatians 5, and 1st John). Those saved are called sojourners because their focus and hope is not in the world’s system of philosophy (Phil 3:19-20). Further, for those who are saved - their focus, nor the focus of the Bible, is not on self but on Christ (Phil 3:10; Col 3:11). In fact, one of the core principles of the teaching of the Bible is that man is born prideful, selfish, and a rebel against God. Man is ruined (Rom 3:9-20) under sin. How then does this despicable status, and situation get removed, remedied, or even improved with self-esteem? That which is ruined needs a radical change from within, not just a change of attitude. Put in another way – where does the Bible say anything about man’s need for high self-esteem? As a student of the Bible, I cannot find one thing in the Bible that would indicate or support a concept for promoting “self-esteem.”
Mankind is by nature lost in sin, with a dark future bound for eternal judgment. This horrible state is remedied only in someone outside of self – Christ alone. The church involved in the “self-esteem movement” is like the fellow who knows the building is on fire, and yet instead of telling people to flee the building, is trying to get them to clean it up, and improve the building while it is burning down around them. I would agree there is a problem with man’s view of himself, but it is not low self-esteem. The natural man does not need to be told they are OK – when they are not OK. There is no wonder there are so many psychological problems, as people are at odds with their creator, and need to be remade to be right with God. People need to be told the truth. They are hopelessly lost in sin and in need of a Savior. Even when a person comes to Christ and is saved, the same application continues to be true, they need to get their eyes off of themselves and fixed onto Christ (Heb 12:1-2). Living by faith means to live believing all that God has said. It is looking outside of self to Christ. For the Christian, having their focus on Christ is the process God uses for sanctification (2 Cor 3:18). Ironically, I believe the Bible teaches something 180 degrees the opposite of the “self-esteem movement.”
As I cannot equate with the thinking of those who believe self-esteem is a subject of Biblical importance, I have sought to understand how those professing Christ while claiming regard for the Bible support such teaching. Let me give my thoughts by first addressing the key verses out of the Scriptures used to support the movement with its emphasis on the importance of high self-esteem. First and foremost, the concept of man’s self-esteem is built by the promoters on the idea of man’s importance taken from Genesis 1:26-27 – that is that man is created in the “image of God.” This is a wonderful truth. However, we must understand from the context of this passage what God means when He stated that man is created in the image of God. There are many theories that spring from the idea of what God meant by this statement. First, the word used here for “image” is translated “likenesses” and “form” (NASB) elsewhere in the Old Testament. The idea behind the word is that of representation of something. Here, man is a representation of God. The second word “likeness” in verse 26 is used of resemblance. What then is that representation and resemblance? The context is abundantly clear. In the same sentence we are told “let them rule over” - what then follows is a list of all creatures on earth, even in the sea. To make sure this is precisely what He had in mind it is repeated in verse 28. Just as God rules - He created man to rule. In this manner man was created in the likeness of God. Anything beyond that is mere speculation as to what God intended because it is not stated. Now certainly this is a high calling, and the argument then can be made that God created man with the ability to rule. That ability would include among other things morality, and reason. So here is man’s esteem, he was to be ruler over all creatures of the earth.
Something happened though that changed all of that – the fall of mankind into sin took place. This seems to be mysteriously overlooked by the “self-esteem movement.” Adam and Eve sinned, and cast their offspring under a curse (Gen 3:16-19). Man was cast out of the garden to ultimately die, and additionally under the curse he does not rule over all the creatures as God originally intended. Even those creatures man does rule over, he is limited in the quality of that rule. The vast majority of animals, and creatures fear man, and want to have nothing to do with him. Many people, down through history, have been killed by hostile creatures – demonstrating that this original pre-fall statement is not in action today. There can really be no reasonable support for the Gen 1:26 “image of God” as the basis of man having high self-esteem. If there is a basis for esteem it was pre-fall, and cannot equal the conditions of man in post-fall. If anything, the passage teaches what man lost. Instead of being a picture of man’s high esteem, it is a picture of man’s state of ruin and shame under sin. The glory is that in Jesus Christ this pre-fall condition of man will be restored (1 Cor 6:3; Mat 19:28). This is prophesied in such places as Isaiah 11. However, this will not be realized until the coming of Christ, His ruler-ship over the earth, and the glorification of His saints. Therefore, in this as well as all Scripture, man is not to look at his virtue or abilities, he is to look only unto Jesus. Christ is our glory, our hope, and our boasting (1 Cor 1:26-31).
Another passage used to build the case for the promotion of “self-esteem” is Psalm 139:14 “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The self-esteem promoters place the emphasis here on the greatness of the creation – the creation of man as a fantastic creature (certainly mankind is an incredible workmanship). The problem is the Psalmist doesn’t place his emphasis on how great he is, but uses it to glorify God. David is not puffing himself up because he is such a great creature – he is worshipping God for His wisdom and creative ability. The very next line in the same verse is “wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.” In verse 6 David claims “such knowledge is too wonderful for me, It is too high, I cannot attain to it.” David is not heralding his own worth and value, he is heralding the glory of God. This is precisely what all of Scripture does. In fact, the danger of pushing “self-esteem” is the promotion of pride. It was pride that led Satan (the greatest creation of God) to rebel and sin against God. He wanted to be like the most high (Is 14:14). Satan started looking at himself, became puffed up with self-importance, and violated the proper role of a creature. Once again Psalm 139 should turn the reader to adore and worship God, not garner thoughts of self-importance.
There are other passages of Scripture used in lesser arguments, but like these, they are taken from the context in which they are found and used in a manner to serve the purposes of the promoter instead of the contextual intention. There is one other concept though that clearly stands out as a main thread throughout the teaching of “self-esteem.” It is the concept that God loves every person in a special way. The feeling one gets is that God is like a doting old grandfather who ignores all the faults of his grand children and loves them despite their terrible actions. This teaching has permeated all of modern Christianity, and has a false Arminian doctrinal base of theological interpretation. Much of modern evangelism, if it can even be called that, seeks to tell people how much God loves them with the hope that somehow that will move them to make Him Lord of their life. I do not find any such evangelism in the Bible. Where is any unsaved person approached and told that God loves them? Somehow, this same misdirected concept is also being used to promote self-esteem. The effort behind it is that people should have self-esteem because God loves them even if they do not love themselves. Missing in the discussion is the persons condition in sin. One of the questions I answer on the website has to do with the issue of who and how God loves people. Without going into detail, let me say the Scripture teaches that God loves all mankind only in the sense that He is kind, patient, and gracious to them. He allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. He admonishes God’s people to love others in the same manner – that is do unto others in the same manner they would have them do unto them. On the other hand there is numerous Scripture that warns the unsaved - sinful man is under God’s wrath, and will ultimately undergo His eternal judgment. The unsaved is not under God’s special love, but under God’s wrath. Thankfully, God is merciful, and accepts sinners who repent and turn to Him.
The Scripture addresses particular love, a love God has for His own who are in Christ (John 17). When this particular love is taken out of context and applied to all mankind, it leads people astray concerning their relationship with God. The point is that no person should be given false comfort concerning who they are, or their importance to God unless they are right with God through the blood of Christ. Coming to Christ is not self-esteem, but self-denial. The value of any person can only be found in losing self to Jesus Christ “he who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal“ (Mat 16:24). Unless any person is truly trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, they should have no false concepts of their importance. In fact the Scriptures teach that the “one God will look to is the one who is broken and contrite of heart” (Is 66:2). Having a right view of self is one of the clear purposes of Scripture. We need to know who we are, and who God is – knowing this will put us in the same category as Isaiah the prophet. In chapter 6 of Isaiah when he saw God in a vision he said “woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips.” That is not self-esteem, but brokenness and God-esteem.
In every instance in the Scriptures where any person is demonstrating a correct focus, his focus will be on God. As with the serving of mammon, man cannot serve two masters. Either the emphasis will be on self, or it will be on Christ. In Revelation 5 the saints in glory are casting their crowns not at self, but at the feet of Jesus Christ – He alone is worthy. In addition, this is also the remedy for all personal disjointedness, and depression. In every instance where people are rightly focused on God, and not themselves there is joy. Why? Because as the Psalmist says: “in Your presence is the fullness of joy” (Ps 16:11). Feeling good about God, because He is known, and He is My Savior and friend (if I am in Christ) is the real fulfillment. He brings the peace that passes understanding. In such a situation there is no need for “self-esteem” for I am complete in Christ.
-Pastor Jim Bryant
*Dr. Larry Day, Self-Esteem: By God’s Design (Mt. Tabor Press, 1992 reprinted 2004). p. 20. |
