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Enough is Never Enough — How Spiritual Abuse Sabotages the Heart
, by Jim Robbins. Copyright 2010. All rightsreserved. Visit Jim’s blog to learn more about his book, videos and podcasts:
www.RobbinsWritings.com
Enough is Never Enough — How Spiritual Abuse Sabotages the Heart
, by Jim Robbins. Copyright 2010. All rightsreserved. Visit Jim’s blog to learn more about his book, videos and podcasts:
www.RobbinsWritings.com
Spiritual training scars
Law enforcement and the military have a term for a
behavioral script
that gets laid down during the officer'straining that would hamper the officer in a real situation, orperhaps even get someone killed. The term is "training scar."David Grossman, in his book,
On Combat
, describes an officer–in–training who learned how to grab a gun out of a would–becriminal's hand. During practice, the officer would grab a gunfrom a colleague, then give it back to him in order to rehearseit again. Unfortunately, during an
actual
confrontation withan armed assailant, the officer, upon grabbing the gun fromthe attacker, promptly handed it right back to him!Fortunately, the officer's partner dispatched his own weaponand shot the attacker. The officer’s learned responsereinforced during training [giving the gun back] nearly cost his life. That's a training scar. [
Story from
Everyday Survival
, byLaurence Gonzales
]
The Church is functioning with a debilitating trainingscar
, a behavioral script that is not serving us well. There isone particularly toxic assumption about the Christian’s heart that is perhaps even neurologically wired into our brains inways that lock the spirit and body (Spirit and Body) into
dis
-ease. The training scar I'm particularly concerned about is ourcontinuing belief that the human heart remains dark,inwardly bent and sinful
even after
Christ has given theChristian a new heart and supernatural goodness at his or herconversion.Listen to
most sermons
on any given weekend, and you'lldiscover the following ingrained script
: "Your heart,Christian, is
still
selfish and prone to wander. Your heart and desires cannot be trusted.”
Leadership sees its task ashelping you
behave
more like a Christian [managingexternals] so that you can do more, be more committed, andstop being so spiritually inept. “We’ll assume you don't reallywant to follow God, but we'll pressure you into becoming likehim anyway. You’re prone to wander, so it’s our job tomanage your sin."The
“prone to wander” script
is the pervasive training scarof the day. This false script leaves the Christian with a wound:"You're not pleasing to me. Try harder."
True
or
False
?
The Christian's heart is just assinful after becoming a Christian asit was before becoming one.“I do not recall the heart ever beingaddressed [in church] except to saythat no good thing dwells in theheart of man.”
—Ruth Montgomery. Commented on
TheGood and Noble Heart
Facebook page.
Enough is Never Enough — How Spiritual Abuse Sabotages the Heart
, by Jim Robbins. Copyright 2010. All rightsreserved. Visit Jim’s blog to learn more about his book, videos and podcasts:
www.RobbinsWritings.com
Spiritual abuse:
Demanding that a person live like Jesus, while denying the new heart[and its supernatural resources]that makes living like Jesuspossible.Shame and spiritual defeat are theinevitable result.
What is spiritual abuse?
To label something as “abuse” is a tricky thing. What constitutes abuse for one person may not for another.However, I’m going to use a definition of abuse that I think fitswhere I’m headed in this e-book. It comes from
The SubtlePower of Spiritual
Abuse
, by Johnson and VanVonderan:
Spiritual abuse is the mistreatment of a person who is inneed of help, support or greater spiritual empowerment,with the result of
weakening, undermining
or
decreasing that person’s spiritual empowerment.
The authors go further:
Spiritual abuse can also occur when
spirituality
is used tomake others live up to a ‘spiritual standard.’ This promotesexternal ‘spiritual performance,’ …or is used as a means of ‘proving’ a person’s spirituality.
This abuse may not even be intentional, but kills the heart,nonetheless.
What happens to the heart?
Notice in this definition of spiritual “abuse” what happens to aperson: “…the result of weakening, undermining ordecreasing that person’s spiritual empowerment.” This isexactly what happens when a Christian is told again and againthat their heart is still selfish, deceitful and unloving—despite their new birth in Christ. It weakens their spiritualvitality and decreases their ability to enjoy the life-givingholiness Jesus has already given to them.What happens when the heart is always under suspicion?[“Don’t trust your heart. Your nature is still selfish. It willlead you in the wrong direction.”] The result is that you learnto dismiss the power source, the very center of goodness,Jesus has created in you. Instead of tapping into thesupernatural resources God placed within your new heart at conversion, you try — under your own strength — to manageyour sin. [“Just do the right thing, and try not to blow it.”]It’s like removing the engine from a car and choosing to pushit around town instead.
How the Bible describes the “heart:”
You received a new heart when you said‘yes’ to Jesus.
How I define ‘spiritual abuse:’
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