Relativism marks our day, with its rejection of absolute truth. Francis Schaeffer in Escape from Reason, traced the trajectory of Western thought, specifically as man turned inward in two distinct ways. First, man turned away from God and to himself by declaring human reason, or rationality, as the foundation of knowledge. This was the dogma of the Enlightenment—that human reason was the universal standard of truth. Not surprisingly, human reason could not support such a weight because humans cannot agree on what is reasonable and rational. Enlightenment thinking led to another inward turn as if argued that each person constructs his own understanding of reality. We can thank Immanuel Kant for this reasoning, and thus truth became subjective, a mere interpretation of the individual. Consequently, the self became absolute. By making the self the arbiter of truth, modern man has redefined all of reality. As God is replaced with man, people began to view life through the lens of an extreme subjectivism. Consequently, it is not just the area of knowledge that has been affected, but also how we determine right from wrong.
Without a proper foundation for truth, morality becomes a personal preference. As the self becomes the center of the universe, we determine right and wrong by what makes us feel good. Or, as David Wells observes, we no longer live in a moral world, but in a therapeutic one. What is good and right, is whatever makes someone feel good. Conversely, to offend or hurt someone’s feelings, becomes the cardinal sin. This is obvious in much of cultural discussions, as many argue it is detrimental and harmful to tell LGBTQ individuals their behavior is wrong. Why? Because such words hurt their feelings and prevent them from their own self-determined truth and morality. To disapprove in this way violates the highest laws of the therapeutic worldview.
Christianity stands opposed to such thinking. We believe the Creator God is there and that he has spoken. There is a universal moral code that everyone, no matter their feelings, must keep. Christianity puts forward a moral view of the world because it has a universal standard for both truth and morality—God himself. This puts Christianity on a collision course with our modern, therapeutic world. Sadly, the therapeutic view of life is impacting the church in at least five ways.
Many Christians care more about personal experience than truth and substance. Churches aim at bringing people in, not by the faithfulness of their teaching, but by offering light-shows, entertainment, and a non-threatening experience. Moreover, it is no coincidence that movements within the church that stress emotionalism and experientialism are growing in popularity, like the charismatic movement. In a lot of ways, such movements are just mirrors of our modern therapeutic desires. The foundation of Christianity is not personal experience, but truth. While we must have a personal encounter with God, such an encounter must include the truth of who he is. Without such truth, there is no way to experience the God who is there. Humans can manufacture lots of experiences that will draw crowds, but these are mere trifles in comparison to the power of God. To counteract the experientialism of our day, Christians need to stress substance over feelings, by focusing on God and not ourselves.
As we rely on experience over truth, many Christians fall into the trap of seeing feelings as the source of truth. With no truth, morality goes out of the window and is replaced with subjectivism. Is it any wonder so many Christian leaders and churches are embracing new doctrines concerning sexual morality? Such Christians follow the example of the world as by determining morality according to subjective feelings and cultural trends, instead of the immutable character of God.
In a therapeutic world, as feelings become ultimate and truth takes a backseat, the church starts minimizing doctrines that offend. This is natural as feelings trump truth in a therapeutic world. Some Christian leaders now argue for things like pronoun hospitality, using someone’s preferred pronoun even when it’s not true, precisely because we value feelings over truth. We would rather not offend than not tell the truth. In a moral world, truth is always more important. This doesn’t give us the right to be jerks, but Christians must know that truth liberates. Truth frees those enslaved by their subjective feelings and experiences. Feelings cannot determine truth, but the truth should inform how and what we feel.
Similarly, in the therapeutic worldview, our primary problems in life are external. If life is about me feeling good, then things like society, institutions, and even biology are the culprits that cause my bad feelings. The solution is that the world must conform to my feelings. But again, in a moral world, our primary problem is internal. We are sinners, and this sin is our responsibility as individuals. We stand before God naked, ashamed, and guilty. In a moral world, we need a moral solution, and so Christ came to die for our sins. Therapeutic preaching treats God as a way to cope with life, to feel better, to improve our self-perception, and to overcome our victimhood. As these two different worldviews identify different core problems, they inevitably preach different gospels.
In a therapeutic world, we lose the ability to disagree with others and still love them. If someone disagrees with my subjective truth, they are attacking me personally because my truth is tied to my identity. In such a world, there is no way to overcome our differences. This of course, silences all debate and any mutual pursuit of truth. Conversely, in a moral world, reasoned debate is encouraged because the truth matters, not just for me, but also for my neighbor. So we approach each other as equal by seeking the truth together through reasoned debate and dialogue. In other words, truth is worth being uncomfortable over and if my beliefs do not align with reality, it is my beliefs that must change, not reality.
The Bible identifies this world as a moral one, and it addresses us as moral agents under the law of God. As such, all attempts to make life to be about therapy come from our failed attempts to deal with our real moral guilt. As a guilty people, we intrinsically don’t feel so good. We know of our guilt, and it unnerves us. Therefore, many seek to assuage their bad feelings through therapy and denying the core problem--our guilt before a holy God. Instead of going to God through Christ, we try to massage away our bad feelings by turning inward. It does not work and never will. This is why, as we press into our feelings more and more, we come away feeling worse and worse. The therapeutic worldview leaves us both guilty and enslaved to our feelings. The church must realize this tension point, for if we acquiesce to the therapeutic view of life, we will neuter the gospel and leave this world without any offer of hope.
Levi J. Secord