God's Love or Trauma?

Biblia Luna #77

Welcome to Issue #77 of Biblia Luna, the weekly newsletter about the intersection of mental illness and faith, written by a pastor who lives with depression. I put the holy back in melancholy!

Hopefully Tomorrow…

The gospel reading that we heard in worship today, Holy Trinity Sunday, is one that includes perhaps the most famous Bible verse of all time. John 3:16, which reads something like this: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

It's just a shame that this verse has been so misunderstood and misused over the years. The emphasis is so often on the wrong part, and this verse of love has been used as a voice of judgment and division. Here’s how it reads, with the sadly common emphasis in bold:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Read that way, it’s a way of telling people: “God loves you, and God wants to give you eternal life, but God can only do that if you say the magic word.” The magic word, of course, is something like “I take Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior.” With that, you’re good, and you’re going to heaven. Without that, well, God has no choice but to make you burn in hell. Too bad, so sad. I know that many people believe this, but I’m sorry – it’s a misunderstanding of the Christian message. It makes eternal life something exclusive, something only available to those who earn it by saying the right words, believing the right things, having access to the right password.

Jesus did not come to the world to condemn the world, but to save it. (I know that because of John 3:17, the verse that comes immediately after this, which I’ll get to in a moment.) God doesn’t require a password to receive God’s love. God’s love isn’t in a safe deposit box, for which we need a key. God’s love is here. That’s the good news.

Here’s the verse again, with verse 17 attached, with a different emphasis:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

This is the good news. God loves the world. God sent the Son for salvation of the world, not salvation of a few – salvation of the world. It’s coming. And that’s good news for all of us. You don’t need the password. You just need to trust, and it’s there. And you won’t be punished for believing the wrong thing.

But so often we get this wrong – so often, as leaders of the church, we preach and teach things that don’t lead to the joy of salvation, but rather the fear of getting it wrong, the fear of saying the wrong thing, the fear of being “kept out of heaven,” of “going to hell.” Leaders of the church have so often turned a message of joy and comfort into a message of fear. And that has sometimes, too often, led some people into a spiral of fear, self-doubt, anxiety, and shame. This is a form of religious trauma, which is a type of trauma caused by negative religious experiences.

I don’t know much about religious trauma, so I won’t try to pretend I do. For now, I’ll say that I’d like to explore more into it, and perhaps I’ll talk about what I learn here in future issues of this newsletter. For now, if you’re interested in learning more, this seems to be a good resource:

Religious Trauma: Signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment

For now, I’ll keep trying to keep preaching and teaching the good news, and keep trying to avoid causing any trauma through my words and actions.  For now, I’ll hold onto the hope I have. For now.

Mental Health in the News

Transitioning gender identities is not linked with depression (Science Daily)

The first pill for postpartum depression is finally getting to patients. Doctors say it’s working. (NBC News)

For American clergy, the burdens of their calling increasingly threaten mental well-being (USA Today)

Biblia Blessing

“Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say ‘My heart is broken.’”

― C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain