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Posted on 05/06/2018 1:49:30 PM PDT by pcottraux
Is Christianity Just Wishful Thinking?
By Philip Cottraux
Sigmund Freud devoted his life to studying the intricate workings of the human mind. He is responsible for many of the common psychological terms saturating modern culture: the id, the ego, the superego. The Oedipus complex.
But in recent years, many of Freud’s ideas have come under scrutiny. Some have taken it as far as to suggest that most of his theories were made up. His influence has been so strong, however, that it’s hard to sort out what might have been pseudo-science. But I want to focus on Freud’s other notorious reputation: his controversial views on religion.
To say that he despised religion would be an understatement. He viewed it as an aberration on humanity. He blamed belief in God on all of society’s ills. Here are a few of his nastier quotes on the subject:
“Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires (New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis, 1933).”
"The whole thing (religion) is so patently infantile, so foreign to reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this view of life. It is still more humiliating to discover how a large number of people living today, who cannot but see that this religion is not tenable, nevertheless try to defend it piece by piece in a series of pitiful rearguard actions (Civilization and Its Discontents, 1929)."
Reading Freud, it’s surprising how much influence he has had not just on psychology, but neo-Atheism. Richard Dawkins or Sam Harris borrow directly from him, and I’ve been surprised at how many atheists have challenged me with a Freudian theory, whether they realize it or not. According to Freud, religious rites attempting to achieve salvation are akin to obsessive compulsive rituals, such as constantly washing one’s hands to get rid of imaginary germs. It was Freud who proposed that religion was holding science back; and that once it was gone, humanity could spring forward into a utopia of reason.
I’m no humanist; and as a result, I would never buy into the last claim, even if I were an atheist. The reality is that there will never be a utopia and scrubbing religion from the face of the earth doesn’t look very pleasant; North Korea, Cambodia, and the Soviet Union have all shown us that. Furthermore, even if a utopia were achievable, it would never be sustainable; the human mind isn’t wired to just sit around and be content with biological needs being met. If humans ever built a perfect world, they would soon tear it apart again out of sheer boredom. And the results would be catastrophic; untold numbers dead to reach paradise, untold numbers more dead as paradise is lost.
But Freud’s explanations of how religious thought emerges from the inner workings of the human mind were admittedly good points. So good, in fact, that they even had me questioning my own faith for a time, something I once never thought possible.
To sum it up, belief in God can be explained as an evolutionary trait that emerges from our inner desire to follow a strong alpha male. Our inner tribal man yearns to form packs; and as civilization advanced and tribes were no longer necessary, we created an imaginary one to replace male leaders. I personally find this very problematic (as it’s clear from history that any successful civilization had strong male leaders; I don’t see how this ever needed replacing in the human psyche), but it’s the second part of the point that I find feasible. According to Freud, belief in the afterlife emerged from our basic fear of death. Sense the instincts towards survival and self-preservation are prevalent in all life, the concept of heaven emerged as a coping mechanism from our inability to accept the finality of death.
This is a good point, and considering it did once have a terrible negative impact on my faith. Freud’s conclusion is that ultimately, Christianity is wishful thinking. He points to our belief in the afterlife as a survival mechanism and our talks of a loving Father as an attempt to recapture our childhoods, wanting to be loved by a parental figure that we project onto an imaginary pie in the sky.
(If you want to get technical, the “wishful thinking” argument can be traced as far back as German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach in 1841; but since Freud is more famous for it, let’s keep the focus on him).
But if Freud’s psychological theories are finding increasing scrutiny by new researchers, can the same be said of his atheist philosophy?
Actually, it was within his own lifetime.
C.S. Lewis devotes all of chapter 4 of Mere Christianity (“Morality and Psychoanalysis”) to Freud. In his takedown, he says something that resonates with me today: “And furthermore, when Freud is talking about how to cure neurotics he is speaking as a specialist on his own subject, but when he goes on to talk general philosophy he is speaking as an amateur.”
I think this all the time about atheists today. I don’t deny that Dawkins knows a lot about biology. Or that Sam Harris is well-versed in neuroscience. But both men seem to think that makes them geniuses in all fields of understanding. In the realm of theology, neither clearly knows what he’s talking about. It’s the classic case of an emperor without clothes.
Back to Freud. He was born of a Jewish family in the heavily Roman Catholic of Freiburg, Moravia. Lewis noted that Freud showed a startlingly lack of understanding about Christianity when he wrote about it. Upon careful observation, I notice the same thing.
In Thank God For Atheists: How the World’s Greatest Skeptics Led Me to Faith, Timothy Morgan makes a devastatingly good point about the wishful thinking argument: “This worn-out argument has been thoroughly refuted over the last 175 years. Even Nietzsche called it preposterous. First, wanting something does not equate with the lack of its existence. Human thirst actually points to a need for water.”
Lewis also had this to say: “Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exist. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”
After studying it closely, the real problem I have with Freud’s criticism is that he assumed that Christianity is about the pursuit of comfort and pleasure. It’s why he thought we view God as a warm, comforting presence that loves and accepts us for who we are. This, of course, overlooks the full, sometimes terrifying nature of the Almighty, that He is also capable of horrifying judgment and that Christians are, in some ways, to fear the Lord.
But there’s two other critical points Freud ignored.
While I’m a Christian, if I stand back and compare it objectively to all the other religions, I have trouble wanting it to be true. It contains perhaps the most brutal realities. Rather than a pursuit of comfort, it expects us to take on a life of pain, suffering, and persecution. It tells us people will hate us and reject us for preaching in the name of Jesus. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved (Mark 13:13).
There was no comfort for the disciples in what they endured for Christ. Stephen was stoned. Peter was arrested and beaten. James was executed. Acts 5:41: And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness (II Corinthians 11:23-27).
The other uncomfortable reality Christian doctrine is a place called hell. Every day, I wish hell weren’t real. I take no pleasure in the thought that anyone will burn in eternal darkness. I sometimes can’t believe that the God I love so much created it. The thought of how many people have gone there, and how many are going there every day, and how they will never escape, is incredibly disturbing. More than I can bear.
But what I think, or what I want, is irrelevant. Hell is real, whether I like it or not. And my discomfort has to motivate me to preach as hard as I can. I want the Lord to use me to save as many people as possible from that eternal place. And I must be willing to pay the same kind of price the apostles were to keep as many from going there as possible.
And why I think it’s real isn’t a coping mechanism, but as I’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, based on the evidence. The simple logic I keep reiterating is that by examining the historical evidence, Jesus clearly was a real person in history who actually rose from the dead, proving He was who He said He was. Which means all things He says are truth. Which means heaven is real. And so is hell. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: (Matthew 25:41).
Thinking Christianity is wishful thinking...is wishful thinking.
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As Jeremiah told us, “christianity” is the collection of “inherited lies wherein there is no profit.”
The big one is “Saved by Grace.”
The word says we are saved by our faith, and it is by the grace of Yehova that we are led to that faith.
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>> “ and come to Him by Faith.” <<
Precisely!
Without that faith, there can be no application for grace. It cannot be of effect to those who reject the faith delivered on the first shavuot, at Mt. Sinai.
That is what Paul explained in Hebrews ch 3 and 4.
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Allowing anything but the work of the Holy Spirit to ever effect ones faith is a sad state for any human.
A recipe for failure.
The wishful thinking could be the desire to see wrongdoers punished. The other side of a father figure. It's comforting to believe evil will always be punished and crime never pays.
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>> “I was raised by Christian parents but the Bible was never taught or even discussed.” <<
Ditto, at least what the Bible really said in very plain language.
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Nope, thanks for posting!
Anyone who has ever had a personal relationship with Jesus can tell you without a shadow of doubt that He is. Having experienced Him, nothing else in my sphere of experience has ever equaled it. I always smile a little at people who try to explain Him away.
Christianity is constantly subjected to such critical analyses as those by Freud, but never, or very rarely, do you see Leftism receive the same treatment; though in all its forms it is replete with features of the same kind. So, why not?
There’s a place in the darkness I use to cling to.
That presses harsh hope against time.
In the absence of martyrs there’s a presence of thieves.
who only want to rob you blind.
They steal away any sense of peace tho I’m a king.
I’m a king on my knees.
And I know they are wrong when they say I am strong. As the darkness covers me.
So I turn on the light and reveal all the glory
I am not afraid.
To bear all my weakness, knowing in meekness, I have a kingdom to gain.
Where there is peace and Love in the Light in the Light, I am not afraid.
To let your light shine bright in my life In my life.
There are ghosts from my past who have owned more of my soul
Than I thought I had given away.
They linger in closets and under my bed.
And in pictures less proudly dis-played.
A great fool in my Life I have been. Have squandered til pallid and thin.
Hung my head in shame and refused to take blame.
From darkness I know I’ve let win.
So turn on the light and reveal all the glory
I am not afraid
To bear all my weakness, knowing in meekness
I have a kingdom to gain
Where there is peace and love in the light
In the light ,
I am not afraid
To let your light shine bright in my life, in my life
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me? (5x)
I’ve never been much for the bearing of soul
In the presence of any man
I’d rather keep to myself all safe and secure
In the arms of a sinner I am.
Jennifer Knapp | Martyrs & Thieves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyLh2oqgsg8
Communism is wishful thinking.
The universe without an intelligent first cause is wishful thinking.
A democrat that doesnt want to use government to confiscate more of your stuff, is wishful thinking.
But in Freud's case, the claim is that a lot of his theories were never tested or proclaimed factual without any real, or at the very questionable, backing. Also known as "pseudo-science."
Done.
True. The “testing” is ongoing. I just thought it was an interesting way to put it.
It is there as sure as I am here. I am 100% sure.
” I always smile a little at people who try to explain Him away.”
It’s kinda like them telling you your mom and dad dont exist - just because THEY never met your parents...
It’s a very self-centered view.
Late in life — he was in his 80s, in fact — Sigmund Freud got religion. No, Freud didn’t begin showing up at temple every Saturday, wrapping himself in a prayer shawl and reading from the Torah. To the end of his life, he maintained his stance as an uncompromising atheist, the stance he is best known for down to the present. In “The Future of an Illusion,” he described belief in God as a collective neurosis: he called it “longing for a father.” But in his last completed book, “Moses and Monotheism,” something new emerges. There Freud, without abandoning his atheism, begins to see the Jewish faith that he was born into as a source of cultural progress in the past and of personal inspiration in the present. Close to his own death, Freud starts to recognize the poetry and promise in religion.
I did a two hour lecture in Raleigh, NC last Thursday evening for about 100 people. I purposely invited all the atheists, agnostics and skeptics. The emails I received afterward were very complimentary.
I have many emails from people stating that they were atheists until they attended my lecture. The pathway to knowing and experiencing God is both scientific and logical, without discounting Christianity.
Leftism pretty much owns main line education and the MSM so Christianity has an uphill battle in the “world”....but what else is new. :)
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