Of geloof jou troos, sê niks oor of dit waar is nie
Kort antwoord: Ja, Christene leun op God, en die Bybel skaam hom nie daaroor nie. Maar of iets jou troos, sê niks oor of dit waar is nie. Die regte vraag is nie of jy leun nie, maar of dit waarop jy leun, jou kan dra.
Jy het ‘n swaar jaar gehad. Iemand na aan jou is oorlede, of jou ouers is uitmekaar, en in daardie tyd het jy begin bid soos nog nooit tevore nie. Toe sê iemand in die koshuis, half vriendelik: “Ek is bly dit help jou. Maar jy weet mos, geloof is maar ‘n kruk. Mense het iets nodig om aan vas te hou.”
Dit steek, juis omdat dit so redelik klink. Is jou geloof net ‘n sielkundige pleister?
Waar die idee vandaan kom
Die bekendste weergawe kom van Sigmund Freud. In 1927 het hy Die Zukunft einer Illusion gepubliseer, “die toekoms van ‘n illusie”. Sy argument was dat mense klein en bang voel in ‘n groot, gevaarlike wêreld, en daarom verlang hulle na ‘n vader wat hulle beskerm. Godsdiens is die vervulling van daardie wens.
Gee eers toe wat waar is: party mense glo wel om hulle angs stil te maak.
Waar die argument breek
Maar kyk mooi wat Freud verduidelik het. Hy het verduidelik waarom iemand iets sou wou glo. Hy het nie gewys dat dit vals is nie.
Iemand wat in die woestyn verdwaal het, verlang na water. Sy dors is beslis ‘n wens. Maar dit beteken nie daar is nêrens water nie. Dors bestaan juis in ‘n wêreld waar water bestaan. Augustinus het dit al in die vierde eeu so gesien: God het ons vir Homself gemaak, en ons hart is onrustig totdat dit in Hom rus.
En die mes sny albei kante toe. As geloof ‘n wens kan wees, kan ongeloof ook een wees. Party mense wil baie graag hê dat daar nie ‘n God is nie, want dan hoef hulle aan niemand verantwoording te doen nie. Freud se metode kan nie tussen die twee kies nie. Op die ou end moet jy in elk geval vra wat waar is.
Daarby: as Christene God uitgedink het om beter te voel, het hulle dit swak gedoen. Wie ‘n troosgod uitdink, dink nie aan ‘n heilige God wat sonde oordeel en wat sê jy moet jou vyand liefhê nie. Dit is nie ‘n wens nie. Dit is ‘n eis.
Die draai
Die Christelike geloof stry nie oor die woord “swak” nie. Paulus het dit self gesê. Toe hy God gevra het om ‘n swaar las van hom af te neem, was die antwoord dat God se genade genoeg is, want sy krag kom juis in swakheid tot sy reg (2 Korintiërs 12:9).
So die beskuldiging is eintlik half reg. Ons is swak. Almal is. Die verskil is nie tussen mense wat ‘n kruk nodig het en mense wat nie het nie. Dit is tussen mense wat weet dat hulle leun, en mense wat dink hulle staan op hulle eie bene.
Die vraag is dus nie of jy leun nie, maar of dit waarop jy leun, eg is.
Volgende keer
As iemand vir jou sê geloof is ‘n kruk, kan jy sê: “Dalk. Maar ‘n kruk help net as daar regtig grond onder is. Kom ons praat oor die grond.”
Niemand lag vir ‘n man met ‘n gebreekte been omdat hy krukke gebruik nie. Hulle skud hulle koppe oor die een wat dit weier.
Gaan dieper
Whether faith comforts you says nothing about whether it is true
Short answer: Yes, Christians lean on God, and the Bible is not ashamed of it. But whether something comforts you says nothing about whether it is true. The real question is not whether you lean, but whether what you lean on can hold you.
You have had a hard year. Someone close to you died, or your parents split up, and in that time you started praying as you never had before. Then someone in residence says, half kindly: “I’m glad it helps you. But you know faith is just a crutch. People need something to hold on to.”
It stings, precisely because it sounds so reasonable. Is your faith just a psychological plaster?
Where the idea comes from
The best-known version comes from Sigmund Freud. In 1927 he published The Future of an Illusion. His argument was that people feel small and afraid in a big, dangerous world, and so they long for a father who will protect them. Religion is the fulfilment of that wish.
First concede what is true: some people do believe in order to quiet their fear.
Where the argument breaks
But look closely at what Freud explained. He explained why someone might want to believe something. He did not show that it is false.
Someone lost in the desert longs for water. His thirst is certainly a wish. But that does not mean there is no water anywhere. Thirst exists precisely in a world where water exists. Augustine saw this as early as the fourth century: God made us for himself, and our heart is restless until it rests in him.
And the knife cuts both ways. If belief can be a wish, so can unbelief. Some people would very much like there to be no God, because then they answer to no one. Freud’s method cannot choose between the two. In the end you have to ask what is true anyway.
Besides, if Christians invented God to feel better, they did a poor job of it. Whoever invents a comforting god does not come up with a holy God who judges sin and tells you to love your enemy. That is not a wish. It is a demand.
The turn
The Christian faith does not quarrel with the word “weak”. Paul said it himself. When he asked God to take a heavy burden from him, the answer was that God’s grace is enough, because his power comes into its own in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).
So the accusation is actually half right. We are weak. Everyone is. The difference is not between people who need a crutch and people who don’t. It is between people who know they are leaning, and people who think they are standing on their own feet.
So the question is not whether you lean, but whether what you lean on is real.
Next time
When someone tells you faith is a crutch, you can say: “Maybe. But a crutch only helps if there is solid ground underneath. Let’s talk about the ground.”
Nobody laughs at a man with a broken leg for using crutches. They shake their heads at the one who refuses them.