EGO DEFENSES AND THE SEEMINGLY SINCERE REJECTION OF GOD

The unbeliever is very offended by being told that he doesn’t believe in God because he doesn’t want to. However, this is precisely what the Scriptures tell us:

·       For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21 ESV)

One responder claimed that he was deeply offended by this, because he had been a believer in Jesus but departed because the evidence wouldn’t support his faith.

I was grieved to hear this and responded:

“I don’t doubt your sincerity. However, I do question whether we know ourselves well enough to be aware of the source of our disbelief, especially in light of the almost universal evidence that:

·       Self-deception is rampant in human affairs. https://www.philosophytalk.org/blog/self-deception

It is so rampant that it seems that most investigators regard it as normal rather than abnormal. Daniel Goleman has written:

·       The roots of self-deception seem to lie in the mind's ability to allay anxiety by distorting awareness. Denial soothes. Freud saw that the mind, with remarkable alacrity, can deny a range of facts it would rather avoid and then not seem to know that it has done so.

Flight from the truth governs our lives:

·       People mislead themselves all day long. We tell ourselves we’re smarter and better looking than our friends, that our political party can do no wrong, that we’re too busy to help a colleague. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/living-a-lie-we-deceive-ourselves-to-better-deceive-others/

Goleman, along with most others, believe that self-deception and other mechanisms to avoid truth even have adaptive value:

·       Synchronized denial can take place in groups of all kinds. We slip so easily into group membership, as Freud saw, because we have learned the art of belonging as children in our families. The unspoken pact in the family is repeated in every other group we will join in life: Part of the price of membership, of being valued as part of a group, is to honor the implicit rules of shared attention and shared denial. https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/12/magazine/insights-into-self-deception.html

Such ego defenses so permeate our existence, that some have written that these defenses are the substance of our personality:

·       There are a great number of ego defenses, and the combinations and circumstances in which we use them reflect on our personality. Indeed, one could go so far as to argue that the self is nothing but the sum of its ego defenses, which are constantly shaping, upholding, protecting, and repairing it. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201508/the-psychology-self-deception

It seems that our ego defenses go on full-alert when it comes to the question of an omniscient moral and righteous God, one who makes moral demands upon our lives and promises repercussions for our transgressions. Many atheists have even confessed their profound distaste for such a God. Philosopher and atheist, Thomas Nagel admitted that he didn’t want there to be a God. Therefore, even though he had written against evolution and in favor of ID, he was still holding out for a better naturalistic theory. However, this was enough to damn him by the establishment.

Why? Jesus explained it this way:

·        “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:19-20) 

Why? We desire to be captain of our own ship and resent the oversight of others, especially of a judgmental God. We want what we want. Consequently, the presence of such a God represents a horrible threat, and we refuse to see beyond the threat to the love and forgiveness of this God – a tribute to the deceptive power of sin.

As a result, many of us who do come to faith in the Biblical God only do so after we have become so broken by life that we no longer want to be in charge.

Actually, I must admit that I grieve over my response to you. It necessarily sounds judgmental and suggests that I know you better than you do. Sorry that this necessarily sounds offensive, but the question is “Is it true?” I am convinced that the evidence for God is so overwhelming that people turn away from Him without adequate reason.”