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Bad Theology Leads To Poor Mental Health

Bad Theology Leads To Poor Mental Health

September 15, 2024 by Matt Pavlik 1 Comment

Reading time: 4 minutes

Bad theology can lead to poor mental and emotional health. Bad theology results from not understanding what the Bible says. This can happen by blindly trusting other people, communities, or institutions to interpret the Bible for you, instead of allowing Holy Spirit to teach the correct meaning. For the church’s health, all Christians must seek to develop their convictions.

Having Bad Theology Means You Are Deceived

Many beliefs are implicit. This means it is possible to believe something strongly but, at the same time, not be fully aware of what you believe. You might think you know what you believe, but your actions reveal what you actually believe.

This is why it is important to make your beliefs explicit. This is done by externalizing them through writing, speaking, or other form of expression. When you put your beliefs into words, you become more aware of what you believe, so you can compare it to what the Bible says.

When seeking to understand the Bible, it’s important to see the big picture message. This is done by observing how the Bible speaks to foundational truths, like the Gospel message, across many verses, chapters, and books. The Bible does not contradict itself, so passages that seem to present opposing ideas must be studied in context and reconciled to a coherent teaching.

Imagine believing that it’s possible that God can change His mind, break His promise to never abandon us, and revoke His love. The consequences on a person’s mental and emotional health would be devastating. If this were true, it would be normal to live in constant apprehension.

Fortunately for the true believer, the Bible teaches that perfect love eliminates fear. Everything God is doing in your life, because He is love, is to reduce your anxieties and increase your faith and trust in Him.

Good Theology Sees the Gospel Correctly

Good theology starts with an accurate understanding of the Gospel. The Gospel is the foundation of biblical teaching. Once an understanding of the Gospel is established, it can interpret other, less central, passages. Everything in the Bible depends on understanding the Gospel correctly. If the understanding of the Gospel is wrong, everything else will be wrong. If the Gospel has been interpreted correctly, it will be difficult to misinterpret less central passages.

The Gospel is the foundation for mental and emotional health. An accurate understanding of who God is leads to healthy thinking, feeling, and actions. An inaccurate understanding leads to unhealthy thinking, feeling, and actions. For example, believing God’s acceptance is conditional upon performance, will encourage a fear-based relationship with God. This “bad theology” leads to fear which leads to a need to continually ask, “Have I performed sufficiently today to remain in good standing with God?”

How this is bad theology becomes clear when we consider the consequences of not performing. What happens if performance is not good enough? The Bible says that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient to cover all sins and imperfections. But bad theology would say that God might remove a believer’s salvation so that she is no longer a child of God.

Such a consequence would be traumatizing because it would mean being abandoned by God. The Gospel is only effective if, by faith, a person relies 100% on Christ’s effort and 0% on self-effort. Because a person cannot gain salvation through self-effort, any amount of self-effort (whether large or small) cannot disqualify someone as God’s child. Salvation is God’s gift that He does not take back.

Any amount of faith in Christ less than 100% would indicate a similarly sized doubt in Christ’s sacrifice. The question becomes, is Christ’s sacrifice sufficient or lacking in some way? If people conclude it is lacking, then how can they put faith in it?

It is certainly possible to be permanently saved by Christ’s efforts, and simultaneously consider it essential to continue to cooperate with Christ to work out one’s salvation. Suppose God purchased a multi-million dollar house for you. You can enjoy the house and work to maintain it without the danger of God seizing it and kicking you out. God is committed to teaching stewardship, not setting a time limit for His children to get their act together.

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].

Romans 11:29 AMP

God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. But during the remainder of this life, we constantly need renovation. The born-again person is a new creation who is spiritually aligned with God. The animosity resulting from being God’s enemy has been crucified, leaving only a spirit that desires fellowship with God. Therefore, there is nothing that can separate us from God’s love (Romans 8:38). He can continue to remodel us for the rest of our lives. God finishes what He starts (Philippians 1:6).

Learn more about correct theology.
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Filed Under: Eternal Security

Trust God To Save You

Trust God To Save You

September 8, 2024 by Matt Pavlik Leave a Comment

Reading time: 5 minutes

God will not save everyone, but that doesn’t mean you need to be insecure about your salvation, if you are a born-again believer. Place your full trust in God’s power to save you and you will enter into God’s rest.

The Bible does not teach universal salvation – that everyone will be saved. So then, what does 1 Timothy 2:4 mean? “God … wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4 NIV). Doesn’t this verse teach that God wants to save all people, and if He wants it then it will happen? Here are some possible meanings of “wants” and “all people”:

  • A: “Wants” is a general statement of compassion, different from “wills”. “Wants” says more about the nature of God than it does about what will happen. What God wants may or may not happen. What God wills, will happen; it cannot be stopped or thwarted.
  • B: “Wants” is the same as “wills.” What God wants will happen.
  • C: “All people” means “all kinds of people”, not every single person that has ever existed.
  • D: “All people” means literally every single person that has ever existed.

Given these two possible interpretations for the two phrases, we can consider four (2×2) overall meanings:

  1. Universal Salvation: God wills (B) that every single person (D) that has ever existed will be saved.
  2. Universal Inclusion: God wills (B) that all kinds of people (C) will be saved.
  3. God Frustrated: God wants (A) every single person (D) to be saved (but it won’t happen).
  4. God Satisfied: God wants (A) all kinds of people (C) to be saved (and it will likely happen – there is no reason to say it won’t happen because the statement is reasonable – it is essentially the same meaning as #2 Universal Inclusion).

God does not save everyone, but He will not let everyone perish. God wants all kinds of people to be saved, but He does not intend everyone to be saved.

God Saves All Kinds of People

The overall point of 1 Timothy 2 is focused on believers avoiding discrimination as in James 2:1-7. God wants His people to not favor one kind of people over another, but realize that the Gospel is not exclusive to one race, income level, or sex.

The context of 1 Timothy 2:4 speaks of various kinds of people:

  • Kings and those in authority contrasted with regular, everyday people
  • Gentiles contrasted with Jews

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

1 Timothy 2:1-4 NIV

The point is that the Gospel is for all kinds of people. It is not only for Jews. It is not only for the poor. It is not only for men. The Gospel levels the playing field. No one should judge whether a person is fit for salvation by their outward appearance (James 2:1-7).

How Do We Know that God Doesn’t Save Everyone?

The reason we know that everyone won’t be saved is the power to save is fully with God and not in the least with man. God chooses who will be saved (John 6:44), who will repent (2 Timothy 2:25–26), who is appointed for salvation (Acts 13:48). John Piper links this 2 Timothy passage with the 1 Timothy passage by the phrase “knowledge of the truth”, counting it as evidence that God must grant repentance before a person is saved.

Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.

2 Timothy 2:25-26 NIV

God must grant repentance to people. God is the gatekeeper, deciding who will come into His kingdom (John 10:3-16). God will eventually sort everyone by their relationship to Him. He knows His sheep and He will move them to eternal life; He also knows the goats and He will move them to depart to eternal punishment (Matthew 25:31-46).

We know that at least one person (such as Abraham, Moses, Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) will be in heaven. We also know that at least one person (such as Judas) will not be in heaven. The only way to guarantee this is if the power of choice is in God’s hands, not in man’s. Otherwise, Jesus’s sacrifice would have failed to save even one person.

We don’t know who God wants to save. So, we preach the Gospel to everyone, indiscriminately. The power of the Gospel and the Spirit working is what saves a person.

How is this relevant to a person’s mental health? We know that because God chooses to draw His people to Him and because He will never abandon His people, that truly saved people are secure in their salvation. God is responsible for authoring and perfecting their faith (Hebrews 12:2). Stand on the truth of the Gospel to dispel all anxiety. Rest in God.

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:

In repentance and rest is your salvation,
    in quietness and trust is your strength…

Isaiah 30:15 NIV

Learn more about being secure in God’s love.
Image by Pexels from Pixabay

Filed Under: Eternal Security

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