The Devil As a Way to God

 

J. P. Sears has an interesting take on his conversion to Christianity. He says he started believing in the Devil before he started truly believing in God.

The presence of evil-and Satan, the source of evil, he says, is becoming ever more apparent. Lean away from evil, and where are you leaning?

So for Sears, accepting the reality of the Devil came first. Perhaps recognizing evil is a necessary step to true belief in God. Without it, you may have a nominal, lukewarm belief. But a belief without urgency is not a true belief. In fact, according to the Bible, it is better to be an atheist than a lukewarm Christian. Perhaps because that is more sincere, and shows you care about the issue.

“you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Revelations 3: 15-16.

But Sears has another revelation.

“Anyone who wants to control you purposely pulls you away from God.”

They do so, he says, because their control is always based on fear. The ultimate fear is fear of death. Sears cites the climate crisis: do this or we’re all going to die! He cites the covid panic being used to justify totalitarian measures.

And those who believe in God, and an afterlife, are less afraid of death, and so harder to control. This is why totalitarian movements always reject religion, even persecute the church and the religious. 

But Sears is missing a trick. Christianity and its separation of church and state—thee state, after all, crucified Christ—makes this difficult, but in nations where other religions are dominant, the better tactic is to identify God’s will with that of the totalitarian state. Then the dissident has even greater reason to fear: he goes to hell. This is common in Islam—see Iran. It is arguably why democracy has been unsuccessful in those lands.

It is easier for narcissistic parents. Christianity is not so clear on the separation of church and family. It is there, but the average person actually thinks Christianity and “family values” are more or less synonymous; and that the commandment to “honour thy father and they mother” is without limists and imposes no obligations on the parent. 

So it is relatively easy for the controlling narcissistic parent to convince the child, not that there is no God, but that there is, and God hates them. 

This explains too why narcissistic parents will invariably put their children into moral dilemmas or encourage them to do immoral things. This explains why they will scapegoat the more moral or dutiful child. They want to convince the child that God is on the side of the parent, and total obedience is essential.

This is again why Jesus, in the Gospels, considers moral misdirection the essential form of child abuse.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come.”

“Mental illness,” CPTSD, is the result of this moral misdirection. The way out is first to plainly see evil as evil, as Sears suggests, and pull away. Too many are trapped here by a fear of God, because they have been taught to identify God with the autocratic parent.

In such a case it makes sense to first recognize the devil, the spirit of evil, and pull away from him. And you find God as a result.