Can't help ourselves

As part of my writing for www.examiner.com/peoria I thought it would be a good idea to read and review some recently published Christian books. Now, I don't normally read a lot of nonfiction, but I want to get into the habit because there is some good stuff out there. So I wandered over to the nonfiction section where religios books are, expecting to find Bible commentaries and Christian books, as well as books from other religions, it being the 'religion' section and all.

Intermixed with all of the religous books--Christian, Taosit, Buddhist, Muslim--I saw something that completely surprised me. Self help books, books about how to be happy, how to be stress-free, how to live life to the fullest without any real religious background were mixed in with the rest.

It didn't make any sense to me. Religion is about seeking after truth, trying to understand the universe and our place in it, seeking to get to know the God who created us and do His will. It's about Him, about leaving self behind. So why all the self-improvement books?

Because that is how many people see religion and spirituality. It is a way to make yourself feel good, a way to make yourself feel secure in the universe and deal with all of the trauma life has thrown at you. Most people don't come to religion, dont' look for God, because they want the truth. They come because they want comfort. They want the magic formula that will eliminate stress, help them deal with their inadequacy and their pain, make life better. They want to be helped, and so these things that have nothing to do with God and truth get added to the mix.

Distressingly, many "Christian" books are also self-help books. They take a person through the steps to improve their life, to be a better me, to pick yourself up and put yourself back on the right track. Many Christian books are just like the secular books in their approach. Yeah, they mention God, but if you look beneath the religious cover, you'll see that they're all the same.

Because God isn't about self-help. God is about self-denial. You can't pick yourself up and put yourself back on the right path. You can't ensure that your life will be stress-free and pain-free. You can't survive on coping mechanisms and ten-step strategies. We can only survive on God, by relying on him.

Yes, God wants to help us do everything those self-help books steer you toward. He wants to see us smile, wants to see us laugh off the stress, wants to put our grief away and place us on the right path. But that's not the end of it. Self-help books are self-centered, and that's the problem with them. God wants us to go beyond that. He will put us on the right path, and then we must go and do likewise, we must go help others, serve others, give. We can't choose our path, we can't strategize to get everything we want. We need to listen to what God wants. Self-help tells us to listen to ourselves, our inner needs and wants, our hopes and dreams. God tells us to set those aside, and that's not a popular statement.

Which is why popular Christianity has become a self-help religion, and that is why the church is failing, crumbling, losing morality and power. We've taken the focus off of God and turned it back to ourselves. This is not the way it should be. When we focus on God, he gives us everything the self-help books offer and more.