Can adherence to a Bible based lifestyle cure guilt?

Ever feel guilty? This emotion seems to afflict most of us at least intermittently. Non-Christians think Christianity causes guilt. Is this true? Amazingly, Christian practice recently has been associated with enhanced wellbeing. Further, increasing adherence to Biblical lifestyle principles such as praise, prayer, fellowship, church attendance, service and Biblical study have been associated with improved wellbeing.^1,2

Guilt, in contrast, is linked with diminished wellbeing^3,4 No surprise there!

Unfortunately, little information is available which examines the effects of guilt in a healthy Christian population and how to minimize it. Teleios recently examined the influence of guilt on the wellbeing of evangelical Christians especially associated with their adherence and knowledge of their faith. We defined evangelicals as those who accepted the free gift of salvation through faith in Christ’s death on the cross for forgiveness of their sins (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:21-26).

Our study showed that wellbeing scores appeared generally healthy among our evangelical subjects. However, or those who felt no guilt there was greater wellbeing reported with each question (please see table) except ‘God cares about me’ than the in those who felt some level of guilt. This finding indicates that the presence of guilt may degrade wellbeing in a generally healthy population.

The overwhelming cause for those who indicated they felt some guilt was although they had confidence in their salvation, they “feared that they had not performed enough good works to gain God's ongoing satisfaction.”

The most common reaction to guilt by participant was anxiety, followed closely by a desire for complete acceptance by God.

Importantly ,when the eight wellbeing rankings (please see table) were compared to the scores for adherence to the Christian faith, those who indicated they held to the activities or beliefs noted above showed statistically greater scores compared to less adherent participants! This was especially true among those who most often studied the Bible study or praised God. 

How do we explain this? Studying the Bible may be important because it reinforces scriptural principles that salvation is achieved only by God’s grace, not human efforts, and thus removes guilt as a factor in a Christian's life.  Those less willing to embrace scriptural lessons may demonstrate more guilt because they may imagine God’s wrath and rejection based on their own contrived system of works.

Praise also may help alleviate guilt as it demonstrates an expression of the believer’s view of God's authority and power to save them and helps maintain a correct mental attitude of humility towards God. Humility has been shown in prior work to have psychosocial benefits.⁵

This study suggests that Christians who conform to basic activities and beliefs of their faith are likely to demonstrate improved wellbeing and less guilt then those who are less adherent.

To consider, what is the most destructive type of guilt for those who believe they have been saved by grace?

Thanks for visiting. I look forward to your comments and questions.

WC Stewart

http://teleiosresearch.com/

http://teleiosblog.blogspot.com/

 

Table: Wellbeing questions self rankings

(Scale 0-7, 0 being strongest agreement)

Survey Question	Subjects answering	Average score no guilt (N=94)	Average score guilt (N=224)	P-value
1.  I am content with life	317	0.9 ± 1.1	1.7 ± 1.2	<0.0001
2.  I have peace	319	0.8 ± 1.1	1.7 ± 1.2	<0.0001
3.  I am joyful	319	0.9 ± 1.1	1.7 ± 1.1	<0.0001
4.  I have purpose	319	0.8 ± 1.2	1.5 ± 1.3	<0.0001
5.  God cares about me	319	0.4 ± 1.1	0.9 ± 3.8	0.18
6.  I feel accepted by God	319	0.2 ± 0.7	0.8 ± 1.2	<0.0001
7.  I am free	318	0.3 ± 0.8	1.2 ± 1.3	<0.0001
8.  I feel guilty	318	NA	2.1 ± 1.2	NA

 

 

 

1.      MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2013). Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract, 19:251-255. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ctcp.2013.05.001.

2.      MacIlvaine, W.R., Nelson, L.A., Stewart, J.A., Stewart, W.C. (2014). Association of strength of community service to personal well-being. Community Ment Health J, 50:577-582. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10597-013-9660-0.

3.      Piderman, K.M., Lapid, M.I., Stevens, S.R., Ryan, S.M., Somers, K.J., Kronberg, M.T., Clark, M.M., & Rummans, T.A. (2011). Spiritual well-being and spiritual practices in elderly depressed psychiatric inpatients. J Pastoral Care Counsel, 65:1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/154230501106500103.

4.      Satterly, L. (2001). Guilt, shame, and religious and spiritual pain. Holist Nurs Pract, 15:30-39. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12119916

 

Response policy

The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

 

The effect of religion upon wellbeing in the general population

Welcome back to my blog! In recent posts we have been exploring the exciting topic of how Biblical truth enhances personal wellbeing. We’ve discussed research performed by Teleios through a series of surveys in healthy individuals and ophthalmology patients, as well as a review article regarding religion in the medically ill.

Today we explore another medical literature review that we developed last year regarding the effect of religion upon wellbeing in the general population (internal data). Most all the studies we reviewed evaluated members of the Christian faith.

Our review showed a positive effect on wellbeing from religion in the lives of healthy people who were: > 10 years old, both genders, and either African-American or Caucasian.

Religion improved general wellbeing and also in specific measures such as:

·       sense of community

·       purpose

·       satisfaction

·       hope

·       social relationships

·       ability to forgive

Even more, the findings indicated that the measures typically used to adhere and grow in religious faith also increased wellbeing including:

·       fellowship with other believers

·       scripture study

·       prayer

·       praise

·       outreach in the local community

Additionally, increased adherence to one’s faith gave even greater benefits on wellbeing!

What does this mean practically? This review helps us recognize that religion, and in this case Christianity specifically, may enhance personal wellbeing generally but its benefit also extends to specific areas of life such as career satisfaction, marriage, family functioning, and socialization.

Why would Christianity provide an improved wellbeing? We don’t know of any studies about this but here’s what we speculate.

First, on a spiritual level the confidence of God’s acceptance through faith in the sacrifice of Christ helps remove guilt and insecurity about a person’s relationship with God. The importance of such confidence was indicated in several studies noting that medically ill patients who have a negative, insecure relationship with God suffer with worse wellbeing.

Second, in practical daily life the Christian scriptures provide advice on wise living in regards to family life, career, ethical choices, treatment of people in terms of mental mindset and speech (i.e., forgiveness, thankfulness, etc.). The benefits stemming from this advice can be gained by adherence to Biblical principles causing maturity (fellowship with other believers, prayer, praise, service and a Biblical learning process).

Our review demonstrated that religion, and Christianity in particular, may provide enhanced general wellbeing across various age and ethnic groups and specifically in family and social relationships as well as career. More research is needed, however, comparing wellbeing to other religions and among cultures.

To consider…would the benefit observed in our review and surveys on wellbeing be observed with other religions?

Thanks for visiting. I look forward to your comments and questions.

WC Stewart

http://teleiosresearch.com/

http://teleiosblog.blogspot.com/

Response policy

The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language. I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

Pastors’ attitudes towards Biblical exhortations in church based ministry

Hello again and welcome back to my blog! We’ve been examining the growing number of studies that have shown religion has a positive impact on wellness in healthy and diseased individuals (1-6). The vast majority of these studies have been performed in countries in which Christianity dominates, either in a cultural or spiritual sense (2).

Historically the church, as it does today, often contends against extra-Biblical beliefs emerging from the current culture. Generally the sources are from secular pressures (often from academia, media, or the government) and then cultural pressures from inside the church.  For example, churchgoers may support truisms that seem Biblically based, but may deviate just enough to promote lies about God. Such cultural influences have caused even some seminaries to abandon the founding principles of the Bible!

The impact of these cultural pressures may be important to pastors because they can dilute the positive influence on wellbeing that religious adherence has demonstrated, as noted in the medical and psychological literature.

For this reason recently we surveyed graduates of three seminaries that hold to Biblical teaching (Master’s, Denver and Westminster) in spite of cultural pressures to drift from Biblical teaching. Questions were based on exhortations derived from Scripture or frequently accepted attitudes within the church but not directly sourced from the Bible. 200 pastors participated in the survey.

Our results showed that pastors generally believed it was ‘important’ to ‘very important’ for church members to maintain Biblical exhortations related to their attitudes towards: one another, the church body and leaders, their speech and the outside community. Extra-Biblical attitudes, although perhaps accepted or fashionable within the church, were more often deemed either ‘not important’ to ‘somewhat important’.  Look below at the results.

Table: Average ratings for questions (N = 200)

(Biblical exhortations are highlighted in gray and

extra-Biblical attitudes are highlighted in green)

Reference	Answer Options	Rating average
My congregation’s attitude towards other members should be expressed by:
I John 3:11	An “agape” type love consistent with the Bible	2.9
Galatians 6:2	Bearing one another’s burdens	2.8
James 5:16	Praying for each other	2.9
O’Day, 2014	Helping others find their spiritual gift(s)	2.0
Colossians 3:16	Encouraging each other to godliness	2.8
Easley, 2006	Participating in an accountability group	1.9
Ephesians 4:3	Maintaining the unity of the body of Christ	2.8
My congregation’s attitude towards the church should be that each member:
Romans 12:1	Serves God through the church	2.6
I Thessalonians 1:2	Is grateful for fellow members, lay leaders and pastors	2.8
Van Auken, 2013	Desires more church programs, larger facilities, greater membership	0.6
Jennings, 2013	Desires a greater emotive worship experience	1.0
Thumma, 1996	Assures success of church organized programs by their participation	1.3
Acts 2:42	Views it as a source of: prayer, praise, teaching, fellowship and community outreach	2.8

0=not important; 1=somewhat important; 2=generally important; 3=very important

Why are these findings important?

• These results should encourage church leaders because they demonstrate that a substantial group of church pastors recognize the importance of maintaining fidelity to Biblical teachings. To our knowledge this is the first time a survey has shown that pastors trained in a Biblically adherent seminary maintain a current focus on Scriptural exhortations.
• Church leaders can take comfort that extra-Biblical attitudes are deemed generally less important by pastors. These data should encourage both pastors and church leaders to maintain their focus on strong Biblical teachings that are associated with an improvement in wellbeing in many religion and wellness studies.
• This should inspire seminaries not to bend their theological stance with cultural trends. Such seminaries will produce Biblically adherent pastors who will tend to maintain these teachings, thereby providing the best chance of promoting physical and mental health.

This study showed that individuals trained in seminaries that teach Biblical principles continue to hold to those principles once they become pastors.  As shown in the medical literature, these principles contribute to improved wellbeing.

Is it important to correct popular Christian jargon that may not be accurate scripturally? To participate in our latest poll question - please visit our website at http://teleiosresearch.com/#anchorpoll

Thank you for taking time to visit my blog. I look forward to seeing you again next week.

An infographic of this survey is found on our website at: www.TeleiosResearch.com.

WC Stewart

http://teleiosresearch.com/

http://teleiosblog.blogspot.com/

1.      MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J 2014;50:577-582.

2.      Stewart WC, Adams MP, Stewart JA, Nelson LA. Review of clinical medicine and religious practice. J Relig Health 2013;52:91-106.

3.      MacIlvaine WR, Stewart WC. The apologetic value of religion and wellness studies. Christian Apologetics Journal 2013;11:65-83.

4.      Dehning DO, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding diabetes. J Christian Nurs 2013;E1-E11.

5.      MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract 2013;19:251-255.

6.      Stewart WC, Sharpe ED, Kristoffersen CJ, Nelson LA, Stewart JA. Association of strength of religious adherence to attitudes regarding glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Ophthalmic Res 2011:45:53-6.

Response policy

The purpose of the comment section is to promote discussion that is encouraging, propels the further search of Scripture and raises interesting and thought provoking Biblically related questions. You may feel free to disagree with me in a constructive manner using appropriate language.

I reserve the right to remove your comments if they are profane, pornographic, libelous or I do not consider them constructive or consistent with the policy stated above. By posting you no longer own your comments and you are granting me an unrestricted worldwide license to use your comments.

 

GUEST BLOG

In his book The Future of an Illusion (1927) the father of psychiatry, Sigmund Freud, argued that religion is a false belief system. He likened the various religions of the world to “childhood neuroses” and “wishful illusions” that can only lead to a “disavowal of reality.”

Like other atheists of his day, his words were particularly rancorous against the Christian faith. He believed human beings created the God-concept as a means of wish-fulfillment, nothing more.

Clearly for Freud, no real truth could be found in the Christian faith, nor in any other religion, for that matter. On the contrary, Freud believed that only science can lead us into reality.

These truth assertions, however, were never tested scientifically through rigorous experimentation and research. Therefore, they were faith-assertions and mere opinions, nothing more! And yet, they were almost blindly accepted on the basis of Freud’s reputation as a physician and theoretician.

But now, 85 years later, these claims have been tested! And Freud has been proven wrong in his own arena, the arena of science.

In the past 40 years, mountains of research have been published seeking to answer this one simple question: Does active adherence to the Christian faith provide any measurable results in terms of wellness – both physical and mental?

The Bible clearly indicates that adhering to its precepts and commands should indeed lead to significant patterns of mental wellness.

·         In the Old Testament, Psalm 16:11 is a case in point: “In your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

·         In the New Testament the fruit of the Spirit is a vibrant picture mental health: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

But does adhering to the Christian faith also produce clear patterns of physical wellness?

When Dr. Jeff Levin began to research this emerging field in 1982, he was surprised as he noticed a pattern: Frequency of attendance in weekly worship services was associated with diverse patterns of physical wellness, including better cardio-vascular functioning, lower blood pressure, faster wound healing and better recovery from surgery.  

One study even examined the relationship between church attendance and mortality rate. The study tracked over 21,000 people from the ages of 18-65 over a 9-year period. The found that non-attenders lived to an average of 55.3 years beyond the age of 20, but attenders lived for an average of 61.9 years after the age of 20. That’s nearly seven years longer!

One possible explanation for this was that religious people follow healthier habits. And yet, in one study, religious adherence had marked benefits, even if the person did not necessarily engage in healthy eating habits.

So radical were these emerging claims that researchers subjected them to very stringent testing protocols, and yet in each new study the pattern was clear: adhering to the precepts presented in the Bible was a predictor of overall wellness.

Today the most published researcher in this field is Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical School. He is professor of psychiatry& behavioral sciences and the director for the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health. Other scholars in this field include the epidemiologist Jeff Levin and practicing physician Dr. Dale Matthews.

At Teleios we too have actively sought to add to this growing body of literature.  We are not only passionately convinced that the Bible is God’s Word – we believe that adhering to its precepts increases the health and vitality of the whole person. This is an exciting field because it leads us back to a statement that Jesus made on the night before he was crucified: “Your word is truth” (John 17:17).  

For more information on specific Teleios’ research articles please check out our Publications.

Thank you,

Rod

W. Rodman MacIlvaine, III, D.Min

Director of Faith-Based Research, Teleios

http://www.teleiosresearch.com/

W. Rodman MacIlvaine, III, DMin is on the adjunct faculties of both Oklahoma Wesleyan University and Dallas Theological Seminary. He is the founding senior pastor of Grace Community Church in Northeastern, Oklahoma – a church that has worked extensively to serve educational needs in the Spanish Speaking Caribbean. A Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach, Dr. MacIlvaine works with men and women in transition, especially those who are shifting into second careers. Dr. MacIlvaine specializes in apologetics from an historical and theological perspective. His emphasis is in showing how adhering to God’s word has generated many benefits to societies, cultures and individuals.