How We're Conditioned by Sin - Part III

Okay - so we've been discussing how we're conditioned to think and behave as a result of sin. In my last post, I touched upon the significance of General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). If our attempts to resist distress prove ineffective, we'll work to adapt to that which is distressing us. Herein is where conditioning takes place.

Behavior can be defined as the actions and reactions of a person or animal in response to external or internal stimuli. But it is important to note that our actions/reactions result from the way we've learned to mediate the energy associated with the stimuli. If we learned to do so through avoidance, then our behavior will likely involve repressive types of actions. If we learned to mediate the energy associated with anger in covert ways, then our behavior will typically involve actions geared toward passive-aggressiveness. If we learned to cope with the distress associated with sin through self-deception, then our behaviors will involve acts of denial, repression, and rationalization.

Now, if our mediation proves successful at reducing distress, then our mind makes a note (so to speak) of the result. The next time we experience any type of similarly distressing situation, our memory is triggered and the response will (more than likely) be to repeat the same manner of mediation. In other words, if repression proved successful in dealing with distressed caused within a relationship, than we're apt to repress again when faced with relational distress. The more the coping mechanism is repeated, the greater the likelihood that it will become procedural. All of this is good and well, in that, distress is initially decreased. However, problems arise when our coping mechanisms, such as repression, prove to be dysfunctional. In the long run, we end-up living a life that God never intended for us.

Next post, we'll delve deeper into the significance of learned behaviors and how they relate to sin. I'd also like to encourage everyone to join-in on the discussion. What thoughts might you have on this or previous posts?

How We're Conditioned by Sin - Part II

Any type of strain produces stress, no matter if the strain originates from a spiritual, mental, emotional or physical source. Depending upon the factors involved, stress can have positive or negative consequences in one’s life. Basically, there are two types of stress, eustress and distress. The first type is healthful – such as when we go to the gym and exercise. The second type of stress, distress, is a state that occurs when we experience persistent strain that cannot effectively be coped with or adapted to. In many respects, it is our repeated experiences with distress that lead us into maladaptive states, where modes of thinking and traits of behaving fall outside of God’s will. To better understand how this is so, let’s study a theory known as General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS).

Endocrinologist, Hans Selye, served as a pioneer in the study of distress, and developed the GAS theory involving a three stage process. The first was identified as alarm. The moment we sense a threat, a complex physiological response is generated. If our state of alarm persists, we will experience the second stage – resistance. Because our body could not tolerate the strain of continuous alarm without eventually breaking down, it attempts to cope with the distress through resistance. Selye observed that if resistance does not prove effective in coping with persistent distress, we will then attempt to adapt. If we are unsuccessful at reducing our distress through resistance or adaptation, we’ll experience the third stage of GAS, known as exhaustion. Here, the body is depleted of its resources and breakdown of our physiological systems occur.

Where dysfunctional coping mechanisms are most significantly learned and reinforced is during stage two - resistance/adaptation. More often than not, resistance is performed through repressive acts; while adaptation might be accomplished through such mechanisms as codependency.

How We're Conditioned by Sin - Part I

I'm beginning a new series on conditioning factors associated with sin. Please feel free to join-in on the conversation. Also, if you have a question, you are more than welcome to post it. I'll work to answer an many as possible.

Here we go...
Since God is love, than love is the most powerful force in all the cosmos. Whenever we sense a lack of love in our key relationships we face a quandary – we feel uncertain and perplexed. Intrinsically, we know we have a need for love; yet, the quandary arises because we are often times unsure of how to get this need met. The more significant the lack, the greater our distress will be. All too often, we learn to cope with distress in maladaptive ways involving the self-deceptive modes of denial, repression, and rationalization. For example: A wife feels a painful lack of love in her marriage, so she focuses a significant amount of time and energy on caring for her children and work related activities to keep her mind preoccupied. By doing so, she limits the amount of time spent feeling the pain associated with the lack of love she feels. At the same time, her husband also feels the sting of love’s lack in the marriage, so he dulls his distress by viewing pornography. Through this behavior he experiences brief euphoric episodes that alter his mood. Until emotions of guilt and shame take over, he feels free from the distress of the relationship. Through their behaviors, this husband and wife deny and repress their painful thoughts and feelings. They then rationalize, i.e. justify why it is okay for them to behave in these manners. But it is plain to see they are only deceiving themselves. In reality, they are distressed over the marriage. Their attempts to avoid this reality only add to their distress. Self-deception does nothing to solve our problems in life – it only adds complexity.

Any type of strain produces stress, no matter if the strain originates from a spiritual, mental, emotional or physical source. Depending upon the factors involved, stress can have positive or negative consequences in one’s life. Basically, there are two types of stress, eustress and distress. Tomorrow, we'll continue with Part II in this series by looking at how distress caused by sin pertains to dysfunctional modes of thinking and behaving.

Repression is not a part of God's will for you.

God never intended for us to live a repressed life. Jesus is our model on how to cope with life's challenges. He never ignored issues, but faced them and overcame. So why do we avoid coping with issues in life? Well, on one hand, it's a normal to pull away from that which causes us pain. If I were to ask you to hold your hand to a hot flame till it burned, you wouldn't do it. Why? Because you're wired to avoid pain.

But not all pain is bad. For instance, if you had a flesh wound you'd need to keep it clean and protected in order for it to heal. Cleaning the wound causes pain, yet, the results of that pain are positive.

The same holds true for our emotional wounds. God wired our mind for balance - a state called homeostasis. Regardless if our wounds are physical or emotional in nature, the healing process is still very much the same. We need to flush it out, then keep it clean and allow time for healing. While the pain associated in the healing process might be excruciating, it is important for us to endure for the sake of our health.

Repressing (i.e. avoiding) the pain involved with our emotional wounds is like placing a bandage over a flesh wound that has not been cleansed. In such cases, our actions will breed infection and healing will be stymied. It is possible that we will become sickened by the infection.

God has good plans for us. In order to live-out those plans, we need to be healthy and functional. While we might have been wounded emotionally, we nonetheless need to face reality and begin the process of cleansing so that we can experience healing and develop wholeness.

Misery Loves Company

It has been said that misery loves company. This assertion tends to be more true than not. We don't like to suffer in silence. There is a very real need each of us has to be loved. How others respond to our pain is important in the fulfillment of this need. In the last few posts, I've focused on suffering. Why do we suffer? Where is our omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omniloving God in such times?

Long before Christ was born, it was foretold that He would be known as "...a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief..." (Isaiah 53:3). Funny how this concept offers comfort to us when we feel afflicted. Does our Creator care that we suffer? Yes - just look to the cross. But don't linger there more than necessary - look beyond the cross to the empty tomb. Next, turn your gaze to the throne of our Lord Jesus Christ! Then you will be able to embrace your pain in the company of the Man of Sorrows, there you will no long suffer in silence, but weep with the One who is well acquainted with grief. Oh the love!

More Thoughts on Suffering

Okay - so yesterday I blogged about Job coming to see God's splendor through his suffering. Splendor - an interesting word, meaning: great light or luster; brilliance. But I like this definition better - something grand or magnificent. We find in chapter nine of Job, that he already understood God was omnipotent. Yet, through his suffering, Job comes to see God not just as all-powerful, but as his Redeemer. Ah, now we get to the crux! An all powerful God might still be an impersonal God - but a redeeming God equates to love, grace, and mercy! It is for this reason that Job states, "...now my eye sees you..." (Job 42:5). Through his suffering, Job comes to experience his Creator in a very real, intensely loving way. I believe this is what we all long for - a deeply intimate love relationship with our heavenly Father. Those who establish such a connection will be blessed and experience the abundant life of love, joy, and peace.

What say you?

Making Sense of Suffering

So after it was said and done, after loosing everything, Job states the following, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know." (Job 42:3, NIV). Mind you, these words were spoken prior to the restoration of his losses. Wow! Job clung to his faith in a just Creator, and in the end God revealed Himself to be exactly that. Standing in His glory, Job came to understand the amazing love, grace, and mercy of the Lord.

What sense have you been able to make of your own suffering?

Coping with Anger

Consider Paul's instructions to the Ephesians, "In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, do not give the devil a foothold." (Eph. 4:26, 27 NIV). The apostle's initual use of the word "anger" is rendered in the Greek as orgizo, which involves the expression of strong displeasure. However, in his second use of the word, Paul employs the word parorgismos, meaning - rage. When we allow the sun to go down on our anger, the displeasing emotions can manifest into rage - which all too often equates to varying degrees of violence. In effect, our attempt to deny and repress anger is a much a sin as lashing out in rage. Our best bet is to: affirm - assert - affirm - re-assert, then, if need be - detach in love.