The Dysfunctional Diva – Part 2
December 24, 2008 by Toni
Filed under Pop Culture
If you’ve read the description in part one, don’t worry if some things resonated with you. I believe there is a little dysfunctional diva in all of us. Let’s just be honest; at the end of the day, attitudinal sin has reared its ugly head at one time or another. In our constant struggle between the flesh and the spirit, at times this is understandable. However, anti-intellectualism has only exacerbated narcissism in Christian culture. “To be sure, evangelicals are generally devout, church-going believers who take the Bible seriously and try to live in obedience to their Lord. But study after study shows that they seldom understand the Bible very well, know little about theology, buy heavily into the therapeutic culture of feel-good-ism, and are caught up in a cycle of overspending and consumption like everyone else.” In his book Kingdom Triangle, JP Moreland corroborates this and asserts that ours is a culture filled with a “cultural plague” which psychologist Philip Cushman refers to as “the empty self.”
“The empty self is filled with consumer goods, calories, experiences, politicians, romantic partners, and empathetic therapists. [The empty self] experiences a significant absence of community, tradition, and shared meaning… a lack of personal conviction and worth, and it embodies the absences as a chronic, undifferentiated emotional hunger.”
Moreland rightly asserts that when “people live for pleasurable satisfaction, they become empty-selves.” God intended us to live for purpose beyond ourselves, (namely Him) and when instead the primary goal in life is happy satisfaction, we find the result to be the opposite. This is because God did not design us to live for happiness. Moreland goes on to insightfully state that a Church filled with people with the aforementioned character traits would have little theological understanding, evangelistic courage, or cultural penetration.
We can see this because if it’s difficult to put the needs of others before our own, it will be difficult to serve them well. If we tend to make decisions based on how we feel rather than skillful reasoning, we will inevitably make poor choices for the Kingdom. If we are inclined to always give priority to our own preferences, we most likely will avoid the discipline required to pursue the character of God, and shy away from the study of truth in those ideas that we might find difficult or less than entertaining. We will be dispassionate toward evangelism and unable to apologetically provide sound reasons for our faith. Gals, this is one reason why making Headroom is so important. Developing a well-formed thought life helps us to combat narcissism and the dysfunctional diva in all of us. (I think I need an “amen” here. Because after all, it’s really about me.)
Robert Wuthnow, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind: A Symposium” First Things (March 1995). http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=4018
Philip Cushman, “Why the Self Is Empty,” American Psychologist 45 (May 1990): 600.