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Struggling with Cynicism
Posted by David Rogers in Bible & Theology
I don’t know about you, but if I am honest, I must confess that I find myself fighting the temptation to be cynical in my general approach to life much more than I know I ought to—especially when listening to brothers and sisters in Christ share their view on this topic or that. For example, I often find myself sitting through a sermon at church, a lesson in a Sunday School class, listening to someone on the radio, watching someone on TV, or reading a book, or a blog post; and, instead of predisposing my heart and mind to receive a blessing from the Lord through what they are saying, looking, first of all, for whatever error I can find, or whatever detail I can criticize, for this reason or that, in what they are saying.
The article on Cynicism in Wikipedia says:
Cynicism (Greek: Kυνισμός) originally comprised the various philosophies of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics, founded by Antisthenes in about the 4th century BC. The Cynics rejected all conventions, whether of religion, manners, housing, dress, or decency, advocating the pursuit of virtue in a simple and unmaterialistic lifestyle.
By the 19th century, emphasis on the negative aspects of Cynic philosophy led to a new and very different understanding of cynicism to mean an attitude of jaded negativity, and a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of other people. Modern cynicism, as a product of mass society, is a distrust toward ethical and social values, especially when there are high expectations concerning society, institutions and authorities which are unfulfilled. Cynicism can manifest itself by frustration, disillusionment and distrust in regard to organizations, authorities and other aspects of society, and can result from a negative evaluation of past experiences.
I know that we are surrounded on every side by false teaching, and must be on the lookout to not be taken in and deceived. But I’m afraid that, in many cases, we, as conservative evangelicals, have, in recent years, become infected with a bad case of overblown cynicism.
Lately, I have felt convicted by the Lord that I need to be less cynical in my general approach to others, especially all those who are my brothers and sisters in Christ. As I understand it, that doesn’t necessarily mean being “so open-minded my brain falls out.” I believe we all need to be as discerning and committed to the truth of the Word of God as ever. It has to do, more than anything, with a basic frame of mind, with a general attitude.
Frankly, I think a lot of cynicism within the evangelical church of recent years roots in filling our minds day-in and day-out with the words and corresponding attitudes conveyed by those in the secular (and sometimes Christian) media. You listen to enough sarcasm, irreverence, and arrogance, and, in the end, you can’t help but be affected by it yourself. And, it seems to me that, nowadays, there is enough sarcasm, irreverence, and arrogance to go around on both sides of the political spectrum. So I’m not meaning to point the finger at any one side in particular.
In any case, as I started out saying, this is not so much about pointing a finger at others as it is about me, and my own struggle. I find myself being sucked into this much more than I think I ought to be. As I have been searching my heart, and asking God to help me with my attitude, He has brought to mind on various occasions Acts 17:11:
Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
A lot of times, when we quote this verse, we hone in on the last part, about examining the Scriptures every day to see if what someone says is true or not. Without a doubt, that is an important application of this verse, and an example we all should follow. But I believe this is to be balanced with what the first part says about receiving the message with great eagerness.
Regarding the word translated “eagerness” (προθυμιας), The Outline Bible Five Translation Practical Word Studies in the New Testament gives the following description: “with great eagerness; with all readiness of mind; with willingness; with zeal. It means to have a willing desire, an eagerness, a hunger, a thirst to know the truth.”
As I understand it, in practice, it means listening to our brother or sister in Christ, first of all, with an expectation of receiving something positive, something beneficial, something edifying; and only afterwards, comparing and contrasting what we are hearing with our understanding of the truth of the Word of God, to see if it matches up or not. It seems to me that many of us have perhaps gotten caught up in majoring on the second part, while neglecting the first part. I know that I have caught myself doing this on various occasions.
I suppose there are some ideas out there that are so far off course that our initial response should be “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:23). But I also believe that many times God wants to use this brother or that sister to teach me something, or to be a channel of His blessing in my life, and my cynicism gets in the way of what He wants to give me.
The proper balance between the two extremes in all of this is not always easy to find. I know I am still struggling with that in my own life.
What has been your experience?
Do you ever struggle with cynicism?
What has the Lord taught you about dealing with this issue?
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David, you have a great conclusion. At its heart, cynicism is an impugning of the motives of others. Or at the very least a skepticism of them.
As for the source of cynicism, I wouldn’t lay near so much blame at the feet of the secular media. For the most part, their attitude toward the church has not changed substantially in my lifetime. The root of Evangelical cynicism lies much deeper. For me it found its earliest expression when Jerry Falwell started hawking “The Clinton Chronicles” on The Old Time Gospel Hour combined with various ministry scandals like Jimmy Swaggart and Falwell’s takeover of Jim Bakker’s Christian theme park. None of these aligned with my understanding of Christ’s mission for the church.
More recently George Barna has gradually and consistently eroded any confidence Christians may have had in their profession of faith. From “The Frog in the Kettle” to “Revolution” Barna has been on a witch hunt of sorts for Christian hypocrisy and has had no trouble unearthing it. The Pew Forum jumped on the religious polling bandwagon and has also lent its voice to the bad press. Couple this with knee-jerk pastors in Chicken Little voices warning us of The End Of The (Evangelical) World As We Know It, and is it any wonder this is a recipe for cynicism?
It would be remarkable if cynicism were not the order of the day, rather than the norm. Some years ago, a secularist wrote a book titled, “The Good News is the Bad News is Wrong.” It sure would be nice to see someone publish Good News about the church that is something other than Pollyanna platitudes and pabulum. This blog may be just the place to start.
Dear Brother Roger,
Fantastic post in many regards. I find that often I allow cynicism to be a tool in my tool belt for discernment. I feel we must distingush between cynicism and discernment, for some might argue cynicism is helpful for discernment. Was Jesus ever cynical? Is it ok to be a bit cynical? How much is too much? I think it has no business in my life.
The resolution? My approach is more of a spiritual formation approach. When I begin to feel jaded or untrusting I purposely place myself within a group of Christ followers and look for ways God ministers and loves me through them. It is very helpful to place myself among those with whom I do not fully agree but share the bond of Christ. I am taught over and over again that even if I do not agree with them, I do not have to be perpetually questioning motives.
Hope it helps…
Zach
David,
I am going to say something that I think people usually find offensive. Hopefully you won’t feel the same way when you hear my explanation. But I don’t think you struggle with cynicism as much as you struggle with a judgmental attitude. As the articile in wikipedia pointed out, cynicism is a questioning of the authority or the motives. You wrote, “For example, I often find myself sitting through a sermon at church, a lesson in a Sunday School class, listening to someone on the radio, watching someone on TV, or reading a book, or a blog post; and, instead of predisposing my heart and mind to receive a blessing from the Lord through what they are saying, looking, first of all, for whatever error I can find, or whatever detail I can criticize, for this reason or that, in what they are saying.”
I too struggle with this same judgmental attitude much more than I would like. Which has been a real problem for me because I truly have a desire to always come away from a worship service with something meaningful. All too often though, I sit down and begin the service by “testing” them to see if they “meet my standard” before I allow my heart to hear the message (much like you said you do). This has been something God has revealed to me and I have been struggling with recently. It is incouraging to hear that I am not the only one with this struggle; because at times, I felt as though I was the only one.
This is a great post and I assum there are a lot of Christians, even pastors, who have this same attitude. Perhaps God will use this post to make them aware of it.
Brother David,
Great insight…. Cynicism it seems never realizes the scope and purpose of Christ’s ministry. The fruit of patience turns our heads to the promise of God and His gospel.
Hebrews 6:7-15 “For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; (8) but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. (9) But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. (10) For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. (11) And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, (12) so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (13) For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, (14) saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.” (15) And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.”
It is important that a man of God leading the church be resolved to know patience, so that Christ can minister to him. Many a man forfeits his aspiration to leadership due to cynicism.
Thank you for the reminder, May we all learn to receive from Christ and not from ourselves.
Blessings,
Chris
I think I have to digest this one for a while!
I tend to be very wary, critical, even cynical. And I find, in blogging, that there are about 5 bloggers who trigger some sort of visceral cynical reaction.
I have to constantly fight my fleshly impulses on this one.
First, fine post.
Second, I have been there / done that (make that am there / do that ).
It is a natural tendency .. that is, it’s our nature speaking. I have learned that I will probably never change that so I try to use it to my profit. For one thing, when I hear someone saying something, in a lesson or sermon, with which I disagree, what I’m really doing is affirming what I do believe. I think that’s a good things to do, and from my experience teaching SS and particularly the BF&M, I doubt seriously that very many people know that well, what it is they believe.
Then, when that thought pops into my mind, I have been able to caution myself not to judge, and to tell God I really don’t like that about me, and ask Him to change it. That is, at least, of some comfort.
I imagine the Apostle Paul had some of the same thoughts; that may even be a part of his lament about what a wicked sinner he was (even while he was writing a fair amount of the Bible .. like .. go figure..).
I’d say this is a good post, and a good sign.
God bless.
It seems that the cure would be to focus on what we have been instructed to focus on and keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
Phil 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things [are] noble, whatever things [are] just, whatever things [are] pure, whatever things [are] lovely, whatever things [are] of good report, if [there is] any virtue and if [there is] anything praiseworthy–meditate on these things.
That would be like turning off the TV and Radio and finding something else to do with our time.
The sad thing about Cynicism is that a principle of life comes into affect. We become what we focus on.
Thanks for the reminder and the sincerity. I, too, am convicted.
David,
I hated your post. Who are you to say that? Why couldn’t you have said it another way? I know some better verses you could have used. The post was too long, although in a sense it was way too short. I noticed you didn’t use any scholarly references. Why didn’t you pick a better topic?
Just joking! As you can tell, I’ve never had a problem with cynicism
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Seriously, great post. May all of us old, cynical Christians read Psalm 1:1 often.
David R. Brumbelow
Everyone,
Thanks for the feedback, and for thinking together with me about this issue. There’s not really a whole lot for me to add at this point, except to say to Olon that you may have a point about judgmental attitude. In my mind, cynicism and judgmental attitude are closely related. Mabye cynicism doesn’t sound quite so bad, though. I also want to be careful not to get in the game of being cynical or having a judgmental attitude toward those I consider to be cynical or have a judgmental attitude. It seems to me that this is something we must work on between ourselves and God. And, I don’t think any of us will ever be completely free from this struggle. But, at least, it may be a positive step forward to recognize it as something we are struggling with, and to ask God to help us not to be so cynical/judgmental.
David,
Another Home Run, we are to test all things in accordance with what is written in God’s Word.
1 Thess. 5:20–21 Do not despise prophecies. Believers are to be open to the disclosure of God’s will through fellow Christians exercising the gift of prophecy (see note on 1 Cor. 14:22–25). The Thessalonians apparently despised manifestations of prophecy and hence were cutting off a valuable source of encouragement and extinguishing the Spirit’s fire. Test everything. Rather than rejecting prophecies outright on the basis of inferior prophetic words, the Thessalonians need to weigh prophecies to distinguish the true from the false. Tests presumably include the prophecy’s conformity with authoritative revelation, its value for edification, and its evaluation by those with spiritual discernment. See 1 Cor. 14:29–33 and the note on 1 Cor. 12:10 regarding the operation of prophecy in the church. what is good. In context, this most likely refers to prophecies that pass the test.
Wayne
I agree with some of the regulars here; fine post. I respect the honesty and transparency of your meditation here.
That said, three antidotes to cynicysm.
James Wood’s easily googled up review of the works of Anton Chekov.
2)The story in current issue of New Yorker magazine about the return of the Russian Orthodox Bells from Massachussetts to their native land.
3)Steven Miller’s new treatment of Billy Graham and Nixon and the Rise of Southern GOP. It was contorted affair, but if Anne Graham Lotz can join the daughter of Nixon operative Harry Dent (Ginny Brant) and David Rogers in a careful reading of this NY Times praised book, and in conversation with the likes of David Gushee and Ben Cole moved toward something simple and concrete, a move toward leading the way for many SBC folks of conscience to buck the Nashville establishment and reallign and financially support the Baptist World Alliance would allay some of my cynicism that Baptist conservatives of conscience can honor the priesthood of the believer and stand in a small way against their current of last 30 years.
4)This episode in Ron Rash’s Serena, recently nominated for a Pen/Faulkner award as one of the best novels of 2008; Rash, Baptist Shaped in Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina:
Quoting:
McIntyre and Snipes; Passage from Serena
Page 300:
“I heard your preacher was out in his cabbage patch the other evening,” Henryson said to STewart. “He must be doing some better.”
“He is but he still ain’t of a mind to say much. His Aunt got him a funeral to preach over in Cullowee, figured it would cheer him up a bit, but he just shook his head at her.”
“Well there aint nothing like somebody laid in the ground to cheer a fellow up,” Ross said.
“It used to done him that way,” Stewart said. “He told me once the only thing he hated about dying was he wouldn’t be around to preach his own funeral.”
Snipes eyes were still closed as he spoke.
“That’s another example of the duality of man, you’re speaking of Stewart. We want what’s in this world, but we also want what ain’t.”
“I don’t quite get your meanin,” Henryson said to Snipes.
Snipes turned his head a few inches to address Henryson, the foreman’s eyelashes fluttering a few moments like insect wings vainly attempting to take flight.
“Well I’m too tuckered to explain it right now.”
Stephen,
First off, I appreciate the recommended reading, but I am so bogged down in PhD studies right now, it would be quite awhile until I could get around to those things.
Next, since the first time you began corresponding with me, I’ve been trying to figure out just where you are coming from. Correct me if I’m wrong. But it seems to me that most of your gripes with the Conservative Resurgence in the SBC have more to do with secular politics than anything else. Whereas I am not quite the culture warrior as some, and don’t spend a lot of time on political bandwagons, my support of the Conservative Resurgence hinges much more on theological and missiological issues.
That being said, I don’t remember you commenting on one of the few articles I wrote on politics here on sbc IMPACT! back a few months ago. It would be interesting for me to hear your response to that post. It might help me to understand better where you are coming from. Here is the link:
http://www.sbcimpact.net/2008/11/11/morality-politics-and-a-broken-heart/
David:
My apologies for the delay in responding.
I do hope you can make time for the Miller book as it talks about themes about to repeat themselves in Alabama gubernatorial race as witnessed in a Natalie Davis piece in yesterday’s Bham News.
Your Dad’s successor, Steve Gaines, was in Bham Thursday and called in the Radio talk show Rick N Bubba which Davis obliquely references in her piece; this time R and Bubba being the Billy Graham role to a later version of Nixon’s politics.
On another note I passed your politics and broken heart blog on to your Dad’s Stetson classmate Bill Self and SBC foe Randall Lolley.
Lolley replied to say you appear to have pilgrimmed to a better place than your Dad was in denominational politics.
In that vein, Bill Hull has reference to your Dad in his extraordinary interview in the May issue of Baptists Today.
You, and lot of the audience of this site will want to get their hands on that interview.
Hope things otherwise are well
Stephen Fox
Though there is a stronger version of the Mark Noll Quote Hull uses in the interview, I want to specifically draw your attention to it when you have a chance to read.
I came to this post by googling “struggling-with-cynicism”
because it comes in waves and as a believer I am convicted that it is not of Him, but so present in my life.
I liked what someone said about judgement connected to cynicism.
I dont want to judge – I dont want to doubt human testimonies or motives even though the past shows me that 80% of the time things cause u to doubt and by cynical merely by mans flesh and behaviour.
I try to remind myself that its only in Jesus that we can trust – and yes to focus on whatever is noble, whatever is true…
great words!
thanks