Book Review Toxic Faith,
Stephen Arterburn and Jack Felton, Waterbrook Press, 2001.
Many times people leave the church or walk away from God
because of their experience of ‘toxic faith.’
Arterburn and Felton describe toxic faith as “a destructive and
dangerous involvement in a religion that allows the religion, not a
relationship with God, to control a person’s life. It is a defective faith with an incomplete or
tainted view of God. It is abusive and manipulative” (p. 19)
They illustrate how people can become entrapped in toxic
faith because of religious leaders’ evil manipulations of their followers, or tragedy
or abuse in people’s past, or unrealistic expectations that God should keep
believers from suffering, or human tendencies towards a self-centered,
narcissistic religion or “distortions
from one’s early years by watching parents practice a faith with little truth
and hope… [It occurs when] Faith is slowly poisoned as lies and false ideas are
integrated into a person’s beliefs about God… Whether handed down, learned
later in life, supported by others, or reinforced by denial, toxic beliefs take
root and spoil the relationship with God. These beliefs must be countered and
replaced with truth” (p.33).
The purpose of the book, therefore, is to help people move
from a toxic faith to a true faith:
Identifying the toxic elements is the beginning of hope. To see toxic beliefs and practices for what
they are can allow men and women to plunge deeply into true faith and to know and serve God,
rather than to walk on the deadly fringes” (p.31). The authors seek to “cut in on the dance of self-deception and introduce tired dancers to a God who cannot be manipulated and whose love cannot be earned” (p. xii).
One of the many examples of a toxic faith progression is in
Melody’s story.
Her
father, who was a minister, molested her as a teenager. “Melody didn’t sleep
the rest of the
night.
As she lay awake, the nucleus of a lifetime of toxic faith began to form. She
wondered why
God
had allowed this to happen. She thought that she must be bad or this bad thing
wouldn’t have
happened. She felt that thus must be some kind of
punishment for something she had done. Her
faith
shattered. Since my father is a fake, she
thought, all believers must be fakes
also….She told
her
mother what had happened [but] Melody’s mother couldn’t believe it and accused
her of lying.
The
revelation destroyed her relationship with her mother. She felt isolated and
abandoned by her
father,
her mother and her God” (p. 34). As a result she began self-destructive abusive
behavior.
The book is a careful and thorough study of the elements of
toxic faith, with clear illustrations for each point and a helpful layout that
underlines key ideas and includes summaries at the end of each chapter. The book describes the beliefs involved in
toxic faith, the progression of religious addiction, the characteristics of a
toxic faith system with its rules and its leaders, and the hope in recovery and
treatment.
Some of the 21 toxic beliefs the authors highlight include: “If
I have real faith, God will heal me or someone I am praying for…All ministers
are men and women of God and can be trusted…A strong faith will protect me from
problems and pain…God hates sinners, is angry with me and wants to punish me…
The more money I give to God, the more money he will give to
me…More than anything else, God wants me to be happy” (p. 78).
The test for possible toxic faith includes questions like:
1.
“Have you found yourself looking to your minister for a
quick fix to a lifelong problem?
2.
Do you feel extreme guilt over the slightest mistakes
or inadequacies?
3.
Do you feel God is angry with you?
4.
Has your faith led you to lead an isolated life, making
it hard for you to relate to your family and friends?
5.
Do you sense that God is looking at what you do
and if you don’t do enough, he might turn on you or refuse to bless you?” (pp. 263-264).
Toxic Faith
removes the veil from much religion that is dysfunctional and is a very
important book for anyone whose faith has been injured along the way. The authors’ guidelines for restoration and
treatment provide hope and Biblical correctives for poisoned perspectives.
Reviewed
by M.L. Codman-Wilson, Ph.D. 5/10/12
