Is Christian Faith a Crutch?
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Introduction
What do you mean by crutch?
A crutch is a support—something you lean on, when you need help (for example, when your leg is broken). If something wasn't broken or not working right—if you were healthy—you wouldn't need the crutch.
“So what?”
If Christianity were a crutch, why would that be a problem? What would that mean? Or in other words, “so what?”
When someone refers to Christianity as being a crutch, they're really saying that it's something only spiritually, mentally or morally unhealthy people need. If you were spiritually and mentally healthy, you wouldn't need to learn on Christianity, or God, or any religion, really.
Step One: Reductio Ad Absurdum
What is the arbitrary assumption?
Now, the person making this claim is already assuming that Christianity is not true. Why? They are assuming that it is possible to be spiritually, mentally and morally healthy without any help from God. They assume they have all they need within themselves.
By what standard?
To assume this, they must presuppose that there is a standard of spiritual, mental or moral health.
They believe there is a standard, and they are meeting that standard just fine, thank you very much.
But without God, what is that standard?
If our spirits, minds, and consciences are not designed by God for a certain purpose, then what does it mean to be "healthy?" After all, an organ is "healthy" when it is functioning properly—when it is doing what it is designed to do.
But if we aren't designed, then the idea of proper functioning is meaningless. There is no right or wrong; there is only what is.
The inconsistency of unbelief
But do unbelievers live this way? Do they live like there is no right or wrong? No! They assume there are right and wrong ways of living. In fact, this very objection that Christianity is a crutch, reveals that they think it's wrong to use a crutch.
They believe it is wrong not to be spiritually, mentally and morally healthy enough not to need one! It would be better, they think, not to need a crutch. But again, better… by what standard?
When it comes down to it, this objection is based on a faulty understanding of Christianity. We need to look at what the unbeliever seems to believe Christianity is, vs. what Christianity actually is.
Non-Christians who accuse Christianity of being just a crutch seem to think that the point of the Christian religion is simply to offer a person help in the areas of inner peace and moral guidance for life. They think they know what Christianity is "for," and they do not think they need that.
They have received just enough of Christian teaching to know it deals with peace and morality, but not enough to know the core message of Christianity, which is the Gospel. One pastor, Doug Ponder, calls this "Gospel inoculation." They have enough knowledge of Christianity (or so they think) to fight off the real thing. They assume they know what Christianity is all about, and they believe they are rejecting it.
They believe Christianity is a form of self-help or a system of encouragement for people who need something to "lean on.” Like a crutch. Unbelievers think the goal of Christianity is to make them better people. Since they think they are already good or spiritually/emotionally healthy people (again, by what standard?), they think they don’t need it.
They are wrong, and that makes their situation very dangerous.
Step 2: Internal Critique of the Christian Position
How does Christianity provide the criteria needed to make sense of the “crutch objection?”
As a matter of fact, the “crutch objection” relies on a standard of spiritual and emotional health that Christianity actually makes sense of.
According to the Bible, God created human beings in His image (Gen. 1:27). The ultimate standard for spiritual and emotional health is the peace God gives to His people.
For example, this is what Jesus is describing in John 14:27, when He says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” It’s also what Paul is talking about in Romans 5:1: “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
The idea of spiritual and emotional health makes perfect sense when you believe in the God of the Bible and the Christian worldview. There really is such a thing as spiritual health.
Use your own testimony to make a positive case for Christianity
While non-Christians might think that the goal of Christianity is to make people “better” (by what standard again?), the core message of Christianity is very different.
It is not that we are a little broken. It's that we are dead. Ephesians 2:1 says we are "dead" in "trespasses and sins"! We do not need a little help. We need to be raised to life!
That being said, when a person does become a Christian, they certainly do become a more spiritually and emotionally healthy. This is demonstrated through a change of lifestyle and action.
As a Christian, has Jesus changed your life? Are there immoral things that you no longer do, because you follow Him? Are there good works that you now love to do, because the Holy Spirit dwells within you? Do you feel different? Do you have the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control that are the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23)? Are you supplementing your faith with virtue, and your virtue with knowledge, and your knowledge with self-control, etc. (2 Peter 1:5–7)? How has your life changed since you became a Christian?
This is all evidence—not that you found a crutch to help you hobble along, but that you’ve been raised from death to newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Step 3: Evangelistic Appeal
How does this connect to the Gospel?
For these good works and qualities to become a reality in our lives, we need new hearts. This is what has promised us—not just a little help to become better people! In Ezekiel 26:26, He says, "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."
In Christ, God does not just fix our broken leg. He puts to death our old, sinful selves and sets us free from our previous enslavement to sin (Romans 6:6).
In Christ, God gives us a "new self" that is "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24) and which "is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator" (Colossians 3:10).
In Christ, we are made into new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17)!
As a result, we can never boast that we are spiritually, mentally or morally healthy because we "leaned on God" like a crutch—and certainly not because we found a way to become healthy on our own.
Instead, God saved us while we were completely undeserving (Romans 5:8), and we contributed nothing to our salvation.
We do not need a "crutch." And God doesn't offer us a crutch. He offers us life from the dead. It's important that your non-Christian friend, who is making this objection, understands that.