"What Is Wrong With You?"

The Principal of the school I was attending in grade eleven asked me that question. I was being expelled for trying to set fire to the school.

I didn’t do it.

Honest!

Somebody else had gotten into a store room where he (she?) tried to set fire to a stack of toilet paper. Truth be told, if I’d thought about it first, I might have done it. I was a little angry back then. Regardless, I was getting kicked out because my history made me the most likely suspect.

“What’s wrong with you?”

That’s a good question. Or better yet, What’s wrong with the world? That’s pretty much THE question that every religion and philosophy and belief system attempts to answer. That means of course that we’re all in agreement that something IS wrong with the world, or more specifically, there is something wrong with us, humans.

While we are capable of amazing good, the horrors that we inflict on each other and even on ourselves is difficult to comprehend.

As far as I know, every system of thought but Christianity blames something external to ourselves. Not enough education. Not enough money. Not enough access to medical care. Not enough this and not enough that. The reasoning being that if everybody could just get enough of that stuff then “we” would stop destroying ourselves. And then we take a look at the West. We have a thousand times more of everything than the rest of the world, yet the rates of mental illness like depression, violence, marital breakdown, and such are also far above the norm for the world in general.

Obviously having “more” is not the answer. That’s where belief systems like atheism raise their hands.

Atheists are quite certain that more isn’t the problem, at least when it comes to religion. Atheists like Christopher Hitchens believe that if we could just eliminate religion then peace would reign. Christopher may be intelligent but when it comes to wisdom - mmm not so much. Some groups believe that if we could just eliminate certain races of people, life would be all sunshine and bliss. Others say, Too many banks, too many millionaires, too much police, too much government. If we could just get rid of these things, some people believe, then the goodness of humans would be allowed to flow forth.

The common denominator though, again, is that these people see the problem as external to themselves.

Then there are groups like Buddhists who also believe the problem isn’t “us.” Not fundamentally anyway. On Buddhism and psycho therapies like Rational Emotive Therapy, the human problem is how we think about the external. How we react to, or respond to the external world. These people believe that if we could just train ourselves and others the right way of thinking, all would be well with the world. Like all other belief systems, for people in this group, the idea that the problem lies within is vehemently denied. In fact, these people believe that if other people would just “think like we think,” the world’s problems would dissolve.

Islam is no different in its external focus. Eg. On Islam, if I struggle with lust, then making you wear more clothing should solve the issue. Or maybe if I just wash my hands five times a day, that will be the solution. On Islam, something external to myself must be eliminated for me to become well.

This constant blaming of something or someone else is one of the reasons that I believe Christianity (what Jesus taught) to be true. Out of all the schools of thought, Jesus answers the human dilemma in the most realistic and believable terms.

Chesterton via Jesus says correctly, “What’s wrong with the world is me.”

Jesus said that we are fundamentally flawed and no immersion in any thought system is going to be able to change that. Not Capitalism, not Communism, not Marxism, not religion or the lack of religion. We are sick in a way that none of us can heal on our own and only Jesus dares to speak the truth on this issue.

Every philosophical and religious system in the world including Christianity has been used by flawed human beings to destroy other human beings. It’s an undeniable fact, and only those who exist on the fringes of reality think that their belief system is exempt. All of the rules and laws in the world put together cannot curb the inner man. Oh sure, we can coerce, and shame, and punish people into compliance - sometimes - but none of that changes who we are at our core.

We can force people by law to treat others in a semi respectful manner (I’ll sit in the same restaurant with you, but to me you’re still a nigger / whitey / Aaarab) but no one can cause us to love one another - No one that is except Jesus.

When Jesus gets a hold of someone a radical transformation takes place that is nothing short of a miracle.

That’s right!

I said, “It is a miracle.”

Jesus does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. I saw it again three weeks ago in a couple who in anyone’s estimation was obviously headed for divorce. And then something dramatic happened. They gave their lives to Jesus - completely and totally. I doubt that any power on earth or in heaven will be able to destroy that relationship. They are not the same human beings they were the day or even the hour before. They are a new creation.

Jesus does that for people. Jesus changes people from the inside out. Jesus gives to us:
His love,
His mercy,
His grace,
His tenderness,
His forgiveness.

Things that we cannot attain on our own by our own effort are given to us freely by the lover of our souls - Jesus the Christ.

He’s done it for me and He’ll do it for you.

While I’m not yet the man that I want to be.

And while I’m not yet the man that I’m going to be.

Thanks to God alone I’m no longer the man that I used to be.