The Top Most Abused Bible Verses (Part Two)

When Church Makes You Sick

Oct 30, 2024

According to some interpretations of the Bible, human beings are born bad. In last week’s first installment of this series I deconstructed and refuted the Christian doctrine of “original sin”. Today’s article addresses the related and often taught idea that human beings, as inherently sinful, are especially led astray by what they feel.

The Bible verse commonly used to assert this point is:

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” - Jeremiah 17:9

Jeremiah 17:9 is one of the most mistaught and abused verses in the Bible. According to christianity.com:

“The Bible tells us our hearts are evil. Our hearts are evil because of sin. Ever since sin entered the world through the Fall of Man, all human beings are evil. Since our hearts are deceitful, we cannot trust them nor follow them. Our hearts are prone to sin and disobey God. All of our hearts are sick because they are permeated with sin. Often the direction our hearts are leading us is the way of destruction.”

In my view, the above explanation is false, unbiblical, and never taught by Jesus. I refute the following ideas from that statement:

That the Bible teaches the heart is evil (the Bible does not teach the heart is evil)
That the heart actually is evil (the heart, neither scientifically nor spiritually, is evil)
That sin entered the world through the Fall of Man (the Fall of Man is an allegory that is not about “sin” coming into the world)
That all human beings are evil (all human beings are Homo sapiens with an upside and downside)
That we cannot trust our heart (feelings and emotions are necessary and vital for processing the lived human experience)
Our heart is sick (the heart is a processor, our mental conditioning, programming and indoctrination is the software that makes us unwell)
Our heart is permeated by sin (the doctrine of “original sin” is indefensible)
That our heart is prone to sin (the doctrine of “original sin” is indefensible)
That our hearts lead to destruction (mindsets, choices or actions based upon toxic software has consequences)

Before I get into a few nuts and bolts of the Jeremiah 17:9 Bible verse, I want to point out the obvious. The Bible was written millennia before the birth of modern psychology, which means that its understanding of the human psyche was severely limited and without the insight of the scientific study of the mind and behavior.

Just as one cannot assume that the Bible is an authority on physical disease and illness, written prior to the advent of modern medicine, we cannot make the Bible the authority on the psychological dynamics of the human person, written prior to the field of psychology. I’m not arguing that the Bible has nothing of value to say about physical health or the interior dimension of the human person. But one should not think that the words “the heart is deceitful” is an adequate explanation for destructive human behavior.

The most common misleading ways the Jeremiah 17:9 verse include:

1. Trust us, not you

Jeremiah 17:9 is often abused in toxic churches or religious groups to control people. It’s meant to cast suspicion upon an internal locus of control whereby a person locates the authority for their lives within themselves, and instead demands compliance to an external locus of control, namely religious leaders and official doctrine. Inherent in the common teaching of Jeremiah 17:9 is the warning that following your own thoughts and feelings will lead to self-destruction and eternal damnation, as the below meme represents.

The classic Jeremiah 17:9 warning is that we cannot trust or rely upon our inner resources to determine truth because they have been corrupted by the sin condition (which I debunked in last week’s article). What internal processing dynamics have been corrupted according to traditional Christianity? Well, virtually everything, including:

free and independent thinking
introspection and self-reflection
doubts and questions
intuition
feelings and emotions
rational thinking, reason and common sense

In the above meme the antidote to the disastrous proposition of “following your heart” is to “follow the One Who created it”, which in reality means following the church leaders who claim the authority to speak as God’s anointed or chosen, and accepting the official doctrine institutionalized by the church.

Let me give you an example of how the “trust us, not you” framework works. Let’s take the Christian doctrine of Hell, which I extensively addressed in this article. In my view, the traditional Christian teaching of Hell is beyond the pale of reasonable thinking, even with the Bible verses that are twisted to defend it.

Let’s say in a Sunday sermon or homily, the pastor or priest says this:

“How tragic will it be that despite God’s loving mercy through Jesus Christ that countless people will face eternal torment because they were never told or refused God’s salvation plan.”

Here’s how the “trust us, not you” mentality would work in this case:

“Something doesn’t feel right about a person being condemned to eternal conscious torment in Hell because they didn’t hear, understand or believe in a particular salvation teaching.”
Answer: Your heart is deceitful, you cannot trust your worldly feelings. We know the truth, trust us.
“It doesn’t seem rational to think that a God of love would reveal ultimate truth through only one religion, and eternally punish all other people who grew up with a different religious tradition or culture.”
Answer: Your heart is deceitful, you cannot trust your carnal logic. We know the truth, trust us.
“I find it concerning that the doctrine of everlasting punishment in Hell is founded upon a combination of mistranslations and misinterpretations of certain original Hebrew and Greek words.”
Answer: Your heart is deceitful, you cannot trust your spirit of unbelief. We know the truth, trust us.
“It seems to defy common sense to argue that the same Bible that says that nothing can separate us from the love of God also teaches that you can be cast into an eternal lake of fire for incorrect theology.”
Answer: Your heart is deceitful, you cannot trust your secular reasoning. We know the truth, trust us.

The “trust us” mindset is based on the false premise that religious leaders know better than you when it comes to all things God. The truth is that clergy have no innate authority. Holding a church leadership position or having a theological degree does not imbue a person with special divine superiority. The terms “anointed”, “called”, or “chosen” or titles such as “pastor”, “priest”, “bishop”, “elder”, “evangelist” or “apostle” do not confer any innate authority on an individual or group.

An ordained minister is a person who has fulfilled the necessary requirements of their particular denomination to be an official representative. A person with a theological degree is someone who has successfully completed a course of studies, according to the theological tradition of that specific academic institution.

If you attend a Southern Baptist church you will be taught the doctrines that are unique to that religious tradition. It would be wrong to conclude that these teachings will make you a good Christian, reveal the true God, and lead one into all truth. What it will do is make you a good Southern Baptist, reveal the Southern Baptist “God” and lead you into Southern Baptist truth.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, came into being in 1845 as the church of Southern slaveholders. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the denomination’s flagship institution, recently released a 71-page report on the role that racism and support for slavery played in its origin and growth. The report reads, “The founding fathers of this school — all four of them — were deeply involved in slavery and deeply complicit in the defense of slavery.”

My intent is not to diminish the value of all professional clergy or write off the entire field of theology. As you know, for many years I had a professional ministerial career, have many clergy friends who are extraordinary people, and continue to do theological work. My point is, a religious position of institutional authority, Bible degree, or denominational dogma isn’t a pipeline for infallible truth.

2. Faith trumps all other forms of knowledge

When Jeremiah 17:9 is evoked to cast suspicion upon self-trust, it is often stated that being a proper Christian requires living by faith, which includes believing what you’re told even if it defies rational thinking or one’s inner feelings or intuition.

The problem with this idea is that it assumes that “faith” is somehow absent of all inner processing. You cannot heat something up in a microwave unless you plug it in to a source of electricity. Right? Likewise, you cannot apply “faith” without the inner processing of thinking and feeling. A machine can be programmed with information, which doesn’t require thinking or feeling, but it’s not possible for a human being to metabolize information without the use of human thoughts and emotions.

So let’s say you hear a church leader teach something that violates your reasoned thinking, intuition and gut feelings but you are told to have faith in this teaching because your inner processing system is corrupt and should not be trusted. But wouldn’t the church leader’s inner processing be corrupt too? Wasn’t the church leader also born with the original “sin condition”. Or as the saying goes, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”

There are 45,000 different Christian denominations around the world with countless different interpretations of the Bible. What if Pastor Bob and Pastor Fred have two different and opposing interpretations and understandings of the doctrine of Hell? Should you trust the inner processing of Pastor Bob (which was indoctrinated through his religious tradition) or the inner processing of Pastor Fred (which was indoctrinated through his religious tradition)? See the problem?

People often say, “My authority is the Bible.” It would be more accurate for them to say, “My authority is what they taught me at church the Bible means.” And it would be more accurate for a clergy person to say, “My authority is what they taught me at seminary the Bible means.” I discuss this in last week’s article about the Christian doctrine of “original sin”.

As mentioned in the past, throughout history, the Christian religion has rationalized:

persecution, torture and execution of unbelievers
oppression of women
institution of slavery
victimization of homosexuals
suppression of civil rights
white supremacy
genocide
burning of witches
violence and war

But over and against religious authority, the spirit of truth that resides inside each of us knows that these attitudes and actions are not acceptable, ethical, or a reflection of our highest nature and human spirit, even if they were diabolically rationalized in name of God. The church is not infallible and it often stands in direct opposition to the truth, rather than dispensers of it.

According to some religious traditions, faith is superior to all other forms of knowledge, including scientific knowledge. This is highly problematic. The “trust us, not you” mentality has historically had tragic results. During The Inquisition in 1633, the official condemnation of Galileo read:

“We hereby find Galileo guilty of heresy on the grounds for having held and believed a doctrine which is false and contrary to the divine and Holy Scripture; that the sun is the center of the world and does not move from east to west, and the earth moves and is not the center of the world, and that one may hold and defend as probable an opinion after it has been declared defined contrary to the Holy Scripture.”

To this indictment Galileo said in protest:

“I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect has intended to forgo their use.”

I often hear of people who are praying for God to “reveal” something to them - an answer, guidance or an understanding they don’t currently have.

However, if a person...

listens and trusts their own intuition
uses common sense and reason
applies critical thinking
seeks wise counsel and knowledgeable input
and applies vigorous self-reflection about the matter...

they are likely to acquire the answer, guidance and understanding they need. It didn’t require divine revelation, faith or reliance upon a religious leader or church doctrine.

Consciously directing your own life requires personal work and effort. Don’t think of the answer, guidance, direction or understanding you need as something that is external to you, but a skill you cultivate within.

There’s an empowering Buddhist concept referred to as “brilliant sanity.” Brilliant sanity describes our nature - who we are fundamentally at the deepest level. We are not always in touch with our brilliant sanity, but it is always there and available for us to tap into.

The basic premise of “brilliant sanity” is that we all have within us a natural dignity and wisdom, and that our basic nature is characterized by clarity, openness, and compassion. We may be out of touch with this wisdom and clarity, but it is always present and can be cultivated into our lived human experience.

3. The Heart is Wicked

In Jeremiah 17:9, the words “the heart is deceitful” are not referring to what most people think. The Hebrew word “heart” (hal-lêḇ) is most commonly translated as “mind”, “knowledge”, “thinking”.

When the Bible says “the heart is deceitful” it is referring to the deeply embedded mental frameworks human beings are socialized, conditioned and indoctrinated into. Beginning at birth, we are programmed with many beliefs, assumptions and narratives about the world, ourselves, others, what matters, and the meaning of life itself. Think of this as your mind-motherboard. However that mind-motherboard is wired up, its the engine driving the train of your life.

When Jeremiah 17:9 says “the heart is deceitful” it is saying that your mind-motherboard operates with misknowledge. You can’t trust the belief-software that has been downloaded into your psyche. Most of us are blindly following these conditioned beliefs and never question them. Many of these false beliefs are about God. It can be deceiving because even though we may have learned these beliefs from our family upbringing, cultural influences, and religious authorities, they still may not be true.

Part of the problem is that when we hear the word “heart” we think of the most inner and intimate part of our interior self and ways of knowing - our deepest feelings and intuitions. We equate the word “heart” with the purest, most natural and most vulnerable part of who we are. The Bible verse “the heart is deceitful” is NOT referring to this, it is referring to the programmed mind-motherboard.

The truth is that one’s deep inner feelings, stirrings, promptings, and intuitions are more reliable pathways to what is real, than what we have been socialized into through external conditioning. What a person knows in the deepest recesses of their inner self has far greater weight and authority than the toxic religious beliefs that may have been brainwashed into.

When Jesus said to become like children, follow the spirit, and find the kingdom of heaven within oneself, he was indicating that our true knowing is not found in what has been programmed into our heads, but what we find in the deepest recesses of our inner self.

Toxic religion attempts to persuade people they are born bad and that their natural inner nature is evil. This lie is often spread through the misuse of the Bible such as the Jeremiah 17:9 verse. The words “the heart is deceitful” is referring to the deeply embedded mental frameworks human beings are socialized, conditioned and indoctrinated into, including, and perhaps especially by religion.

If one’s marriage has imploded, it is not because you “followed your heart”. If you have an addiction, do self-harm, hurt others or feel hopeless in life, it is not because you “followed your heart”. It takes personal work to explore the root causes of our chronic unhappiness, dysfunctional or co-dependent relationships, and personal neuroses.

If your marriage is disintegrating, you are struggling with addiction, you are doing harm to yourself or others, or battling anxiety or depression, if you could get past all the false ideas, judgements and narratives that have been programmed into your head (especially by religion) and truly follow your heart by tapping into the deepest recesses of your inner self, you might experience the following:

reservoir of love from which you could offer yourself compassion, rather than judgement and condemnation
space of clarity from which you could identify the necessary steps for addressing your struggles and hardships
source of self-acceptance and self-regard from which to feel no shame in reaching out for the help and support you need
foundation of courage from which to put one foot in front of the other in the face of struggle

Misguided religion teaches that you lack what you need to effectively manage your life virtuously, meaningfully and fulfillingly. The truth is that you are capable of guiding your own spiritual path from the inside out and don’t need to be told what to do. You naturally have the ability, capacity, tools and skills to direct and manage your life through the use of your fundamental human faculties such as critical thinking, empathy, reason, conscience and intuition. You have the choice to cultivate a spirituality that doesn’t require you to be inadequate, powerless, weak, and lacking, but one that empowers you toward strength, vitality, wholeness, and the fulfillment of your highest potentialities and possibilities.

What does Jeremiah 17:9 mean?

If I were to paraphrase Jeremiah 17:9 with a more accurate and useful rendering, it would be as follows:

“When it comes to the inner dynamics of the human person, it’s complicated. We are capable of extraordinary goodness, beauty, love and virtue, but we can also do great harm and destruction.”

When it comes to the complex dynamics of one’s mind and emotions, Jeremiah 17:9 says they are, “… beyond cure. Who can understand it?” With the birth of modern psychology, we have come a long way in understanding the human mind and behavior, and the psychological dimension of the human person. The mental health field has pioneered a wealth of knowledge in diagnosing, addressing, cultivating and managing emotional, psychological, social and existential well-being.

Religion has had a terrible track record in addressing mental health issues. You would think from some religious groups that one can trust-and-obey themselves out of any mental health struggle. Religion often fails to teach children, youth, and adults the fundamental and essential aspects of tending to one’s mental health and addressing mental health struggles.

There are countless ways that toxic religion damages the very foundations of a person’s mental health. Toxic religion sabotages a person's relationship with themselves by establishing and feeding a deep sense of shame and mistrust of oneself. Toxic religious doctrine can often be the source of fear, shame, anxiety, depression and lead to suicidal ideation. Toxic religion promotes a stigma about mental health struggles and treatment, and tragically teaches that proper relationship with God is the remedy for mental health problems.

In fact, toxic religion is often the cause of mental health problems. Religious Trauma Syndrome (RTS) is recognized in psychology and psychotherapy as a set of symptoms, ranging in severity, experienced by those who have participated in or left behind authoritarian, dogmatic, and controlling religious groups and belief systems.

The impact of religious trauma is a set of symptoms experienced as a result of prolonged exposure to a toxic religious environment and/or the trauma of leaving the religion. It is akin to Complex PTSD, which is defined as a psychological injury that results from protracted exposure to prolonged social and/or interpersonal trauma with lack or loss of control, disempowerment, and in the context of either captivity or entrapment, i.e. the lack of a viable escape route for the victim. It’s a tragic twist that religion has often been the wound, not the bandage.

In Inner Anarchy I wrote:

“Christianity is fond of saying that “the church is a hospital for sinners.” And yet every day I counsel people you became seriously sick through their involvement in religion.
Being human is not a condition or a disorder in need of forgiveness, treatment, fixing, curing, or salvation. Religion cleverly created and perpetuates a false problem to which they are the only solution. If the church was a hospital it would be sued and shut down for malpractice. If truth in advertising standards were applied to religion, it would be mandatory for some churches to display a sign reading: 'Warning: this church could be harmful to your spiritual and psychological health.’”

One mental health religious myth is that personality weakness, character flaws, lack of faith, or deficient relationship with God causes mental health problems. Another myth is that people with mental health problems can snap out of it if they try hard enough.

The church has failed to understand it is often an incubator for mental health crises. No person should ever feel ashamed to say they struggle with mental health issues or that they have sought the help of healing professionals.

It’s a sad day when a young person is more worried about God's displeasure and being judged for their mental health struggles, than having a clear and non-judgmental path to receive the help they need.

The relationship between religion and mental health has been problematic on many levels. Religion isn’t a substitute for mental health services. It's unfortunate that many people were taught they could pray or obey their way out of any problem. Needing mental health therapy, support, treatment or medication is not a lack of faith or sign of carnality. I wrote extensively about this in my previous article, Can you Pray Away a Mental Health Condition? Why religion can be bad for your mental health.

Even some traditions of spirituality imply this. The outcome of transformation, awakening or enlightenment is not the absence of mental health struggles. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including:

Biological factors, such as genes, physical illness, injury, or brain chemistry
Life experiences, such as trauma or a history of abuse
Family history of mental health problems

An unenlightened person who has depression becomes an enlightened person who has depression. Either way, the depression is there. The difference is how you relate to your depression.

For example, transformation is not the ABSENCE of depression, it's a different relationship WITH your depression. It starts by creating a space of acceptance, and responding as the situation requires. If I slice my hand open, the situation requires I go to the doctor and get stitches. If I have depression, the situation may require I go to a mental health professional and seek support and treatment. There is no difference between going to the doctor for stitches and being on medication for depression.

I wrote more on the subject of “spiritual” and “self-help/empowerment” toxicity in the previous article, Exposing Pseudo-Spirituality (Part Three): Is there a down side to counting our blessings?

For over twenty years of my life I have counseled and pioneered research in spiritual abuse and religious trauma. To raise awareness of the importance of mental health, I want to encourage people to cultivate a stronger relationship with themselves.

A few aspects of cultivating a more whole relationship with yourself include:

Becoming more aware of your self-talk or mental commentary that governs your outlook on yourself and your life.
Questioning the ideas, beliefs, mindsets, narratives, stories, and ideologies that are influencing you.
Taking responsibility for your own happiness and well-being.
Shedding the definitions and expectations others have placed upon you.
Discarding the mask, and being a more real, authentic and human person.
Honoring what most matters to you about life and following your own inner guidance, deep feelings, and intuition.
Offering yourself acceptance, love, compassion, and patience.
Choosing not to remain actively connected to toxic people or those who judge, shame, control or bully you.
Practicing self-care measures that promote and rejuvenates your vitality, energy, and wellness.
Inhabiting your uniqueness and expressing it freely, fully and unapologetically.
Doing the deep inner work to address the root cause of your chronic unhappiness and disharmony.
Exploring and seeking mental health support and treatment without reservation or shame.

A central component of living life well is having a positive and constructive relationship with oneself. Consider the following areas in cultivating a vital relationship with yourself:

Self-awareness: taking time to explore your authentic and innermost thoughts, feelings, beliefs, needs, desires, fears, motivations, patterns and habits.
Self-love: an attitude of high regard for your own welfare and well-being, and choosing to give yourself what promotes them.
Self-acceptance: seeing the totality of yourself without judgment, and feeling satisfaction with oneself, given both the strengths and weaknesses, capabilities and deficiencies, and past successes and mistakes that are common to all human beings.
Self-compassion: extending kindness, gentleness and patience to yourself in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or suffering.
Self-care: employing actions and attitudes which contribute to the maintenance of physical, mental, emotional well-being and health, and supports the daily rhythm and routine of one’s life.
Self-trust: listening to and following what your own thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intuition, convictions, values, judgment, insights, and body is telling you.
Self-confidence: feeling empowered to rise to new challenges, seize opportunities and address difficult situations, and operating within one's own abilities, skills, capacities, and resources to accomplish goals.
Self-actualization: taking steps toward realizing your highest potentialities and possibilities, and fulfillment of one’s sense of mission or purpose in the world.
Self-expression: being comfortable and confident in authentically displaying one’s individuality and style, and expressing your feelings, thoughts or ideas in your own unique way.

How to Trust Yourself

Some of the human development deficits caused by the impact of toxic religion, include: shame; shattered self-esteem; feelings of powerlessness; fear; and mistrust of oneself. These topics deserve an entire series of articles to discuss, but let me end this piece with a few practical suggestions. Here are few steps toward cultivating healthy post-religion mental health.

Deconstructing the Lie
The self-talk of many wounded religion leavers includes:
“I can’t trust myself.”
“I make bad decisions all the time.”
In 100% of the cases when a person tells me this, I can refute this claim by helping the person see that in fact they make countless decisions every day and 95% of them are rational and good decisions. 5% of the time, every human being makes decisions that were not helpful or counterproductive. Out of that 5% of ill-advised decisions, 1% of them are harmful to yourself and others. It’s not true that you “make bad decisions all the time.” The truth is that 5% of your decisions could be improved and 1% of them need immediate and special attention.
Self-Trust is Learned

How well do you know the field of oceanography? Let’s say, like me, what you know is next to nothing. However, if your father or mother was a world-renowned oceanographer such as Jacques Cousteau or Marie Tharp, you’d likely know quite a bit about oceanography. If you didn’t have oceanographer parents but wanted to learn about oceanography or even become an oceanographer you’d have to study it.
Likewise, how good are you at self-trust? Well it depends, right? If you were raised by parents or grew up in an environment where your self-confidence was nurtured and you were taught the essential tools for critical thinking, processing and managing emotions, and effective decision-making, you’d be good at relying upon self-trust to guide your life. But if you were told you are innately bad, your heart is deceitful, you can’t trust yourself, you are incapable and inadequate on your own, and you were never given the necessary tools to manage and guide your life, you probably aren’t brimming with self-trust.
Not knowing oceanography is not something to feel ashamed about. You were never taught oceanography. However, if you want to know oceanography, you can put forth the effort to learn it. Not knowing self-trust is not something to feel ashamed about. You were never taught self-trust. However, if you want to know self-trust, you can put forth the effort to learn it. Like oceanography, self-trust is learned.
Nine resources to bolster self-trust

Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst by Robert M. Sapolsky (A multi-disciplinary non-religious scientific exploration of human behavior.)
Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself by Dr. Kristin Neff (A useful book for establishing a more empowering relationship with yourself.)
The Undiscovered Self by Carl Jung (An crucial introduction into Jungian or analytical psychology.)
The Body Keeps the Score: Mind, Brain and Body in the Transformation of Trauma by Bessel Van Der Kolk (Essential reading for anyone interested in understanding and treating traumatic stress.)
The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture Gabor Maté MD (Deconstructing the prevailing understanding of “normal”, and investigating the pressures of modern-day living at the expense of good health.)
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown (This book centers a lot on shame, how it affects our lives, and what it means to overcome it.")
No Nonsense Spirituality: All the Tools No Belief Required by Brittney L. Hartley (Non-religious mindsets and tools for nurturing a liberating post-religion spirituality)
When Religion Hurts You: Healing from Religious Trauma and the Impact of High-Control Religion by Laura E. Anderson (An investigation into the psychological, relational, physical, and spiritual damage caused by toxic religion.)
Leaving the Fold: A Guide for Former Fundamentalists and Others Leaving Their Religion by Marlene Winell (Seminal book on healing and recovery from religious trauma.)

In Summary

The church is often called a “hospital for sinners”, and yet it’s often religion that makes people sick.
The Bible was written millennia before the birth of modern psychology, and we should not expect that it adequately understands the human mind and behavior.
When the Bible says “the heart is deceitful” it is not referring to your innermost feelings and intuition, but the programmed softwear running in your head.
Oceanography and self-trust are learned.
5% of your decisions could be improved and 1% of them need immediate and special attention, but that doesn’t mean you are bad or have a sin condition.
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“Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”

- e. e. cummings