If one takes the ten commandments of Moses or the great commandment of Christ as a summation of all of the rules, what is it that enforces compliance? Why do we usually do the right thing? Most would say it is our conscience that is our personal policeman and judge. The conscience is the internal judge that uses guilt to punish individuals that do not live according to their own internal rules. Jesus would compare someone who does not live according to his own rules to a house divided against itself and a house divided against itself cannot stand. In reality, guilt is a painful blessing if it causes us to repent; if it causes us to say, “I am sorry for what I said, for what I’ve done. Please forgive me.”
Freud argued that neurotic individuals were really victims of social rules that were oppressive and unrealistic. These rules were internalized and created a conscience that was too strict and severe. The wish to express what Freud considered to be natural human desires was met with a scolding conscience. People hid these wishes from their conscience by pushing them down into their unconscious mind. Later the person developed mental and physical problems. It was the goal of psychoanalysis to get people to remember what they had intentionally forgotten. Intentional forgetting is called denial or repression. Neurotics were encouraged by their therapists to release the undesirable thoughts from the captivity of the unconscious mind much as Moses led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt. Like Adam and Eve attempting to hide from God, denial and repression are examples of a person hiding from his own conscience. The analyst or counselor is there to say to the individual, “It’s ok to have those thoughts. You are a good person. You are just being too hard on yourself. You are suffering from false guilt. You are punishing yourself unnecessarily.” The reality is that boundaries/rules provide freedom. The most freeing thing God did for the Jews in the Old Testament was not providing for their escape from Egypt but providing them with the Law. The Law gave them rules to live by and a life with meaning and purpose.
Here is where the priest should be taking a different path than other counselors. When it comes to the reality of sin, the Priest must not be “referring out”. The psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker as a secular priest may claim that the individual suffers from false guilt but what about real guilt? They are enabling the individual to deny the reality of their guilt. They are providing a fig leaf and it doesn’t work any better for those they counsel than it did for Adam and Eve. Unfortunately un-confessed sin and denied guilt eventually can give rise to physical problems (why is there such a rise in autoimmune disorders?) and accidents. In many cases self-destructive behavior is self-punishment. Here is the reality of what I am saying. We all have rules inside of us and as Christians we must live a life consistent with these rules. If we don’t, we will experience guilt and guilt is psychological distress. Unrelieved psychological distress leads to physical and mental illness. Sin and its consequence guilt remain a reality in our time for Christians and non-Christians alike. Recent research indicates that one in five Americans is mentally ill. href=" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1331636/1-5-Americans-mentally-ill-joblessness-takes-toll.html."> This is proof positive that a more permissive society with relaxed standards of morality does not lead to less neurosis. Freud was wrong.
It is not the job of a Priest to lower the conscience threshold in order to get rid of the conflict. We are here to diagnose the problem which is sin and prescribe the treatment which is repentance and confession and offer the prognosis which is absolution and forgiveness. What is needed is restoration to fellowship with God, our brothers and sisters and ourselves through repentance confession and absolution. Unfortunately many clergy today have bought into the idea that people are basically good. If we are not in Christ, we are not “OK”. Brothers and sisters, we are not born basically good. In Anglican and Orthodox Churches Baptism has included Exorcism; whether infant or adult. In the Roman Church we have the following: “During the Sacrament of Baptism, the Priest says two prayers of Exorcism”.
On those occasions where we experience real guilt there is only one healthy response. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Guilt is a symptom of sin, with sin as the underlying illness. For us, there is the weekly confession of sin and there is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We hear the following from the BCP, “When the penitent has confessed all serious sins troubling the conscience and has given evidence of true contrition, the priest gives such counsel and encouragement as are needed and pronounces absolution.” (p.446)
It has frequently been said that the couch of the psychoanalyst has replaced the confessional of the priest. The psychoanalyst has not replaced the priest because the psychoanalyst will not acknowledge the sin and guilt and cannot offer forgiveness on behalf of God. I know this from both personal and professional experience. I have more comfort, consolation and healing to offer as a Priest who is a representative of Christ than as a Psychologist.
If you are troubled with guilt and anxiety because of unacknowledged sin, there is a course of action that is the only remedy. This remedy is not found on the couch of the psychoanalyst. It is found in the church. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (James 5:16). Amen.
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