Just Jesus?

by Caroline Weerstra

And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” ~ Genesis 2:18

As a Pentecostal, I was desperately lonely. I was a teenage girl attending a public high school, but Pentecostalism cut me off from those who might have been my friends. I was not allowed to dress like them. I could not listen to their music. I had to constantly 'evangelize' them, thrust Bibles and church invitations in their faces, and condemn them to hell. I could not see their movies or go to their sports events. My whole life revolved around church, and I was not allowed to interact with outsiders, except to invite them to church. There were no other girls my age in the church. In fact, my family was one of only two families with children that attended the church at all.

Whenever I would hint that I wished so very much that I had someone to talk to, I was met by the Pentecostal standard treatment for loneliness: "Just talk to Jesus. He's your friend." In fact, Jesus seemed to be the answer to everything. If a single person wished for someone to marry (there were few single people in the church either), they were also told to just turn to God: "Jesus is your husband. He is all you need." If someone was having financial problems, then Jesus was standing by for that as well: "Just put your trust in the Lord, Brother. He'll see you through." If someone was having trouble with depression, the response was almost the same: "Just lean on Jesus. The joy of the Lord is your strength." The implication was always that if anyone was sad, lonely, troubled, financially struggling, sick, or whatever the problem may be, then they simply lacked faith--a true Christian would need nothing but God.

No matter how hard I tried, however, I could never seem to reach a place where God was all I needed. Although I tried to put a brave face on it, I became extremely depressed. Other teenage girls had friends, after-school clubs, and dates to the Christmas banquet. I had a friend whom I could not see or hear, and who I seriously doubted even cared about me, since I was frequently told that He was poised to send me to hell. I told myself that those other girls were only interested in 'worldly things', but then I wondered why, if my way was right, did I seem unable to reap any of the benefits that were promised to me? I was supposed to be happy, but I was miserable. I was supposed to feel fulfilled, but I felt desperate.

I was seventeen when I finally admitted what I had really known for years: Jesus is NOT 'all I need' (at least, not in the way that Pentecostals mean that phrase). Christ certainly may be the greatest joy of my life, but He cannot be my ONLY joy, nor can He fulfill every need.

In fact, the Bible itself tells us this. In the second chapter of Genesis, we are told that God created Adam as the lone human in the world. Adam was sinless and God spoke to him very directly. And yet Adam was alone. If a Pentecostal pastor had counseled Adam at this point, he doubtless would have said, "Adam, you are not alone! God is with you! God can be your best friend; He is all you need." But God Himself did not speak such nonsense. He said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him". God recognized that Adam needed human companionship. He had made Adam that way. While God did provide for Adam's needs, He did this by providing Adam with a wife, NOT by insisting that Adam resist his natural desire for human companionship. In fact, nowhere in the Bible does it ever suggest that God can literally be a total replacement for ordinary friends and family. God simply does not operate as such. He does not carry on small talk or laugh at jokes. He does not cheer for his team at sporting events or play a friendly game of chess. He does not pick up the dry cleaning or babysit the kids. God cannot be anyone's actual spouse and physical lover. And He is not a substitute for human friends or even human church leaders.

In fact, the supposedly super-spiritual 'reliance on God' that Pentecostals encourage leads to a serious lack of compassion for others. A pastor who believes that Jesus is all anyone needs will tend to be lazy in providing for his flock. He does not feel that he needs to visit elderly or the disabled. He does not believe he needs to counsel the struggling or comfort the grieving. All he has to do is to chirp, "Lean on Jesus!" whenever someone has a problem, and he will believe he has done everything he needs to do. If someone continues to struggle after that, then he will interpret it as a lack of faith. For all it's spiritual wording, this philosophy often arises from sheer laziness

For those who are told to 'just lean on Jesus', there is a sometimes temptation toward laziness as well--they are led to believe that they need do nothing practical to improve their own situation. There is no need to reduce their budget or get a second job to pay off debts if they just rely on God. There is no need to resolve relationship problems with a spouse or (for those who are single) to go through the hassle of dating to find a suitable mate if God is going to miraculously work everything out. And there is no need to evaluate causes of unhappiness and work to improve their situations if all they need to do is open their hearts and let God pour joy into their lives. It's the Christianized version of a get-rich-quick scheme--no need to work, just let the riches pour in. It despises those industrious souls who busy themselves with dating, friendships, school, and work--instead, holding out a tempting illusion that a truly spiritual person may simply sit around basking in 'the presence of the Lord' while all those pesky details magically work themselves out by Divine intervention.

When the promised rewards fail to materialized, people are puzzled and hurt, and then often criticized and rejected by lazy pastors and other Christians who are busy trying to realize the fulfillment of their own Pentecostal fantasy. Although ecstatic emotional experiences can briefly lead people to believe they are achieving the goal of joy and success, it is short-lived. Nothing really changes, though they return again and again, hoping that this time will push them through to a new spiritual realm where God will give them everything that they want and be everything that they need.

When I discuss this with Pentecostals, they often protest at this point that God has promised to supply all our needs. Ah, yes, He has. And He HAS supplied all our needs--by instituting marriage for our help and companionship (Gen.2:22-24), by providing us with friends and warning us not to forsake them (Prov.27:10), by giving us work and urging us to industry (Prov.28:19), by establishing His church and ordaining teachers and elders to lead and counsel and deacons to serve the needy (I Tim.3), and finally by urging us all to love one another (John 13:34), to comfort each other in hardships (2 Cor.1:4), to feed the hungry and visit the sick and imprisoned (Matt.24:31-46). We should consider that none of these directives would be necessary if God had ever planned to be all that we need. I suppose, in an ultimate sense, He is the Creator of all, and so all things are given to us by His hand, but He has chosen to use means--to encourage us to industry, kindness to others, and humility in accepting help and friendship from others, rather than an apathetic self-centered reliance on direct Divine intervention.

The saddest ex-Pentecostal stories that I hear are those who wasted years waiting for fulfillment of promises that Jesus would be everything for them. Some suffered severe depression and loneliness for years and added guilt because Jesus could not take the place of a spouse or a friend in their heart, and yet their beliefs prevented them from pursuing anything that would alleviate their sadness. Many, in fact, broke off engagements and severed ties with friends, in a determined effort to make God all that they need--and now they find themselves alone in the world. And so I consider myself lucky. I did lose my teenage years--only that, yet still I do miss them. The years that others look back on so fondly as a time of fun, friendships, and good memories, are for me a bleak wasteland of loneliness and depression and guilt. Pentecostalism is a thief, taking from us everything that God had provided for our care and happiness, stealing years from our lives to waste in futile pursuit of things that God has not promised to give us or by means that God has not instructed us.

We find our happiness and our fulfillment in Christ as we carry out His command to love one another. Christ called this the second greatest commandment, and it has no conflict at all with the greatest commandment that we love God. In fact, we show our love for God when we abide by His commandments in regard to one another, when we use the means that He has ordained to obtained the things we need. God provides all, but we cannot dictate the way in which He provides it. He has told us to seek out His blessings in our fellowship with others, in our work, and in marriage and family. And so we say, "Amen, Lord. Thy will be done."