The Crutch of Faith
Jesse
Ventura stunned the religious world early in his flamboyant tenure as the
governor of Minnesota with this comment: "Organized religion is a sham and
a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."
Ventura's
blunt condemnation understandably riled religious feathers. But the ignorance
of his anti-religious tirade aside, the plainspoken former professional
wrestler spoke the truth. Faith is a crutch for the weak – and no
Christian should be ashamed to acknowledge it as such.
Think
about the crutch analogy for a minute. Who uses crutches but those who are weak
and unable to stand on their own? Their legs crippled by injury or disease,
they need crutches to move. Now think about religion. Who appeals to faith but
those who are weak and unable to withstand the spiritual rigors of this life,
those who have been crippled by sin?
Abraham
understood that he needed the crutch of faith. When God promised that Abraham
would father a son in old age, Abraham at first "fell on his face and
laughed" (Gen. 17:17). Yet he "did not waver at the promise of God
through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith" (Rom. 4:20).
He was not alone. The "Hall of Faith" also
recounts the great deeds of characters like Abel, Joseph and Moses, who,
through faith, "subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the
edge of the sword" and more. In a nutshell, "from weakness [they]
were made strong" (Heb. 11:33-38).
Ventura's
narrow-minded take on faith – that it is a crutch for miserable wretches who
always will be miserable wretches – fails to take the analogy to its next
logical step. Yes, crutches are for the weak, but weak people use crutches so
they can become strong. The same is true for those of us who use faith as a
spiritual crutch.
The
apostle Peter taught men to pursue faith, virtue and a host of other admirable
traits, and he said that those who lack them are "blind or
short-sighted" – words that are synonymous with weak vision (II Pet.
1:5-9). And when Demas had betrayed Paul, Alexander had harmed him and
"all" had deserted him at trial, Paul still found strength through
the Lord (II Tim. 4:10-18).
Paul
realized the spiritual benefit that can be derived from troubles in this life.
His own turmoil taught him, and can teach us, to rely on Christ. Shortly after
recounting the many woes he had endured as an apostle, and after telling of the
"thorn in the flesh" that he had thrice prayed be removed, Paul wrote
that he was "well content" to suffer for Christ, "for when I am
weak, then I am strong" (II Cor. 12:10). He reiterated that message in his
letter to Philippi, writing that he could "do all things through Christ
who strengthens me" (Philip. 4:13).
Even
King David, a man after God's own heart, acknowledged that he was
"withered away" and his spiritual bones "troubled" – and
that he needed God's mercy in weakness (Ps. 6:1-4). David, who defeated lions,
bears and the giant Goliath when men who appeared to be greater trembled, lived
as a man who appreciated beforehand what Paul preached centuries later:
"God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things
which are mighty" (I Cor. 1:27).
Only
in the context of religion do superficially "mighty" but substantively
faithless men like Jesse Ventura consider the crutch a bad thing. So the next
time someone who thinks like Ventura ridicules you as weak because you believe
in God, don't take offense; instead, show just how strong you are by offering
the weaker man the crutch that has fortified your soul.