Spiritual Anosognosia - article by Joel Hempel
Spiritual what? In the field of mental health and illness, anosognosia is the profound lack of insight or ability of specific mentally challenged individuals to perceive their mental illness and the impact their condition has on others. In his book, I Am Not Sick. I Don't Need Help psychologist and researcher Xavier Amador makes a case for anosognosia not being the same as denial. Rather, this lack of awareness is a symptom of certain types of mental illness.
Okay, but what is spiritual anosognosia? There is no such theological designation. But here is my point: Sinful behavior doesn’t necessarily start as full-blown pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, or sloth. In fact, we may not even recognize what we are doing as sin. Seminarian Oliver pointed out in his sermon that risky behavior can start somewhat innocently until it gets "a foothold and grows" into God–offensive conduct. Over time, then, we can become complacent and content with who we have drifted into becoming, having convinced ourselves that our God-objectionable behavior is "not that bad."
What is the way back to living a life pleasing to God? Our Lord encourages us to be uncompromisingly honest with ourselves, to look unflinchingly into the mirror of God's Law, and see if we have let ourselves unintentionally or otherwise drift into sinful behavior or culturally corrupted thinking.
There are two reasons God wants us to be unyielding in our self-assessment. One is that spiritual anosognosia can lead us down a path to lukewarm Christianity, which God finds distasteful. (See Luke 6:46 and Rev. 3:15-16).
The more critical reason God wants us to face our sinfulness is to bathe us in his mercy. One of the benefits of worshipping every Sunday is to confess our sins and hear the declaration of our forgiveness. But it is one thing to hear Pastor Scott assure us of God's forgiveness and a different thing to receive that forgiveness deeply.
Why is it that the mercy of God does not always get into the crevices of our being? One reason is the human tendency not to own and, therefore, not to deeply feel the gravity of our sin. As part of our confession of sins at weekend worship, Pastor gives us thirty seconds of silence to reflect on our sins. That is about twenty-eight seconds more than most churches give you. But thirty seconds is hardly enough time to acknowledge and grieve any and all behavior that offends God.
More than anything else, though, God wants to assure us of his mercy. He wants us to be confident of his grace and that he has drawn us into a loving and forgiving relationship with him. Why? Because he knows that if we take the time to reflect on his love and our need for it, it will change us. We will want to please him and respond with faithfulness. And we will confidently look forward to a growing closeness with him.
