This past week I learned of a sermon recently preached by a pastor of a local super-mega church. (I won’t name the church, but if you live in the Fox Valley of Wisconsin you might know of whom I speak.)  This pastor told his audience of thousands that “self-awareness, self-help, and personal development are the road to hell.”

WHAT!?  Not only is this bad theology, it’s scripturally inaccurate!  As it’s not my job to prove to fundamentalists that their beliefs are wrong, and since they won’t be able to hear my arguments anyway, I will speak instead to those who seek a more awakened view of scripture, including Jesus’ teachings.

Knowledge of self and the application of that knowledge is absolutely crucial for accomplishing what Jesus prays for us to do:

“The glory that you have given me
I have given to them,
so that they may be one,
as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may become completely one,
and thus the world may know
that you have sent me
and that you have loved them
even as you have loved me.”

John 17: 22-23

In these words, delivered as part of the Last Supper Discourses, Jesus prays that his disciples (us) might come to know the union/oneness that he came to know in (that which he called) God. He spoke of this oneness as the kingdom of God. In this state of union, which Jesus found within himself through contemplation and prayer (MT 6:6), he found the peace, contentment and joy that define the kingdom that is right here in our midst (Lk 17: 21). It was also in this state where Jesus found guidance and direction and grew in the knowledge of his true nature as One with God as Love (1Jn 4: 7-12).

I could go on and on and on with scripture references that support growing in self-awareness and knowledge, and doing what we can to improve ourselves, but I won’t.  Suffice it to say that scripture (both Hebrew and Christian – canonical and non-canonical) is abundant with invitations to become the best possible versions of ourselves and that to do that we first uncover all those places within ourselves that have forgotten our true nature as Love, and do the deep inner work of healing those areas of woundedness. Yes, there is a Source that assists us with that healing, AND we have to want to be healed.  As Jesus himself said, “Ask and it will be given to you. (Mt 7:7-8)”  

Now, to the fundamentalist preacher’s point, the only person to whom self-knowledge is the road to hell is the one who doesn’t want to know the truth about themselves. For the rest of us, the path of self-knowledge is the path of liberation and salvation. Yes, it’s a challenging path, as it is in the journey of self-awareness that we discover all that is not part of us and must do the often difficult work of letting those things go (like the church we grew up in) while allowing ourselves room to grieve those perceived losses.  It is also on the path of self-awareness that we uncover our gifts and how we are called to use these gifts for the sake of our own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of our world.  As Jesus once said:

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (MT 5: 14-16)”