Christianity and Narcissism Personal Question

[Zizio]

What are your views on this ? Where is the line drawn or is it a subject to be dismissed based on psychology.

The reason for me questioning this is because at one point in my life I was a strong believer and tried to get support from my family to engage in christian activities but was denied and they dismissed my christian beliefs. I never inflicted my beliefs on the family. Fast forward in life there have been atrocious moments such as death and divorce that has forced the family into Christianity. However the opposite has happened for me and where they are is where I was a while ago with a slight difference of inflicting beliefs. I am still a christian although I feel made to believe my faith is weak. In fact the more my family practice and get drawn into Christianity the more I do want to run away and do the opposite. I feel confined by this and lonely if I don't become part of it.

Is it me or possible for some Christians to be narcissist?

Christianity has a tension inherent in it. There are questions about taking responsibility for the bad/stupid/thoughtless/cruel things that we all do and saying sorry for them. The technical term is repentance and the challenge is to not do those things which we know we ought not to do. This is a life time's project. This is about the individual.

Christianity is also about community and coming together to worship and to show God's love in the world through social action in feeding the hungry, visiting the sick etc.

So it is both about the individual (could be seen as narcissistic I suppose) and what they do and the community of faith.

New Christians can be very definite about things. Those who have been around a bit longer will often be less so and there are some really interesting comments from stages of faith theory that say that those at later stages of faith can be seen as backsliders by those at earlier stages because those who have been around the faith block a few times are more comfortable with paradox and mystery.

Does that help?

It's certainly possible for people who are narcissistic to apparently embrace a religion and make a big deal out of their 'faith' or at least the outward expression of it.

It's also pretty common for new converts to be as irritating as newly-ex-smokers in their zeal, and behave as if nobody else could possibly be doing it as 'well' as they are!

It sounds like you have ongoing issues with the way your family behave towards you, and them 'becoming Christians' is just another area where they make you feel bad about your choices.

I think you are using faith as a tool. Not sure what yyour family dynamics are like, but sounds a bit like a child with a toy.
You were happy to flaunt it and get them to join in religious activities, but now they have the same toy you show disinterest- " wasn't worth having anyway".

No it is not you. I think that what you describe would quite normally happen to some christians.

You need to focus on your own faith, not theirs.

And yes, there are times in christian lives to slightly ease back on the amount of bible reading and worship.

If you ,miss the odd week of worship because you feel on God overload, then that is ok imo, so long as it does not become a habit to no longer go.
If you just read a couple of bible verses a couple of times a day, that should see you through until things around you have stabilised.

The D[him who I shall not name] has all sorts of sly ways of trying to destabalise a christian.

hth

a mum has it spot on

@ atthestrokeoftwelve I think you may have misunderstood my post. I didn't get them to join in religious activities. It was their own decision.

Reading through the post and points of view has helped a lot for me to understand that it it could be just family dynamics beyond christianity. AMum did explain it right.

I will focus on my individual faith.

Zizio Christianity and Narcissism is an area I'm interested in because a woman I worship with is a Christian, but also presents many traits of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. So I did a bit of research online and there is a lot of disagreement over it! Basically, because Christians are called to forgive and love their neighbour as themselves, narcissists thrive amongst them. It doesn't make for tranquil Christian fellowship though!

cheapskatemum NPD is a known problem 'Wolves in Sheep's Clothing' by George K Simon is a good resource although American. Sarah Savage has some good information from the UK perspective. PM me if you want more details.

Thanks TGHOMR

I went through a similar thing last year, whilst I desperately wanted to keep in touch with my Christian faith I didn't feel the connection. My family noticed my indifference and were supportive, although I found it hard not being as involved. Life Shaping Spirituality helped me through and has reignited my love for Christianity. Whilst I don't quite feel the same as in the early days I have come to accept my feelings will evolve as I grow as human being. Good luck with your journey.

I'm not a Christian but a Muslim and I have come across a few Muslims, mainly converts who exhibit strong signs of NPD. I find religious people in general to be trusting and sometimes naive because the emphasis is always on giving people the benefit of the doubt, and of course, this does attract some narcissistic individuals towards religion because they can take advantage of this for their own ends. Xx

"Christians believe that their god created the entire universe just for them."

I'm a Christian and I don't believe that