You may or may not be familiar with what is called, “self determination theory.” Whether you’re familiar with it or not, the title is pretty self-explanatory. It is the psychological study of what gives a person’s life a sense of purpose and meaning. There are three main tenants. One, is the idea of autonomy. You have freedom to do and to choose as you wish. Two, is the idea of competence. You develop skills and become good at something. Being good at something gives you a sense of value. And three is relationships. None of us lives as an individual. We all rely upon others and the society at large. If no one likes us, or said differently – if everyone hates us – it impacts our sense of self. We want to fit in. We want to have friends. Having a supportive community around us sends us the message that we are likeable and good.
Self determination theory can be helpful for human resource departments, and mid-level managers who are interested in making sure employees feel like they are valued and being treated well. You can easily imagine that you’ll work more faithfully and diligently for an employer who helps you to feel good about yourself than you would for an employer who makes you feel like you are a disposable commodity who is to be used up and then discarded.
In the hands of a competent and caring manager self determination theory can help him or her assign tasks based upon what they know will be most meaningful to any given employee or team.
Self determination theory can also be seen as a tool to help youth and young adults plot out a course for their lives that will be fulfilling. It can help them match their innate abilities with society’s needs in a way that everyone benefits.
A problem with self determination theory is that it leaves no place for God. Or perhaps I should say that it would consider God and religion as just one of many factors that should be considered in giving a person a meaningful life. The idea would be that if religious beliefs and practices help to fulfill you then you should be allowed to have them without judgment. But similarly, if you do not find religion helpful for self determination, then you should be free to not do it and feel no social pressure for your self-fulfilling choices.
Self determination theory runs into catastrophic problems if you look at it from the point of view of Christian theology. Consider the Bible’s storyline. In Genesis chapter 1 we find a creation story. God creates the universe in six days and puts it in order. All is well. In Genesis chapter 2 we find a different creation story. God creates a garden and puts a man and woman in it. All is well.
In Genesis chapter 3 we find that the man and woman make history’s first experiment of self determination theory. They decide they can find self fulfillment on their own terms.
Consider this. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Things are going well for humanity for the first two chapters. The remaining 1187 chapters are all about what a hopeless mess humans are! Every time we put self determination theory into practice we make a mess of things!
Consider the Good Friday stories about Jesus from the point of view of self determination theory.
Remember that one of the tenants of self determination theory is relationships. Well, Jesus’ twelve closest followers all desert him when he is arrested. One of them, Judas, actually sold him out for cash! The Jewish leaders don’t want him. They determine he should be put to death. They hand him over to Pilate. Pilate, the government authority, questions Jesus but Jesus gives no answer. Pilate decides to let the crowds determine Jesus’ fate. He gives them the choice between Barabbas and Jesus. The crowds choose Barabbas. So Jesus is rejected by them as well. The soldiers mock Jesus and beat him. Jesus is getting no fuzzy relationship feelings there. Certainly the soldiers who nailed him to the cross were against him. And then, according to Matthew’s gospel, even the two criminals crucified with him also taught him. Jesus can’t even find relationship among the criminal element.
Jesus will get nothing in the way of relationships for self determination theory.
How about the competence of Jesus? What was he good at? Shouldn’t you find fulfillment by doing what you are good at? Jesus can preach, he can heal, he can perform miracles, he can bring people back to life. Yet he does none of those things in his own self-interest. Jesus will get nothing by exercising his competence for self determination theory.
Then the third tenant of self determination theory, autonomy. Can Jesus not do what he wants? Does he not have the power to do as he wants, to chart his own destiny according to his own desires for prosperity and longevity? Do you not find self fulfillment by doing what you want in life?
Remember what Jesus says when he is arrested at Gethsemane? One of his disciples takes out a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus says, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” And then he says something very interesting, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Twelve legions of angels would be an army of 72,000. At the time of Jesus that would probably have been bigger than the entire Roman army. Rome could have thrown all of its might against Jesus, and if Jesus had wished to exercise his autonomy he could have commanded forces to destroy them all.
Jesus will gets nothing for exercising his autonomy from self determination theory.
What is going on with this? It’s it absolutely ironic that the exact thing our society, our culture, and our psychological experts say is the path to self-fulfillment is entirely opposite what Jesus does and what our faith teaches?
This is one of the deep mysteries of our faith.
Here is the key. I do not want to overtly condemn self determination theory. I do not want to suggest people will find fulfillment by being miserable and friendless. But in and of itself it is a path to death and destruction; not only of the self but of society as a whole. We have too many people running around consuming far too much and accomplishing nothing but being exhausted and wasteful.
And ultimately, self determination theory cannot lead to resurrection.
Jesus did the exact opposite of self determination theory for our sake and out of love for us. Jesus knows how tempting that theory’s tenants are for our lives. He knows that we will fall into its traps. And while he does not condemn it outright, he reminds us that it is not an end unto itself.
Love of God, and knowing that God alone creates us, loves us, and values us is what makes us fully alive.
So let us not be afraid to die to the ways of this world so as to ultimately live the promise of the resurrection.
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