Negative Energy

It is difficult to deny the extent to which a Christian view of life and the world have influenced our culture. While that is true, it is also easy to forget how much that Christian view has been diluted and distorted by being mixed with all sorts of rival approaches in our culture. 

Our culture is, by its very nature, a combination of influences at all levels and from a great variety of sources. We are a society given to finding, mixing, and matching ideas and practices. There is nothing wrong with this as a general matter. Where it becomes a problem is when people do it in religion. People sometimes seem not to be aware that when you mix things with the Christian faith, you get things that are not the Christian faith — even when those things sort of, somewhat, or almost sound like they might be. 

My wife/research partner found an interesting example of this at the “Nextdoor” website. It is interesting enough to take a deeper look. It began with this post from a lady who said: 

I have a strange question and don't know where to look. I don’t have a church I go to but something traumatic has happened to my family in my home and I’m looking for a preacher/priest to come and bless my home, just to rid the negative sad energy out. Does anyone have any recommendations? 

Someone quickly replied: “That would be a Catholic priest. I am Baptist myself. You are going to get some crazy replies, buckle up!” That will be the case, as we will see. What this respondent does not point out is that it is not just the replies that will be “crazy,” as the very question itself contains some interesting assumptions! 

For example, what is this “negative and sad energy”? Why do you seem to think it is in a house rather than in people, whatever it might be? What makes you think there is some special category of people who can get rid of whatever it is? We could also ask the Baptist fellow something: why are you not trying to help this person by explaining some of this yourself? 

It is difficult to conclude just what the original questioner holds in the way of worldview. A wild guess would be some combination of animism, some new age views, and a little dose of very distorted Christianity. 

As the Baptist predicted, there were many replies, and many of them were crazy. One interesting feature of many of them was they were from people seemingly very involved in churches of various kinds who simply accepted all the assumptions of the question and offered their advice. 

For example, one lady named her church and offered this: “Every Sunday you can turn prayer requests if you have any. [Church name] has staff that pray every week for the prayer requests. [Church name] is a very biblically-sound church.” Yes, madam, your church is so biblically sound that you are just going to go along with the negative energy view as though it is correct! 

Another lady thought she was helping when she replied, “Pastors Mary and Matt Smith [not the original names]. Her number is … They are more than willing to help out. They have years of experience. You and your family will love them!!!” 

Another church-based response came along: “[Named] Church is not far from you. They could point you in the right direction. From what I’ve seen, certain priests are taught especially for this and are the most successful.” So, some priests specialize in removing negative energy? 

As the Baptist predicted, the replies became even wilder. Another lady commented, “Every day and night say out loud ‘We are blessed and protected. Only good spirits are welcome here.’” I suppose we should have guessed that just the right chant could remove those bad spirits that created negative energy in a house. I’m picturing Barney Fife chanting, “Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the man with the hex.” Of course, that was funny in the old sitcom—not so much in our context here. 

Another lady wrote a somewhat brief dissertation on the whole gospel. It wasn’t too bad other than some expected evangelical omissions. She even pointed out that, if you are a Christian, you don’t need any priest other than Jesus, but, as in most responses, the key question was not tackled. 

Still another lady said that her church “has a prayer patrol where you call them and they will come to you.” While prayer might help whatever is going on here, help will begin with first recognizing the problems with thinking of it as “negative energy.” 

One fellow offered this interesting advice: “Also burn sage and there are other remedys (sic) that help.” 

The sage solution had several advocates. One sage enthusiast said this: “Sage every inch of your home, look it up on Google. There is even a way to cleanse your family. This is the best way of cleansing your home and family and it’s the best way to rid your home of all evil!” 

If the great and powerful Google says sage is good and will cleanse your house of evil, then by all means, sage away! Perhaps we should cover all bases by adding a little garlic just in case a vampire is involved. If in doubt, put the sage into a chicken and roast it in the oven. If nothing else, it will taste good! 

One fellow wrote out a prayer for the negative energy lady. The prayer was addressed to “St. Michael the Archangel.” Yes, when all else fails to remove negative energy, make the call to Michael the Archangel. 

Finally, one man offered a “solution” that both fully accepted and used all the assumptions of the original question with a little pantheism thrown in for good measure. It is worth seeing in full: 

Your soul’s energy holds a divine power instilled in you since conception. Use that power to influence positivity, love, and protection in not only your household, but in your life and everywhere you go. The higher power rests in your heart and is ready to assist you whenever you need. Sit down in your house, alone or with family, and meditate together in silence or prayer, the goal being a permanent peace and serenity in the atmosphere of your home. Establish that with your minds and hearts together, speak it into the air. And no lower forms of energy will be present there. 

We must wonder on what authority this respondent claims to know all the things he assumes here to be true. We could be justified in asking just how he knows about this “divine power” and that it is benevolent rather than malevolent. Making claims in these categories requires a lot more than just mere assertion—something Christians need to keep in mind when we make our claims. 

As very strange as all this is, there are some lessons to be learned. One point is that the original lady with her question is having a real, particular problem. It is difficult to discern just what that problem is from her question, but, whatever the problem, the root is trying to navigate life without God, His grace, and His revealed Word. She is viewing the world through some kind of faulty worldview that includes “negative energy.” 

Another thing we see here is that “churches” in our culture do not do a good job of communicating the Christian worldview. At least in this self-selected sample of church people offering answers, few seemed to notice the problems of offering answers to this lady based on the assumption that her view of things was basically correct. Let’s be very clear here. God’s Word knows nothing of “negative energy.” That same Word knows even less of most of the supposed solutions offered. 

Perhaps the biggest lesson to be learned is we can never just assume that people, even church people of various stripes, have any clear idea of what we are talking about when we review the gospel and the Word of God. We can never forget ours is a society that mixes all sorts of views into what turns out to be a big, ugly, grey mess of a worldview that understands almost nothing. People at churches are not exempt from this. 

In situations like this, we need to begin at the very beginning, taking nothing for granted. We need to challenge people to “clear the decks” to make room to really hear the Christian message. We need to start with this: your problem is not negative energy because there is no negative energy. The problem is always sin in some form. The solution is never chants, sage, priests, Michael the Archangel, or anything like that. The solution is a Savior and the salvation He offers us. If we mix bits of other worldviews with that, we destroy it.