In our natural state, we learn to cope up with the life or defend ourselves which were not always mentally and emotionally healthy. Psychologists refer to these unhealthy patterns of living as defense mechanisms, and they are certainly not congruent with Christian faith. For instance, many people have learned to lie in order to protect themselves. Other common defense mechanisms include:
(1) Denial: conscious and subconscious refusal to face truth;
(2) Fantasy: escaping the real world;
(3) Emotional insulation: withdrawing to avoid rejection;
(4) Regression: reverting to less threatening times;
(5) Displacement: taking out frustrations on others;
(6) Projection: blaming others; and
(7) Rationalization: making excuses for poor behaviour.
Defense mechanisms are similar to what Paul calls ‘strongholds’ (ochuroma). ‘Stronghold’ means fortress, anything on which one relies, arguments and reasoning by which a disputant endeavors to fortify his opinion and defend it again his opponents etc. Paul writes: “For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6).
Strongholds are fleshly thought patterns that were programmed into our minds when we learned to live our lives independently of God. So what was learned has to be unlearned. If we have been trained wrong, can we be retrained? If we believed a lie, can we renounce that lie and choose to believe the truth? Can our minds be reprogrammed? That is what repentance is: a change of mind. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is possible because we have the mind of Christ within us through Holy Spirit.
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