Cynicism and Jesus

A Praying Life: Part 2: Leaning to Trust Again.

The three chapters in Part two of A Praying Life were really good. He does a good job of explaining our cynical culture, where it comes from and how we leave cynicism (Jesus)

The cynic says everything is out of control, nothing will change.

“In our culture cynicism is a light hearted attempt to make since of life in a world gone mad” (81, Miller).


Our lives begins with a desire to be happy, to see good in the world. As children we see good in cookie monster, good in mailmen and police officers, and parents who love us and love each other. Without a worldview of God and a fallen world we develop what Miller calls “naïve optimism”. We think the world is good because people make it good. We have faith in ourselves.

As we all believe (because of our worldview) people will always disappoint. People cannot fill the void left by the original desire to find joy and goodness in the world. This is what leads to cynicism, we discover that other people are not as great as we thought and that the world is a lot meaner than we expected. Again, the cynic says everything is out of control, nothing will change. Joy and goodness are not the mantras of this world, sadness and evil are. When we are hit with this inevitable realization and disappointment we are cynical towards other people and have faith in ourselves.

This position in life creates a dual self. Public self, and private self. Deep down we realize that we do wrong as well and that we are a part of the problem but we are unwilling to admit that. We put our perfect public self forward to fake out everyone we encounter to thinking that we have this life under control. We are trying to hold on to naïve optimism and show everyone that we are the hope for the world because we are perfect. In our time of denial we are putting faith in ourselves.

This essentially places us living a separated private life without any real community and without anyone knowing who we truly are. This is a painful world to be in. We live in pretend land where our lives are falsely full of joy and goodness while we are missing reality that this world (as it is fallen) is without hope and is full of evil and sadness. Empty, alone, apart from reality, all because we want joy and goodness in this world, that itself is not good. So, how is that going for you? Putting faith in your self.

The media does this. Notice how the news always reports stories and “this shouldn’t have happened in this world”. I can’t believe that this happened in this world where joy and goodness is supposed to be king.

I do this. I live a public and private life so that people don’t see who I really am with a dark heart. I want to be the hope for the world so I show my perfect public self and refuse to live in reality with my community. I hate putting faith in myself, it is not joy, it is not good.

The problem with finding joy and goodness in this world is we refuse to admit that we are what makes it sad and evil. The problem is not admitting that this world is sad and evit the problem is we don’t want to admit we are the problem. We don’t want to claim this.. The first step is to claim our wrongs and admit that we need someone to pull us out of this sad world, to pull us out of cynicism, we need someone to be perfect for us. We need someone to be able to put hope in, we need realistic optimism. We don’t find this by putting faith in ourselves.

Put your faith in Christ. The one who was perfect. Jesus is the hope of the world. He is supposed to be king. What Jesus teaches is that this world is fallen but he has come to restore it.

Be encouraged, there is hope.

John 16: 22 So with you: now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

John 16: 27…the Father himself loves you because you have love me and have believed that I came from God.

John 16: 33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world!!!!! (exclamation marks added)