C. psychology is man centered instead of God centered. It is contrary to Scriptural view of man and derived from secular views that see man as "needy". It robs God of glory and gives the glory to man (Isaiah 42:8)
Christian psychology enhasnces man's pride and deceives us, makes us self centered and twists scripture to support our own psychological ideas (integrationist) Romans 12?3 and Ephesians 4:14.
Christian psychology is based on human reason and logic rather than Scripture. Proverbs 14:10, Colossians 2:8
Christian psychology says that we are intrinsically significant and important and because of that we matter to God and are worth His attention (this is exactly the form/beliefs of humanism, in other words Idolatry with the idean that man is the measure of all things). Psalm 13:2 says we are not to look inward for anwers but upward to God our creator.
C. psychology hold to the secular theorists of Freud (unconscious drives), Maslow ('needs' love selfesteem etc) and Identity. Even pastors have been trained with these secular humanistic ideologies. In order to be truly biblical we need to be discerning.
Christ's death on the Cross does not show how valuable we are, but how wicked we are and His Son in his great love died to redeem us. The cross is to draw us to God. The gospel is the gospel of GRACE- the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God, The gospel always has God at the center and the response it demands must glorify God and not us.
Freud believed the unconscious/conscious part of man are in conflict and to 'get over' or cure our neurosis we should freely act on those desires via hyposis, free analysis, dream interpretation via psychoanalysis. That everything came down to a sexual view.
HOWEVER, Freud and it is well documented, that he was a cocaine addict, commited incest, involved in the occult and numerology and viewed himself as a 'moses figure." He believed God was a made up figure by man to deal with guilt, fear and pain of suppressed memories. SO freud legitimized the concept of conscious/unconscious part of man, looking inward to a self deceived heart for his answer to man's problems. continued.....
There is nothing mystical or magical or significant about us. Freud made up a brilliant concept of man but it is not true but lie. Humanism ( proverbs 23:7 and 2 Peter 1:3) We have the word of God, Hebrews 4 deals with the intent of the heart. There's no deep part of man that God's word doesn't touch/reach. 2 Cor 5:17 We are a new creature, with a new heart. We have the grace and power from God to change.
Yes our past is important but we are to look biblically at it in a appropriate way, sticking to facts without reading into it what's not there and move on to a biblical response. The past does effect us but even the sins commited to us from others doesn't have to control us if we respond biblically and are controlled by the holy spirit.
Ephesians 1:4,7 to be in Christ simply means to literally be in union with Christ at the moment of salvation (which is a work of God) We can rejoice in that reality!!! which is not to be twisted and manipulated into feeling good about ourself.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF MAN....
Unless we see our sin the gospel will mean nothing to us. 1. ORigin of sin with adam genesis 3. 2. Sin spread to all man Romans 5:12-21. psalm 51:5 3. man is dead in his transgression/sin ,romans. 4 man loves himself, matthew 22 and 2 tim 3:2 and 5. man is enticed by his own desires, James 1:14,15.
Mixing humanistic philosophies with christian tenents pollutes the gospel which is a serious issue. You can't give real lasting hope without calling sin, sin. The scriptures is sufficient to for every problem of man. Sufficiency is not irrelevant theology. Psychology is not scientific because it keeps changing, there are over 300 differrent confilicting philosophies of psychology.
God knows our hearts and is not deceived, not all truth is God's truth because man is not basically good. Scriptures is sufficient for all life and godliness. We need to be discerning in order to detect truth and error. We do this by knowing and being taught scripture and it is God's grace and power in us renewing our minds. Man answers to God, we are dead in our sin and our only "need' is for a saviour.
We can still glorify God and show love for others even when never having been loved or accepted by others or having our physical needs met. Both Christ and the Apostle Paul many times their underlying needs weren't met yet they glorified God.
Wrong thinking - God loves me because i'm so special and he doesnt make junk. Right thinking- God chose to love and show mercy on me for his Glory PRAISE GOD!. (wrong-inward thinking, right- outward thinking toward GOD).
Wrong thinking- God loves me and gives me worth. RIGHT thinking- Yes God loves us, God alone is worthy of Praise, we shouldn't be thinking in terms of how special we are.
Wrong thinking- I am in christ to have my identity needs in christ and if i just realized who i was in christ i wouldn't have low self esteem, depression or feel worthless. RIGHT THINKING- In christ is a precious truth. Im in Christ to proclaim his excellencies 2 PEter 2:9.
WRONG- im a special jewel for christ RIGHT- GOd use me for your glory.
One thing I would like to add is that a LOT of emotional problems come directly from a person being sinned against, and then that person not forgiving the person who sinned against them.
SO much emotional problems could be erased in a day, if ONLY the person would FORGIVE the people they need to forgive.
Carrying around unforgiveness inside is a terrible thing.
Jesus said God won't forgive us unless we forgive those who sinned against us.
I also believe, from person experience, that if a Christian has unforgiveness inside of themselves, that they will NOT grow as a Christian UNTIL, they forgive those who sinned against them.
I especially like your point about WHERE we get our self-worth from.
excellent points alethia,i agree with you completley.most of mans wisdom today is centered around building up ones self esteem.this is not what we find in the bible at all.Great post!!!
In general I would agree with much of what you've said.I've both been through Christian and secular counseling and read quite a few books on the subject.I was blessed with Christian counselor who was absolutely in God's plan for me.Though I must say that he was unlike any Christian counselor I had read about.He directed me mainly to Biblical truths and what God's view of me is.But I do see to a greater degree christian counseling that is poisoned by humanistic thinking.Though it would naturally be that way.Coming from a fallible human it can't be fully divine.If the subject is fortunate enough he will possess the Holy Spirit which will enable him to separate the chaff from the wheat.A good Christian counselor is going to point to God/Christ and quickly separate relations from the subject.I think one of the greatest blessings of Christian counseling is by one who you can trust fully and be accepted as an equal person.That counselor will be respectful of your individual walk with God and not interject what he would have for you,unless that is he is prompting you to seek God first.Psychology is a very very gray area,one which is easily poisoned,but one needs to have Faith in God for it to be of value.
I have been in these forums and have contributed without controversy. I have insulted no one and I have wronged no one, but this time I have to put my foot down. Do you know how many truly godly people are ostracized from churches over the damnation of psychology? People who have not been to medical school and studied the functioning or malfunctioning of the brain regularly sit in judgment of those whose brains do not produce an adequate amount of hormones or chemicals, or the brain didn�t form properly through genetics, or have invitro brain damage. Diabetics are not condemned because they don�t produce enough insulin. People with thyroidism aren�t condemned because their thyroid malfunctions. Why are people with mental illness, personality disorders, mood disorders, and brain damage judged to be evil? Because people who like to talk without doing any research call ALL psychology worldly and ungodly.
I have no intentions of revealing anything that my daughter and I have been through, but if it weren�t for the field of psychology and truly godly counselors dedicated to helping other�s in Jesus name, we would both still be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is the committed Christians in the field of psychology who are on the frontlines helping victims of rape, domestic violence, abuse, trauma� put their lives back together according to God�s Word. These are the real heroes of God�s body, not the witch doctors.
�But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. The eye cannot say to the hand, �I have no need of you�; or the head to the feet, �I have no need of you.� On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; and those members of the body, which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our unseemly members come to have more abundant seemliness, whereas seemly members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to the members which lack.� 1 Corinth. 12:18-24
Victims of sexual assault, abuse, or near death episodes have kneel jerk reactions without conscious thought. It can be a panic attack, flashback, or generalized fear, but it would be cruel to tell a rape victim or a limbless soldier that if they would just forgive their perpetrator, they wouldn�t have any emotional problems.
I understand and know where you're coming, i don't say the above with malice at all. Yes are hormones etc do effect us and things we deal with,
I don't say any of the above without having done research and i do have training in both psychology and biblical cousneling. i do know of which i speak. To give people who do suffer from ptsd, depression etc, medications do have a role in relieving some of the symptoms, but they take care of symptoms not the real problem sort of speak.
But we can't 'blame' all our problems on our past, or the sins of others, yes the do effect us, but scripture does talk about and provide all we need to be totally renewed, and address 'mental' illness, im saying we need to be discerning between using humanistic worldy lies of psychology that over years have done people more harm than good, THIS IS ALL WELL DOCUMENTED, (not something i'm making up).
as an example of real life research, the american academy of pediatrics has stated that scientifically/research gives evidence that with dealing with homosexuality (as an example) there is no evidence to "prove' that those with homosexuality are born with it or any 'proof' that it is related to anything chemical or hormonal.
homosexuality was taken out of the DSM4 because it was viewed as normal since we have such a prevalence for it. HOWEVER the critieria for ptsd, depression, homosexuality to be listed as a mental illness is entirely decided by a group of psychiatrists who 'vote' on what diagnosis to include in the DSM4, ( many of whom are getting kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies).
You can read all this on the American Academy for pediatrics webite, Those suffering from depression, schizophrenia, ptsd, raper are definetly and often times excruciatingly suffering. They need real hope, real help, and yes not all psychiatry/psychology is bad, there is some good in it, but scripture is SUfficient to deal with real heart issues.
