We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Saturday, August 6, 2011

"Christian Psychology"

This is another repost of an article I posted three years ago.  I thought it needed dusting off!

I have studied the whole issue of psychology for several years now, and have determined conclusively that it is something totally against Christian teachings. So-called "Christian psychology" is an attempt to syncretize this humanistic system into Christianity and all it does is promote false teachings. Anyway, I plan to sometime go into this subject in detail, but for today I am going to post a paragraph from a paper written by a friend of mine. This paper is about worldviews, and was recently finished for his seminary class. So without further ado, here is the pertinent paragraph from Michael Burdick:
Psychology has developed a handful of opposing theories to define thinking as everything from the interactions of conscious and unconscious thought to biological stimuli. These have conflicting theories and have shattered the field of counseling into a myriad and bizarre collection of psychological models and treatments, none of which adequately reflect the truth or consistently offer healing. Without a moral compass, sinful, self-destructive behavior patterns must be reclassified as diseases (or in the case of homosexuality, preferences) to avoid culpability; sociopathic actions are the result of victimization; emotions are chemical processes having no connection to the condition of a non-existent soul or spirit. It is much like evolution in that its shear volume of raw data and perennial crop of counseling methods has led many well meaning Christians to believe most of its conclusions without giving critical thought to the basic premises. Worse still, all of this is jumbled together with actual diseases of the brain which do have identifiable genetic and biological causes. If insanity is to be defined as, “any thinking that does not accurately reflect reality” then psychology is certainly the one flying over the Coo-coo's nest and its patients are the resident chicks! Worst of all, this has resulted in the development of a nauseating mix of psychology and scripture called “Christian Psychology” which is actually neither. It stands in about the same position of theological development and kingdom penetration that “Theistic Evolution” did over 50 years ago. The day will come when it is similarly dismissed, and for much the same reason.
A last comment from me: Dr. David Tyler of Gateway Biblical Counseling and Training Center has summed up the problem wonderfully. He says that evolution is to teach us how we got here without God, while psychology is to teach us why we do what we do without God.

6 comments:

Emily said...

Like Rick Warren's "Celebrate Recovery" program, you mean?

Shortly after my salvation, not knowing much, I went to those programs seeking help with depression, PTSD and self-injury. I was even given a Celebrate Recovery study Bible. Something felt off to me, and I did not complete the program.

ali said...

What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again?
NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS.

All too often psychology gives a pass to bad behaviour all in the name of science - excusing sin -casting blame away from the one who is most in need of our LORD.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Emily,

When something feels "off," it usually is. Good for your and your intuition! I'm really going to have to get a chance to write an article about the problem with psychology and its antithesis to Christianity.

Watchman on the Wall,
You hit the nail on the head.

Essentially the whole psych field has roots in materialism, Darwinism and atheism. WIth those foundations, is it any wonder it is unbiblical?

Marie said...

Yep. That paper you wrote on this topic, Glenn, was invaluable to me when I was doing preliminary research for my own book. Then I read Richard Ganz' "Psychobabble: The Failure of Modern Psychology and the Biblical Alternative". Very helpful.

Ron Livesay said...

I graduated from a Christian college 42 years ago with a major in psychology. By the time I realized what I had gotten into, it was too late to change my major for a variety of reasons.

Even back then, the psychology I was taught tried to address human behavior while ignoring human nature. "It's not your fault. It's your parents' fault," etc., etc., ad nauseum. My experience since that time has been that "Christian" psychology is nothing but humanistic psychology with the name "Christian" attached to it. A major exception is Jay Adams and his emphasis on Biblical counseling, a major part of which is human responsibility based on the fact that we are all sinners and are therefore responsible for our behavior.

I have a degree in psychology from a Christian college, but the main thing I learned from my major, which by the was in total opposition to all I learned in my Bible and doctrine classes, was that psychology is for the most part a bunch of humanistic nonsense and is not to be trusted.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Jay Adams was the primary mover of the Nouthetic Counseling field. He is an excellent teacher and I have several of his counseling books. We attended a couple Biblical Counselors' conferences where he spoke, and he also spoke at one of the apologetics conferences we attended.

Keep Jay in your prayers - he had a heart attack last Thursday and the last note I saw was that he was still in the hospital.