Exposing the Myth that Christians Need Psychotherapy

[Sid]

His [Dr. Dwight Carlson] Thesis: The church is only qualified to deal with spiritual matters (salvation, forgiveness, morality, God’s will, etc.) and some emotional problems. The deepest personal and emotional problems should be handled by "professionals."


Answer: None of the accused would deny that Christians should seek proper medical help for physical needs. If your thyroid is not functioning properly you should go to a doctor.

The professionals the author is speaking of, however, are professionals in psychology. While some are medically trained, they practice "professional advice." Their designation as "professional" comes from being educated and trained in psychological theories.

There are literally hundreds of these theories spawned by men such as Freud, Jung, Adler, Maslow, Skinner, Rogers, Ellis and Bettelheim. They compete with one another, and they do not always agree. Carlson did not indicate which school of thought he favored.

He also failed to indicate whether it was important to go to a Christian for Christian professional counseling. Perhaps this is because, unlike Scripture, there is no body of truth called "Christian psychology." There are only professing Christians practicing their own versions of psychological theories, sometimes using Christian terminology.

The books written by Dave Hunt and others document in great detail the shortcomings of this profession. The proofs offered include the testimonies of secular psychologists that their counsel was no more effective than the advice of a sympathetic friend. Carlson chose not to respond to any of that evidence.

If however, as he suggests, we are to turn over Christians with the deepest needs to these "professionals," we should expect him to provide some scientific evidence (control studies) to show it works. This would also identify exactly which of the various psychological theories he might think are correct.




Exposing the Myth that Christians Need Psychotherapy (http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/exmyth63.html)

[Sid]

A third friend is a mental health professional, and well respected in his field. Although he has several graduate degrees in psychology, he rejects much psychological theory and practice as worthless. Most of his counseling principles are consistent with biblical ethics and biblical truths, and his success rate with clients is impressive. He says his greatest reward as a professional is that many of his patients no longer need him. This friend came from a Christian family, was educated at Christian schools, and even completed graduate degrees and did intern counseling at Christian institutions. He hesitates to identify himself as a Christian, however, because his experiences in Christian environments were so painful and damaging to him:


You wouldn’t believe the hypocrisy, the cruelty, the spiritual manipulation that was rampant through most of my Christian experiences. Blatantly unbiblical practices were condoned or covered up by supposedly mature Christian leaders who tried to justify sin as "normal" or who denied there were any problems. Give me an honest nonbeliever any day. At least I know who I’m dealing with, I have no false illusions, and I don’t get that sick feeling that I’ve learned to associate with "God’s people." If I judged Jesus and the Bible on the basis of most of His people I’ve known, I’d reject Him and His Word in a second. I’m afraid to reject my faith totally, but how can I believe the Bible has all the answers for fulfilled personal living when people who "swear by it" are so messed up?


When the church fulfills its responsibilities for biblical community, nurture, and support, then Christians will not feel the need to turn to secular psychotherapy. By contrast, as the stories opening this article illustrate, when the church does not embrace the repentant alcoholic, the parent with the troubled teen, or those emotionally bruised by sinful behavior, then the hurting and needy will look elsewhere for help.

It is our contention that psychotherapy has become enormously popular among Christians primarily because the church has failed to fulfill its biblical obligation to nurture, protect, admonish, and mature its members.


Should we have to pay $100 per hour for a friend?


Of course not. And yet, if as Christians we turn our backs on those with problems, shun those who wrestle with sin, and denigrate those who struggle to follow Christ, why should we be surprised that hurting people turn to psychotherapy for answers? Even though the answers of secular psychotherapy pale in comparison to biblical wisdom — and at best borrow from biblical principles — if psychotherapy offers some help while the local church does not, can we blame those who turn to it for relief?


The popularity of psychotherapy in the church should not consume our critical attention:


It is but a symptom of fundamental problems in contemporary American Christianity. In the next three installments we will describe and evaluate biblical counseling and psychotherapy, and then consider a scriptural agenda for restoring biblical counseling as part of a healthy church. When the genuine is available, people will no longer be attracted to the imitation.



Psychology and the Church:Laying a Foundation for Discernment (http://www.equip.org/free/DP220-1.htm)

[Sid]

Since psychology has crossed the line and invaded Christian teaching, and this is not the fault of secular psychologists, our defense against that invasion must focus primarily upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul declares that God has chosen to save this world by the preaching of the Gospel (I Corinthians 1: 21 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Corinthians%201:%2021&version=49)). It is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%201:%2016;&version=49;)).

The Gospel is that proclamation of the forgiveness of sins, justification, and eternal salvation gained for us through the sacrificial suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit produces saving faith through the hearing of the Gospel (Romans 10:17 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%2010:%2017;&version=49;)).

If the Gospel of Jesus Christ is distorted by modern psychology, the very essence of Christianity is being undermined.

There are three vital biblical truths that define the purpose of preaching the Gospel, the power of the Gospel, and the Gospel as the means whereby our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us. These three truths are presently being threatened or distorted by the intrusion of modern psychology into the Christian Church.

Let me first briefly share these three truths with you and then discuss how psychological theories and techniques have distorted them:


The message of the grace of God in Christ Jesus is proclaimed within the context of human sin and depravity. Martin Luther discussed this truth as the relationship between the Law and the Gospel. He said that the key to understanding the Gospel is a proper understanding of human sin. From his perspective, if you get sin wrong, you will get everything else wrong.


Sanctification or living the Christian life is the result of the Gospel. Justification, my righteous position before God, and sanctification, my daily living before God, must be distinguished but never separated. The one is the cause of the other. The Christian life is not produced by psychological technique.


]Scripture defines the manner in which our Lord Jesus comes to us and is sent among us. The Reformers spoke of the "means of grace," and identified the Gospel and the Sacraments as vehicles whereby the living Christ is brought to us, offering to us the benefits of life and salvation. The Bible does not offer psychological mind-games as a "means of grace."



The Intrusion of Psychology into Christian Theology (http://www.issuesetc.org/resource/journals/v1n9.htm)

[Sid]

Many Christians feel that the church has abandoned them, so they turn to psychology and psychotherapy for help.
The term psychotherapy—informally known as ‘the talking cure—encompasses a variety of approaches to helping people identify, understand, and cope with the dynamics of their mental and emotional states, individually and in social interaction.

Pastors are preaching sermons using psychology to illustrate biblical principles. Psychologists are getting rich off Christians who purchase their books. Twelve-step programs are now offered in churches. Christians are given the Meyers-Briggs personality quiz to identify their spiritual gifts. They are seeking help from biblical counselors, Christian psychologists and secular psychotherapists. Dr. Laura and Dr. Phil are household names. Jungian psychotherapy (http://newswithviews.com/West/marsha5.htm) is taught in Christian seminaries.


Don Matzat puts forth the threat that modern psychology poses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and offers this advice to churches:

I suggest that Christian denominations who are concerned by the intrusion of modern psychology into their ranks should appoint a standing-committee made up of apologetic researchers, experts in the occult, and orthodox pastors and lay-people who are academically trained in psychology. It would be the task of this committee to do the research that most busy pastors are unable to do and to offer to the church their conclusions and opinions concerning some of the deceptive offerings of modern psychology.

Psychology and Christianity (http://www.theconservativevoice.com/article/20166.html)

[Sid]

Although I could not adequately cover in this brief article the details of how terribly subversive and destructive humanistic psychology (especially as championed in Christian psychology) is to Bible-believing Christians, here are a few concerns that we all need to seriously and prayerfully consider:
One, humanistic psychology’s theories came from the atheistic, anti-Christian founders of psychotherapy, whose concepts qualify for what the Scriptures condemn as “the counsel of the ungodly” (Psalm 1:1 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%201:1&version=49));
Two, the humanistic emphasis upon loving and esteeming self rejects the biblical commandment to “deny self,” which Jesus admonished us to do in Matthew 16:24 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2016:24;&version=49;);
Three, the increasing focus on esteeming one’s self gradually distorts a believer’s understanding of the truth regarding the sinful nature of man and hides conviction of sin in a morass of humanistic rationalizations;
Four, the subjective feelings orientation of humanistic psychology undermines the absolutes of God’s objective truth; and
Five, as the leaven of humanism grows in the mind of a believer, his interpretation of the Scriptures gradually shifts from what God has indeed said (Genesis 3:1 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%203:1;&version=49;)) to “a way which seemeth right unto a man...” (Proverbs 14:12 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2014:12;&version=49;)).Scripture tells us that man’s ways, i.e., all his self and humanistic teachings, are the ways of death, a death that separates a believer from the truth and robs him of his faith and fruitfulness.



Psychology in Prophecy (http://www.thebereancall.org/Newsletter/html/2006/apr06.php)

[Jessie]

I think in some instances people do need consiling I did.


now I do think though that one can get into some bad stuff.
gotta stay scriptural.

[Sid]

now I do think though that one can get into some bad stuff.
gotta stay scriptural.


Jessie:


Psychology is based on atheistic humanism, plain and simple.

So much of it is just bad news.

[Jessie]

perhaps what I mean is that counsiling can be good.

a lot of it is bunk. and most pastors have no clue say as how to help a person come out of a cult.

I dont know how to explain this to you...
so I make sense. I have a good consilor had to help me come out of wof,
and I guess you could say a cultic family.

I would say that without Jesus and Gods word one cant find in this stuff what they are looking for it to do. and cant mix Gods word with aithesism ect.

[Sid]

Jessie:

Counselling is good, but attaching special credibility to someone's opinions just because he has an alphabet of credentials behind it is self-defeating.

A concerned, mature Christian can use Scriptural injunctions and accomplish more.

. . . just MHO.

[Jessie]

absolutly agreed!

my consilor is a mature christian thank you Lord! and uses good disernment.
she brings out what I do not see. and has helped me with a few of you here to face
the fears of the cultic junk.

Sid, credintials mean nothing. absolutly nothing in this area.

a dr. yes, but even then one can buy the things. not good.

I needed someone to walk with me thru this. just saying a scripture was'nt enough.
I needed both.

[Sid]

We may define depression as: That debilitating mood, feeling or air of hopelessness which results in a ceasing of the handling of life.

It is important to recognize that depression is not the problem in and of itself; it is a response or reaction to something else. For that reason, Scripture says almost nothing about depression per se. However, it has much to say about the root causes of depression.


Scripture gives some vivid descriptions of depressed people:


• Gloom and pessimism (Ps. 32:3 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.%2032:3&version=9))

• Apathy and fatigue (Ps. 32:4 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.%2032:4;&version=9;))

• Hopelessness (Ps. 38:2-4, 10 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.%2038:2-4,%2010;&version=9;))

• Physical problems — backaches, headaches, etc. (Ps. 38:5-8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.%2038:5-8;&version=9;))

• Withdrawal — often blaming others (Ps. 38:11; 55:6-8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps.%2038:11;%2055:6-8;&version=9;))

• Feelings and knowledge of guilt (Ps 51:3 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps%2051:3;&version=9;)).

• Sleeplessness — or restless sleep (Ps 42:2, 3 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ps%2042:2,%203;&version=9;))

• Loss of productivity (I Kings 19:3-5 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Kings%2019:3-5;&version=9;))

• Thoughts of death or suicide (I Kings 19:4 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20Kings%2019:4;&version=9;)).



More . . . (http://www.svchapel.org/Resources/articles/read_articles.asp?id=23)

[Jessie]

yes, the response or reaction to something else.

I grew up with the "oh just forgive them" and then of couse one ends up getting hurt over and over and over and it never stops and I turned the anger inward.
along with pentecostal nonsense and the dominant people in my life scapegoated me,
putting their guilt and sin on me. I was not strong enough and did NOT have the know how to not accept it. I really did'nt know what and why this was happening to me.

the church simply will not deal with these issues. it takes one on one.

those here have helped me too immensely just by listening and giving me good advice and having loads of patience with me. I in my entire life have not found such people anywhere but here.

I guess I would like to see this broke down a bit.

whats ok and whats not, many wont go to get help and they need it.

there is a lot that is bunk, but there is things that are good and helpful.

[kay-gee]

I believe we need to help each other. We've all been through things that we can share that others haven't been through. I suppose though that if I did go to a therapist, I'd want him to be just like Dr. Frasier Crane! All the best!............

[CoreIssue]

I believe we need to help each other. We've all been through things that we can share that others haven't been through. I suppose though that if I did go to a therapist, I'd want him to be just like Dr. Frasier Crane! All the best!............
:pound:He had more problems than many of his patients.

[Sid]

He had more problems than many of his patients.


Somewhere's on the 'net I saw an article about the suicide rate among psychiatrists was really high. . .

. . . physician, heal thyself.

[CoreIssue]

He had more problems than many of his patients.


Somewhere's on the 'net I saw an article about the suicide rate among psychiatrists was really high. . .

. . . physician, heal thyself.
Yep.

Extremely high.

[kay-gee]

most go nuts first! all the best

[Jessie]

Sid, I have had to sort thru a mirade of things. esp. false guilt.
when that hits me and it comes from my extended family and their whacked out
idea of how a christian is to act, which is do as I say, not as I do.
and have manners but doing those things the Lord specifically said not to,
and then not being allowed to even speak of it, or question it,
I got very angry and turned it all inward.
no emotional support and for a person like me that was disastorous.

thats where those blasted migraines mostly come from.
it leaves a open door for satan to attack me that I'm worthless and must
"earn" Gods love.

all those things that they still do are not christian...
but a whole lot of folks claim it is and try to play it out. its deceiptful.

so talking about it sure has helped. and even here as I talked and got it out,
I could start changing and seeing more clearly.

church just wont allow that.

the folks here are open and are not afraid to listen and help.
again never before have I found that.

now if one gets into hynosis, reiki, and a bunch of other junk, its all bunk.
and would probably sink them deeper into misery.

am glad you are showing the errors in this stuff though!

[Jessie]

quote:

Scripture defines the manner in which our Lord Jesus comes to us and is sent among us. The Reformers spoke of the "means of grace," and identified the Gospel and the Sacraments as vehicles whereby the living Christ is brought to us, offering to us the benefits of life and salvation. The Bible does not offer psychological mind-games as a "means of grace."

could this be explained?

cause I had to come out from under mindgames from those who twisted Gods word in life
there and still is no grace from them.

[Sid]

Sid, I have had to sort thru a mirade of things. esp. false guilt.
when that hits me and it comes from my extended family and their whacked out
idea of how a christian is to act, which is do as I say, not as I do.



Jessie:

I believe that much of what passes for depression is a legitimate response to people and situations that are the real reason for emotional problems.

Blaming the victim would be a reasonable way to characterize this situation.




and have manners but doing those things the Lord specifically said not to,
and then not being allowed to even speak of it, or question it,
I got very angry and turned it all inward.
no emotional support and for a person like me that was disastorous.


Been there, done that.

Unresolved anger just grows and eats your soul.



thats where those blasted migraines mostly come from.
it leaves a open door for satan to attack me that I'm worthless and must
"earn" Gods love.


Sometimes the message one gets from the religious establishment makes the victim blame himself for his problems.

. . . not a productive enterprise by any measure.



all those things that they still do are not christian...
but a whole lot of folks claim it is and try to play it out. its deceiptful.


Sounds like amateurs playing pop-psychology.

so talking about it sure has helped. and even here as I talked and got it out,
I could start changing and seeing more clearly.

church just wont allow that.


So much that passes for Christian fellowship is just so o o o shallow.


the folks here are open and are not afraid to listen and help.
again never before have I found that.

now if one gets into hynosis, reiki, and a bunch of other junk, its all bunk.
and would probably sink them deeper into misery.

am glad you are showing the errors in this stuff though!


My oldest children's pediatrician was a wonderful Christian man and he related that when he was in medical school and they were applying for specialities, the absolute best went to surgery, family practice way down the list and psychiatry was the bottom of the barrel.

. . . now you know what you are dealing when when you visit a shrink.


(http://pediatrics.about.com/od/becomingapediatrician/Becoming_a_Pediatrician.htm)