Author : Keith Sharp
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue… (2 Peter 1:2-3).
The most popular American, Protestant leader today is Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of The Purpose-Driven Life and The Purpose-Driven Church. He claims, “… anybody can be won to Christ if you discover the key to his or her heart” (Church. 219, as quoted by Gilley. 48). I would like to hear his explanation of the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-23; et al). How do you get seed to produce a crop on wayside or stony ground or soil encumbered with thorns?
Warren and those like him, who are part of the “New Paradigm” movement, have succumbed to the philosophy of this world by advocating and employing the message and methods of “pop psychology” (Colossians 2:8-10). Much of what they preach and write is shallow “psycho-babble.”
The unofficial motto of the New Paradigm church is “Find a need and meet it; find a hurt and heal it” (Gilley. 49). Their churches have every kind of “ministry” the human mind can imagine to attract and keep the widest number of sinners by supplying each and every “felt need” of worldly people.
And many of my brethren are following this broad way to destruction. Modern sermons from pulpits of churches of Christ are often the same amateur psychology heard in denominations. Rather than pointing sinners to Christ and Christians to heaven, we hear sermons designed to help find fulfilment, happiness, and success in life. Rather than preaching God’s law of marriage, preachers offer shallow marital advice that sounds like Dr. Joyce Brothers. Their source is popular books rather than the Word of God. Several years ago when I preached a meeting down South, a preacher friend complimented the fact I preached the Bible basics sinners and saints need to hear and mourned the fact that most gospel meeting sermons he hears today contain little to either save the lost or edify the saved.
The difference between psychology and the Word of God is basic, deep, and manifold.
Sickness or Sin?
Psychology… wants us to believe that a great number of our emotional and mental problems are really illnesses… These problems have come upon a person, just as the flu might, and therefore are not the individual’s fault. Since the person cannot help himself he need take no responsibility for his actions and can look for someone or something else to blame (Gilley. 50).
The Scriptures, in stark contrast, call bad actions “sin” (1 John 5:17), i.e., “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), teach us we are responsible for our actions and will be held accountable (2 Corinthians 5:10), and emphatically demand that we repent of our sins (Acts 17:30-31; 3:19; 8:22-23). Faith or unbelief, obedience or rebellion, are choices freely made (Deuteronomy 30:11-20; Joshua 24:15; Revelation 22:17), the holy Lord God will accept no excuses for unbelief or disobedience (Romans 1:18-21), and impenitent sinners will suffer terribly and eternally (Romans 2:1-11).
God-centered (Theism) or Man-centered (Humanism)?
The Bible is God-centered. Psychology is man-centered. The Bible teaches that our purpose in life is to glorify God. (Romans 11:33-36; Ephesians 3:20-21 – KS) …Psychology, being man-centered, has as its highest goal the happiness of the individual… If mankind’s greatest goal is his own happiness, then all other things in life, including God, become means to secure that happiness… But such pursuit shifts the focus of life from others (Phil. 2:1-4) and God (1 Cor. 10:31) to the ‘all-important’ self. This world-view is completely at odds with the biblical world-view (Gilley. 51).
The gospel calls on us to follow the example of Christ Jesus to willingly deny self to obey God and serve others (Philippians 2:1-11). It is the opposite of worldly wisdom. The human wisdom of psychology teaches us to selfishly seek our own happiness as the paramount goal in this life. The gospel paradoxically promises if we will make Christ the center of our lives (Philippians 1:21); put God and others above ourselves (Philippians 2:1-8), and willingly sacrifice all we hold dear for Christ (Philippians 3:7-11), God will reward us in this life, here and now, with the two most highly coveted psychological prizes, peace of mind beyond the world’s ability to comphrehend (Philippians 4:6-7) and joy beyond our ability to express (1 Peter 1:3-9).
Absolute or Relative?
The bible teaches absolutes. Psychology teaches relativism. In a psychologized world we can live out our own set of values, but we must never condemn the values of others (Gilley. 51).
The Bible teaches that God Himself is truth (Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 31:5; 57:10; 86:15; 89:14; 100:5; 108:4; 117:2; Isaiah 25:1), Jesus Christ reveals God to the world (Matthew 11:27; John 12:48-49), He is Himself truth (John 14:6; 18:37), God’s word is truth (John 17:17), the gospel is truth (Galatians 2:4-5; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5), and the primary business of the church is to uphold truth (1 Timothy 3:14-15). Relativism, the denial of absolute truth, breeds the cowardice that resulted in the death of the Son of God (John 18:38). Those who oppose Christ are liars (1 John 2:22). When Elymas the sorcerer opposed the gospel, Saul (Paul) rebuked him, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?” (Acts 13:10) Did Paul believe in condemning the values of others?
Subjective (Within Ourselves) or Objective (Outside Ourselves)?
Psychology teaches that individuals have the answers to life within themselves; they just need help discovering these answers. The Bible says that the answers to life are found within its pages as revealed by God in Christ (Gilley. 52)
If the answers to life’s problems lie within ourselves, what do we need with the Bible anyway? But the advice of this world is “Just follow your heart” or “Let your conscience be your guide.” So what difference does it make what God says in His Word?
But the truth is, no man has the ability to so direct his affairs as to either please God or even to gain happiness for himself. Jeremiah declared, “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23). When people turn to their own ways, they turn to sin (Isaiah 53:6). In fact, rejecting God’s way as revealed in His word for our own ways is rebellion and insures the holy Lord God will reject us and send His wrath upon us (cf. Isaiah 65:2,12; Numbers 15:30-31; Hebrews 10:26-31).
During the period of the judges in Israel, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25). The writer of Judges gives examples of gang rape, idolatry, theft, and mass murder to illustrate the depths of depravity to which people sink when they look within their own hearts for moral guidance rather than to God (Judges chapters 17-21).
Solomon, the wisest mere mortal who ever lived (1 Kings 3:11-12), turned away from God to the wisdom of men (1 Kings 11:4; Ecclesiastes 1:13), looking within his own heart for guidance to achieve the good life (Ecclesiastes 1:16; 2:3), and concluded, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). Rather than joy and peace, he found despair and sorrow (Ecclesiastes 2:20,23).
What does looking within our own hearts for guidance accomplish? A van life of sorrow and despair now and the wrath of God in eternity!
The Past (Blame Others) or the Present (Blame Myself)
“Most forms of psychology teach that the key to personal problems lies somewhere in our past. The Bible deals with us in the present” (Gilley. 52). The psychiatrist or psychologist probes your hidden memories to discover underlying causes of harmful thinking or behavior and places the blame upon your parents or others in your past. You’re just a victim; culprits from your childhood are the perpetrators.
The Lord deals with all possibilities in Ezekiel chapter eighteen. The soul of both the parents and the children belong to the Lord, and “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezekiel 18:4). Good parents may have an evil child, and, if they do, it is the fault of the child, and “He shall surely die; His blood shall be upon him” (Ezekiel 18:5-13). Evil parents may have a good child, and, “He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live!” (Ezekiel 18:14-17)
The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself (Ezekiel 18:20).
Everyone has baggage, but everyone also has a conscience, access to the Word of God, and the ability to choose good or evil, i.e., free will (Joshua 24:15; Revelation 22:17). If your parents were evil, learn from their sins and don’t follow them. If your parents were good, follow their examples.
I have a dear friend whose father was a drunken, violent, wife abuser and who abandoned his family when my friend was young. Talk about a psychiatrist’s treasure trove! My friend’s mother had a series of nervous breakdowns which left her incapable of caring for her house or her children. Wow, the psychologist has more excuses for my friend’s misspent life than he can imagine! But my friend hasn’t had a misspent life. He has spent his adulthood as a faithful Christian, dedicated preacher of the gospel, and loving husband and father. He has raised his own children to be dedicated Christians.
So you had problems as a child. Grow up. Get over it. You have a brain, a Bible, a conscience, and free will. Stop blaming your sins on others and accept personal responsibility. Repent of your sins and turn to the service of the Lord.
Conclusion
The bible “and psychology both deal with the issue of how to live; yet, they come at it from opposing angles, draw different conclusions, and basically are not compatible” (Ibid).
…Satan is always busy attempting to undermine the authority of God’s Word. The first recorded temptation in the Garden of Eden was to doubt the Word of God (Gen. 3:1), and this has been Satan’s focus ever since. Today, virtually every heresy found in the Christian ranks can be traced back to some form of rejection of the Bible as God’s final authority. It may be pragmatism (which adds success to the Bible); mysticism (which adds experience); tradition (which adds the past); legalism (which adds man’s rules) or philosophy such as psychology (which adds man’s wisdom). The end result is the same: the Word of God takes a back seat to the inventions and imaginations of men (Ibid. 52-53).
What is the biblical counterpart to a psychologized approach to living? In such passages as Galatians 5;19-21; Colossians 3:5,8,9 and 2 Timothy 3:2-7 the characteristics of spiritual immaturity are identified… to live this way will result in a host of what many people today call emotional and psychological problems. If people are enslaved to such sins, why should it surprise us that they feel unloved, paranoid, anxious, burnt-out, hateful, depressed, empty and so forth?
… psychologists will never discover the true origin of people’s problems. Therefore, they cannot offer genuine, lasting help.
If we are to handle the problems that we face in a way that pleases God, we must grow spiritually (2 Pet. 1:5-8; Jas. 1:2-5) through obedience to the Word of God (Col. 3:16; Acts 20:32; 2 Tim. 3:16,17…(Ibid. 54).
Beware lest any cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power (Colossians 2:8-10).
Works Cited
Gilley, Gary. This Little Church Went to Market.
