REFORMED WITNESS
Volume II, July 1994, Number 7
The Christian and Modern Psychology
Book introductions by Pastor Arie den Hartog on:
Prophets of Psychoheresy, Volumes I and II by Martin and Diedre Bobgan
The psychologist today has a place of highest prominence in our society. He is the answer man, the ultimate source of wisdom and knowledge for many of life's questions. Most newspapers publish daily columns of advice by a prominent psychologist. Some of the most popular television and radio programs are those which feature gurus of psychology, either as talk show hosts or their guests, giving all sorts of advice on contemporary problems. People are constantly being advised to go for long sessions on counseling with some professional, highly paid expert for solutions to any and all problems they might have. A partial list would include marital problems: sexual dysfunction, child rearing difficulties, problems at work, personality afflictions of every kind: depression, nervousness, eating disorders, problems created by a deep trauma or crisis in life, and financial problems. The list is very diverse, but the solution is the same: see a modern day counselor. It is a prevalent idea that everyone has to go to his personal psychologist at some time or other in his or her life. Life is so filled with problems that effect our psychological well being that the professional counselor is absolutely essential to anyone trying to cope with day to day existence in our age.
It is common for large companies to do psychological screening of prospective employees. Courts not only sentence criminals to do a certain amount of time in prison but also to compulsory prolonged counseling sessions. When society decides that someone does not have opinions or habits and lifestyles acceptable to the liberal prevailing philosophy of the day he is declared psychologically sick and sentenced to time with a counselor to attempt to alter not only his lifestyle but even his very thinking. Psychologists are placed on the same plain or higher than medical doctors. They have their offices and clinics, and their couches (for some unknown reason I have never been able to understand). It is imagined that they practice the same "hard science" as medical doctors. They claim the same definite knowledge of symptoms and diagnosable ailments, and it is commonly imagined that they can claim the same rate of success in "curing" their patients as the sophisticated medical doctors and hospitals of our day. And of course they demand they same high rates of remuneration for their professional services as highly paid specialists in the field of medicine. Much of this goes unchallenged in our modern day society. Thousands and thousands of dollars are spent on psychological counseling. Few real, in depth cost and benefit analyses of much of this professional counseling is ever considered. Occasionally one reads admissions even by prominent psychologists that the success rate is dismally low. In one study of a psychologist's office a comparison was made between the effect of the hours of expensive counseling by the psychologist and the friendly encouragement of an uneducated cleaning lady. The latter had more success in helping patients who came to the building. While we would, of course, not condemn all practice of psychology, nevertheless we believe it urgent for Christians to be aware of the ungodly humanistic psychology that is so prominent today. The Word of God admonishes the child of God to live antithetically to this world's philosophies and lifestyles because they are ungodly. There is currently probably no single area where this distinction is as crucial as in the dangerous philosophy propagated by modern day psychology and "professional counselors". Furthermore much of what today are called psychological problems are in fact spiritual, moral, and ethical problems. A Christian ought to be extremely careful about seeking advice from a worldly and ungodly counselor. He cannot expect that such counsel will be according to the Word of God. In fact some of it is even outrageously wicked and ungodly. One Christian reported that a non-Christian counselor advised him to take up drinking and fornication as a method of relieving tension. Space permitting, we could easily give multiple examples of such advice given to church members by worldly counselors. Of even greater concern to us however is how the modern day Christian church has been caught up with the prevailing interest in and reliance on psychology and counseling. Some of the most popular and influential leaders in the modern day church world are the "Christian counselors." Many of these have popular talk shows on radio and television. Huge counseling organizations, some with nation-wide networks, have been established. Thousands of books are coming off the Christian presses that focus on counseling and giving psychological advice for all the many problems of life in the modern day world. Seminaries all over the world are spending more of their efforts training men and women for counseling than for teaching a preaching the Word of God. Many prominent churches have full time professional psychologists on their staff. Many sermons preached today are little more than humanistic psychological pep talks rather than sound expositions of the Word of God. Sound doctrine is considered irrelevant and insignificant for the complex life of modern man with all its troubles. We believe sincerely in the need for the effectiveness of good Christian counseling. We believe that every pastor of the church of Jesus Christ is called and must be qualified to give such counseling. God's people need to be genuinely led to Christ and to the Word of God to find the true solution to life's many problems and solid comfort for life's sorrows and trials. It is not, as is commonly imagined, hopelessly simplistic to say that "Christ is the answer." There is profound significance to this truth. The regular, sound preaching of the Word and even preaching with a good measure of Biblical doctrine on the Lord's Day gives good wise counsel to God's people for their every day life. Every Christian must be a member of a faithful church and frequent the worship services to hear the preaching of the Word and receive the counsel and comfort of the Word of God. Both pastors and elders should be equipped with a thorough knowledge of the Word of God and with wisdom and skill to apply that Word to the daily lives of God's people. In this increasingly perverted world God's people need help from the Word of God and the grace of Christ Jesus more than ever before. But there is a great need for careful discernment even regarding much of what pretends to be Christian psychology propagated today by the media. We must be careful about imagining that every counselor that merely mentions the name of the Lord and refers occasionally to the Bible in an oblique way must be Christian and worthy of listening to. Ideas, even very popular and common ones that are being peddled by some "Christian counsellors" of our day, need to be rigorously examined in the light of the Word of God. You might be surprised, dear reader, when you carefully examine some of the common ideas of modern day "Christian psychology." Many of these ideas are in fact little more than slightly altered theories of humanistic and ungodly psychology. They may sound very appealing and satisfying to our sinful nature but at the same time be radically unchristian. Not the least dangerous modern day emphasis in "Christian psychology" is all the stress on self-esteem, self-actualization, realizing one's potential, and feeling good about oneself. Listening to some very popular counselors of our day one gets the impression that the concept represented by these terms is the key to solving almost all of our psychological and spiritual problems. This idea of feeling good about the self minimizes the reality of sin as it lies at the root of all man's problems. Some teaching of the most popular Christian counselors lead men away from complete reliance upon the Lord and His grace and salvation. Rather they teach that we should trust in ourselves and glory more in man and his own potential rather than in God. We have come across two excellent books that we want to recommend to the readers of our Reformed Witness newsletter which we believe present an excellent and necessary critique of what the author calls "psychoheresy" in the church world today: Prophets of Psychoheresy, Volumes I and II by Martin and Diedre Bobgan, Eastgate Publishers, Santa Barbara, California, copyright 1988 and 1990. These books are available from our bookstore. You can write or email us at thereformedwitness@hopeprc.org for price and availability.
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