Is Psychology Biblical?

While some psychological problems may be spirit realm related, others may not be.

 

Rather difficult to say since there are all sorts of schools of Psychology.

The normal, world system is not very Biblical, though some of the principles might relate to Biblical principles. It is based on man's thinking/findings.

There are some that do Christian Psychology but they use the above system that they have been taught.

There are some that have a system that is Biblical in nature and assumes the problems stem from spiritual problems. If the patient does not want to use this method or is not responding then they return to the normal system that is basically from the world.

There was a book years ago by Glaser or Glassar that was written by a man that had rejected the normal methods for some that he had developed that seemed to work. His principles though developed aside from the Bible were suprisingly Biblical - not all but a number of them.

 

Who determined it was a demon that was giving a person mental problems? What basis is there for that determination?

 

For physical healing, there isn't any biblical support for open heart surgery and getting ultrasounds.

For counselling, there isn't any biblical support for marriage counselling sessions or high school career counsellors.

 

TC is right. The study of the soul.

If you study the soul from a biblical world view you come to different conclusions then those who study the soul from a materialistic, atheistic, or humanistic world view.

Chrsitian psychology that is grounded in the Bible (orthodox view of man, sin. salvation, sanctification, etc.) is certainly legitimate.

What is not legitimate is claiming to be a Christian psychologist and then working from a non-Christian world view.

 

It is important to note that some problems are physical, chemical, envirnonmental, spiritual, emotional, etc.

You need to know what the problem is before you can treat it correctly.

 

The question is what did people know about the nature of disease in general in biblical times. They didn't know about bacteria. They didn't know about viruses. They didn't know what caused heart attacks or what cancer was. Therefore, they tended to attribute sickness to things like demon possession out of ignorance. Jesus of course had the power to heal supernaturally but this was way outside the norm of how people dealt with diseases. The same holds true for mental diseases.

 

http://www.psychoheresy-aware.org/mainpage.html

 

I have no problems with open heart surgery, ultrasounds, marriage counselling, career counselling and psychology.

Many conservative Christian sites like this one cater to the insular conservative Christian view that secular=evil.

I agree that modern secular healing, like psychology often is based on a naturalistic assumption that physical and mental health are not spiritual problems. This is a product of our modernist paradigm of compartmentalizing people into their parts and separating the physical from the mental from the emotional from the spiritual.

But when Christ healed, he healed the whole person and not just physically/mentally/spiritually/emotionally as individuals, but also healed them socially too.

He would make sure that the leper and the hemophiliac were not just healed but also ceremonially clean and accepted back in their community. He told the demon-possessed man in Gerasenes to go back to his family.

I think the model of healing Jesus wants for us doesn't deny the physical and psychological aspects of healing that secular healers try to address, but also includes the spiritual and social aspects of healing.

I think that many Christian psychologists who recognize some of the benefits of the experience of secular psychologists for the physical and emotional aspects of mental health while also including the spiritual and social aspects are following Christ's example.

When I say spiritual aspect of healing, I'm not suggesting that demon possession is involved in every mental or physical health problem. There is more to the soul than demon possession or lack thereof.

[ April 15, 2005, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: Gold Dragon ]

 

For a good evaluation of this phenom get the book "Psycoheresy" by Bobgan and Bobgan.

It is obvious that demon possession is still happening today but it is NOT so obvious that mental problems are related.

Psycology as it is commonly practiced is not biblical. Generally it seeks to restore ones "self-esteem" and other such like things which the Bible never says we ought to do. Generally speaking, psycology is man-centered.

Biblical counseling on the other hand seeks to restore one's sense of who God is and our purposed relationship with Him. It sees most of our "emotional" problems as being sin related, and once sin is dealt with, then generally most emotional problems are also dealt with.

I am not in any way suggesting that medical conditions such as "chemical" imbalances are excluded.

Our big problem is identifying what is demon possession and what is "self-will run riot".

In HIS service;
Jim

 

Who is more blasphemous, the Christian Psychologist or the atheist Psychologist? This guy is off the wall.

 

Friends,
I've been an ordained Baptist minister for 34 years AND earned a Ph.D. in Psychology in 1980 BUT I still can't answer your questions and comments. It is that complex of a discussion!
WallyGator