Psychology and the Church

Psychology and the Church (Pt. 2/6) 

 Psychology and the Church (Pt. 3/6)

 Psychology and the Church (Pt. 4/6) 

 Psychology and the Church (Pt. 5/6)

 Psychology and the Church (Pt. 6/6)

Psychology, Just Another Broken Cistern That Cannot Hold Water

"Psychology is no more 'science' than the atheistic evolutionary theory upon which it is based. Like theistic evolution, 'Christian psychology' is an attempt to harmonize two inherently contradictory systems of thought. Modern psychology
and the Bible cannot be blended without serious compromise to, or utter
abandonment of, the principle of Scripture's sufficiency." -John MacArthur

There is a wonderful Christian movement today dedicated to reclaiming area that has been ceded in past generations to psychology.
My family growing up was deeply "psychologized" - always running off to
therapy for this or that childhood wound - or talking endlessly with
psychiatrists about supposed problems. But nobody ever had relief from
any of these issues. If anything, psychology
just seemed to give permission for us to be (sinfully) self-absorbed,
and also seemed to give permission to call sin by another name (as in,
"Oh, he's just a Type A, so he has permission to be high-strung and
obnoxious.")

"My people have committed two sins: They have
forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own
cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water." (Jeremiah 2:13)

This new movement is called Nouthetic Biblical Counseling - and it is
truly biblically based. By that I mean that it is not just
psycho-babble with Bible verses sprinkled on top. I can give an amazing
testimony of someone very close to me who was disagnosed as a
narcissistic personality disorder. In psychology,
"narcissistic personality types" are notoriously hard to treat, and are
typically considered incurable (similar to sociopathic/psychopathic
personality disorders in severity). Yet through the power of God's word,
this person was radically transformed from being a hostile, angry,
manipulative 'narcissistic' into a loving, gentle, humble, giving
person.

Psychology has no ability from within its framework to explain such a radical transformation happening to a person with a supposedly "incurable" personality disorder. But Christianity does...it's called being born again:"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new." (2 Cor 5:17)

See also:
Institute for Nouthetic Studies

NANC - National Association of Nouthetic Counselors

Psycho Babble - by Dr. Richard Ganz

Dr. Richard Ganz

The Psychologized Man

posted with permission
http://solasisters.blogspot.com/2010/11/psychology-just-another-broken-cistern.html

here's some great books about it:
Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology by Ed Rulkley, PhD
Our Sufficiency in Christ by John F. MacArthur
Competent To Counsel by Jay E. Adams
The Christian Counselor's Manuel By Jay E. Adams
Introduction To Biblical Counseling by John F. MacArthur Jr. and Wayne A. Mack and The Master's College Faculty