Setting Believers Free from the Prisons of the Mind

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the “warfare” in which believers in Christ are involved is a well-thought-out “campaign.” The word he uses is strateia, from which we get “strategy.” Specifically, the devil’s battle against Christ-centered wisdom is not an accident. Satan specializes in disguising himself as “an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Therefore, the invasion of man-centered counseling philosophy into the church is a well-planned and well-executed war against the sufficiency of Christ and His Word and the transforming power of His gospel.    Continue at Paul Tautges

The Mind, Body, and Medications

In my ongoing study of the subject of mental/emotional illness, counseling, and the church; I found a very helpful chapter in the recently released book, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling. The final chapter, “The Complex Mind/Body Connection,” is written by Dr. Laura Hendrickson. As a trained medical doctor, and board-certified psychiatrist, Laura brings insight that is appreciated within the biblical counseling world.

In this chapter, Laura explores the complexity of our humanity and seeks to bring biblically-informed wisdom to bear upon the mind, body, and psychiatric medication. In this post, I will summarize and highlight her main conclusions. For the full benefit you would do well to get yourself a copy of Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling.

There Is Mystery in this Body, which Is Made by God. Just as Christians have many misconceptions about emotions [the subject of the preceding chapter] so “the body fares little better, perhaps worse, in our mind’s eye.” But it is important to remember that “our emotions and our bodies are God’s idea….The interrelationship between body and soul defies our capacity to fully comprehend. The complexity of the mind-body, soul-brain connection is both majestic and deeply troubling to many.” Hendrickson then refers to the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Confessional Statement, and reflects upon the dozen drafts of the portion that addresses the mind/body connection. This section of the confession closes with the following paragraph: “We recognize the complexity of the relationship between the body and soul (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, we seek to remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid bodily strengths and weaknesses. We encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems.”    Continue at Paul Tautges

The Local Church is THE place for Biblical Counseling

Can local churches become a natural home for counseling ministry? Often the limitations or failures of the church get cited first, making it seem that church is at best an adjunct to “the real work of counseling.” But, in principle, the local church is the natural home for face-to-face ministry. Counseling can and should thrive in local churches. Here are five of the numerous advantages to counseling being localized in the church.

First, a wise pastor (or friend, elder, small group leader, mentor, etc.) has many advantages over the secular paradigm of the office-bound counselor. In your own church you know people. You have seen them in action. Perhaps you know their parents and friends. You see how they treat their kids. You know how they handle themselves in a group. You have “back-story,” and aren’t limited to hearing only one side of the story. You know what kind of Christian nurture they are receiving week to week—and counseling can build on that. In addition to a wider knowledge base, you relate at multiple levels. You can invite people to your home, and invite yourself into their home. You can initiate the relationship, and express your concern. In contrast, office-bound counseling is structurally passive, always only on the receiving end of inquiry or referral. There is an active, outreaching quality to counseling ministry when we conceptualize it in the church.   Continue at David Powlison

Good and Angry: Four Anger Myths

They may not be many in number, but they do exist: Christians who are thoroughly confused about anger. During counseling, reading, and sermon-listening, four myths have come to my attention repeatedly. Here’s a brief, non-expert—but hopefully thought-provoking—response.

Myth 1: If you don’t let it out, anger will drive you crazy.

This popular notion probably has its roots in Freudian psychoanalysis. Freud’s million-dollar idea (or at least the pop-psych version of it) was that the human subconscious sort of reroutes “repressed” emotions into psychoses that seem unrelated to their causes. Pent up anger can eventually make you think you’ve been abducted by aliens or that people you know and love are afflicted by a strange disease only you know about and that you have to shoot them to cure them. So, to be healthy, we must express not repress.

 This kind of thinking about anger is common in popular film and television. If only the serial killer had openly expressed his anger, he would never have become such a monster. Cue commercial.

Sometimes Christians view anger this way as well. “I just need to vent,” they say.

But if we remove the Freudian assumptions, the idea that it’s healthy to openly express anger looks highly questionable. Is there really a place anger goes to lurk when we’re not feeling it? Certainly our thoughts and beliefs live in memory, but what if anger—and other emotions—really exist only when we’re feeling them?

In any case, if we take an honest, careful look at our own experiences of anger, we find that letting anger loose physically or verbally usually produces more anger, and then more, until an explosion leaves us physically and emotionally exhausted—and not angry anymore. People who indulge anger in this way often believe they’ve done something healthy when, in reality, if they had confronted the angry thoughts earlier in the process, they would have found that the emotion evaporated without any outward expression at all (easier to say than to do, but true, nonetheless).

Some advocates of “venting” nuance the term a bit and recommend physical exercise, etc., as opposed to expressing angry thoughts verbally. In my experience this works, not because anger goes somewhere to be stored, and exercise vents it, but rather because anger exists only as long as angry thoughts are happening to sustain it. Eventually, doing something unrelated breaks our thinking out of the revving-up cycle and the anger fades. This isn’t venting. It’s distraction, and doing crossword puzzles works about as well as beating fists on a punching bag—probably better.  Continue at Aaron Blumer

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Is Psychology the 67th Book of the Bible?

All truth is God’s truth, or so the saying goes. The problem with this seemingly axiomatic assertion is not simply its ambiguity, but the way it serves as a means to justify using extra-biblical sources (such as psychology) to deal with spiritual issues. This is especially common among integrationists in the field of Christian counseling. The view of integrationism is that only when Scripture and psychology are integrated—brought together into a unified whole—is one able to engage in a truly effective counseling ministry. This view is really an assault on the idea that Scripture alone is sufficient for spiritual growth.

Psychology as General Revelation

But how exactly does this relate to the idea that all truth is God’s truth? The integrationist argument goes something like this: Because God has made Himself known through two channels—special revelation (the propositional truth recorded in scripture) and general revelation (the non-propositional truth deposited by God in the created order of things)—man has a mandate from his Creator to investigate and discover truths through means such as psychological research, the findings of which should be accepted as having their origin in God. Scripture alone, then, is not sufficient, but rather, as John H. Coe asserts, “Only when all forms of revelation are taken together can we speak of the sufficiency of revelation.” Put simply, all truth is God’s truth and should be embraced as such whether it be found in Scripture (special revelation) or in psychological research (general revelation).

This argument has been articulated in various ways by different integrationists. Notice the language of divine revelation in the following examples:

• Larry Crabb: “All truth is certainly God’s truth. The doctrine of general revelation provides warrant for going beyond the propositional revelation of Scripture into the secular world of scientific study expecting to find true and useable concepts.”

• Bruce Narramore: “The evangelical church has a great opportunity to combine the special revelation of God’s Word with the general revelation studied by the psychological sciences and professions. The end result of this integration can be a broader (and deeper) view of human life.”  Continue at Matt Waymeyer