Veil removed
The authors of the PsychoHeresy series of books explain in detail what is wrong with psychology (and it’s derivatives) and the doctrine of people who use and support it. The PsychoHeresy books affirmed what I felt in my heart about A.A., personality type, Jungian interpretation of dreams, and even Dr. Dobson’s radio program. However, a single victorious life is a greater demonstration of God’s truth and glory than all the heaps, piles, and mountains of theological doctrine and apologetics.
I spent hundreds of dollars on personality type books (not to mention self-help books) and three thousand dollars to get certified for the myers-briggs (mbti) personality test. It’s all in the trash now. I have turned away from that deception for good—not because of the convincing argument of the PsychoHeresy doctrine, if that were true it would only take a stronger argument from the other side to sway me back again. No, it can only be summed up as miraculous. I GAVE UP SOMETHING WORTHLESS TO God and He opened my eyes. Whether I was a freed from an evil spirit or the scales dropped off my eyes, only God knows. And that’s my point: only God really knows, so why waste time trying to explain and heal man’s “psyche” WHEN ALL IT TAKES IS TRUSTING IN God’s infinite wisdom and praying for His miraculous healing?
I thought personality type helped my relationships but it actually kept my mind clouded and deceived. Now I can see why C.G. Jung (the psychiatrist that ‘discovered’ personality type) consulted with a spirit because the whole discipline of psychology is an evil spirit of deception that manifests itself in those who (like I did) turn to it for answers to life’s problems. When you go to a fortune teller you unwittingly invite evil spirits into your life, looking for answers in psychology is probably similar.
A few short days after God removed the barb of personality type from my eye, the relationships and sin around me (and in me) suddenly came into focus. There was surprise in my wife’s eyes, not in my leaving that all the psychology and personality type stuff behind, but because of the change in me, how much clearer I see our relationship, and especially deception from the enemy. The same for office politics and my relationships with my bosses. I also saw how we were getting too comfortable in our mini-church and right after I voiced my concern there was a sermon on being lukewarm. I got rid of Jungian psychology in my dream interpretation and God gave me even more wisdom of the meaning of my dreams—being led to and understanding symbols in my dreams suddenly became clearer.
Oh, I don’t really know what it’s all about. I’m making guesses at what God has done in me and trying to explain the change I feel and see has occurred in me and in my relationships. But that’s really it isn’t it? This is the same thing we try to do with psychology. We try to analyze, label, define, and explain something beyond our comprehension: God’s miraculous, incomprehensible creation and His omniscient healing of our souls. Trying to put labels on it like rejection, insecurity, and inferiority complex are futile attempts to understand God’s incredible creation and the trials He has placed in our lives. We can’t really understand it, and that’s God’s purpose, because if we could then we wouldn’t need to depend solely on Him.
The solution is a scary one: placing our lives in the care and trust of a God we can’t see. This leap of faith feels like jumping off a cliff and trusting God will catch us. But then we have the promises written in His Word to place our hope in, and we have the miracles he has done in us, through us, and around us to reassure ourselves. It’s more than letting go, it’s surrendering a losing battle of trying to make it happen on our own. It’s a weary, broken sigh; a humbled, broken sobbing; a crushing, breaking burden that finally brings us crumbling down to our knees with head heavy to once again, start again with Jesus as our life.
March 5th, 2009 at 5:42 am
The more we label and divide, the further removed we are from unity.
Truth=Light=Love=Purity.
Sometimes we ask for a rocky path to gain deeper understanding, strength and commitment. Be kind to yourself as I know you are to others.
March 9th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I read your blog the other day and I completely agree with the decisions God has put in your heart. It’s really interesting that I also felt a strong conviction about the MBTI when I was most into it. Not only that, but a year ago when I started taking graduate courses in counseling at UNM, I immediately felt that what I was learning was so contrary to the Word as far as helping people with their psychological issues that I dropped out and got a refund. After all, attempting to “cure” people through our futile scientific/humanistic means does nothing to remedy our real ills… The Bible even describes Him as the Wonderful Counselor. I’m considering taking the seminary route for obtaining a degree in Christian counseling… or something, I’m still praying for direction.
March 9th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Thanks for you affirmation of my blog entry. I needed it.
This lady did a bunch of interesting articles on psych and Christianity:
http://www.christiandiscernment.com/
This is apparently the kind of Christian counseling she does and what she believes in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nouthetic_Counseling
http://www.nouthetic.org/nouthetic-counseling/what-is-nouthetic-counseling.html
I haven’t researched it much but it may be the way a completely Biblical approach.
March 21st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Dear Brent –
What a fascinating “turn” I took just now, as I was looking for the book DO WHAT YOU ARE; then found your book (an answer — I was thinking — to my relentless questioning re: where in the world DO i belong, as of late; and, immediately after the discovery of your book, found your “retraction” or shift in consciousness in your blog. Wow.
I was just denied tenure at a teaching institution where I have done — I thought — exceptionally well — until four colleagues let professional jealousy get the best of them and found a way to sabotauge my tenure review. I vascillate daily about whether or not to put everything into fighting this — I have a lot of support to do so from other colleagues — including the 11 instructors and 11 instructional aides I manage, our support staff, our students, and half of my tenure committee — or just let go, knowing that everything is proceeding in perfect, Divine right order and that if I stop struggling, I’ll be led to what and where I most need.
Half of me sees me winning the tenure fight — the other half of me fears me winning the tenure fight and being “stuck” in the institution, having to continue to fight to raise the consciousness of my jealous colleagues and the administration that protects them -as its own already-tenured faculty.
Today’s a particularly low day.
Thanks for your blog and words of faith,
Siusaidh
March 21st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
Hi Siusaidh,
God is definitely the answer I have found to my search.
I pray He will guide you in your struggle.
Much Blessings,
Brent
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Hi Brent,
My take on this, for what it’s worth: Psychology can be a useful tool, but in the end, it is only a tool. It should be the means to an end, and not the end itself.
My interest in the MBTI comes primarily from a psychology/management (i.e, business) course in college. More than half of the course was spent learning about Myers-Briggs and the sixteen different personality preferences, how they could be distilled down to the four archetypes described by Keirsey (NF, NT, SP, SJ), and how to classify people as one of the four archetypes. The rest of the course had to do with how one could apply this knowledge to better interact with people, which is of particular interest in an organization when it comes to managing people. This is great stuff and can help a person to be a better manager, teacher, etc. But it must be remembered that psychology is about the human mind and not about the human spirit or soul.
If one believes in Adam and Eve and a divine purpose to life, then one must recognize that millions, if not billions, of people have lived and died without the benefit of modern psychology, and it is logical to conclude that Man just doesn’t need it. This is not to say that it is not beneficial, but Man can get by just fine, thank you, without Jung, Freud, or Myers and Briggs. (Or, for that matter, Einstein, Newton, Edison, etc.).
Many people believe that psychology holds “the answers.” My experience has been that most of these are atheists or agnostics. Although I don’t begrudge them that belief (hey, whatever floats your boat…), I have never subscribed to this notion, so I can only imagine what it must have been like for you to be caught up in it, only to realize that it was a monkey on your back.
May 23rd, 2009 at 10:25 pm
James, thanks for your comments.
I’m going through the Daily Bible this year and currently reading Proverbs.
Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
(Proverbs 30:5-6 NIV)
There is not the least ground to suspect anything wanting in the word of God; adding to his words opens the way to errors and corruptions (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary).
If nothing is wanting in the word of God, what need could psychology fill? I have found Proverbs to be helpful in understanding leadership in the workplace. As I read the Bible the Holy Spirit speaks to me in ways beyond the words on the page—it truly is the Living Word. Using personality type in the workplace was a deception that kept me from hearing His voice and submitting to His guidance through His Spirit.
Regarding Ecclesiastes, The Daily Bible says:
Solomon’s wisdom challenges the wisdom literature of other cultures in which truth is sought by empirical observation of life without reference to a creative God. The premise of Solomon’s wisdom is that only the Creator of the universe can know the true needs of his creatures and provide for their ultimate fulfillment.
“Empirical observation of life without reference to a creative God” is basically what psychology is.
Additionally, we cannot separate the mind from the soul and the spirit. The spirit is what empowers the soul, heart, and mind. Whatever you fill your spirit with (the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the world) will determine what you experience in your mind. The Holy Spirit renews our minds.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think (Romans 12:2).
May 29th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I get the sense that you’ve gone from one extreme (psychology crowding out religion) to the other (religion crowding out psychology).
I don’t see one as a substitute for the other. Psychology does not hold the answers to the great questions of life–Who am I? From where do I come? Why am I here? What happens to me after I die? Nor can religion (or the word of God, as you put it here) substitute for psychology or any other science. Which is not to say that they can’t overlap. You find passages of scripture to be helpful with interpersonal relations; another may find personality type to be helpful. Both can be effective. The use of the one does not preclude the use of the other.
There is room for both to co-exist. Counseling and therapy, in combination with prayer, have proven to be effective for some people. Others find results solely with prayer, and still others solely with psychology. But I believe it is a mistake to focus on one to the exclusion of the other.
The application of psychology is merely (or should be) a tool to help solve problems in life; it is the same with medicine, engineering, etc.
You’ve spent a lot of time and resources investing in psychology. Don’t be so quick to throw that away. Don’t let it rule your life, don’t let it get in the way of your relationship with God, certainly. But it can be a useful part of your life. It can be a great set of tools with which you can help others.
June 14th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Who knows from where intuitive knowledge comes, who knows the source, when knowledge of it would itself be intuited; when the very question, to be only answered intuitively, then need not be asked.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I’ve written another blog entry in response to this discussion:
http://www.wateroflife.me/?p=198
July 11th, 2010 at 7:53 am
[…] Turned to false Gods Asherah and Baal = false Gods in our country. (see detailed blog here) Made for themselves cast idols in the shape of calves = the bull stock market. (see detailed blog here) Bowed down to the starry host = evolution (see detailed blog here and here). Sacrificed their sons and daughters = abortion and the pill (see detailed blog here). Practiced divination, the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events = macroeconomics. (see detailed blog here) Practiced sorcery, the power gained from the assistance or control of evil spirits = psychology. (see psychology is the occult blog and another one here), […]