Student Response

Student: Brandon Bernnick

used to think most people in the church grew up attending as I had. I was there from a young age and church on Sunday was all I knew. It probably took a decade of attendance before I realized why I was going. I never enjoyed dressing up so the relaxed non-denominational dress code worked for me. I reason I continued coming was not because I was sold out for Christ. It was because I found friends there when I struggled to find any elsewhere. Some of those friends had parents on staff and that made things confusing for me. I witnessed some of these leaders speak crude and harsh words for entertainment. I later watched these same people sever deep-rooted relationships over a disagreement, claiming it was to advance the gospel when it was all to feed a hungry-ego. Impressionable as a young boy can be, I soaked it all up. When my trust was earned by those who claimed to know the truth, it was easy for me to listen. I realize now the more time spent learning something the longer it will take to unlearn. Also, I have no recollection of psychology or counseling being discussed. I believed if it was Christian it was better and neglected the benefit of outside sources. Erickson states, "Psychology offers alternative explanations of some things that claim to be spiritual working” (2015). All I remember hearing about human nature is man is broken and to be made whole we need Jesus. Emotions, sexuality, and race were not part of any discussion. I grew up around a lot of emotionally repressed white men and so I became one. Until I finished my undergraduate degree, I skipped through life reframing every negative and heavy emotion. It was through a taste of self-understanding that psychology and counseling sparked my interest. Similarly, my upbringing was predominantly white in both home-life and church until I became friends with a Peruvian-American who opened my eyes (and mouth) to a world unknown. I did not have words for it before, but intellectual humanity came into play as I quickly realized how little I knew about the world around me (Entwistle, 2015). This has become true for other backgrounds and cultures as well. There is much to learn from those who did not grow up like you. In conclusion, my upbringing excluded science and I did not believe I could find biblical truth outside of scripture.

Reference

Entwistle, David N. Integrative Approaches to Psychology and Christianity: An Introduction to Worldview Issues, Philosophical Foundations, and Models of Integration. 3rd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2015.

Erickson, Millard J., and L Arnold. Hustad. Introducing Christian Doctrine. Baker Publishing Group, 2015.