LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Is Modern Life More Complex?
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
10/2022
Is Modern Life More Complex?
A second question is whether psychology “might be an academic and practical discipline
enabling us more adequately to help people who live in a society permeated with change and
complexity unknown in the days of Jesus and Paul.”28 To help people more adequately than
what? The Scriptures? Jesus? Paul? Though integrationists clearly state that “psychological
conclusions, psychotherapeutic practices, counseling principles, psychiatric theories—all these,
like every other area of study, must be examined carefully under the probing light of
Scripture,”29 they also believe that modern life is simply too complex to be handled by the
principles of Scripture alone.
In his defense of integration, one Christian writer compares psychology with other
“modern methods” such as homiletics, education, and medicine.30 Yet the two greatest
preachers who ever lived, Jesus and Paul, had nothing to learn from modern homiletical
techniques; modern education can hardly boast of its successes over the older systems; and
medicine deals with physical conditions rather than the spiritual matters invaded by
psychologists.
The writer cites “stress management” and “coping methods” as examples of psychological
techniques unknown to man before the development of psychology. The Bible, however, dealt
with those issues centuries before Wilhelm Wundt, William James, or Sigmund Freud came on
the scene. The Scriptures offer many solutions for stress in passages such as Matthew 6:25–33,
Philippians 4:4–9, and 1 Peter 5:7. Rather than telling us to learn how to cope, the Bible tells us
to walk by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) because we have a trustworthy God (Psalm 118:8; Proverbs
3:5; Isaiah 26:4) who loves us (Psalm 32:10) and will give us inner peace (Isaiah 26:3). We are
told that if we are in darkness we should “trust in the name of the Lord” (Isaiah 50:10), but we
are not told to seek psychological insights.
I take issue with a representative integrationist summary: “I doubt that Jesus or Paul would
be likely to throw away psychology—as some contemporary Christians might hope. As a formal
discipline, psychology was not available in Bible times; but it is available now and can be used
by believers, with thanksgiving.”31
On the contrary, psychotherapy was available in Bible times. As Thomas Szasz writes:
In the history of the cure of souls, no less than in the history of civilization itself, Jesus
Christ occupies a unique place. Indeed, in the Continental Reformation, He is represented first
and foremost as a physician of the soul.…Jesus’ role as psychotherapist is important on several
counts, not the least among them being His disagreements with the established practices of the
then officially recognized physicians of the soul, that is, the rabbis.…Jesus not only departed
from established practices of soul-healing, He also castigated and condemned the counseling
establishment itself in the strongest terms.…
Jesus’ role as reformer could not be clearer. Similarly, He might now warn people to
beware of psychiatrists who like to go about in the white coat of doctors, and to receive
government grants and the best seats in the theater.32
A Substitute for the Holy Spirit
One of the dangers of the integrationist approach is that it substitutes psychological
techniques for the work of the Holy Spirit. Collins reports that—a respected Christian
psychologist…argued that the fruit of the Spirit…could all be produced by psychological
techniques alone. There was no need to wait for the Holy Spirit to develop these.…They could
all be duplicated by any competent psychologist…in his opinion, spiritual maturity and
psychological health are really the same thing. They can be produced either psychologically or
spiritually.33
That Christian psychologist speaks for many of the Christian psychological establishment
who believe that there is little actual difference between the theories, goals, and results of
psychotherapy and the gospel of Christ. According to them, both systems seek happiness,
fulfillment, relief from suffering, self-esteem, meaning, and purpose for their followers. Note
that the “respected Christian psychologist” did not even require that the therapist be a
Christian—only competent.
Many Christian writers accept the idea that Christian maturity is somehow dependent upon
psychological methods. A psychiatrist writes in The Christian’s Handbook of Psychiatry, “We
assume that because we are now possessed by the Holy Spirit somehow this magically protects
us from psychological or emotional problems. In fact, however, this is no more the case than
that being a Christian protects us from getting mumps or measles.”34
Yet just a few pages further the author says, “[The true Christian’s] belief in the divine
inspiration of Scripture helps him to become ‘perfectly fit and thoroughly equipped for every
good enterprise’ (2 Timothy 3:17 Williams).… Christian moral character and mental health are
manifested by these graces and are made possible in the believer because of his vital union
with Christ.”35
Which is the author’s real position? Does the Christian have no more protection from
mental and emotional woes than from catching the mumps? Or is mental health made possible
by a vital union with Christ? His confusion stems from trying to mix two opposing systems.
Other Christian psychologists make the same dangerous error. Crabb believes that one cannot
become mentally and spiritually mature until he digs back into the past, exposes his
unconscious drives, and embraces his hurts.36 Schuller teaches that the Christian cannot
experience mental health or Christian maturity until he learns to love himself.37 Allender insists
on the need to reclaim submerged memories.38 Minirth says that one must deal with his
defense mechanisms on the subconscious level.39 Narramore believes that it is a medical
responsibility to determine if someone is mentally ill40 and that “counseling with the
emotionally and mentally ill is of special psychological and psychiatric concern.”41
Carter writes in an essay about Christian therapy entitled “Maturity” that “many non-
Christians show varying degrees of behavior and attitudes similar to the fruit of the Spirit,” and
that “an individual may develop his humanity (the God-given divine image) by utilizing the
principles of psychology and mental health, with or without the aid of a therapist, to become a
more mature, healthy, self-actualized person.”42
Notes
1 William T. Kirwan, Biblical Concepts for Christian Counseling (Grand Rapids: Baker Book
House, 1984), p. 24.
2 Gary R. Collins, Can You Trust Psychology? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988),
p. 65.
3 The Columbia Encyclopedia, 3d ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1963), s.v.
“Psychoanalysis.”
4 Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Psychotherapy (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987),
pp. 195–96.
5 Lee Coleman, The Reign of Error (Boston: Beacon Books, 1984), p. 130.
6 Bernie Zilbergeld, The Shrinking of America (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983), p.
146.
7 Ibid., p. 149.
8 Coleman, Reign of Error, p. 148.
9 Harold M. Silverman, The Pill Book, Guide to Safe Drug Use (New York: Bantam Books,
1989), p. 3.
10 James W. Long, The Essential Guide to Prescription Drugs (New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 3d Edition, 1982), p. 345.
11 Ibid., p. 346.
12 Ibid., p. 348.
13 Ibid., p. 209.
14 Collins, Can You Trust?, pp. 37–38.
15 Ibid., p. 38.
16 Ibid., pp. 38–39.
