LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Is Psychology Needed in the Church?
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
Integrating Psychology into Christian Counseling
Fully persuaded that psychological training is necessary to counsel effectively, most
pastors today refer their parishioners to psychologists and psychiatrists for treatment of serious
emotional and behavioral disorders. Christian publishing houses pour out an endless stream of
books written by psychologists to help believers solve their problems of living. These experts
appear on Christian radio and television and produce film series to communicate their belief
that pastors and churches can help parishioners with minor problems, but serious disorders
must be entrusted to “professional counselors.”
Denver Seminary, Talbot Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Liberty University,
Moody Bible Institute, Fuller Theological Seminary, and a host of other Christian schools are
convinced that psychology and the Bible must be integrated in counseling if the church is to
remain relevant to our contemporary culture. Dallas Seminary employs one of the nation’s
best-known Christian psychiatrists on its teaching faculty. Colorado Christian University offers a
counseling degree built on the theories of a prominent Christian psychologist.
The president of one Bible college believes that “there are many helpful insights to be
gleaned from this field [of secular counseling].”1 He states the common integrationist position:
We live in a season when life is increasingly complex and the fragility of precious souls is
demonstrated by growing brokenness and complicated conflicts. We dare not waste their
sorrows on the battlefield of careless counsel that violates biblical parameters or with
simplistic, unqualified solutions that plunge them ultimately into deeper despair.2
As much as I respect this man of God and believe that he is fully committed to the Lord
and to the Scriptures, I am convinced that he has not adequately researched the issue. In trying
to strike a balance between psychology and biblical counseling, he insists that secular
counseling has much to offer the church and he implies that biblical counseling produces
“simplistic, unqualified solutions.”3 It appears that he is in agreement with the prevailing view
that is sweeping the evangelical church—that without the insights of secular psychology,
pastors and churches are simply inadequate to deal with the deepest hurts of modern man.
Is Psychology Needed Today?
How did the apostle Paul counsel people in his day? Paul himself answers that in
Colossians 1:28: “We proclaim him, admonishing [noutheteo] and teaching everyone with all
wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.” He then warns us in Colossians
2:8, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which
depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Am I misreading Paul? Is he in error to suggest that we can find all wisdom in Christ? Do
we in fact need the insights of psychology to provide for the deepest needs of Christians? Is
modern life truly more complex than it was in the days of Paul? Those who believe we
desperately need the insights of psychology seem to think so.
A professor of counseling psychology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is committed to
the concept of integrating secular psychology with biblical counseling. He argues that
psychological truths fall under the category of general revelation and that new insights can be
accepted if they are true and do not contradict the Bible. He offers this example:
I think all Christians would agree that when you bury negative feelings, you bury them
alive, and that can cause ulcers, even heart attacks. This process is undeniably true, but you
can’t find it specifically in the Bible. If it’s true, then we embrace it and use it; if it isn’t true,
then we don’t.4
One could argue with the professor whether “this process is undeniably true” and what it
means to “bury negative feelings.” But a greater problem is how one determines whether a
psychological discovery is true. He implies that the Bible is as silent about the human condition
as it is about modern technologies:
It isn’t a textbook on how to tune up our automobiles, or on physics, chemistry, or
psychology. It does contain statements that relate to geology, anthropology, and psychology
that must be integrated into those disciplines, but the Bible’s primary purpose is to tell us how
to be right with God, not what to do when someone has a nervous breakdown.5
Are we to assume that there is no connection between one’s standing with God and a
nervous breakdown? Is the Bible really silent on the issues of psychological health? Are
mental/emotional problems the same as tuning one’s car or mixing chemicals? Integrationists
see a categorical difference between psychological and spiritual problems and how to solve
those problems. They say that the medical doctor should treat the body, the psychologist or
psychiatrist should treat the mind, and the pastor should deal with the spirit.
Those who insist that we must use psychology along with biblical counseling argue that
“even though the Bible is all true, it does not follow that all truth is in the Bible.”6 They give
examples: “In mathematics, medicine, physics, geography, marine biology and a host of other
areas, there is much truth that is not mentioned in the Bible. God in his wisdom has allowed
human beings to discover truths about the universe that are not discussed in Scripture.”7
While it is true that the Bible does not list mathematical formulae, modern medical
procedure, every physical law, every geographic location, or every species of marine life, one
must remember that none of those areas deal with essential spiritual truths.
In reply, integrationists say:
Some critics of psychology seem to argue…that God has not allowed human beings to
discover any truths about interpersonal relations, mental health, counseling techniques, mental
disorders, personal decision making or any other issues related to stress management and daily
living. Such a view maintains that God has allowed human beings to discover truth in almost
every field of human study except psychology.8
The problem is that many integrationists seem unable to discern the significant difference
between the physical sciences and the so-called “social sciences.” We will deal with that subject
at length later on.
The question remains: Is psychology necessary today? Integrationists seem to think so
because “some human problems are not mentioned in the Scriptures.”9 They believe that “the
Bible was not written as a self-help, question-and-answer book covering every possible human
problem. It does not claim to be a textbook of counseling techniques or personal problem
solving.”10
No, the Bible claims to be far more—the very Word of God that “is useful for teaching,
rebukin g, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
Of course, the Bible does not tell a student which specific college to choose, nor does it
name the precise person a Christian is to marry. God does not remove from the individual the
privilege and responsibility to use his mind, experience, and common sense, as well as the
advice of godly counselors, to make important decisions. But those kinds of decisions involve
specific applications of biblical truths, not universal principles. Contrary to integrationist
reasoning, the Bible does present the principles which, if followed, will provide the answers for
every human problem.
The Bible provides the principles necessary to deal with eating disorders, nonbiogenic
depressions, scholastic failure, child abuse, bitter memories, anxiety, and a host of other
modern problems. Thus integrationists are grossly mistaken when they say that “many, perhaps
most, of the problems people bring to modern counselors are never discussed in the Bible.”11
Though they admit that “often principles of behavior can be inferred from the Bible and
applied to modern problems,”12 integrationists believe that psychological training is necessary
to help Christians with deep problems:
Surely there are times, many times, when a sensitive, psychologically trained, committed
Christian counselor can help people through psychological techniques and with psychological
insights that God has allowed us to discover, but that he has not chosen to reveal in the Bible.…
The Word of God never claims to have all the answers to all of life’s problems.13
Twentieth-Century Complexities
Why do integrationists insist that the problems we face today are so different from those
which humans have suffered in centuries past? Depression is not a recent discovery of
psychology. People have had to cope with disease, disappointments, frustrations, unhappy
marriages, confusion, lethargy, and bizarre behavior since the fall of man into sin.
Psychological studies have not shown that mankind is mentally healthier since the
introduction of psychological theories and therapies. To the contrary, there is evidence that
society has become more psychotic rather than better-adjusted. The increase of “mental
illness” may someday be found to be in direct proportion to the number of psychologists and
psychiatrists who set up practice.
Has psychology really added to our essential knowledge about human behavior, needs,
and solutions? Is the Bible lacking the information needed to understand why man acts as he
does and how he can be changed? If so, we must pity all the saints of God who struggled with
problems of living from the times of Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus, and
Paul. How fortunate we are to not be living in the days of the early church, when the only
therapeutic resources were the writings of the prophets and apostles, along with the ministry
of fellow saints and the Holy Spirit. How miserable believers must have been from the first
century until the latter part of the nineteenth century, when psychology was finally
“discovered.”
I do not dispute the fact that biblical counselors can glean from psychology some helpful
ideas, observations, illustrations, and generic methods with which to communicate God’s
solutions for man’s problems. But these are not the same as accepting psychological “findings”
as essential truths about man’s nature, problems, needs, and solutions.
Integrationists often refer to the “psychological truths about human behavior” not
mentioned in the Scriptures. However, we will see in the chapters ahead that the Bible
addresses every “dysfunction” and presents the essential truths required to bring humans to
full maturity.
Secular Criticisms of Psychology
Generally speaking, Christians have great confidence in psychology. With so many
respected Christian leaders expressing the view that the church needs the insights of secular
counseling systems, it is no wonder that Christian laity hold psychology in such high esteem.
Most Christians, however, are unaware that while the church’s confidence in psychological
counseling is growing, secular critics of psychology are increasing in number, and research is
raising additional doubts about psychological claims, therapies, scientific status, and success
rates.
Gary Collins begins his first chapter of Can You Trust Psychology? with this statement:
Bernie Zilbergeld doesn’t trust psychology. Despite his Ph.D. from Berkeley, his twelve
years’ experience as a practicing therapist, and his acclaim as a psychological researcher and
author, Dr. Zilbergeld has written a whole book to criticize his own profession. Many
psychological conclusions are really myths, he writes. Professional therapy is “overpromoted,
overused, and overvalued.” These criticisms could be dismissed had they come from a journalist
or theologian writing as an outsider. But they come instead from a member of the psychological
guild who has gone through all the prescribed training in clinical psychology, has been in
therapy himself, has taken the time to interview 140 former patients, and has met for lengthy
discussions with a cross-range of fourteen professional colleagues.14
What About Bible-Based Psychology?
One might justify trusting a psychologist if his theory and practice were based on biblical
principles rather than theories of human behavior originated by men. And to the casual
observer, there seem to be many Christian psychologists who meet that test. But as one
prominent Christian therapist confesses:
When I received my Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I assumed that I knew how to counsel
people with problems.…As I restudied what I had learned in graduate school, it became clearly
and frighteningly apparent that most of what I was believing and doing as a professional
psychologist was built upon the swaying foundation of humanism, a fervent belief in the self-
sufficiency of man. As a Christian committed to a biblical view of man, I could not make the
psychological thinking in which I had been trained dovetail with basic biblical beliefs.…The
truths of Christianity seemed to have little bearing on the activities in my counseling office and
were at many points flatly contradicted by my professionally orthodox behavior.15
I applaud him for further stating that “every concept of biblical counseling must build
upon the fundamental premise that there really is an infinite and personal God who has
revealed Himself propositionally in the written word, the Bible, and in the living word, Jesus
Christ.”16
Why then do I believe that a Christian should seriously question the counseling systems of
such men? I do not question their sincerity or personal integrity. I do, however, disagree with
many of their counseling theories, which, I believe, are still deeply influenced by unproven
psychological precepts of man. By their own admission, they are intent upon integrating
psychology and Christianity in order to form a better counseling system. One Christian
psychologist calls this approach “spoiling the Egyptians.”17 He compares this adaptation of
secular concepts to the Israelites’ taking of Egyptian goods as they made their exodus.
The problem with this comparison is that the Israelites were taking gold, silver, and other
material objects, while integration is appropriati ng concepts, philosophies, and worldviews
that are hostile to God’s plan for man. It is more akin to the adoption of Canaanite practices
than spoiling the Egyptians. I appreciate this psychologist for admitting:
The job of careful screening is no easy matter. In spite of the best intentions to remain
biblical, it is frighteningly easy to admit concepts into our thinking which compromise biblical
content. Because psychologists have spent up to nine years studying psychology in school and
are pressed to spend much of their reading time in their field in order to stay current, it is
inevitable that we develop a certain “mind-set.” The all-too-common but disastrous result is
that we tend to look at Scripture through the eyeglasses of psychology when the critical need is
to look at psychology through the glasses of Scripture.18
Psychological Thinking
It is inevitable that psychologists will think psychologically, he says. Christians might well
suspect that Christian psychologists have admitted concepts into their thinking which
compromise biblical content. Anyone familiar with psychological theories should recognize that
secular concepts underlie much of their systems, especially in the area of unconscious drives
and the need to return to the past to achieve healing in the present.
William Glasser writes that “conventional psychiatry holds that an essential part of
treatment is probing into the patient’s past life—searching for the psychological roots of his
problem.”19 Psychiatry holds that a patient must understand his unconscious drives if he is
going to change his way of thinking and acting.
This emphasis on the unconscious is an essential premise of psychological counseling. The
prevailing psychological doctrine is that “to really understand your daughter’s anorexia or your
own lack of self-confidence, you must go outside the Church, or at least to a pastor with
psychological training.”20
I readily admit that some of what integrationists write is helpful and biblically solid. The
danger is found in the integrationist foundation, which rests upon the psychological concepts of
man rather than on the scriptural precepts of God. Prevailing psychological theory says that if
you want to be changed from the inside out, you must “explore the imperfections of key
relationships until you experience deep disappointment.”21 Counselors who follow this doctrine
believe that “keenly felt disappointment in the present supplies the energy for passionate hope
for the future.”22
Most Christians will agree that for genuine change to occur, the Holy Spirit must act on a
person’s heart as He makes him a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). But many integrationists
believe that all human relationships lead inevitably to disappointment and pain, and that most
problems stem from “hidden internal causes.” Sin itself is defined in terms of disappointment:
“Most habits that we seem powerless to control grow out of our attempts to relieve the
unbearable tension that results from our failure to deal with the disappointment of our deepest
longings for relationship,”23 a Christian psychologist writes.
Integrationists theorize that the most devastating sin is the “sin of self-protection,”24 and
that we need to embrace our hurts.25 “The more deeply we enter our disappointment, the
more thoroughly we can face our sin,”26 one psychologist states authoritatively as though it is a
biblical truth.
But one should ask, Why must we embrace our hurts and enter our disappointment all
over again? Where in the Bible do integrationists find this concept of reliving the painful past in
order to be healed in the present?
My purpose here is not to critique integrationist counseling systems point by point. It is
important, however, to understand that as committed to Christ as many integrationists are,
their theories of counseling appear to be strongly influenced by unproven psychological
concepts.
Notes
1 Joseph M. Stowell, “A Multitude of Counselors,” in Moody, May 1991, p. 4.
2 Ibid.
3 Ibid.
4 Lynn Garrett, “Is Christian Psychology Possible?” in Wellspring, Fall 1991, p. 7.
5 Ibid.
6 Gary R. Collins, Can You Trust Psychology? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), p. 94.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., p. 95.
10 Ibid.
11 Ibid., p. 96.
12 Ibid.
13 Ibid., pp. 96–97.
14 Ibid., p. 17.
15 Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., Basic Principles of Biblical Counseling (Grand Rapids: Zondervan
Publishing House, 1975), pp. 11–12.
16 Ibid., p. 17.
17 Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., Effective Biblical Counseling (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing
House, 1977), p. 47.
18 Ibid., p. 48.
19 William Glasser, Reality Therapy (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1965), pp. 42–43.
