We have a wonderful Creator that have given us free will and choice. a The
readings of Eric Johnson (2010) gives us five views in which to view Psychology. a
In His infinite wisdom God has provided the free gift of Salvation to all, which it
what we just celebrated in Christendom. in the Resurrection. a Scripture says, "For
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16, KJV). a
Psychology seeks to answer the never-ending questions of the mind. a It can never
answer the questions of the soul, because that is deeper that any Psychologist
can bear witness to. a
I like when you brought up the subject of evolution, which is the antithesis for
God's creation of the earth and mankind. a Since childhood and learning about
evolution, I have always felt that man was not smart in that the theory of
evolution held no bearing, because it created more questions than answers. a In
my child-like thinking back then, the story of Creation seemed much more
plausible and easily acceptable to me . I am in agreement with you that the
common goal of the Pychological view and the Christian view is the search for
truth. I also think the two fit together and overlap although they have not
covenanted. a Years ago someone asked me how I could major in Psychology and
play with other individuals' minds. I explained to them I was not going into
Psychology to play with individuals' minds. I was going into Psychology to
educate individuals with strategies and interventions using Psychology and the
scriptures.
Although Psychology targets maladaptive cognitive and behavioral a aspects and
allows clients to optimize their mental health through narratives and different
strategies, it is similar to the Christian view. Psychology collects data and
analyzes empirical facts through sometimes present and sometimes archived
studies. Christians also seek to maximize the potential of the body, spirit and soul
(mind, emotions, and will) by past and present revelations from the bible, prayer
and personal testimonies.
The very foundataion of the Christian view, believes that God existed in the
beginning (MEV, 2014, Gen. 1). The Christian view is solidified by having faith to
hope that things will be brought into existence by speaking the word (MEV, 2014,
Psa. 33: 6). The point you made related to the premise of evolution in science,
and that man did not evolve from the monkey, but from microevolutions was very
fitting. There have been evolutions of decay over generations concerning culture,
morals, gender, socioeconomic status etc. According to the bible, we are to be in
health and prosper as our minds prosper (MEV, 2014, 3 Joh. 1: 2). Additionally,
the bible states we are not to follow the world view, but be a transformed by
renewing our minds (MEV, 2014, Rom. 12: 2). I also agree that through
compassion and uniting the Psychological view and the Christian view the greater
good will be maximized in families to minimize maladaptive behaviors and
thought processes for optimal unity of spirit, soul and body for individuals,
communities, and nations. I really liked how you compared and contrasted some
of the different aspects of science and The Holy Bible. In my opinion, you made
an excellent point when you compared Christians and psychologists saying that
both seek to help God's children and that, "Christians act as servants in a spiritual
capacity." Moreover, you really elucidated an important point which I think the
author is making. Wolters (2005) writes that he hopes that readers take seriously
his request to make the Holy Bible part of their current worldview, and not to
compartmentalize it as a piece of history which is no longer relevant. At any rate,
it seems to me that spirituality and science work together to help resolve people's
mental problems. As psychologists we must take seriously the fact that research
indicates that the more spiritual someone is, the more likely they are to have good
mental and physical health. Li et al., (2016) conducted a longitudinal study from
1992 to 2012 whose participants (N = 74,534) were nurses in the US. Li et al.,
investigated whether attendance at church was associated with the participants’
physical and/or mental health outcomes. The researchers discovered that regular
attendance at religious services significantly decreased a woman’s chance of
being diagnosed with any form of cancer, any cardiovascular disease, any
suicidality and/or any mental health disorder (Li et al., 2016).As God said to Noah,
"l will establish my covenant with you. Never again will all the creatures of the
world be cut off by the waters of a flood. This is the sign of the covenant I have
set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and
the earth" a (9 Gen. 9:13). This quote from the Old Testament intimates that God
wants the relationship between himself and humanity to last forever. Furthermore,
if I allow the notion of an eternal relationship between God and man to inform my
opinion it is logical to conclude that giving priority to what the Bible is saying will
enhance my spirituality, which, in turn, will improve the likelihood that I will be able
to help my clients to improve their mental health. a
References
Evangelical heritage version (EHV). SCA Northwestern Publishing House. (2019).
Retrieved May 15, 2022, from https://online.nph.net/ehv
Li, S., Stampfer, M. J., Williams, D. R., & VanderWeele, T. J. (2016). Association of
Religious Service attendance with mortality among women. JAMA Internal
Medicine, 176(6), 777. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.1615
Modern English Version, Parsley, R. ( 2014). Breakthrough Jubilee Bible. Military
Bible Association, Passio, Fl.
