21 Jun 07
There are many strains of psychotherapy and Christians. No doubt there is compatibility somewhere along the way.
Having said this, if you are a Christian you have meaning in your life and can focus on this meaning when times are hard. The answers are all in your book which was written and translated by other people.
If you are courageous enough to admit you don't know if god exists or not, when life gets difficult you are on your own, and life can start to seem meaningless. Psychotherapy, sex and drugs can all help at this point, but in the end the answers are all in your own head and only you can find them.
22 Jun 07
Originally posted by josephwThere seems to be a difference. Nouthetic counseling involves confronting the person http://www.nouthetic.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=80, for one thing. That's not the same as a person in need seeking help from a professional therapist or counselor.
It's called nouthetic counseling.
22 Jun 07
Originally posted by josephwSo, are you asserting, for example, that a Christian cannot benefit from systematic desensitization therapy for phobia?
The answer is no. But it's late and I'm going to bed. So you all will just have to wait for me to explain why later.
I promise it will be good!
Would it be premature of me to suggest that your sweeping claim is empirically shaky?
22 Jun 07
Originally posted by PawnokeyholeHe promised an explanation that would be "good." I look forward to seeing it.
So, are you asserting, for example, that a Christian cannot benefit from systematic desensitization therapy for phobia?
Would it be premature of me to suggest that your sweeping claim is empirically shaky?
22 Jun 07
Originally posted by josephwOnce could argue, I guess, that a person can't come out of psychotherapy healthy and religious at the same time.
The answer is no. But it's late and I'm going to bed. So you all will just have to wait for me to explain why later.
I promise it will be good!
Psychotherapy and medication should heal paranoid delusions and fantasies. If the person comes out of therapy and still believes in fairies, Gods or that he's Napoleon, then he obviously isn't healthy.
22 Jun 07
Originally posted by ivanhoeUnlike medicine proper, some schools of psycho-therapy do have views of the human person that are incompatible with Christianity.
Of course Christians can benefit from psycho-therapy, same as he or she can benefit from going to see a doctor.
Better to say that some (many?) psycho-therapy techniques can benefit Christians.
Originally posted by lucifershammerUnlike medicine proper?
Unlike medicine proper, some schools of psycho-therapy do have views of the human person that are incompatible with Christianity.
Will any board certified physician affirm in his professional opinion that a human person can imbibe a lot of communion wine without getting intoxicated because it has been converted from alcohol to blood?
Will any board certified physician affirm in his professional opinion that human beings have a lifespan of several hundred years?
Will any board certified physician affirm in his professional opinion that the blind and lame can be healed on command?
Will any board certified physician affirm in his professional opinion that a person crucified on a cross can be raised from the dead after several days in the grave?
Will any board certified physician affirm in his professional opinion that human conception sometimes occurs without a man's sperm?
Do you really think the body of accepted medical knowledge is consistent with all claims of Christianity?
27 Jun 07
Originally posted by josephwWell, maybe not that good.
The answer is no. But it's late and I'm going to bed. So you all will just have to wait for me to explain why later.
I promise it will be good!
Without throwing the baby out with the bath water, I am willing to concede that the study of human behavior,(psychology), isn't without merit, at least in terms of having an understanding of the prevailing secular view of what motivates us to act the way we do. But I do not believe there is any man made therapy that can provide the kind of help humans need to overcome the effects of whatever trauma that may befall them.
To the point. 'Psychotherapy', and any, and all other therapies developed by man is only effective in the treatment of the outer man, or the old man, for which there is no remedy. The christian, and not just anyone who says they're a christian, but the one who has trusted in what Christ has done at the cross on their behalf, and is subsequently indwelt with the Spirit of Christ, is a whole new kind of man, a 'new creature' in Christ. The 'inner man', which is, 'Christ in you', is were our focus should be.
As I 'recon' my old man as dead, and focus on the 'one new man', that is, 'Christ in me', I can then begin to see how the application of Gods' word to my life causes me to grow into what I am now designed to become.
Col.2:2,3 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
IN WHOM ARE HID ALL THE TREASURES OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE.
3:10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Eph.4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Etc. etc. etc.