The November 29, 1993, issue of Time featured a series of articles on the turmoil in modern psychology. The magazine’s cover featured a retouched photograph of Sigmund Freud—his head a hollow, incomplete, three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle—and the caption, “IS FREUD DEAD?”
One of the articles inside raised the question, “What if Freud was wrong?” Noting that the twentieth century had already seen the sudden collapse of Marxism, the article suggested that we might be about to witness a similarly dramatic toppling of “the complex Freudian monument.”1
Evangelicals not so long ago would have roundly cheered such news. But, alas, we live in strange times. Ironically, while the secular world has grown increasingly disaffected with the professional psychotherapy industry, the evangelical world has been frantically trying to marry secular psychology and biblical truth. While the world becomes more and more suspicious of psychology, Christians seem to be growing more and more committed to it. Perhaps it is fair to say that many in the church are addicted to psychotherapy.
The rush to embrace psychology within the church is frankly mystifying. Psychology and Christianity have been enemies from the beginning. Freud’s presuppositions were atheistic and cynical. He called religion a “universal, obsessional neurosis.”2 To him, religion was an illusion that derived its strength from irrational, wishful thinking rooted in human instinct.3 Those who followed Freud at first were uniformly hostile to biblical belief. The foundational doctrines of the movement were therefore based on blatantly anti-Christian presuppositions. To Freud and his followers the human being was nothing but an animal motivated by the sex drive and other ego needs.
The church was naturally wary of these ideas, and justifiably so. Freudianism was one of several atheistic hypotheses, along with Darwinism and Marxism, that were gaining popularity at the dawn of the twentieth century. The church’s greatest battlefield at that time, however, was against another insidious enemy: theological liberalism, a pseudo-Christianity that denied the authority of Scripture and questioned the supernatural. This was yet another doctrine that was contributing to the rapid secularization of society.
Among professing Christians, only theological liberals found allies among the atheistic psychologists. Carl Jung wrote much about religion. In his system, however, the human unconscious was divine. William James, father of modern pragmatism, also blended behavioral theory and religion into a humanistic creed that made lavish use of theological terminology. But these men were by no means Christians. They utterly rejected supernaturalism, repudiated the authority of Scripture, and discarded most of the central tenets of historic Christian belief.
Psychology was thus ideally suited for an increasingly secular age. By the middle of this century, the new discipline was accepted by the popular mind as a full-fledged science, even though the movement was already beginning to fragment into dozens of competing schools and philosophies, and even though its hypotheses could not be tested or its results verified through any of the traditional means of true science. None of that could slow psychology’s acceptance in an age that had grown hostile to the notion of absolute truth.
Within a few short decades, the psychotherapy industry and evangelicals settled into a more or less guarded coexistence. Christians seemed intimidated by the world’s overwhelming acceptance of psychotherapy as a true science. The psychotherapists believed they were privy to a higher knowledge and more effective therapies than traditional spiritual counsel could ever offer. They stated in no uncertain terms that spiritual counselors and the clergy should stay off their turf.
One textbook on pastoral psychology written in the 1950s summed up the professional therapists’ attitude to pastoral counsel:
It is [the pastor’s] duty not to try to enact the role of the psychiatrist, but as quickly as possible, he must refer the sick person to the professional man. Oftentimes he must secure the judgment of the psychiatrist regarding the symptoms which a petitioner displays. Moreover, the clergyman, in such instances, must place himself under the direction of the psychiatrist, in the event that the latter believes his assistance as a religionist is helpful. Psychotherapy and religio-therapy demand consistent, patient treatment, over long periods of time, and the clergyman rarely finds the hours to furnish this. Therefore he must have a specialist as a member of the staff of his church or synagogue, to whom he can refer cases. Or if such a professional is not a member of the institution’s staff, he may be a friend and advisor of the clergyman when required. All this entails the expenditure of time and money, and it must not be forgotten that while the clergyman is willing to give his time freely, the professional psychiatrist must make his hours count in monetary terms. Too often distressed persons come to the clergyman when they have been unsuccessful in their consultations with the psychiatrist, but it is an astute pastor who immediately turns them back to their psychiatrist.
Frequently the clergyman and the psychiatrist can work hand in hand, especially in the case of parishioners who, at one time, will accept guidance from the clergyman, and, at another moment, from the psychiatrist. Husbands and wives have been brought together as a consequence of this technique. Sometimes the psychiatrist will recommend to the clergyman that he accept a convalescent youth as a member of the religious institution’s young people’s organization, in the hope that social opportunities will accelerate the cure. Sometimes the psychiatrist will appreciate the value of attendance at divine worship, the reading of religious literature, and the performance of traditional rites and ceremonies. In every such instance, the psychiatrist must be the mentor and the director of the treatment.4
Too many pastors capitulated to such thinking, and over the past forty years or so, counseling has steadily moved out of the church and into the clinics. Now “Christian” psychology is a billion-dollar business. Yet has the spiritual and emotional state of believers been improved by this trend? Surely no one would argue seriously that it has.
One of the promising trends in the evangelical world today is the emergence of a renewed emphasis on counseling that is biblical; not mere psychology colored with biblical words and phrases but an earnest effort to help people solve their problems by turning them to the objective, life-changing truth of Scripture.
Scripture does, after all, claim to be the only reliable resource to which we can turn to solve our spiritual problems:
• How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word (Ps. 119:9).
• Thy testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors (Ps. 119:24).
• Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Thy precepts (Ps. 119:98–100).
• All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
Dozens of similar passages could be quoted to demonstrate the utter superiority and absolute sufficiency Scripture claims for itself. Either we believe what God’s Word teaches in this regard, or we open ourselves to all kinds of corrupt influences from worldly thinking. The choice is as simple as that.
I am encouraged to see a large movement of Christians returning to Scripture as the sole source of wisdom and correction for the human soul. I am grateful to God for the men and women He is using to awaken the church to this need.
Wayne Mack is one of those who have been at the forefront of this issue for many years. Under his wise leadership, The Master’s College is building a biblical counseling program that is unequalled anywhere. While carrying out that task, Dr. Mack has also found time to compile and edit this book. It is the realization of a longtime desire of mine to have a comprehensive textbook on the issues that Christian counselors struggle with, a guidebook for those who want to offer truly biblical counsel, not just warmed-over concepts from the scrap heap of secular psychology. I believe this book will effectively equip and embolden Christian counselors who have been intimidated or confused by the claims of modern psychology. It will also instruct and assist those who are already committed to biblical counseling, so that they can be more effective.
Whether you are a seasoned biblical counselor or someone just starting out, I know you will find much to help and encourage you in this volume. My prayer is that it will be a major catalyst in moving the Church away from the toxic, false counsel of worldly wisdom and back to the pure milk of the Word.
John MacArthur