psychology + faith
- Bailey
- Feb 9, 2018
- 4 min read
Here’s to tough questions, a higher calling, and college credit.
In my [eager, young] mind, Psychology and Christianity have always had a mutual relationship because of my worldview. Through studying the varying methods and schools of psychology like Behaviorism, Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, Sociocultural, among others, I have been exposed to the empirical, god-less science behind the established study of psychology. However, because of my faith in God, the strictly empirical side of psychological science is only more prominent evidence of the divine design behind it all.
Man is limited to a certain realm of knowledge—which, admittedly is only growing as science and education advances. No matter how much man achieves, learns, or discovers, though, Creator God will always know more because He is infinite in wisdom, power, existence and time. There is no out-smarting God, and although mankind often tries to “play God”, true Almighty God will always flex His sovereignty and perfection—something that escapes the grasp of man every time.
21Haven’t you heard? Don’t you understand? Are you deaf to the words of God— the words he gave before the world began? Are you so ignorant? 22 God sits above the circle of the earth. The people below seem like grasshoppers to him! He spreads out the heavens like a curtain and makes his tent from them. 23 He judges the great people of the world and brings them all to nothing. 24 They hardly get started, barely taking root, when he blows on them and they wither. The wind carries them off like chaff.
25 “To whom will you compare me? Who is my equal?” asks the Holy One.
26 Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out like an army, one after another, calling each by its name. Because of his great power and incomparable strength, not a single one is missing. 27 O Jacob, how can you say the Lord does not see your troubles? O Israel, how can you say God ignores your rights? 28 Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
Isaiah 40:21-28, NLT
The world, especially now, is adamant about separating faith and psychological science. It is relatively easy to do, until phenomena can’t be explained outside of God, or horrific circumstances cannot be stopped, or history-long patterns of the world can’t be changed with empirical studies and theorizations.
Miracles happen that science can’t explain. No matter how intelligent man is or what new discoveries come about, the horror of war and poverty and slavery will continue because there is innate brokenness and sin within man that cannot be fixed by pills or surgery or behavior modification. Heart change must happen and no amount of psychoanalysis can reproduce that or discover it because the solution came two thousand years ago on a cross.
This is not to say that psychology is worthless without a relationship with Christian faith because there are plenty of testimonies to modern medicine that leads to healing and life-change, but it is to say there is infinitely more life-changing experiences when faith is involved. There is much to gain from the discipline of psychological science. Its motivations and practices are rooted in very similar foundations to the Christian faith: the intention to help others and offer healing and explanation. Truth can be found in both, but only one can truly set man free, and that is when the work of Jesus overpowers all the damage of sin in the life of man.
For those who do support a relationship between psychological science and Christian faith, there is a responsibility to uphold. Christians are ambassadors for Christ, meaning we must elevate Him in everything we do, so that He is evident in our interactions, our intentions, and our decisions. God has given us the knowledge to get this far in the first place—for it’s all His design and His plan, nothing escapes His sovereignty. Any thought that we have the means or power to truly heal someone, provide any amount of therapeutic assistance, or discover something new is entirely arrogant in the face of the One Who knitted us together in the depths of the earth—and more than that for His chosen few, those He chose before the foundation of the earth. So as Christians who integrate psychological science into our faith, or vice versa, we have a holy opportunity to bring the severely hurting, broken people of this severely hurting, broken world to the only One who can truly heal. The Christian faith has an obligation to psychological science that psychologists do not have to the Christian faith, and this is because Christ-followers, by the Holy Spirit, have access to a different realm of healing and power.
He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension! Psalm 147:3-5
From my own experience, I have found that the “secular” or “god-less” psychology cannot fully explain the motivations behind common diagnoses like anxiety, depression, obsessions or compulsions. Primarily in the textbooks I have read, psychological science relies on neurology and the excess or absence of neurotransmitters among other abnormalities to launch a search for medicine that decreases or increases those neurotransmitters in an effort to provide a permanent solution. Although medicine works wonders in some, there is often more required to produce lasting, positive solutions.
oh, that we might ever praise the One called Wonderful Counselor.
The mind is more than chemicals. In a relationship with Christian faith, psychology can offer permanent solutions—counseling rooted in biblical truth, healing that ascribes glory to God, research done prayerfully and in awe of the goodness of a Father that allows man to discover and experience His joy in perfect, holy design.
This view may be through rose-colored glasses to some, and wildly unsupported by any research, but it is evidence of the study of more than textbooks and the experience of more than this world has to offer.
