Jennifer visited her psychotherapist complaining of depression. He quickly and expertly analyzed her problem as suppressed anger and encouraged her to give vent to her feelings. She learned to scream and to curse so that she could eventually feel better.
Brenda was instructed by her Christian psychologist to beat a pillow as she visualized her parents so she could rid herself of inner hostilities. This, she was told, would help her to feel better.
Mary is part of a group that focuses on childhood sexual abuse. She wasn't even aware she had been abused until she underwent therapy for low self-esteem. Her support group told her that she needed to open up and feel her pain. When she questioned the memories she had "recovered" in therapy, the other group members told her she was in denial and that she needed to "let it all out" so that she would feel better.
As the tragic old song goes, "Feelings ... nothing more than feelings ...." For some, life is nothing more than feelings. For these individuals, objective facts are of less concern than subjective sensations or emotions. As one incompetent therapist said regarding his client's questionable memories of abuse, "I don't care whether her memories are true or not. All I care about is how she feels. I'm not a detective. All that matters is whether it is true to her."
Dr. Tana Dineen, a licensed psychologist and former head of a psychiatric care unit, disagrees. She writes, "Absorbed in their own world of feelings, and believing that they both should have and do have the right to feel better, psychologically-prone persons accept psychological explanations of their emotions and adopt psychological suggestions of how to free themselves from these feelings."'
Psychology feeds the erroneous concept that feeling is all that matters, then proceeds to make a person feel worse while promising to eventually make him feel better. And even when it occasionally succeeds in making a person feel better, psychotherapy is rarely able to help a person to be a better person.
Realizing that ultimately, therapy doesn't actually make a person better, Dr. Dineen has left her profession. She now believes psychotherapy creates victims who become patients, resulting in more profits for the clinics. She wisely suggests, "Would it not be better to let them turn to God or to each other? But grieving and mourning are no longer within the domain of either family or religion. They have been bought up by the Psychology Industry."'
THE PROCESS OF THOUGHT
What we are determines how we think. How we think determines how we act. How we act determines how we feel, and because the primary focus of modern living is on how we feel,we would do well to consider the process and consequences of our thought lives.
The process of human thought has fascinated priests, philosophers, and scientists since the beginning of time. Priests have sought to guide human thinking in order to lead people to an awareness and worship of God. Philosophers have tried to analyze the implications of the thinking process as they attempt to make sense of our existence. Some scientists have reduced the definition of all thinking to organized electrochemical impulses within the nervous system-a biomechanical process explained by evolutionary theory.
John B. Watson, for example, "rejected the concept of ‘mind,' believing it was useless to speculate on the question of whether such a thing existed."As the founder of behaviorism, Watson adopted a mechanistic view of human behavior-a view that assumes "we are at the mercy of stresses and strains imposed by the environment and by processes built innately into our nervous system and other biological structures."
Watson's concept was based not upon genuine science, but upon his atheistic philosophy which assumed that the mind and the brain are synonymous, that thought is simply a description of electrochemical brain activity, and that free will is merely behavior under the control of the brain. According to this view, the soul or spirit of man is nonsense.
Others, however, have acknowledged that there is more to human consciousness than electrical and chemical activity. "Seymour Kety, a leading investigator of the biological foundations of behavior ... maintains that biology is not able with its tools alone to unravel the mysteries of human personality and experience."
Another prominent brain scientist, John Eccles, says that understanding the brain as a physical entity "doesn't explain me, or human choice, delight, courage, or compassion. I think we must go beyond .... There is something apart from all the electricity and chemistry we can measure. "
What is that "something" which stands apart from the physical reality of the brain? When God is removed from the equation, there is no satisfying explanation for human consciousness, emotions, will, or thought. Personal experiences, observations, sensations, reasonings, and subjective feelings force most people to acknowledge that there is a nonmaterial component to human existence which cannot be examined or explained by scientific method. There is something spiritual.
Still, mankind is uncomfortable with the concept of God because acknowledging His existence requires accountability for thoughts, words, and actions coupled with the uncomfortable fear of future judgment. Not willing to accept the reality of a righteous God, man looks for an alternative explanation of human thought and behavior.
THE NEW EXPERTS ON THE INNER MAN
As a direct consequence of rejecting God, a new hybrid of expert on human thought has arisen. Psychologists and psychiatrists have assumed the mantles of all three of their historical predecessors-priests, philosophers, and scientists-and have established themselves as the experts on the inner man (mind/ heart/soul/spirit/emotions).
Claiming near-divine ability to understand, interpret, and heal the spiritual part of man, these new high-priest social scientists have led the way toward functional atheism. They skillfully shuffle the theological, philosophical, and scientific cards into one new deck, making up the rules of their mind-game as they move through the corridors of power.
It is little wonder, then, that psychology is the most popular major in many colleges, universities, Bible institutes, and seminaries. There is an intoxicating sense of power in believing we are able to explain why our relatives and neighbors act the way they do. We comfort ourselves, thinking that we will finally understand and cure our own dysfunctions by studying the theories of Freud, Jung, Skinner, and Rogers, and yet the final resolution always seems just beyond our grasp. We find that the heart of man is secretive and illusive and cannot be measured nor analyzed by scientific methods.
In contrast to psychology's popular but mistaken image of omniscience, the Bible tells us that the human heart is unavailable for empirical study. Jeremiah writes, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9, KJV). The answer, of course, is found in the following verse: "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve" (Jeremiah 17:10). Only God is able to understand the inner man.
It is ironic, then, that many Christians have accepted the idea that psychology is better able to deal with the soul of man than the truths of Scripture alone and have come to believe that to find true healing for our inner wounds we must integrate psychological "findings" with biblical principles.
I recently sat in the office of the president of a well-known conservative seminary. He was upset with me for having reported on our national radio broadcast, "Return to the Word," that the seminary was moving away from biblical orthodoxy as psychology progressively displaced the role of biblical theology in its curricula. Our conversation went something like this:
"You're saying that we're becoming liberal," the seminary president said in a hurt tone of voice. "I assure you, that is not the case!"
"Well, then," I replied, "let me ask you a question. Do you believe that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God?"
Without hesitation he firmly replied, "Absolutely."
"Let me ask another question," I continued. "Do you believe that the Bible is sufficient to meet every inner need of man?"
He hesitated for a moment, then with a tinge of embarrassment replied, "We believe that it is thoroughly sufficient for salvific issues."
"And what about issues of sanctification?" I pressed. "Is the Bible, by itself, sufficient to bring the believer to wholeness-to heal the deepest wounds of the human heart?"
He looked down. After a long pause, he finally looked up at me and said, "No. We also need other truths that God has revealed through nature and research."
Having admitted that his institution no longer believes that God has provided sufficient information in His Word to sanctify the believer, the president's stated position is that psychology is essential for the healing of the inner man. In terms of biblical sanctification, this sincere leader of a formerly conservative seminary has become a practical atheist. And worse, yet, he was unwilling to consider the biblical alternative or to even think it through.
THE THOUGHT LIFE
What does it mean to think? The very concept of thinking implies the existence of intelligence, but even that is an illusive notion. One encyclopedia states:
Because no one can observe or measure the mind as such, one can only infer a person's intelligence from his or her behavior in various situations. No consensus exists among psychologists on the definition of intelligence....
Yet it is in the mind that we are aware of existence itself "I think, therefore I am," French philosopher Descartes wrote, thereby acknowledging the existence of the physical universe which he had come to doubt. At one point, he had questioned the reality of existence and rational thought.
For example, he asked himself whether he could be certain he was not dreaming. His most powerful skeptical hypothesis, that there is an evil genius trying to deceive him, challenges not only the belief that the physical world exists, but also belief in simple statements of fact, and thus would seem to call into question the validity of reason itself. But not even an evil genius could deceive someone into believing falsely that he existed."
The mere reality of existence does not explain for us what it means "to think." We intuitively understand that thought is the process by which we control our bodies and interact with the physical world, yet we are at a loss to fully comprehend the very entity required to think-our own mind. It is as though a microscope were called upon to examine itself but cannot. Rather, another tool separate from the microscope is necessary to examine it. Confused? Think about it: Without a mirror or reflective surface of some kind, you would not even know what you look like.
It is even more difficult to know what we actually are on the inside. That is why our thinking must be guided by a source outside and superior to ourselves.
Still, what does it mean to think? The dictionary defines thinking as:
- To have or formulate in the mind.
- To decide by reasoning, reflection, or pondering.
- To judge or regard; look upon.
- To believe; suppose.
- To expect; hope or to intend.
- To call to mind; remember.
- To visualize; imagine.
- To devise or evolve; invent.
- To bring into a given condition by mental preoccupation.
- To concentrate one's thoughts on.
To verbally define thinking hardly clears up the issue for us, does it? We need to know in practical terms what thinking does to our personal reality and experience. We need to understand how our thoughts affect our actions, attitudes, relationships, beliefs, day-to-day lives, and destiny.
What Does the Bible Say?
Evil Thoughts What does the Bible say about our thought life? The first use of the word thought is in Genesis 6:5: "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time."
These are strong words, but they explain why we humans are inclined to the "dysfunctions" we have identified and labeled and why, as a result, we feel so miserable. The way we are determines the way we think. The way we think determines the way we act. The way we act determines the way we feel. But the way we feel doesn't tell us much about anything except that something is terribly wrong.
Our natural inclination toward evil is not necessarily passive. According to the psalmist, our human pride leads us toward practical atheism: "In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God" (Psalm 10:4).
Instead, we fill our conscious moments with sounds and visual images that distract us from perceiving the reality of our miserable condition apart from God. We flood our minds with entertainment, books, videos, games, comedy, sports, and music-none of which are innately evil, but all of which serve to divert our attention away from our misery.
If the only result of these diversions were the inordinate waste of time, we might not need to be so concerned. But the consequences are much greater than that. Much greater.
Dark and Foolish Thoughts The tragic consequences of a person leaving God out of his thought life are intellectual darkness and emotional confusion. The apostle Paul wrote about the results of willfully ignoring God: "Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:21). What follows is a downward spiral of ever-increasing depravity: "Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved in mind, to do what ought not to be done" (Romans 1:28).
What sort of consequences follow the intentional rejection of God? According to Paul, those "who suppress the truth" (verse 18) deny the obvious facts of creation (verses 19-20) and thereby become "fools" (verse 22). Evolutionists, of course, fit this description because they must employ an endless variety of pseudoscientific mental gymnastics to support their unscientific theories.
Impure Thoughts The personal consequences, however, extend far beyond the intellectual hypocrisy of evolutionism. There are moral and physical repercussions of suppressing the truth: "sexual impurity" and the "degrading of their bodies with one another" (verse 24), "shameful lusts" (verse 26), and unnatural sexual relations (verses 26-27). Homosexuality, lesbianism, and other such abominations are among the repulsive fruits of removing God from man's thoughts. The physical diseases that accompany these "indecent acts" (verse 27) are the "due penalty for their perversion" (verse 27). AIDS is no accident of nature.
Pornography is a fitting symbol for the decadence of our day and it contributes to the destruction of marriage, family, and society. For those who deny God, there is no convincing argument against the feeding of lustful passions. What is surprising, however, is the growing acceptance of pornography among Christians.
A radio station manager once told me that hotels and restaurants look forward to the annual convention of the National Religious Broadcasters because the sale of liquor and pornographic movies is so high when the conference attendees are in town. In another case, after a large convention of youth pastors, it was reported that the in-room rental of pornographic videos was at an all-time high.
Radio and television talk shows discuss "sexual addictions" and suggest that the cure is long-term intensive therapy. This is just as true of "Christian" psychological programs as secular ones. I listened one night to a former pastor who had become "addicted to pornography" explain on national television how he had been caught up in "moral indiscretions" that had ruined his ministry and nearly destroyed his marriage. He and his wife now speak around the country about building strong family foundations. I winced as this seemingly sincere man spoke the neoevangelical psychobabble of "addictions" and "indiscretions," wishing he would simply alert his audience to the fact that trust and purity are being destroyed by old-fashioned lust and adultery.
Are we really to believe that we simply can't keep from immoral thoughts and behavior? Are these truly addictions over which we have no control? If so, then the Bible is mistaken when it says that "no temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" (1 Corinthians 10:13).
In their thoughts, many Christians have become morally impure and have acted as though God does not exist when it comes to the realities of the sexual aspects of life.
A professing Christian man came to my office asking for advice about a relationship with a woman he loved. "I began dating her when she was married yet separated from her husband," he said. "We prayed together and went to church together because my faith is so important to me.
"We have broken up and gotten back together several times, but recently I've discovered that she has been unfaithful to me with my best friend! Now I know that she is extremely promiscuous. She's been with at least ten men that I know of this year. But I can't get her out of my mind. I really believe that God will get a hold of her heart and maybe we will get back together someday."
Ignorant of the Scriptures, this baby Christian could not see the irony of the situation. He was sexually involved with a married woman and felt betrayed because she was now unfaithful to him as well!
"Where is her husband?" I asked.
"Well, their divorce was final about a month ago. What do you think I should do?"
I leaned forward and said, "You need to run away from her as fast as you can." I opened my Bible to the book of Proverbs and read these words to him:
These commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, keeping you from the immoral woman, from the smooth tongue of the wayward wife. Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes, for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread, and the adulteress preys upon your very life (Proverbs 6:23-26).
I don't think he had ever read that passage before. He sat back in his chair, nodded, and said, "That's her exactly." Now he knew the truth, and it was up to him whether or not he would obey God's Word.
When I was a child living in a small midwestern farm town, my parents would never go to a movie theater, even though in those days the films were relatively innocent. Today, however, Christians see no compromise in their walk with God when they go to R-rated movies that contain cursing, vulgar language, and repeated scenes of explicit immorality. And those few Christians who worry that their testimony might be damaged in the eyes of friends and relatives if they are caught at X-rated movies can view pornographic videos in the privacy of their own homes. Cable and satellite television have made vile images instantly available and the internet can deliver every imaginable perversion through the phone lines onto the computer screens of those who claim to be followers of Christ.
Why are humans drawn toward unfaithfulness and sexual impurity? Jesus said that this ugly tendency is rooted in our own hearts: "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery" (Mark 7:21). All of these destructive practices come not from what has happened to us, as our society has come to believe, but what has happened in us.
You Are What You Think
What does the thought life have to do with our mental, emotional, and spiritual health? Everything. You probably know the expression, "You are what you eat." It would be more accurate to say, "You are what you think." Paul wrote to Titus, "To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted" (Titus 1:15).
How we think determines whether our marriages grow more secure as the years pass or end in divorce. It controls whether our business ventures prosper or fold. It strengthens friendships or causes them to wither away. It controls the way we relate to fellow-workers, neighbors, relatives, and friends.
The way we think about God, His character, and His plan for mankind will affect our values, behavior, relationships, and how we deal with the pressures of living in an imperfect world. Some Christians, experiencing minor discomfort and inconvenience, fall apart emotionally and seek out psychiatric help. Rather than learning how to retrain their minds, they prefer to numb their pain with Prozac. Others, however, find consistent comfort and relief by taking "captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).
May I ask you what you are filling your mind with? Are you saturating your thoughts with the colorful seductive images of television as you surf through the channels? Are you reading sensual romance novels, creating discontent in your heart toward your mate? Are you lingering on pornographic pictures you purchased off the magazine rack or downloaded from the internet, inflaming lustful passions? If so, you cannot please our heavenly Father, who tells us to be pure.
Peter writes to us:
Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1: 13-16).
Some Christians have come to believe that it is impossible to live a pure life in our modern age. They have accepted the widely held view that it is necessary to provide sex education and contraceptives for our children because it is unreasonable to expect them-even Christian adolescents and teens-to refrain from sexual activity until marriage. But the Bible tells us to prepare our minds, be self controlled, and be holy like our Father in heaven.
It would be of little surprise to see members of liberal churches deny the power of God's Word, but now there are many Christians in conservative Bible churches who have bought into the hopeless psychological theories of behavior which tell us that we have no choice in how we behave and that deliverance from our mental dungeons is to be found in professional counseling and psychoactive medications.
David writes, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14). That's a wonderful goal, but how can we retrain our minds in this sin-polluted age in which we live?
How We Can Change Our Thoughts
Do you remember the old gospel song that said, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus/Look full in His wonderful face/And the things of earth will grow strangely dim/In the light of His glory and grace"? That's exactly what we are told to do in three vital passages in the New Testament.
In Colossians 3:1-2 we read, "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things" (emphasis added). In direct contradiction of the psychological counsel that tells us to dredge up the pain of the past, Paul instructs believers to focus their emotions and intellect on Christ and eternity rather than the troubles of this life.
The writer of Hebrews echoes this inner-healing principle when he says, "Holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1, emphasis added).
Hebrews 12 expands on this concept. Read it carefully:
Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3, emphasis added).
In the spiritual battle for inner peace, we are told how to complete the course. Note the italicized words in the passage above: "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus.... Consider him." Why? "So that you will not grow weary and lose heart."
Weariness and discouragement are the preconditions for depression and defeat. God has given us the answer for depression in Christ. Do you want to find healing for your emotions, your mind, your spirit? You do not have to drain your financial resources to rent a friend, spending years in therapy. Instead, you can retrain your thoughts to experience daily peace and joy.
The process is found in Philippians 4:4-9:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Sometimes crude individuals will ask one another, "How's your love life?" The suggestion, of course, is sexually oriented. But there is a far more significant question we Christians should ask ourselves as we examine whether or not we are acting like practical atheists: "How is my thought life?"
Do you want to experience genuine victory in your day-today walk with God? Are you hungry to find real peace and contentment in a world full of confusion and misery? Do you want to strengthen and vitalize your weakened faith? Set your heart and mind on things above. Fix your thoughts and eyes on Jesus. It's all in how and what we think.
Extracted from Ed Buckley's How Big Is Your God?
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