Psychology, Boundaries, Marijuana, or Scripture?

Dear Christians, if we don’t prepare our minds in God’s Word, we’ll be deceived by ungodly influences (1 Peter 1:13-16; 2 Corinthians 11:3). God’s enemy is reigning in our world, and we must quit trying to incorporate human philosophies into our thinking (Colossians 2:8).

Let’s look at a popular example: 

Scripture teaches that each of us is born a sinner with a fallen human nature. It is natural for us to choose sin, and Christ alone can transform our hearts and minds (Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12-17). 

 

Psychology teaches that we are born innocent and shaped by our circumstances. Because of this false foundation, psychology bends with culture. 

 

Psychologists once taught that it was healthy to develop mature people skills. Now they encourage cutting off people who don’t feed our egos sufficiently (e.g., Boundaries teachings). They once promoted self-control. Now they promote self-esteem. They once helped homosexuals find freedom from their unhealthy lifestyle, but in 1973 they removed homosexuality from their Manual of Mental Disorders.

Yesterday while doing some research, I came across a Psychology Today article called Debunking a Key Myth About Marijuana. It concluded, “Overall, the research suggests that many of the qualms people have with weed smokers may not be based in reality.” The article could not deny evidence that marijuana has negative results in people’s lives. But it was clearly trying to bring acceptance to a vice made popular by culture. 

 

If we want to pollute and compromise our lives, we can try mixing human philosophies with our faith. If we want to purify and restore our lives, we can open our Bibles and seek God for our answers.

Let's stand firm, dear Christians.

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Check out today's Bite Size Bible Study: Why Psychology and Theology Don't Mix. 

Important Notes:

Psychological teachings are extremely popular with culture and with Christians who lack discernment. And these false teachings are especially successful with Christians if they incorporate a few scriptural principles along with the errors. Why are they popular? Because they feed the desires of our fallen human nature.

 

Henry Cloud, the author of the popular "Christian" Boundaries books admits that two Freudian concepts shaped his teaching and counseling, and Freud was clearly an atheist. See Are Henry Cloud's Boundaries Teachings Biblical?.

 

But that doesn't keep Boundaries and Boundaries spin-offs from being hugely popular with Christians. Lysa TerKeurst's book Good Boundaries and Good Byes is in the top 20 best-selling books in Christian Women's Issues on Amazon, and she describes her book this way: “Psychology and our understanding of the Bible work hand in hand. So, I needed someone who knew the Bible and psychology so that I could tend well to my spiritual and emotional health.” See Beware of Boundaries Spin-Offs.

 

TerKeurst is right in seeing psychology as a philosophy we won't find in Scripture. Her error is thinking it can be combined with scriptural principles. If we believe we need psychology in order to find spiritual and emotional health, we're underestimating God's Word and falling for cultural propaganda.

BLN