Are Psychologists Witch Doctors?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here is this week’s question:Dear Mr. Hunt and Mr. McMahon:I am very upset with your slandering the profession of Christian psychology.My therapist is a devout Christian who has given me wonderful counsel for many years.Then to hear you liken her profession to that which is performed by witch doctors is not only an insult but harmful to the mental welfare of those who have been greatly helped by Christian counselors.I believe you owe your listeners a major correction regarding your statements, and I hope you will do so as soon as possible.

Tom:

Well, Dave, I’m glad you’re wearing your referee’s shirt for this, because this lady--is she fouling us here, or are we fouling our listeners?

Dave:

Well, Tom, Christian psychology--to start there.It should come from the Bible.It should come from Christ.Christian psychology must have been taught by Jesus Christ.

Tom:

Well, if it’s truly Christian--

Dave:

That’s right.

Tom:

Although we don’t like the term, “psychology” or “psychotherapy” added to it.

Dave:

Right, but if it were true, if there is such a thing as Christian psychology, then where has it been all these years?Nobody ever got it out of the Bible, I guarantee you.Nineteen hundred years of studying the Bible on their knees nobody got psychology out of the Bible!Even Bruce Narimore, nephew of Clyde Narimore, acknowledges that.He says, It was humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who first made us aware of the need for self love and self esteem, and this is a good and proper emphasis.Okay, there you have it, nobody got that idea from the Bible.Where did it come from?A couple of godless, yes, very godless, new age type anti-Christian, secular psychologists.

Tom:

And if people are doubting what we are saying, just simply read the biographies of these men.

Dave:

Well Tom, so it didn’t come from the Bible, it came from really godless, anti-Christians.Well then, how did it become Christian?How did we put Christian label on there?To do that, you would have to say, Well, I guess the Bible needed some help.And now we are going to amalgamate this, we are going to integrate psychology with the Bible.Now Tom, that is an insult to God.It’s an insult to Jesus Christ.It’s an insult to the Bible.Peter, for example, 2 Peter 1, said:He has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.Paul said:I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, but it’s not I but Christ is living in me.He said, Christ is your life.Now, if Christ is my life, why does--Jesus Christ is my life--why does He need help from Freud or Jung who are anti-Christians to begin with?Furthermore, Tom, as you know, you can go to any university--you were just over there in Freud and Jung’s territory in Australia, and you can go to any library in the world, look up in any psychology textbook in the index, try to find a listing for Christian psychology.It does not exist, because there is no Christian who is the founder of a school of psychology known as Christian psychology, much less does it come from the Bible.You’ll find Freudian, Rogerian, behavioristic, transpersonal, all kind of psychologies, but Tom, it simply isn’t true.So, this lady has been deceived.

Tom:

Dave, two other points.Number One:What these men have taught, Freud, Jung, Maslow, Adler, and so on and so forth, or the humanistic psychologist, as you mentioned, Carl Rogers, Abraham Maslow, and so on, are diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches.So how do you integrate things that are diametrically opposed to one another?You can’t do it, it’s impossible.

Dave:

I just quoted you Bruce Narimore, and he says, They gave us the idea.Now we went back to the Bible, and what do you know!We found it there.Tom, it’s a tragedy, because what it says is---let me say it the way I often say it to an audience.If Christian psychology has anything, anything of any value to offer anyone--well, it’s missing from the Bible.I guess the Bible is insufficient.That’s exactly what these men are teaching.The Bible says, Jesus said:If you continue in My Word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you will know THE truth, THE truth will set you free.He didn’t say, You’ll know part of the truth, you’ll be set partially free--THE truth will set you free.Tom, I have so many, not only promises in the Scripture, but I have examples of men who lived triumphant lives long before psychology came along!

Tom:

Now Dave, the other point that she makes--I assume it’s a woman because she says her therapist is a woman counselor--but anyway, the point that she makes is that we are slandering Christian psychology because we are saying that it’s very much similar to what a witch doctor does.But you didn’t make up that idea.This is what the researchers in psychotherapy tell us--That there is nothing, in terms of the way psychology, psychotherapy is presented, the way it is used, there’s no difference between a shaman or a witch doctor would do to his people.It moves along on the same basic plane.

Dave:

Well, they’re secular psychologists who have said that, Tom.I will rest upon the sufficiency of Scripture.The people who believe the Bible is inerrant, but they don’t believe it’s sufficient.I believe the Bible is sufficient for a Christian to live a triumphant, spirit filled, fruitful life for the Lord without any help from psychology, which Paul didn’t need, Jesus didn’t need it, none of the men and women of God who died for their faith in Hebrews 11 needed it.And it’s a delusion to turn from the Scripture and go to these sources.