Christianity and Psychology Personal Theory

Personal Theory Paper
Introduction
Since mid-1970s, a serious matter for integration between Christianity and psychology developed among Christian counsellors. The integration movement developed as a result of reaction to psychology being accepted in the sector dealing with pastoral counseling where it did not face any criticism from the Christians’ point of view. The efforts for integrating psychology with Christianity developed more energy in the last twenty years since the time when Jay Adams refused to have psychology included in the pastoral care sector (Kim, 2004). Attempting to create an integration in psychology with Christian faith is a tedious experience as a result of the different approaches of the two academic disciplines.
According to Alan C. Tjeltveit (2012), the daunting questions that come as a result of taking psychology as well as Christian faith in a serious manner have to be dealt with. The queries that come from the sectors in which the two conflict need extra emphasis. There is need to get a hold of what psychologists assume, inclusive of their metaphysical and physical assumptions and coming up with ideas about how we can envision psychology with the same data bearing different interpretations which are consistent with the understanding of Christians (p. 20)
The given comment bears the same similarities to the philosophical arguments that I have and have presented them at the University of the Southern Caribbean during the fourth Mind of Christ Conference (Santrac 2011).
Classical Greek Dualism
Relating to the classical Greek dualism, existence of spiritual and a physical realm which separates the body and the soul (Pojman, 1999), philosophers came up with only two classifications of people to put into use when approaching humanity. This creates lots of trouble. If this case is taken up, it means that in physical issues like medicine, there is no need of one bothering themselves with morality (Polkinghorne, 1998, p. 60). On the other hand, the spiritual realm was put in place for things that do not concern material or mental perspective. Social sciences, including psychology, are classified under the spiritual realm. The separation has been brought over to the modern world. Because psychology is somehow classified as part of the spiritual realm, then Christians continue to criticize it. In the Christian beliefs, psychology does not meet the standards of any doctrine, and it could not sustain as it was passed as true and inerrant. Therefore, Christians opt to decline psychology as they highly esteem the stronger part in the spiritual dimension which is the Bible. However, psychology is not part of the spiritual dimension. The two sectors overlap but they are very different (McCarron, 2004).
Compared to theology, psychology is a totally different discipline. If a man moved into a church and claimed that he knows how to handle group dynamics, this would not classify him as a theologian. His results and interpretations maybe a supplement to what a theologian says because a theologian dictates what God has said should be done. In situations when religion takes up a dichotomous reasoning, modifying itself from other sectors exactly the same way that the Greek Philosophy would modify the matter and spirit, it destroys the way God together with the world relate (Jones, 1996, p. 152). It is true that the divine is equipped with a unique nature but it is not eliminated from the entire life. Although psychology is known when it comes to theology, it cannot be used different from it.
Written and Spoken Revelation
The Bible is basically about how one relates with God and how one relates with people. The Bible however, does not claim to have the whole truth about God in relation to association with people. As an example, there is group theory stated there. According to Dr. Lawson from counseling department at Liberty University, this is known as a two-book theory. He stated that God holds a written revelation as well as a spoken revelation, which is the world. The two of them should go hand in hand and if they do not, it means that they are based on human understanding (Carter & Narramore, 1979, p. 13), if it is found in the Bible or in the natural life.
Paul also gave his sentiments on this topic to the Church of Rome around two thousand years ago. The translation of Romans 1:20 in the King James version states that God has brought his revelation down to us thus making men to be accountable to him for the sake of truth, whether they have access to the Bible or not. All the true and right things come from God and they should bring glory to Him (McCarron, 2004).
Consideration of General Revelation
There are Christians who go against psychology because they claim that before Maslow and Freud appeared, people were well with using the Bible only. With their basis on this statement, they clarify further that there is no need for adding irrelevant things to the Bible when carrying out counselling even taking it as far as calling the discoveries of counseling repeating what the bible has already said. This argument confirms that the bible is sufficient for counseling and no additional information is needed from somewhere else, making this argument defeat itself. However, this same question can be asked otherwise, “How did Christians use to counsel others before they got the Bible?” The answer is they relied on the little they had from God as well as the revelation the got from the creation about God, man, and the truth. It is very obvious that God has made the universe in a way that it acts as a place where the truth of God should be revealed. Again, God created us with brains with which to identify things that surround us and get information from them. Because psychology is the study of man and his behavior, it can be of great help when counseling a man as long as it sticks to what the bible says (McCarron, 2004).
A Biblical Foundation for Counselling
According to Christian psychologists, counseling is done as a “remedial personality development” (Roberts, 1997, p. 97). Counseling is closely related to the standard that is given in the bible. Counseling is defined as organizing work in relation to the given Christian virtue. Therefore, counselling has two various steps of reorganizing and conducting more development. Larry Crabb (1977) brings out the idea so well. He states that counseling entails the “move over” and “move up” stages. Move over states that the people involved should be led to the way of righteousness and because of their disobedience, these people do not follow the way of truth. Therefore, the counselor should first focus on redirecting the client back to the way of truth. Once the client has accomplished a move over, then the next stage is initiated. Move up is the second stage that relates to growth and maturity. It is true that all human beings fall short of the glory of God. Thus, they should develop to the level of the understanding of God’s standard. The counselors involved in this stage make Christians follow the way of truth. As a summary, counseling is sanctification and evangelism. Christian counselors should take it as their responsibility to evangelize to those who have not centered their faith in God. After these people believe in God, then they can move themselves up to be mature in Jesus Christ (Kim, 2004).
All the philosophies begin with pre assumptions. Even science rests on pre assumptions that can never be tested in an empirical way. Psychology is a religion inclined on humans which makes an assumption that a human being is good and he has the power to bring healing to himself but they have no proof about it. On the other hand, behavioral psychology dictates that humans can be compared to animals just that they have a highly developed form and their behavior can be changed by the external stimuli. Again, this cannot be proved. Integrationist psychology assumes the validity of secular psychological theory and it believes that when this theory is added to biblical concepts, it results into superior therapy but it cannot be proved. Therefore, it is not an unfair act to base counselling on assumptions about man, God, salvation and how sufficient the scriptures are.
Existence of God: Globally, the Christians begin by making an assumption that God exists. The belief continues that God has revealed himself to man through the creation, and has revealed about his son Jesus Christ and has made a personal revelation to people through the Holy Spirit. For Christians to accept the scriptures, it is based on the assumption that the bible is infallible and true. The word of God is quite dependable, in contrast to the recent discoveries in the fields of psychology.
God’s character: It is very important to understand how God balances his compassion and holiness. He is loving yet just, full of mercy but very strict, he is also tender but he demands a lot from us.
The Holy Spirit is put under many names that depict it as a counselor. In the book of John 14:16, Jesus Christ terms the Holy Spirit as a counsellor and he goes on to say that the Holy Spirit abides forever. It is also stated that the Holy Spirit will guide us to remember the teachings of God, testify of Christ, convict sin from mankind, and lead us all to the way of truth. It is the Holy Spirit who brings life to theology.
God’s provision for counseling: This is another presupposition of the biblical counseling that God has every foundation needed by a believer to find happiness and a fulfilling life in His son Jesus. God has brought all the sense to us (?Meadors, 2009).
The model followed in counseling is already identified in the bible as depicted through the salvation process. God has given the world his son Jesus Christ for restoration. God used Jesus Christ as himself to die and resurrect. God made himself flesh in order to bring humans together with God. This is what saved human beings. The atonement of Jesus Christ meant that human sins were forgiven and man was restored to be a son and daughter of God. God already began the program of saving people even when human beings were not aware of their sins and separation from God. Therefore, Christian counseling is geared in a way that it follows God’s plan. God’s main aim of his salvation plan is to restore the original state of human beings. Therefore, counseling is used to affect the salvation process of God and bring humans back to God’s original state in the Garden of Eden (Kim, 2004).
According to the Christian psychology model, counselling is categorized into two. Evangelism is the first category where educating and challenging people are the most important tools and intervention strategies. If the client is not aware of Jesus Christ and his mission to redeem humanity, then the counselor is bound to begin by explaining to the client what Jesus Christ did. After telling the client the basic things involved in Christianity, the counselor then guides the client to receive Jesus Christ in his or her heart. If the client refuses to accept Jesus as their savior, the counselor can use the method of confrontation or challenge. If this does not work, then the counseling should end. Sanctification is the next counseling activity (1997, p. 98). This means that counseling intervention is aimed at encouraging the client to fight against dysfunctions and the sinful nature as well as promoting Christian virtues. As a result, Christian counselors have a way of borrowing different techniques from secular theories that have already been developed. These theories comprise of psychodynamic school, family school, and humanistic school.
Self-Acceptance and Christian Theology
Self-acceptance has been left on the sidelines by some people who support the field of positive psychology and have undermined the positive traits associated with positive psychology like happiness and wellbeing. Self-acceptance sounds like a simple word until it is implemented. In general, it is an affirmation and acceptance of oneself despite the weaknesses one has. But a big difference exists between the person accepting themselves and the nature of acceptance needed. Despite there being no scientific support on the attributes of “self,” there is an acceptance that self is whole inclusive of one’s character, thoughts, feelings, memories, and sensations experienced over time. According to Baumeister and Bushman (2011), there are three components of self:
· Self-knowledge
· Social self
· Agent self
The self has a description as a theory of existence, an abstraction of one’s true identity. A discussion of whether there is an advantage or disadvantage of the tendency of human beings to give a whole evaluation of the complicated self on a good-bad continuum is carried out in the literature of self-acceptance (Nielsen, Szentagotai-Tatar, Gavita & Lupu, 2013).
Acceptance is also hard to define. According to etymology, it is an act of taking willingly or with favor. According to Williams and Lynn (2010), there are five ways to describe acceptance
1) Non- attachment: This defines agreeing to objects of experience and that they wane and wax and then permit them to come and go naturally, can be preferred to any attempts geared towards controlling or retaining them
2) Non avoidance: this is keeping away from meaningless refrain where there is no physical threat.
3) Non judgment: it is a conscious abstention from the categorization of an experience whether it is good or bad. It is describing a stimulus rather than evaluating it.
4) Tolerance: it is the ability to be able to remain present and stay aware despite the fact that the stimuli is undesirable or frustrating
5) Willingness: it is the ability to exercise a choice in order to get an experience
In the modern-day practice of self-acceptance, there are two big historical streams that influence it - theological and psychological streams. For example, in the theological stream, Christians use the bible during therapy in order to help Christian clients get self-acceptance. The potential of a human being to have self-acceptance can be grown through education or in therapy. Enhancing self-acceptance has grown to become a very essential part of comprehensive programs meant for dealing with a wide range of mental issues that adults and children experience in different aspects of life (Nielsen et al., 2013).
Counselors can make their clients to get the fact that God is the one who created creatures around the world and God is not pleased when these creatures think less of themselves. Jesus Christ as well urges people to love who they are and accept themselves. The Christian theology emphasizes on self-acceptance and negates the feelings of being unworthy because God loves everyone equally.
Conclusion
When using psychology, a great deal of wisdom is needed. There are quite a number of pitfalls which are experienced in the field. Discernment is highly required to determine the things which can be acquired from it and used practically (?McCarron, 2004). Basically, human personality is developed from separating from God, human beings, self and nature. The plan of God to redeem mankind is basically what is required in human pathology. God has given us an ultimate example to be used for counselling. Jesus is the one who should take preeminence in the restoration process. Therefore, counselling is known to be a two-step process where evangelism and sanctification are the main stages in the process. For evangelism, Christian counselors should lead their clients through the basic theory of personality in relationship to the gospel of Jesus Christ. In sanctification clients should be helped to develop and be like Jesus Christ himself. Therefore, Christian counselling is a process in the growth of a person in need of the gospel. Finally, education and development are the main pillars of Christian counselling, according to Kim (2004).







References
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