See:
Biblical Counseling Part 1c by Darrell Ferguson (right click, open)
Theological theories regarding Mental Health
Psychology has failed. The Bible is all we need for life
and living (2 Ti 3:16).
See:
Biblical Counseling Part 1c by Darrell Ferguson (right
click, open)
[Edited notes: Integration or Biblical Counseling? Part 2a by Darrell Ferguson (right click, open)] "One of Freud's purposes was to obscure the guilt and to remove the source of guilt from various sins. The language is calculated to make things seem morally neutral.
Grumbling becomes "venting". It makes it sound more socially acceptable. Distress in your heart is pictured like some kind of exhaust that needs to be released. Who could possibly be faulted for that?
When scripture speaks of lacking self-control or being controlled by the flesh, that terminology points to the character flaw--the sinfulness. But, the world's term for that "compulsive"--that doesn't sound sinful. Who could be faulted for being compelled? What shame is their in being compelled?
Worry and fretting sound like sins but what could be wrong with being "stressed"? Too much weight on a bridge? It's stressed. It's not the bridge's fault.
All cowards are consigned to hell in Revelation 21:8. Cowardliness is a terrible thing but if you take that same idea and call it "insecurity" suddenly it looses its culpability.
Someone may have the sin of discontent you may say, "How are you doing?" and they say, "I am coping." Discontent is sin. "Coping"--that sounds noble.
Enslaving oneself in sin sounds bad but who could be blamed for catching a disease called "addiction"? These terms are calculated to take away the guilt.
Instead of fornicating people are "living together". What better things are there than living in togetherness?
Instead of prideful, arrogant, self-centered, hard-heartedness against God they are "independent" and "self-reliant".
Instead of being idolatrous they are eclectic in their religious beliefs.
Rather than lacking conviction, they're open-minded.
Sins of pride and self-love are referred to as healthy self-esteem.
People become bitter and angry and resentful and self-pitying and it's all recast in the morally innocent term "emotionally wounded". Who would repent over having been wounded? People get Purple Hearts for having been wounded.
Instead of "won't" we say "can't". I can't forgive. Can't love my spouse. Can't resist this sin.
Instead of sin or hard-heartedness we say we have "emotional issues".
Instead of covetousness or greed we talk about our "emotional needs".
Instead of cowardliness we say "insecurity".
Fear of man is now "co-dependence".
Selfish demands are "rights" and sinful responses to the violation of those rights are simply "defense mechanisms".
Instead of prideful self-absorption, we have an "inferiority complex".
Other examples, sickness or disease instead of sin is--"alcoholic" instead of drunk. "Emotional problems" in place of various sins. "Subconsciously" instead of ignorantly. "In denial" instead of unrepentant or hard-hearted. "Rapid cycling" instead of double-mindedness.
The fact that these terms don't carry a moral stigma is not an accident. It destroys the conscience and prevents the first crucial step of recovery and that is repentance. People who are being harmed by sin need to repent. That's the first step for their recovery and these terms are calculated to prevent them from doing the very thing that they need to recover.
Sigmund Freud was an atheist whose goal was to provide mankind with an alternative to religious faith by taking the matters of the soul and couching them in terms that make them sounds like a mental issue so sin and unrighteousness do not exist just "psychosis" or "mental health". Psychosis is a made up word. It means disease of the soul..." Edited notes: Integration or Biblical Counseling? Part 2a by Darrell Ferguson (right click, open)
