Does The Church Need Psychology?
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by Lynda Allison Doty, Ph.D.
Many reading this feel unqualified to counsel. Some are pastors who are stumped by the insane array of needs being brought to them. Many often find themselves feeling helpless and overwhelmed and not knowing what to say or do. What do they say, for example, to the woman who had seven abortions? The wise pastor refers them to his wife, but what does she say? The pastor’s wife needs help just as much as her husband.
A few decades ago, the Church recognized psychology for what it was, and steered away from it. Leaders spoke out against it, warning the people not to get involved. And the people listened. When I came into this Truth, bringing with me a Master’s degree in the field, people spoke out strongly against it.
But then, as Satan pumped up his campaign to wear out the saints, psychology began to creep, unrecognized, into the Church. And I do believe it is a trick of the enemy to get our minds off God and onto the problems. We let it happen. We allowed our minds to be blinded by all the hurt and pain we saw everywhere.
Our intentions were good, they really were. We saw the need. In our compassion, we reached out with the healing balm of Christ. We ministered the Word. But when we did our best, and yet people didn’t get any better—what did we do? Grow impatient? Bully them? We knew exactly what they should do, and yet they couldn’t seem to get the same understanding. Not only that, we were such busy people. Who among us does not live in the fast lane? We tried to reach out to the hurting and to help them heal, but we discovered that it could take more time than we had to give. We were so busy with the work of God, on top of everything else, that there just weren’t enough hours in the day.
And that was the danger point. We were ripe for the enemy to slip us a counterfeit.
All the while, psychology was making its inroads. Gradually, its adherents began to convince us that psychology was actually God’s plan to solve these kinds of needs...and gradually, we began to buy into it. It made sense, after all, and was much easier than waiting on God. More and more Christians began to believe that psychology was indeed God’s answer to our prayers of helplessness. We began to see our way clear! We began to see some light at the end of the tunnel. We at last saw a way to help without undue sacrifice. We saw a way to ease our conscience.