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Wednesday, November 18, 2015

God and Psychology

"Psychology is the study of behavior and mental processes."


That's a definition from a non-Christian school of psychology and that is really it in a nutshell. Sure there's some history to modern psychology that includes atheist thought, but if a person is mature in scripture, they will know how to separate the philosophical good from the bad and walk away empowered to be a blessing. In other words, understanding the evolutionary worldview holds no threat to those who hold to a Christian worldview.  
Jeremiah 15:19.....and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth


Studying the behavior of something and learning from it is nothing new in scripture

Pro 6:6 -8
Go to the ant, you hater of work; give thought to her ways and be wise: Having no chief, overseer, or ruler, She gets her meat in the summer, storing up food at the time of the grain-cutting.  

The point of that scripture is that we can learn from nature and improve our lives IF we will learn instead of rejecting truth. This is an important point, because some people have reduced the bible to an object of worship and have a difficult time learning objective, spiritual truth from nature. This in spite of the fact that Romans clearly states that all of creation gives witness to God's eternal power and deity. We need not fear learning from nature, because our Father created nature, he created all the things that are visible and invisible and then tells us to learn from nature about his power and deity. On that note, Pavlov learned something about how people are conditioned by environmental influences through associating food with another object which would make the experiment dog salivate.  He learned this by studying the behavior of dogs in a laboratory experiment. For instance, when he would feed a dog, he noticed the dog would salivate, which is normal behavior. But one day, he noticed that the dog began salivating at the sound of his footsteps or the door opening or closing. He began doing experiments to understand why the animal salivated at the sound of footsteps when no food was present. He began to turn on a light just before it was time for feeding and eventually the dog would begin salivating when the light turned on. Pavlov then removed the food but continued to turn the light on; and the dog still salivated when the light came on even when there was no food. He concluded that this was learned behavior and believed that it could be applied to human beings also. His experiment became known as Classical Conditioning. Not many years later, B.F. Skinner came up with Operant Conditioning, which is similar to Classical Conditioning but uses reinforcement to INFLUENCE behaviors. That is an extremely simplified explanation of Classical and Operant Condition but if you wish to learn more then,  Google Pavlov or Classical Conditioning,  to get more info on his work.

How does this relate to Psychology, God, Christians and our behavior?  

While every person is unique and responds differently to stress here's a couple of generalizations along with some hard facts.For one, no one is born a Christian at birth. That means whatever environment a person is raised in then it's going to influence their view of the world, and themselves.Probably the best and most tragic example are children who have been abused either physically, verbally, emotionally, or sexually. Young boys who have been abused often grow up to be abusive themselves. They may abuse others or they may have internalized the hate their parents showed them and become suicidal because they have been conditioned to believe that they are everything their parents, teachers, or those of influence on their minds, told them. They have been conditioned to believe they are worthless, useless or bad etc etc.  

Some of these people come to faith in Christ and have a genuine conversion, yet still exhibit some of the same suicidal or violet tendencies from their pre conversion life. Why?Because while their faith has given them a spiritual birth and new life their soul (mind emotions, imaginations, decision making skills) have not experienced the totality of this new life or spiritual birth in Christ. This is exactly why in Romans 12:2 we are commanded (not a suggestion) to renew our minds so that we can be transformed in our thinking, worldview, and behaviors. However, sometimes the people who have been conditioned to believe they are worthless don't know why they are depressed because some events of the past have been buried deep in the heart or subconscious. Sometimes the events of the past have been so traumatic that it becomes almost impossible to face them in order to receive help. Other times, some people sincerely can't even see that their behavior is destroying relationships and causing them deep depression. They have become so accustomed to the conditioning that it seems like a normal way of life to them. I suspect or have a hypothesis that this is one reason some people are attracted to abusive relationships. It's because the abusive relationship FEELS normal because that's what they are used to feeling. That's going to be one of my research projects for my thesis sometime down the road.   

What do we do with these precious souls who have been born again in their spirit yet are bound to the environmental influences from their past?   

And we are just talking about one type of issue here, there are other psychological issues such as learning disabilities that cause a person depression. Anxiety attacks that have no logical explanation, until a person is in therapy with a skilled therapist who not only can apply the word of God to their life, but knows how to uncover the underlying thought processes that are causing the anxiety. Yet a skilled therapist doesn't even have to use the scripture or be a christian in order to help someone. That upsets some ministers but the fact is that it's not much different that going to a medical doctor for help. And the reality is that every good and perfect gift comes from our Father above. There's nothing in that scripture that says these good and perfect gifts come through Christians only. 

What do we do with these precious souls? Too often we have tried to cast out demons, blame it on rebellion, accuse them of having a "Jezebel spirit," blame it on not knowing the bible well enough, blame, blame, shame, shame, that's been the standard procedure, although that is beginning to change. We preachers have been conditioned to believe that becoming born again is the cure all for every psychological ailment known to man. Yet our loving savior watches and remembers his own words, " The spirit of the Lord is upon me to ..... heal the broken hearted." I remember one man from my old church who had epilepsy. He came across as blunt, gruff and almost anti social at times. We became friends and he began telling me his story of how he was accused of being demon possessed at his old church when he would have seizures. The leaders at that church had been conditioned to blame everything on demons or spirits if a person did not respond to their prayers properly.This man had been verbally abused most of his life and grew to think he was worthy of living in prison because he had been CONDITIONED by his environmental influences to believe he was worthless due to his physical illness. One of the pastors at the new church had enough sense and love to take him to the doctor and get him on medication that gave him a reasonably normal life. This pastor also showed him love and respect as a human being and guess what happened. He began to be emotionally and psychologically healed by the love of another human being acting as the representative of Christ towards this man. I became friends with him and all I did was encourage him by telling him what God really though of him. It was difficult for him to believe the truth and challenging at times, but he slowly began believing that he had worth as a human being. Guess what? He also began trusting me as a friend. This isn't rocket science!  

The point of all this is to realize that psychology is not evil. It actually neutral and just a gift to help others when in the proper hands. Just as there are misinformed preachers who attempt to cast out demons instead of loving people, so there are misinformed psychologists who deny spiritual realities. It's not the science that's wrong, just as it's not the scriptures that are wrong. It's people who misinterpret scripture and/or psychological principles because they themselves have been conditioned by their environmental influences to view life a certain way.  

Jesus came to heal us spirit, soul and body. In other words, he is totally invested in healing the whole person not just a small section of our lives. Jesus is frankly the greatest psychologist who has ever lived and who ever will live. Who knows the subconscious mind and motivations better than our creator? Who knows which word needs to be spoken at just the right time to facilitate emotional healing. Who knows better how to communicate love to a depressed and/or anxious person in order to elevate them to a belief in their worth as a person created in the image of God? Jesus came to heal us not destroy, humiliate, shame, or condemn us for our psychological abnormalities. His greatest glory is to take someone from the ashes of sorrow and give them the beauty of grace and mercy. The more a person is conditioned by the environment of Gods presence, the more healing and wholeness they will begin to display in their life. 

 Dan Dickerson © 2015



Thursday, April 16, 2015

Profanity and its Social Implications

Profane; to treat (something sacred) with irreverence or disrespect.

I remember listening to the book on tape, " The Road Less Traveled," and hearing Scott Peck say that people are sacred. He was not advocating a belief in Christianity, I'm not even sure he was a Christian, but he seemed to have an intuitive understanding that there is something divine about human beings. 
I'm of the opinion that since evolution has been adopted by Western culture as the absolute truth concerning the value of a human being, that we have become less civil towards one another. That's just my opinion and I can't prove it, but evolution, especially as espoused by atheistic humanism, has done more to cause society to become more profane than anything else since its adoption into our culture. 

If we have not been created by a loving God of goodness, kindness, beauty, and wisdom, then how can we be considered sacred? Evolution's' foundation rests on the fact that there is no Creator therefore nothing is sacred, because everything came into being by chance. By evolutionary standards, nothing was created in Love and with the purpose of creating loving relationships that reflect the Divine mind and emotions of our Creator. The Humanist Manifesto of 1933 flat out states that mankind must save itself since there is no savior or Creator or Divine being. If there is no God then we are not created in his image and therefore there is nothing sacred about us, according to evolution. We are just a mass of biological proteins and chemicals that have no other purpose than to produce offspring that will continue the species. Evolution's ultimate consequence will be to make the strongest, most intelligent human being (or society) to become God. We are already at that point because we determine who should live or die in the womb, and some are seriously considering euthanasia as a viable option to dealing with the elder population in order to save on medical costs. That is profanity at its zenith! 

It is true that words change meaning over the years. For instance the word ass used to refer to a donkey. I heard of a pastor once who was preaching about Paul meeting Christ on the Damscus road. In the course of his sermon he made a reference to Paul being knocked to the ground by the Lords appearance and said, "And when Paul fell off his ass." The congregation started giggling and soon everyone was laughing hysterically. He stopped his preaching and asked what was so funny. He was referring to Paul's donkey, but everyone else interpreted it as his backside. However, there was a time that if someone was called a jack-ass that it was considered a derogatory remark about that persons character and therefore considered profanity. 

Take the word jerk for instance. In some situations we can kid around and call someone a jerk and it is completely harmless. However, we can say the same thing to someone with angry tones and it now becomes profanity. Why? Because we have treated the sacred with disrespect and dishonored them. 

I'm sure we're all guilty of doing that at one time or another, I know I have been. I once heard another pastor say that if someone had a habit of cussing that the real issue to deal with is not the cussing. He wisely, and correctly, observed that the real issue was the anger, bitterness, or perhaps hatred, that caused a person to use profanity. We often attempt to get someone to quit using profanity without dealing with the thing that is causing the profanity. 

If profanity is showing disrespect towards the sacred then that would mean we are also disrespecting ourselves when we use profanity, especially if done through a negative emotion like abusive anger or bitterness.

Having said all that, I'll share a true story that I would not recommend for everyone. 

I have to preface this also with the fact that I've known this man for about 20 years and I really do care about him. One time, I was talking to this man, who was asking me to help him deal with his own bitterness towards his ex-wife. He knew he had an issue with his anger, but didn't know how to stop thinking about the wrongs she had done to him, which were very real by the way. At the same time he kept blaming God for everything wrong with the world. It was Gods fault that there was suffering, it was Gods fault that there was murder, it was Gods fault for corrupt politicians, and it was Gods fault for corrupt preachers. At the same time, he also kept saying that we, (or he) was God. 

I told him I'd be glad to counsel him, and try to help, but I couldn't promise anything. During the conversation he would ask me to help him and then I would try to answer, but he kept interrupting and going on about blaming God. I tried open ended questions, active listening, biting my tongue, and whatever other counseling technique I could think of that I learned in school or through life's experiences. 

Finally I had a dangerous thought... LoL. Yep here we go :) 
I thought, I'm going to try something that will shock this person to stop and think about what they are really saying and how illogical they sound. I remember seeing a counseling video in school about a technique in Gestalt therapy (I think) that showed the counselor getting right in the face of the counselee and almost mocking them, in order to mirror the counselee's behavior so they could see themselves (specifically their neurotic behavior) in the counselor. 

With this man that I care about, I decided to abandon the formal counseling techniques and resort to more experimental methods (emphasis on mental). I asked him if he really believed he was God. He replied, yes. I asked again, and he said yes again. 
I asked, "You're God and therefore you created everything, right?" Again, he said Yes that's right. 

What I did next was not done in anger but was a calculated risk that it would shock him and make him think about his speech and beliefs. 

Then I laid the bomb down and said as sarcastically as I knew how, "You really F***** things up then didn't you?" It totally shocked him because he stopped talking and became real quite for a few moments. He asked me what I meant. I explained to him that if he believed he was God and that God was to blame for all the suffering in the world, for all the evil in the world, and all the murders in the world, as he said, then he failed. I said again, "Since you're God, you really have F***** things up and you are a lousy God. 

Yep, even though we were on the phone, I could tell he was shocked and thinking. What could he say? He had just said that he was God and that God was the cause of all suffering. 

I'm not advocating that method and I don't think I'll recommend it as part of a college curriculum, but it did work. He didn't like what I was saying but it did accomplish what I wanted it to. It made him stop and listen to his own illogical speech and beliefs. 
I think he was shocked that I said that word to begin with and I was shocked that it actually worked......... LoL! 

Now here's a deep thought about that whole experience. 

Who was really being profane? My friend for claiming he was God and blaming the real God for all the ills of the world, or me for caring enough about him to use an off-the-wall technique to begin the process of someones return to normalcy? It's the only time I've done that and I'm sure it will be the last, or at least I hope it's the last time! 

One last thought about profanity. I've worked with some children in Arizona, whose parents called them stupid. When these kids simply said, "my parent thinks, I'm stupid," I could see the pain in their eyes and hear it in their voice. If profanity is treating the sacred (human beings) with disrespect then calling children stupid seems to be the most profane speech I've come across. 

Again, Jesus said whatever is of an abundance in the heart, eventually comes out of the mouth. Some of the things Jesus mentioned coming from the heart and through the mouth (language) were hatred, murder, and blasphemy. I think this is recorded in Mark 15. That word blasphemy means to speak impiously about something. In other words, to speak to something as though it's not sacred. Jesus said that these are the things that make a person unclean or to act in a way that does not represent Christ. 

I'm not advocating sinlessness nor did Jesus, he's just describing human nature and how the things we treasure in our heart will eventually make it's way out through our mouth. 

Thank God that when we do act or speak profanely, there is forgiveness, mercy, and divine help that empowers us to change our thinking and therefore the treasure in our hearts. 

Profane; to treat (something sacred) with irreverence or disrespect.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Eliminating Racial Labels

This will be the shortest post I've ever written. Short and to the point, intended to provoke discussion and reflection.

We need to dispense with labeling a man, or woman, African American.
As long as we label anyone as African we perpetuate the wall of separation between culture and sub-cultures.

They are Americans period! WE are Americans!

Sure, there exists a separate ethnicity just as those of Asian, European, or Middle Eastern origins have their own ethnicity consisting of tradition, food, learned behavior and so forth. Yet we never, or rarely, label someone a European American, Middle Eastern American, or Asian American. It's more accurate and harmonious to state that we are Americans with family origins from such and such a country.

What we do by labeling a man as African American, is to remind everyone of the tragedy of slavery in American history, and further psychological segregation instead of promoting psychological and practical reconciliation and integration. At some point we all have to acknowledge past failures but move forward toward future successes and integration.

I challenge you to begin thinking in these terms. If a black, brown, or white person is born in America, then we can't be European American, Hispanic American. or African American. 
We are natural born citizens of America and are legally American.