Thus says the Lord: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.
But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" --Jeremiah 6:16

 

25 August, 2006   comments: (0) Postmodernism   Christian Psychologist Objects to 'Old Truth' "The positions you espouse are limiting and will only serve to further alienate those Christians who are already disenfranchised by rigid dogmas. Compromise, love, and prayer need to bring us closer to each other. One statement by Jesus is certainly not an aphorism: "Judge ye not lest ye be judged." I also think he said something about taking a wooden object out of your own eye first and it seems to be he told us that the person who has no sins should be the first stone thrower." That's one of the comments that was left on Old Truth last night by a gentlemen who identified himself as Bob Gordon, Christian Psychologist. This comment was in response to an excerpt from Bob DeWay's book, which gave a list of some pop-psychology 'aphorisms' that appear in the The Purpose Driven Life. Some of those aphorisms include: "You are only as sick as your secrets" "Impression without expression causes depression" "The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose" "In determining your 'shape' for serving God, you should examine at least six kinds of experiences from your past" People have a tendency to accept these human wisdom nuggets as being associated with the bible somehow, simply because they are in a Christian book. So the point of my post was to demonstrate the need for biblical discernment in weeding out the spirit of our age in modern books like these. As a Christian Psychologist, Bob Gordon, I assume is someone who aspires to guide others in how to apply biblical principles to their own lives. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I further assume that he is first and foremost a Christian, and secondarily a psychologist. If that's the case, Dr. Gordon should be onboard with our attempt (and Bob DeWaay's attempt) to want to keep the bible's message clear, and not have it be confused with the wisdom of the world. Interestingly, Bob DeWaay recently did an in depth radio interview on the subject of the Matthew 7 "do not judge" passage, It seems that Bob Gordon, like so many other believers now days, is misunderstanding this passage as somehow being a moratorium on all judging. Yet the bible commands believers to (non-hypocritically) judge many things. Dr. Gordon expresses his concern that we might "alienate those Christians who are already disenfranchised by rigid dogmas", and he offers compromise, love, and prayer as alternatives. Almost as if in response, JC Ryle said more than 100 years ago: We have no right to expect anything but the pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed and unadulterated; the same Gospel that was taught by the Apostles; to do good to the souls of men. I believe that to maintain this pure truth in the Church men should be ready to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension, and run the chance of division. They should no more tolerate false doctrine than they would tolerate sin. They should withstand any adding to or taking away from the simple message of the Gospel of Christ. [read more] Likewise, Martin Luther in his day said "Cursed be any love or unity for whose sake the Word of God must be put at stake". Ryle, Luther, and the Apostle Paul would all be considered rigid dogmatists by many today. Dr. Gordan's postings on Old Truth left me wondering: could there be inherent tension between Christian psychology and biblical Christianity? It brought to mind a pastor's testimony that I read online a while back; here is an excerpt: "How John Calvin Lead Me To Repent of Christian Psychology" After about 13 years in the pastorate, God graciously whacked me on the side of the head with a two-by-four to show me where I had drifted off course. At the time, I wasn't unhappy with my view of the Christian life. I would have argued that I was solidly biblical, that I only used psychology to illustrate or supplement scriptural principles, and that I was communicating in terms that my congregation could relate to. God sovereignly brought together several factors to confront me with the need to change. One of the most powerful was that for the first time I read completely through John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. At the same time, the elders of the church I pastored had assigned another elder and me the task of reading a Christian psychology book that the support group planned to use. The contrast between Calvin on the one hand, and the Christian psychology book on the other was like day and night. God drew a line in the dirt and pointedly said, "Which side are you on?" I couldn't straddle the line. I had to repent of the psychologized version of the faith I had drifted into and turn back to God-centered Christianity, founded on the all-sufficiency of Christ and the Scriptures. That was in 1991, and since then I have grown more certain of the evil of blending Christianity and psychology. Just as in Israel of old, men both "feared the Lord and served their own gods according to the custom of the nations" (2 Kings 17:33), so I believe many American Christians have fallen into a syncretistic blending of Christianity and worldly psychology. But the two do not mix! ...Some of you may disagree strongly with what I say. I don't expect everyone to agree with me instantly. But I do hope that I make you begin to re-think these matters in light of Scripture. I have to be very selective, but I want to present five areas where I believe so-called "Christian psychology" is at odds with biblical truth. Read the rest of Pastor Steven Cole's testimony here. As for Bob Gordon, I do hope he will visit Old Truth again and perhaps join in conversation with us on this page. I'd be interested in having him interact with us in the comments below, especially on the topic of how truth and doctrine relate to biblical love and unity. Perhaps he is right, that the positions espoused on Old Truth are "limiting and will only serve to further alienate". Another way to say that is "doctrine divides", and it's true that sometimes it in fact - does divide. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.351   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism