Customer Reviews

Christian Psychology's War on God's Word: The Victimization of the Believer

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I fully agree with the author's presentation of the problems created in a believer's walk with God when they have been exposed to psychological therapy in their past--Christian or not. We see it all the time in lay counseling/mentoring ministry. To the extent that they have embraced this methodology, they are incapable of denying self, taking up their cross and following Jesus as He directs. They have difficulty getting past the blind spot created by the indoctrination that they need to get free of their guilt by transferring it to another person or circumstance from their past. It has become a habit. To refute that would destroy the safety net they have created for the self-life. To bring self to the alter in recognition of its sinful behavior where it can be truly crucified and Christ's forgiveness can bring healing is too painful for them. They have difficulty taking that responsibility. The psychological approach of transference of guilt is easier. Self is a very powerful, controlling force--it started in the garden (Gen. 3)and continues to seek dominence in the believer's life. Only the cross of Christ can bring it where it needs to be--dead--at the cross in identification with Christ (Gal 2:20), so that His life can flow forth in us in cleansing and healing.

This book gives the lie to so-called Christian psychology. Owen rips the phoney facade off the hypocrasy known as Christian Psychological Counseling. The Holy Bible clearly says that Jesus Christ has all power, authority, and dominion over believers--Christ's message is sufficient; UNLESS you are a contemporary North American clergy man or woman brainwashed in the secular humanism drenching the seminaries of today. Then the Scriptures are not sufficient. Now you need the "discovered" truths of secular, humanistic, behaviorial Psychology/Psychiatry.
Owen shows how counselers trap you in an endless cycle of co-dependency vs. low "self-esteem." He also demonstrates that counselors deem bad behavior, or sins, to be a result of pathology (sickness), so people no longer need to feel responsible for what they do. The Bible, on the other hand, holds each individual responsible for their actions. Jim Owen, the author, IS qualified to write this book and here's why: He is a Christian; and he has practical experience counseling various types of behavior problems, however, he used Scripture to effect positive change in his subjects not psuedo-scientific psychology. Mr. Owen's book is well documented, and he also gives many references from the Bible. He doesn't pretend to be neutral on the issues. Just for the record, none of the major theorists in modern psychology were Christian, so perhaps this book provides some balance to this field! This passage from the book encapsulates Owen's premise on why "Christian" Psychology is defective: "The fundamental error of "Christian" psychology is that it turns away from the authority of Scripture. It attempts to ground the believer's walk, not in faith in Christ, but rather in knowledge. It is a modern version of GNOSTICISM. It teaches that Christians struggle and fail to master sin not because thay cherish sin more than their Lord, nor because of willful disobedience or a lack of faith, but because of human ignorance."
I highly recommend this book, if you are interested at all in Jesus and in helping others to know Him!

This teacher at the Master's College has hit the issue on the head as he speaks to the Church's descent to allowing human reason to sway Biblical revelation. This "Blame anyone but myself" generation has wanted God to no longer have the straight forward answers, rather subjective insights. Jim Owen says simply all my sins were paid for at Calvary, that means all I need to do is recognize that and there is nothing I need to be drawn down by. He scourges the modern counsellors/psychologists. Highly recommended.

If your church has been caught up in the philosophies of such "Laodicean-church-shamans" as Neal Anderson, Bill Hybels, and Rick Warren - or even it that's not the case - GET THIS BOOK!! Better yet....get a few copies + give them to your deacons/elders. Jim Owen masterfully uncovers how "Christian" psychology is gradually undermining the present-day church with its gross subjectivity. Why should I turn my life over to some "Higher Power"...when my need is redemption, not some kind of mercenary relief from my pain/fear/"dysfunctionality"?

I love the authors premise, that the Living Word of God is sufficient for all our needs. His great, great grandfather was a famous Puritan theologian who kept the church on track with the Bible to avoid apostacy. This Owen is doing the same in exposing the mixture (the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil")so prevalent in the American church today. I fully believe God longs for every committed pastor to read this book and to preach the pure, unadulterated WORD OF GOD as Owen exhorts.

I noticed this version was published in 2004, which is interesting because I had to read it for a class in 1993, and it was one of the worst cases against psychiatry and psychology I've ever read for the main reason that practically every time the author quotes someone he is quoting them out of context. When the author came to our class I had a whole list of questions for him, and he was ridiculously unprepared. We clashed over his use of John Stott quotes and when he could not defend his comments about Stott against my arguments, he completely deviated from the point and grouched: "Well, Stott doesn't even believe in hell." That was his defense for twisting Stott's words on an entirely different subject (whether or not Jesus' love for us had anything to do with the cross). This book is a joke, and those who believe it are like those who would say the world is flat. Every year psychiatry knows more and more about the way our brains work and every year biblical counselors get dumber and dumber by trying to ignore basic biology. No, it isn't that the Bible is not essential for Christians in any situation, it's that we must not pretend that our body chemistry has no influence on our brains and therefor our emotions and thoughts. Some Christians can be so silly and so stubborn. If you are a ridiculous person who thinks the world is flat and that Jesus did NOT die on the cross out of his great love for us (unless Owen has changed his tune on that one!), then go ahead and read this nonsense.

I just want to comment that Jesus Christ is truly sufficient. Even though some people turned to doctors when they are severely sick, I have personally known of cases where people diagnosed with level 3 cancer (cancer which has spread to lymphatic systems) has turned to Jesus Christ for help instead of chemotherapy which only promises a 50% recovery chance. And these people were healed fully, in Jesus Name! They went for medical scans and the cancer cells are totally no more. And I talked to doctors about this, they said it cannot be fathomed medically. Trust in God, He calls us to have faith in Him.

This book is poorly documented and poorly argued. The bias and reactivity of the author get in the way of anything that might have been potentially useful. Basically, Christian psychology is reduced to enhancing self-esteem and nursing victimization, thus reducing a highly complex discipline to the stuff of "pop-psych" books. The author has no apparent credentials to discuss the topic intelligently and it shows. He is driven by his agenda and this is nothing more than a conspiracy theory.

I am shocked and sad at how dangerous this book will be to Christians uneducated on the complex subject of psychology. Mr. Owens does not have a M.D in Psychiatry and does not even hold a simple degree in psychology; yet he decides he can comment on the subject. His work is poorly documented and much can be easily disproved. Mr. Owens encourages believers to shun God's gift of recent scientific knowledge. And a previous review stated that the worlds famous psychologists and psychiatrists are not Chirstian. Well, sir or madame, will you now reject the findings of all other doctors on the grounds of the fact that they are not believers? If your daughter has leukemia, will you reject the medical help because it has been discovered by nonChristians?

Dr. Ken Phillips, a psychiatrist at Alliance Clinical Associates, a Christian mental health center in Wheaton, Illinois, says how Satan uses a physical illness in the brain to bring spiritual disappointment on a believer. How true! Let us please leave the dark days of medieval misunderstanding and prejudice and encourage those who are stricken with mental illnesses. Thank the Lord Jesus Christ for people who further the Kingdom by striving to heal the sickness instead of condemning the person on the grounds of sin.

If someone has cancer, no one whispers, "I wonder what sin they committed to deserve this?"; yet if someone's brain betrays them just as the other persons' body cells betrayed them, most Christians tell the mentally ill person outright, "You need to repent of your sin. Then you will be alright."

This reminds me of the blind man and the Pharisees. Let us remember Jesus' compassionate response, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed."