Psychology And The Church: Critical Questions, Crucial Answers [Paperback]

Dave Hunt (Author), T.a. McMahon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2007

For nearly two thousand years prior to the rise of modern psychiatry and psychotherapy, the church has ministered to believers experiencing mental, emotional and behavioral problems by using the teachings of the Scriptures and in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Contemporary Christianity’s embrace of psychology, then, raises an important question: Was there an insufficiency on the part of God’s Word and His Holy Spirit during those two millennia that made it necessary for the church to turn to modern psychotherapy in order to more effectively address a Christian’s problems of living?

In the history of contemporary Christendom, no secular enterprise has had such a profound influence on Christianity as has psychological counseling. The critical question raised by these developments is: Have they been helpful or harmful to the body of Christ?

Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon, co-authors of The Seduction of Christianity, unearth the roots—and expose the results—of Christianity’s embrace of the beliefs of Freud, Jung, Rogers, Maslow and others. Using content compiled from past feature articles in The Berean Call newsletter, the authors also contribute new material and tackle answers to tough questions in a special Q&A section.

Table of Contents:

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Born in 1926, Dave enjoyed the advantages of a godly upbringing and placed his trust in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord in his early teens. He received a degree in mathematics from U.C.L.A. Marriage to his wife, Ruth, was followed by the birth of four children, a career as CPA/management consultant and later, the management of several corporations. Along with church-related activities, Dave initiated and became involved in numerous campus ministries and meetings in his home, with a special outreach to Jewish young people and foreign students. Since 1973 Dave’s desire for fulltime ministry has found fulfillment through authorship of books dealing with the incursion, into Western culture and the church itself, of Eastern, psychological and selfist philosophies, ecumenism and other unbiblical teachings. Concern over Islamic politics and religion are reflected in current articles, lectures and interviews. At least 4 million copies of his books have been sold and have been translated into more than 50 languages. They include: The Cult Explosion, The God Makers, The New Spirituality, The Seduction of Christianity, Global Peace and the Rise of Antichrist, Occult Invasion, A Cup of Trembling, In Defense of the Faith, An Urgent Call to a Serious Faith, What Love Is This?, Countdown to the Second Coming, Seeking and Finding God, Honest Doubts, Judgment Day! Islam, Israel and the Nations and Yoga and the Body of Christ. His video, Israel, Islam & Armageddon has become a tremendous tool for churches and others interested in helping spread the truth about events prior to and since the attack on the World Trade Center. Dave’s impeccable research and recognized scholarship are based on in depth studies of original documents and publications, interviews with key experts from around the world and extensive travel—including to South America, Australia, Europe and throughout the Middle East. A sought-after speaker at conferences, Dave is also a frequent radio and television talk-show guest. With cohost T.A. McMahon, Dave challenges listeners weekly on the radio program Search the Scriptures Daily, broadcast over 350 stations in the U.S. and worldwide via shortwave radio.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The Berean Call; Pap/DVD edition (July 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1928660614
• ISBN-13: 978-1928660613
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,331 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book., January 22, 2009

By 

Aaron James Asuncion - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psychology And The Church: Critical Questions, Crucial Answers (Paperback)

I read this book after watching the documentary DVD and just by examining through the pages, It really gave me solid facts to Debunk Psychology Forever!! This book along with some other books from the Bobgans and other material coming from Psychologists who discredit's psychology, shed's light on issues that psychology claims can solve but in reality, it creates it's own problems. This book is a real blunt attack against "christian psychology"(which is really an oxymoron honestly speaking). It also helped me to stay away from dangerous 'psychotropic drugs' that psychologists prescribed to me when I was still seeing one. To those Genuine Christians who honestly want to seek answers about the dangers of psychology and to give some insights to the history of it's founders like Freud, Hung, Adler, this book is for you. It also helps Christians to have a more solid Biblical foundation to the truth of the Gospel.

My only reason for rating this book as four stars is that some portions of the book includes topics such as Dispensationalism and Eternal Security which to me is not suppose to be discussed in the book. Other than that, Dave and T.A. did an amazing job in researching and exposing some hidden truths about psychology, much as the same way they did in the Seduction of Christianity.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A quite different interpretation of Psychology, March 20, 2010

By 

Roman Nies (Helibrunna) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psychology And The Church: Critical Questions, Crucial Answers (Paperback)

The author states that humanistic psychology especially as championed in

Christian" psychology is to Bible-believing Christians subversive and

destructive. He gives for this mainly 5 points. 1. Humanistic

psychology`s theories came from the atheistic, anti-christian founders

of psychotherapy like Freud or Jung, whose concepts qualify for what the

Scriptures condemn as the counsel of the ungodly" (Psalm 1,1).He asks,

can from a poisonous well come healthy water? 2. The humanistic

emphasis upon loving and esteeming self rejects the biblical commandment

to deny self, which Jesus admonished us to do in Matthew 16,24. 3. The

increasing focus on esteeming oneself gradually distorts a believer`s

understanding of the truth regarding the sinful nature of man and hides

conviction of sin in a morass of humanistic rationalizations. 4. the

subjective feelings orientation of humanistic psychology undermines the

absolutes of God`s objective truth. 5. as the leaven of humanism grows

in the mind of a believer, this interpretation of the Scriptures

gradually shifts from what God has indeed said (Genesis 3,1) to "a way

which seems right unto a man but in the end it leads to certain death"

(Proverbs 14,12).

He also says, that the fruits of humanistic psychology are already seen

as destructive in the American society where the morale is on the

decline everywhere, the criminality rate rising and the families

breaking up. Psychology says there is no sin, only hurt feelings and low

self-esteem. To set hope in a renewed "Self" is a false gospel, and

contradicting God`s word which says that on should be "dying to

self" (Matthew 16,24) , crucifying the self (Galatians 2,20),

sacrificing the self (Romans 12,1) and being delivered from one`s self

(Luke 4,18).

He has made the observation that the power to build opinions is in the hands of a few who make a fortune. And the Christian churches play a supporting role to all this, leaving alone the dedication to the only one who can not only safe souls but also heal them. Only Jesus Christ is the healer and redeemer, not psychology.

Psychology is in its worst forms mythology enriched with theories of sexually and spiritually shipwrecked people like Freud or Jung who even dealt with occultism.

"Replacing God with Self leads to the central dogma of the religion of

psychology: mankind is innately good."

It is true that the Bible teaches that man in innately not good. Therefore the conclusions of the author are right from the standpoint of a Christian who cares for regarding Gods Word as faultless.

It says in 2Tim 3,16 about itself, that it is good for reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness, or that it is good for making man a new creation and the old things pass away (1 Cor 15,3-4). But here you have, according to the author, the next problem: many Christians doubt the word of God. Even the Catholic church does not give full credit to the Bible at the price of denying the Bibles inerrancy, sufficiency and authority to erect the own inerrancy, sufficiency and authority. This is indeed a remarkable discovery of Hunt. Psychotherapy is, the author says, also a modern form of shamanism. In so far E.Fuller Torrey agreed with him when he said that: "The techniques used by western psychiatrists are, with few exceptions, on exactly the same scientific plane as the techniques used by witchdoctors."

The great Philosopher Karl Popper said: "Though posing as science

psychotherapy had in fact more in common with primitive myths than with

science and resembled astrology rather than astronomy." He could say so,

because Jung and other psychotherapists used astrology within their

methods.

In psychology, the author warns, virtue is ridiculed, evil is praised as good and liberating, biblical moral standards are mocked as the narrow-minded thinking of a past generation out of touch with todays`s reality. Maybe the people of Sodom and Gomorrah thought the same. Then seeds of this

liberal totalitarianism are sprouting even in evangelical circles, where

those who dare to oppose false teachings and the belittlement of sin are accused of division, are denied a voice from pulpits, radio and TV, and their books are refused.

Hunt gives also an answer to the question why the world embraces psychology so willingly. He cites 2Cor. 4,4: "the God of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not". And why is it that so many Christians join them? Because they love the world more than God, he says. Why should they reject psychology when they do not reject the rest of the world? Although Jesus commanded (1.John 2,15): "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world." Or is it to escape the blame not to be "scientific" and be regarded as backward and inferior?

The main concern of the author is that psychology has redefined sin as sickness. So that it could excuse immorality and thereby encouraging it, drive the people further away from Christianity. The sinner is now diagnosed as in need of a therapy rather than being accountable and called upon to repent. Every kind of failure is excused as some kind of addiction. "Psychology has been rightly called the only profession that creates the diseases that it claims to cure."

Friends of the doctrine that the Scripture alone is necessary to cure people will find this book as an affirmation. Friends of psychology will have it difficult to sit through the whole book. They have something to digest.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A PROMINENT CHRISTIAN MINISTRY ATTACKS "CHRISTIAN COUNSELING", August 12, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Psychology And The Church: Critical Questions, Crucial Answers (Paperback)

Dave Hunt and T.A. McMahon operate an "anti-cult"/apologetics ministry called The Berean Call; they (particularly Hunt) have written many other books, of which The Seduction of Christianity: Spiritual Discernment in the Last Days is probably of most interest to readers of this book.

As the Publisher's Note to this 2008 book states, "this book is a revised and expanded compilation of articles, questions, and commentary from past issues of 'The Berean Call' newsletter."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

Christian psychology "wasn't founded by Christians and is in fact anti-Christian. It doesn't come from the Bible but is simply an attempt to integrate the theories of atheists into the Bible in order to supply missing essentials for daily living that the Holy Spirit apparently failed to include. Does that sound reasonable?" (Pg. 9)

"So what's the problem with psychotherapy? According to numerous scientific studies, it rarely works (and then only superficially) and is known to be harmful. From a biblical perspective, it is an antichristian, religious counterfeit." (Pg. 40)

"Sadly, many conservative evangelical preachers and teachers of note ... bought into, taught, Christianized, and further popularized the concepts of self-love, self-esteem, self-worth, and self-image. It is the 'new priesthood' of Christian psychologists, however, with credentials that falsely imply the anointing of science, that has convinced both shepherds and sheep of the legitimacy of the theories and methods of humanistic psychology." (Pg. 56)

"(P)sychology is the most successful false gospel in leading both the world and the church astray." (Pg. 69)

"Psychology's redefining of sin as sickness has excused wickedness and thus encouraged it." (Pg. 166)