Psychology without faith is lame.

Some of you may know that I am alluding to the well known statement by Einstein that “Faith without  Science is blind, Science without faith is lame.” With respect to the first part of Einstein's quote, I know where he was coming from. But it is not just inside of the faith of some, where one finds the attitude, “Please do not confuse me with the facts, I know what I believe”.  I suppose it is more obnoxious when it comes from one is claiming to be enlightened, but then atheists claim to be enlightened too, and some of them also have this attitude.  I have met them.  But not all atheists are like that, nor are all Christians like that.  With respect to the quote, poor old Galileo for example, under tremendous pressure from the Church,  was force to recant of his belief that the world went round the sun,  rather than vice- versa.

But “Science” is not always right. As with all knowledge, we advance many times by two steps  forward one step back.  I have faith that the “assured (but often false) conclusions of our research”  will eventually be corrected by new research. The  advantage of age is that you can look back and see this happening. I have seen it over and over in a number of different areas, in Science, in Psychology, in Biblical studies etc. In each case I have seen that “findings”  antithetical to Christian faith,  which we were assured were true, have in retrospect been shown to be false. But these things can take a long time to correct, a very long time. There is a book “The nature of scientific revolution” which strongly suggests that the old guys (who invented this or that theory) have to die off, before their false theories can be discarded. In terms of inner healing,  we need to be aware that confidently expressed Psychological solutions based on the wisdom of man, rather than on the wisdom of God, are  not  always correct.  But I digress (slightly). 

Now Psychology research can give insight in our understanding of human nature in general, and the nature of our psychosis in particular. However  (to come to the title of this post)  Psychology without faith  is lame.   The problem is that understanding what is wrong, is not the same as fixing it.  We may, for example know perfectly well what we aught to do, but the wherewithal to do it is more often than not, missing. Nicky Gumbel (of Alpha fame) says it over and over “Yes, but how?”  Paul (to repeat an earlier post) complains that the good things he wants to do he does not do, and the bad things, he does not want to do, these are the very things that he does.  He and we, need help. We cannot live the Christian life without God, and the vehicle we need to use to tap into the help we so desperately need,  is our faith.   We need His help to change,  and we need Him in the healing process too. After all He is the One  who “heals all your diseases”.  I know that it is foolishness to the World, but the testimony of so many of His people is of  tremendous help they received. It is my testimony too.  Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Let me acknowledge here, that there are those who do not name the name of Christ (they obviously have a will power much stronger than mine), who do somehow manage to pull themselves up out of their addictions. Those I have spoken to though,  tell me that they never loose the craving.  The problem here, is that even when I can change the behaviour, it does not heal the wounds that drove me to the behaviour in the first place. I personally need God to work in my desires (Philippians 2:12) and I need His healing in the hurts I have sustained and continue to sustain in life.

These helps  are more available than we have begun to imagine.  It has to do with being vitally connected with God through prayer, godly council and His Word.  There are many helpful resources that I believe God has raised up, and continues to raise up at this hour, in and for the increasingly sick society in which we live.  Some of the keys He is showing us can be found,  for example  in “Healing Light” by Agnes Sanford, or Leanne Payne's “Healing prayer”, or “Healing of Memories” by David  Seamands. Then there is “Transformation of the inner man” by the Sandfords (see Elijah house ministries), or the Restoring the Foundations network of the Kelstras (RTF), or Jack Frost's  “Shiloh Place  ministries”.   All these and others (though they do not use the same language), seek to engage the trinity of helps that I am advocating. In particular there is an emphasis on discovering Biblical Keys to inner healing, as well as a heavy reliance on the intervention of God in the healing process.  And it is a trinity. We need all three aspects of it, self help, Bible help and God's help.  When we do not avail ourselves of, and learn how to tap into,   the God's help part of this trinity we are, I am very much afraid, guilty of having a form of religion but denying its Power. If we really believe that with God all things are possible we will show it by our lives, and in the choices that we make.  We must not, we cannot, be conformed to the World that gives up the moment there is 'pain in the offing'.

The things of which I am speaking are in fact quite controversial in the church. It is unfortunate but true that this has been true of every move of God (since Luther on).  The move and provision of God for this hour, about which I will need to say more,  is not of course perfect (well I am part of it, and I am far from perfect). I am however convinced that this move is very much what our sick society so desperately needs. I believe that it is  the way forward for both for the church and for the “whosoever will come”s of this wicked and hurting World in which we live.