"Psychologist, Heal Thyself." --Joyce Milton
"If there is no God, all things are permissible." -- Dostoevsky
"... [A]nd [God] breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7, KJV).
NB: The Greek antiquarian axiom: Know thyself!
The Christian faith is a school of psychology, in fact, a better one than pop or even traditional psychology, and it is a competing one for the hearts and minds of Christians, some of whom feel alienated from the church and don't find solutions in its traditions and teachings. Too often Christians seeking psychological counseling just have unresolved personal problems and aren't obedient believers repenting of their sins and being accountable--the troubled souls need guidance and support for the social maladjustment. But psychology is starting to realize the importance of accountability and of making choices again, which is a kind of recognition of sin, the ultimate irresponsibility. The point is that without God there is no sin and we are not accountable!
The fact is that only the church offers answers to all the ultimate questions and dilemmas of man, and psychology focuses on behavior, dodging the bullet. Psychology is supposedly the study of the soul or psyche, but it has reverted to studying and modifying behavior. They don't have the big answer to what's wrong with us but focus on diagnosis and so-called self-help therapies. We instinctively sense something is awry with our condition. William Kirk Kilpatrick concludes, "The real test of a theory or way of life, however, is not whether it can relieve pain but what it says about the pain it cannot relieve." Why is it that religious people are known to be less stressed than nonbelievers?
Christian psychology, which seems like an oxymoron, focuses on positive psychological hygiene, as well as avoiding bad, destructive behavior. We are supposed to cease to do evil and learn to do good. Don't just avoid sin, but do the right thing and live right. According to Christian psychologists, most mental illnesses don't really exist, but they are over-diagnosed to people who have emotional problems with life adjustment and coping in the real world. They have not learned to hack Reality 101. (Modern psychology doesn't know any answers to life's problems and issues, such as the meaning and purpose of life, where we came from, where we're headed, and why we are here.) They study behavior but cannot define human nature and don't know what makes us human--the image of God!
Every rational person knows about the existence of good and evil and has eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in Adam, but most people still think man is basically good, while Christianity is counter-cultural and says we are basically and intrinsically evil and corrupt through and through--no one escapes corruption and is pure in God's eyes. This raises a red flag when they cannot account for the evil in the world and don't even have a definition for it. But Paul said, "Wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24). We must know ourselves as the Greeks admonished, and the picture isn't pretty. A famous Christian philosopher remarked: "What is wrong with the world? I am, sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton." Christianity gives us dignity and makes us accountable and oriented toward reality, and isn't a cop-out or escape. Christianity is the only worldview that adequately answers all the ultimate questions plaguing mankind.
Christianity is unique too: The problem is sin, and Christ is the answer! Man is plagued by real guilt (not a guilt-complex a la Freudian psychology) and needs forgiveness and freedom from guilt which can only be realized in spiritual renewal and salvation. We are each individually responsible to God and accountable and will be judged as to what we did with our gifts from God. Christianity doesn't give us the freedom to live as we want, but the power to live as we ought and sets us free from the bondage of sin's power over us. We were born in bondage not born free! Only in Christianity is there meaning in suffering and the guilt problem is dealt a final blow and resolved for good so that it doesn't dog a person for the rest of his life.
We are in the image of God, having intellect, will, emotion, intuition, conscience, etc., and must seek good and moral choices, as well as avoid the evil one: Doing the right thing while avoiding bad behavior as well. We all have human traits of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence to name a few of the known 52 virtues delineated in Scripture. The goal is not to pinpoint blame or to point the finger, but to bring healing through reconciliation to God. Only then will we realize what makes life worth living. Soli Deo Gloria!