Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19970413.htm

GOD'S RENEWAL FOR HOUSEHOLDS
"Part VI: Renewing Household Adults: Addressing Roadblocks - Overcoming Childhood Personality Disorders"

Need: "Aren't we missing a dimension in our lessons on family renewal?! Perhaps a professional counselor is needed to address a PERSONALITY DISORDER begun in a difficult childhood!"
  1. Even SECULAR authorities inform us that psychology is POOR not only at being a SCIENCE but also at replacing RELIGION!
    1. Secular professionals admit that psychology is destitute as a science:
      1. H. J. Eysenck, a psychologist at the British Inst. of Psychology, Britain's leading postgraduate psychiatric body, in "The Effects of Psychotherapy: An Evaluation," (Jour. of Consulting Psy., 16 (1952), p. 319-324) concluded that people under trained therapists have a lower incidence of improvement versus those with custodial or ordinary medical care (Wood, The Myth of Neurosis, p. 275f).
      2. In 1982, London & Klerman wrote: " . . . an enormous private market has been generated . . . for psychotherapeutic services that have never been fully defined . . . let alone been thoroughly evaluated in a scientific manner." ("Evaluating Psychotherapy," the American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, p. 709-717)
    2. Secular pros dispute trading religion for psychology: regretting that pastors often trade their pastoral hats for psychotherapy, R. J. Neuhaus (Nat. Rev., Feb. 19, '88, p. 46) says R. Coles of Harvard, Philip Rieff, Christopher Lasch, Karl Menninger, W. K. Kilpatrick, Paul Tournier and Ern est Becker "have all . . . begged Christians to reconsider the exchange of their heritage for a mess of psychobabble."
  2. Now, SOME disorders arise from PHYSICAL problems (Jay Adams, Competent To Counsel, p. xvi) or are so SERIOUS that the afflicted are suicidal, legitimately requiring MEDICAL attention; thus, all strong disorders should FIRST be checked by a DOCTOR!
  3. Nevertheless, ALL behavioral disorders exist BECAUSE of SIN:
    1. In creation, man was behaviorally whole, Gen. 1:27-31a.
    2. After man sinned, all aberrant behaviors arose, Gen. 4-6. Besides physical problems, these came from man's failing to handle the stress sin produced, The Volume Library, v. 2, p. 2060f; Ibid., Adams!
    3. Some of man's stress is due to demonic sources, cf. Mark 5:1-5 et al.
  4. So, after seeing a DOCTOR, we face behavior disorders as follows:
    1. First, one obtains the spiritual resources to begin to address SIN:
      1. One begins by trusting Christ for salvation from sin. This results in one's receiving a nature to live uprightly, Jn. 3:16; Rom. 7:18-8:3-4.
      2. This salvation also produces immediate, permanent, unconditional liberation from demonic possession, Col. 1:12-13; 1 John 5:18c.
      3. This step also results in the permanent assistance of the Holy Spirit:
        1. Since the Spirit permanently indwells the believer until the rapture (Ep. 1:13-14; 4:30), a believer controlled by that Spirit counters all external demonic pressures toward wrong behavior!
        2. A Christian psychologist told AMOC pastors that the fruit(s) of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22-23 each oppose known psychotic states!
        3. Hence, confession of sin (1 Jn. 1:9) and a conscious dependence on that Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:16) equips the believer to live without abnormal behavior no matter how bad is his background!
    2. Next, one needs a steady intake of Scripture for sustained vitality:
      1. People form behavior disorders by not facing their own violations of conscience states non-theist, humanist O. H. Mowrer, past Pres. of the Amer. Psychological Assn. (J. Adams, Ibid., p. xv-xvii)
      2. There are 3 reasons they fail here according to the Biblical view:
        1. (1) People may simply rebel against what they know is right.
        2. (2) Others have faced their sin, but in doing so have discovered they cannot themselves change (Rom. 7:18-23); the pain of this failure yields misery (Rom. 7:24), so they adjust their view to deceive themselves so as to shield their emotions from pain!
        3. (3) Others ignorantly accept an errant ethic (legalism (Gal. 4:21; 3:10-12) or even demonic error (1 Tim. 4:1-3) one cannot heed only to deceive themselves by adopting a maladjustment to hide from what they sadly do not realize is thus but a false guilt!
      3. Scripture intake and application solves each of these 3 problems:
        1. (1) Scripture convicts, making rebels face their sins, John 15:3.
        2. (2) Scripture supplies insight on solving sin's problems, giving hope and direction to face and handle sin in place of one's maladjusting to shield himself from his guilt's pain, Ps. 19:7-12.
        3. (3) Scripture exposes errant legalistic pressure or Satanic codes to rescue the afflicted from false guilt, Gal. 2:3-5; 1 Jn. 2:14b.
        4. Studies verify this input: Christian psychiatrist, Frank B. Minirth reports from testing done on believers that those who spent time daily reading the Bible were the one group of believers that showed "no significant pathology," or no significant behavior disorder patterns, You Can Measure Your Mental Health, p 14.
Lesson Application: As psychology itself is bankrupt, aside from physical causes or suicidal cases for which one should first see a doctor, address all behavior disorders via Christ and His Word!