Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology

Rating:
Summary: A Weak Book
Review: Ed Bulkley takes the anti-psychology argument to such extreme it becomes a sort of spiritual McCarthyism, actually limiting God. No true believer would deny the power and authority of God's Word, but that doesn't mean you throw out all other valid forms of knowledge including the study of God's magnificent creation--the human mind.

If you had a loved one with deep mental problems, where would you rather seek help? Would it be one of Ed Bulkley's novice biblical counselors who don't know a neuron from a kneecap, or a professional Christian psychologist, who combines his knowledge of the inner workings of the mind with biblical truth to produce the best of all counseling results?

This book goes beyond why Christians can't "trust" psychology to a legalistic ranting of why Christians can't use the science of psychology in any way, shape, or form. A weak book from a non-scholarly, pharisaic author.

Rating:
Summary: Ignores deep damage
Review: He does not seem to believe that "All truth is God's truth" and that we should use all the true knowledge available to us in helping people to heal from mental and spiritual damage.

I read this book and was disturbed by the way the author dismisses the deep damage caused by sexual abuse. He promotes the idea of using spiritual willpower and Scripture reading and prayer as the road to true healing, ignoring that the painful damage caused by sexual abuse needs to be worked through using all of the truth and resources available to us.

His dismissal of Allender's book about sexual abuse "The Wounded Heart" is particularly disturbing because of how well-researched and biblically centered it is (while also drawing from the resources of psychology) it is and how many thousands of people have been able to TRULY heal (not just put on a front of 'wholeness') through his work and writings.

As a result, I fear that many will try to follow his writings and find themselves putting on a 'spiritual facade' instead of truly walking through and grieving their past hurts and eventually reaching a place of true forgiveness and relationship with God. The healing process cannot be rushed and difficult realizations and consequences of sin cannot be ignored or taken lightly.

Rating:
Summary: A Courageous Book
Review: I picked this book up thinking I would just pass it on to someone else. I decided to read a few pages of the first chapter and ended up reading the whole book. This is a very courageous look at how Christian Counseling (integrationist) has infiltrated the church and has replaced Biblical counseling. It is a refreshing, straight forward presentation. Also, written in such a way that it is interesting reading. I commend you Ed Bulkley for your bravery and I commend Harvest House for publishing this most needed look at the other side of the Christian Counseling issue. I wish everyone could read this and then make an informed decision about who they choose to counsel with.

Rating:
Summary: A Courageous Book
Review: I picked this book up thinking I would just pass it on to someone else. I decided to read a few pages of the first chapter and ended up reading the whole book. This is a very courageous look at how Christian Counseling (integrationist) has infiltrated the church and has replaced Biblical counseling. It is a refreshing, straight forward presentation. Also, written in such a way that it is interesting reading. I commend you Ed Bulkley for your bravery and I commend Harvest House for publishing this most needed look at the other side of the Christian Counseling issue. I wish everyone could read this and then make an informed decision about who they choose to counsel with.

Rating:
Summary: Some good points amidst all the polemics
Review: If it were not for the author's acid rhetoric and his seeming disdain for anything that is not in the Bible, this book might actually have some corrective function toward Christian counselling. As it stands, however, it is probably not worth the cost, because most of us have heard it all before. Psychology is no good, and every problem we have in life is because of some sort of sin. Bulkley sounds too much like the counsellors of Job. I do agree with him that it is problematic when Christians rely exclusively on psychology for solving their emotional problems, but I do not agree with his Bible-only solution. I do think that integration of Christian faith with psychological insights is possible, but it must be done with great sensitivity to the Scriptures, and musn't contradict them. I think that successful integration does require probably more training in Scripture than many Christian counsellors are getting. For a more helpful approach, I would recommend "Christ-Centered Therapy", Zondervan, 2000, by Neil Anderson. This book makes some of the same points Bulkley does but offers better solutions without so much of the ranting and raving.

Rating:
Summary: A Great book, but with a misleading title
Review: This book has a somewhat misleading title to it, in that the author does not think psychology itself is evil. The thesis of this book is that psychology is viewed, in our society, as a religion. This pseudo-religion of secular psychology can mislead Christians and this I think is what the author was trying to get across. The author is writing this book as sort of a warning to Christians to be carefull not to view psychology as something that it isn't. In my opinion it is a book well worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: From Personnal Experience
Review: THIS BOOK IS A MUST. Speaking from experience, I was deeply sabotaged in my life by several "Professionals/Experts" in the Christian Psychology circle. I was also raised in a household of "Christian Psychology" and was taught of its doctrines and "truths."
When "Professionals" decided to intervene in my family's affairs all in the name of "protecting the welfare of the children." It happened that their theories, typically taught as fact, only succeeded in turning every member of my family against each other and along the way its deceit cost me my Father for over ten years and severely damaged the relationship I had with my Mother. It has taken over a decade to unravel the destruction those "experts" created in my family and to decipher the trickery of their philosophy. My Father is back in my life. Thanks only to my Lord and Savior and His power to override the lies I'd come to believe! The Lord truly blessed Mr. Bulkley when he revealed this insight to him. The Bible is truly the only reliable source for healing, truth and comfort. I know these things from experience and pray that all who have been living in confusion, regret, bitterness, blame and self-justification of their pain. Seek out the "truths" to your troubles and burdens by visiting the Bible, visiting your Minister and visiting your Lord on your knees. This will save you both time and money. If we all spent, as much time and energy focusing on the Lord as we do on our own selfish "past" and "wounds," flushing our money down the psychological toilet. Imagine the quality of life we would live.... Imagine the lives we could touch.... Imagine how many ways we could be serving, praising and knowing our Lord. Hold desperately and faithfully to the freedom that is yours through Him, who of us has suffered the pain he endured, our pain is nothing compared to what he absorbed on our behalf. I cannot help but take note of how highly we credit our selfish hurt. Let us not allow His sacrifice "paid in full" on the cross, to have been made in vain. Do not waist another moment! Embrace the victory He fulfilled on the cross, "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead." Do not misplace your precious, treasured faith in any, doctrine of man!

Rating:
Summary: This book liberates you from the tyranny of the "experts".
Review: This book provides a clear and logical approach to the question of "integration" of unproven psychological theory with the Word of God in counseling believers in Jesus Christ. Read this book along with those that argue for integration and the truth will become clear.