I remember my own experience with a Christian Psychologists many years back . . .
I was desperate for help. I decided to search psychologytoday.com for a Christian psychologist. I wondered if Christians had a different viewpoint or someway that they could help me. No psychologist could help me to that point.
Through that website, I made an appointment with a local Christian psychologist. I had high expectations for it to be different in some way. I expected to encounter teaching from the Bible. Although I was not a Christian at this time in my life, I was so desperate that I was open to hearing what the Bible said.
I drove into the asphalt parking lot and parked my car between a set of the many available lines. The appointment was in an institutional-like business building in Carmel, Indiana. As I walked through the front door, I called the Christian psychologist as she instructed me. She came out to meet me in the front foyer. The entire building was quiet. She led me upstairs and through a maze-like hallway. When we got to her office, she paused to unlock the door with her keys. She opened it and stepped back. I walked in before her.
It appeared as if she was only renting a small room. I looked around but no waiting room or anything else to it was to be found. When I walked into the office, it was as empty as I soon found her counseling to be. The walls were white. A desk was shoved in the corner, facing the wall.
“When I walked into the office, it was as empty as I soon found her counseling to be.”
She led me next to the corner and motioned me to sit on one of the chairs. Before I got there to sit, she stepped in front of me. She had noticed that she left some books on that chair which needed to be cleared first. After she got out of the way, I sat down and found it most uncomfortable like the feeling of a metal-folding chair.
We began our session together. As she talked, I quickly felt like I was not welcome there. It was awkward immediately: I don’t think she knew what to do with me. She probably knew that I wasn’t a believer. Still, she did not ask me questions that you would typically hear a Christian ask someone to find out if they are a believer.
The counseling was empty and a complete waste of time. She didn’t give me the gospel. She didn’t mention Jesus or the Bible. I felt so uncomfortable there that I did not want to go back.
Honestly, I hate to tell people about my personal experience with a Christian psychologist. I also simply hate to tell people the truth about Christian psychology. For people involved with it, the truth of it is so hard that it brings a tear to my eye. I know that Christian psychologists
She was pretty young, maybe 30. She could have been inexperienced. I don’t know where she got her training, but I remember thinking that wherever she got her Christian psychology degree was of really poor quality compared to the psychologist that I met with before. My other psychologists were probably more experienced, more welcoming, and more hospitable.
In retrospect, I know that any Christian, even a new believer, could give better counsel than the particular Christian psychologist that I met with. A new believer would at least know to give the gospel to someone like me.
Quite frankly, I come to the same conclusion whether I examine it from my personal experience or through simple, objective study of God’s Word: Christianity and psychology simply do not mix. They are two completely separate belief systems. They have entirely contradictory definitions and approaches. They couldn’t be more different from each other. They thoroughly and completely contradict each other’s teachings. This is the hard truth that brings a tear to my eye. Still, I must boldly share it, knowing full well that there are so many proponents of “Christian” psychology out there.