{"id":158455,"date":"2025-08-16T23:09:50","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T23:09:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celticorthodoxy.com\/?p=127230"},"modified":"2025-08-28T21:15:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T21:15:28","slug":"psychology-as-heresy-why-christians-must-reject-psychotherapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/watchman.news\/de\/2025\/08\/psychology-as-heresy-why-christians-must-reject-psychotherapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Psychology as Heresy: Why Christians Must Reject the New Secular Psychotherapy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Academic Note<\/h3>\n

The following material is drawn from the core curriculum of St. Andrew\u2019s OCC, Institute of Theology<\/strong>. It is distributed with permission as a preview for prospective students, to raise awareness about the ongoing political and cultural context, and to foster constructive dialogue between professionals on the place of Christian alternatives in a predominantly secular climate. While some voices in society advance extreme claims, our Institute emphasizes a measured, balanced approach<\/strong>\u2014a principle that continues to guide all of our teaching.<\/p>\n

Many of the textbooks referenced herein are also used across course modules in the Institute\u2019s programs in Health, History, Law, Theology, and Peace Studies<\/strong>. This article is therefore presented as an academic preview of ongoing theological research<\/strong>, and should be engaged with in that spirit.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer<\/h3>\n

Nothing in this article is intended to diagnose, treat, or cure<\/strong> any disease or mental condition. The material is provided solely for theological, historical, and academic study<\/strong>. Students and readers are encouraged to approach the topic critically and thoughtfully, as they would with any serious field of scholarly inquiry.<\/p>\n

Psychology as Heresy: Why Christians Must Reject Psychotherapy<\/h1>\n

Introduction<\/h3>\n

In recent decades, psychotherapy has been promoted in America as a \u201cscientific\u201d solution for human struggles. Yet the Church historically understood that the cure of souls\u2014the cura animarum<\/strong>\u2014belongs to Christ and His ministers, not to secular theories. Increasingly, faithful Christian scholars, pastors, and seminaries are sounding the alarm: psychotherapy is both scientifically flawed and biblically heretical.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chafer Theological Seminary summarizes this clearly: for biblical reasons alone and for scientific reasons alone, Christians should never go to a psychotherapist, nor send others to one.<\/em> This is not simply a matter of personal conviction, but of obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord.<\/p>\n

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Biblical Foundations Against Psychotherapy<\/h3>\n

The opposition to secular psychology as a replacement for spiritual care is echoed across multiple respected voices. Martin and Deidre Bobgan\u2019s PsychoHeresy<\/em><\/strong> lays out how psychology subtly infiltrates the Church, masquerading as religion while undermining the sufficiency of Scripture\u2014psychotherapy, they argue, is \u201cdetrimental at worst, spiritual counterfeit at least.\u201d
\n<\/span>Complementing this, John MacArthur\u2019s Our Sufficiency in Christ<\/em><\/strong> warns against leaning on human methods instead of the Bible\u2019s completeness<\/span>; Ashamed of the Gospel<\/em><\/strong> critiques the Church\u2019s compromise with pragmatism and entertainment at the expense of Gospel fidelity<\/span>; and The Vanishing Conscience<\/em><\/strong> laments a culture in denial of sin, shaped not by Scripture, but by psychological relativism<\/span>. Taken together, these voices expose psychotherapy as not only scientifically flawed\u2014but spiritually corrosive.<\/p>\n

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The Roots of \u201cPsycho-Heresy\u201d<\/h3>\n

The Bobgans (Martin & Deidre), respected authors and researchers who publish for numerous Universities, have long called psychology \u201cpsycho-heresy\u201d for the Church. They observe that psychotherapy rests on speculative, contradictory theories that cannot withstand scientific scrutiny. Worse still, it undermines the sufficiency of Christ\u2019s Word. As they put it:<\/p>\n

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“for Biblical reasons alone, as well as scientific reasons alone, Christians should never go to a psychotherapist, and should never go to one voluntarily. And I would add that, as the Biblical counselling is practiced today: Don’t go there, don’t send them there.<\/p>\n

Take a look at Philippians 4:8<\/a>, you know this verse:<\/div>\n
“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things.”<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
You can tell what somebody is thinking about when they’re talking to you about issues and problems.” (basically unBiblical gossip against family members who aren’t there, and there’s no way for you to tell if it’s true or not….)”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Their works, along with many other scholarly critiques collected at psychoheresy.com<\/a>, show that psychology only masks problems, often creating further sin and bondage.<\/p>\n

Rockefeller Foundation funding and pharmaceutical interests promoted psychotherapy into universities and hospitals during the twentieth century. This \u201cpharmakia,\u201d tied to petroleum-derived pills, grew into a secular priesthood that displaced the Church. But Scripture warns against trusting in \u201cother gods\u201d or man-made systems for what belongs to Christ alone.<\/p>\n

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Biblical Alternatives: Christ\u2019s Way of Soul-Care<\/h3>\n

The Bible is not silent about how Christians must handle offenses, guilt, and struggles. Jesus commanded:<\/p>\n