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In our previous article “Syncretism & PsychoHeresy” we pointed out how Christianity has been syncretized with twentieth-century psychotherapy. Instead of the care of souls being a function of the church by grace through faith in Christ and the Word of God, the “faith once delivered to the saints” has been syncretized with the man-made systems of psychotherapy. This contaminating syncretism has infected Christian schools, seminaries, pastors, denominations, churches, mission agencies, and what is called “biblical counseling.” Those who call themselves “biblical counselors” may deny that they are behavioristic or “psychoanalytic” and claim that they are being wholly biblical. However, because America is a psychotherapeutic society with a psychotherapeutic mindset saturating the hearts and minds of its people, even those who call themselves “biblical counselors” have naively absorbed and adapted some of the psychotherapeutic world into their work. This syncretism is most obviously seen in their problem-centeredness. Popular author, speaker, and counselor Paul Tripp is an example of this syncretism. His counseling and teaching approach skillfully blend the psychological and biblical to the degree that few bother to notice his syncretism. Tripp, like psychotherapists, has been a problem-centered counselor, charged for his counseling, counseled women, and served in a separated-from the-church counseling center. Not one of these activities has any biblical justification, no matter how much of the Bible is ignored or twisted. Furthermore, Tripp’s major approach, using the “idols of the heart,” is more psychoanalytical than biblical. |
