Scripture Based

Pillar 2: Scripture-based

Although I highly value my training in psychology, and employ it daily in my practice, I view people and their core problems through the lens of God's Word. I believe that a good, sound and robust psychology must be based upon the Biblical view of God, human nature and sin. The Bible describes us as fallen creatures in need of redemption through Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, I am far more dependent upon the Bible than I am in the the sciences in which I have been trained. Science is valuable, and I keep up with the current literature, but science provides only partial truth about reality, especially about the human mind, while the Bible offers full and absolute truth about reality.

Without the Bible, truth becomes a matter of public opinion or something we can pick and choose as "our truth," as from a cafeteria menu. In order to demonstrate the absurdity of this belief, Dr. Stephen Covey once asked the college students to simply close there eyes for a moment and point north. Then he asked the students to hold their hands and fingers in that position as they opened their eyes. When they opened their eyes, they saw a sea of hands pointing in all possible directions. Who was right? Only those few who pointed to true north, in the same direction as the compass point did. Ultimately, there is absolute truth, in the same way that there is true north. God provides that truth through the Bible, our compass.

As John Piper writes: "The most relativistic professor in the university, who scoffs at the concept of truth in the classroom, will be indignant if his electricity bill is false to his disadvantage. He will call the utility company and complain that there is some mistake. He will not think it is funny if the voice on the other end says, "It's a mistake in your view, but not in our view." (What Jesus Demands of the World, p. 290).