“The world likes
a religion they cannot comprehend. But, have you never noticed how gloriously
simple the Bible is?” Charles Spurgeon
We recently received an email at Baylight inquiring about counseling services. Not understanding
the nature of our ministry, the person asked if we employed “EFT” or “Emotionally
Focused Therapy.” EFT is one of the many hundreds, if not thousands of secular counseling
theories that mental health therapists may choose to specialize in over-against
all the others.
EFT was developed
by Drs. Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg. It finds its roots in attachment theory,
which states that “humans are hardwired for strong emotional bonds with others.”
In EFT, emotional “disconnections” are considered to be one of the underlying
issues whenever couples experience discord. Therefore, according to an article published at PsychCentral.com, “The aim of EFT is to help couples overcome
these negative cycles, re-establish their connection, and strengthen their emotional
bond.”
Taking care to
not turn this article into a discussion of counseling theory, the inquiry
reminded me of just how pervasive is the psychologizing of the church today.
Our friend, in their email, explained that a Christian counselor elsewhere
shared with them that EFT was a highly effective treatment option for couples
counseling. Taking it upon expert advice, the person set out in good faith to
find someone near them who could show them where to find this hope for their marriage.
To be sure,
there are true observations made within the theory of Emotionally Focused
Therapy. Human beings are indeed “hardwired” for relationships and community.
Without question, emotional disconnect in a marriage will provide a foundation for
relational dysfunction. To recognize these truths, and to then seek ways to
bring healthy emotional bonds back into a marriage is a worthy goal.
But, armed with
a biblical understanding of the issues, we understand that these goals, as stated, are not sufficient in and of themselves.
The purpose of
marriage, as revealed in Scripture, is not to simply “get along well enough,”
but to display the majesty of the Gospel for the glory of God. Within the
confines of biblical marriage, husband and wife can learn about and experience together
the substance of what it means to “glorify God and enjoy him forever” (WSC 1).
But, as two
sinners who have entered into a lifelong covenant together, the biblical vision
for marriage will not come so easy. There will be difficulty. The question is,
to what or to whom will Christian couples look?
Look Unto God
This week’s
edition of “Soul Care with Spurgeon” comes from a sermon that he preached on
January 6, 1856, at New Park Street Chapel, in Southwark. The title of the
sermon was “Sovereignty and Salvation.” Spurgeon’s text was Isaiah 45:22:
Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
In this message,
Spurgeon shared just a portion of his conversion story. It had been just six
years prior, to the day and almost to the hour, that a teenaged Charles found
himself taking refuge in the confines of a small Methodist church from a raging
snow storm. Unbeknownst to him, Charles had a divine appointment with God that
day, mediated through a country pastor preaching the word of God from the
Isaiah passage mentioned above.
Charles recounted
how he had been “in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity.” By
the grace of God, he came to feel the “bitterness of that bondage, and to cry
out by reason of the soreness of its slavery.” In a moment, Spurgeon shared
that the “grace of faith was vouchsafed
to me.” The pastor, through the command given in Isaiah 45:22, had exhorted his
audience, in general, and young Spurgeon, specifically, to “Look!” unto God.
This “looking
unto God” because “he alone is God and beside him there is none other” was the thrust
of the sermon. Repeatedly, and in various ways, he exhorted his audience to set
aside the vanities and philosophies of man in favor of the wisdom of God. “Systems
of infidelity pass away like a dew drop before the sun, for God says, ‘I am
God, and besides me there is none else,’” Spurgeon warned.
Without
question, Spurgeon would have included in these “systems of infidelity” today’s
unending stream of psychological theories that attempt to understand and answer
the problems of man apart from Scripture. I suspect he would have been
incredulous at the thought of a professing believer directing another to look
not at God for hope, but at a secular theory of humanity that knows nothing of
the cross of Christ.
Spurgeon
understood in this sermon that the Gospel, in its simplicity, was not lacking
anything. But, in their unbelief, people were then and are now inclined to
pursue what they consider to be scientific and even religious sophistication
over a bloodied and crucified Savior. For this reason, Spurgeon risked simplicity
in his message by exhorting those who were enslaved to sin and suffering to “Look
unto God and be ye saved!” There is no stumbling, he said, when a man walks
with his eyes turned up to Jesus.
A Simple Plea
Nothing in Spurgeon’s
sermon or this post should be construed as suggesting that there is not hard
work to be done in soul care, or in understanding how the heart and soul of man
interacts with the physical body and brain. Good scientific research in the
field of neuroscience is revealing more to us about the otherwise unseen
interface between the body and the soul of man. It truly is an exciting time to
be involved in psychology, the care and cure of souls.
Equally
exciting, however, is the way in which nothing that has been or is being
revealed in scientific research proves to be a threat of any kind to the
Gospel. Instead, we see science repeatedly affirming what has already been
proclaimed in Scripture.
For this reason,
while actual, physical science marches on, we confidently echo the cry of
Spurgeon in “Sovereignty and Salvation,” that those around us, “Look unto God,
and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for he is God, and there is none else.”
