By Glenn Seaton
I for one have heard about all the quotes from psychologists and educators in preaching that I can stand. One elder told me, “We finally told our preacher that we wanted to hear less about the university and more about the Bible.” Later the same elders told me that his preaching really improved “for a few weeks.” Notice this point from Pulpit Helps:
Biblical truth is theocentric (God-centered) whereas psychological counseling systems are anthropocentric (man-centered). The focus of biblical truth is God. The focus of Psychology is self: self-esteem, self-worth, self-image, self-love, self-awareness, and self-actualization.
With centers of importance that are opposite (God or self) would you expect God’s will in believers’ lives to be helped, or hindered, by integrating the theories of psychological counseling systems with God’s Word?
The fact is that many preachers are simply not getting the job done. If you cut through all the Greek words and statistics and cute stories and motivation hype and psychology and university stories you’d find little Bible truth that will save a man’s soul or expose error. What a shame!
Guardian of Truth XXXIV: 21, p. 652
November 1, 1990