We often hear that "Science is fact" and Christianity is "blind faith". I disagree. I'm writing a series on my blog about this. Start with Part One here.

Do you think Science is "fact" and God is "blind faith"? Can you defend your answer?

Do you have a conviction? You should. It affects how you interpret both the Bible, and what Science both say are "truth".

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Brent Riggs - Author, teacher, mentor, online business expert
riggsreport.com | brentriggsBLOG.com | brentriggs.com | seriousfaith.com | brentriggsPHOTO.com | brentriggsSTUFF.com

This is the primary passage I turn to in order to show that man, apart from God, descends into foolishness. No matter how many letters you have after your name, if you are not finding your wisdom in God, then you are relying solely on sinful intellect.

The intelligence of man can be correct and truthful only in direct parallel to it's submission to the One who Created intellect in the first place.

That is why I am unphased, unintimidated and unpressured by a world of "experts" and "academics" who claim TRUTH by virtue of education and research.

IF START WITH THE WRONG BELIEFS, ASSUMPTIONS OR PRESUPPOSITIONS, YOU'LL END UP WITH THE WRONG RESULTS NOT MATTER HOW SINCERE, HOW MUCH EFFORT OR HOW INTELLIGENT YOU ARE.

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Brent Riggs - Author, teacher, mentor, online business expert
riggsreport.com | brentriggsBLOG.com | brentriggs.com | seriousfaith.com | brentriggsPHOTO.com | brentriggsSTUFF.com

Most of our conflicts, debates, and disagreements as believers stem from
the "fact" that the world is deceived into believing that truth is
relative - that there is no absolute truth. You make an excellent point
when you state that scientists do start with their perception of truth
prior to investigating their hypotheses. My prayer is that more
believers of Truth (capital T) become government scientists, school
teachers, and politicians. Their value is ever increasing in American
society.

T Bob,
Very well said and I agree. There ARE absolute rights and wrongs. These my friend, I believe are forever lost in today's society. Right along side with accountability. No one thinks there are to be held accountable. When I was a kid, if i did something wrong, I was accountable to my dad or mom. Where has that disappeared to?
One thing is for sure, some day we ALL will be held accountable.

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http://www.simpletruth-simplyput.com

Brent,
Speak to us about psychiatry and medications. I understand your point about the overuse of drugs in a society where everyone wants to feel good and numb out the uncomfortable situations in life. However, I believe there is a time and a place for mood altering drugs alongside behavior therapy (under Christian counsel only). I have a close family member who is bipolar. Life without medication is no life at all. There are also children who simply cannot function safely in schools without ADHD meds. Simply stated, they are a danger to themselves and others because their impulsivity and "Superhero" misconception make them a threat. I am, by no means, suggesting that ALL those who are taking such drugs should be. But there certainly is a place for such drugs, isn't there?

When you speak of "humanistic" psychiatry...what exactly are you talking about. Are you lumping all psychology into one category or are you just talking about humanistic psychology? Do you agree with psychologist who use the psychodynamic, cognitive, or sociocultural models, but just not humanistic? How are you to get any medicines without seeing a psychiatrist? What exactly are you saying when you say "denies the true nature of man and attempts to "fix" things apart from god? According to you and the bible, the true nature of man is sin...so anything that tries to fix sin...is bad? Also, please explain to me how preachers are qualified to hand out information on marital, mental, and physical well being? Do they attend any classes to know the signs of someone who is bi-polar, depressed, etc? I was wondering how they can diagnosis someone without being a doctor.

Also, doesnt the bible say that there is light from the moon? Isnt that wrong??

To CMarion: do you mean to tell us, that you,ve never sat by the moonlight?????
-walter broda-

CMarion,

You ignore the basic premise of my arguments: if man starts out with wrong assumptions, their conclusions can never be correct no matter how sincere, how much effort or how educated they are.

Modern psychology denies (or at best ignores) the sin nature; does not factor in the Biblical truths about human nature infected by the curse of sin, about the power of th indwelling Holy Spirit, about the availability of help, strength and direction from God.

You ask me to judge my conclusions based on the "findings" of the very people who deny all these things. Why would I measure using a false, skewed and inaccurate point of reference?

Are you saying that someone must be fully trained in something that is WRONG in order to be able to make a contrary judgment? As with many things, only Christianity is held to such a double standard.

That's like asking "don't make comments on drug addicts until you have fully experienced it". "Don't judge the porn industry until you have been a fully trained professional porn producer". "You aren't qualiifed to comment on Creation unless you have been thoroughly educated in evolution and uniformitarianism".

If I, as a reasonable, open minded, intelligent human being can clearly determine that a STARTING ASSUMPTION OR PREMISE is undeniably WRONG, then I don't have to become a "professional" in that area to know full well the conclusions are wrong.

To the contrary, it would be foolish to waste my time becoming educated in the humanistic conclusions, theories and solutions of a man-made field of human behavior that denies the very basics of the true human nature (eternal spirit, sin-cursed nature, factoring in God's involvement).

Americans, and American Christians, have been brainwashed and pistol whipped in to cowardice on this issue, and stand at the alter of the "gods of science" who can never be questioned because their mythical status of "objectivity and fact" which is patently false, and absurd.

Tragically, the Church has been diseased with accepting and compromising Truth with humanism, primarily because of 1) Biblical ignorance, 2) spiritual cowardice and 3) love of the world's acceptance.

So "no", I'm not shooting from the hip.

Now, having said, I do not deny nor question anyone's experience with sadness, depression or other struggles. Nor do I deny God's power and help in overcoming and dealing with them. I do deny the humanist psychology approach to diagnosing and dealing with the human situation.

I have no doubt that your depression was very real. I also have no doubt that you did not avail yourself of God's provision given the absurd statements you are making about the integrity and authenticity of the Bible. It is clear that you have little to no understanding of Scripture or Christianity.

I don't say that to be rude, or mean spirited. You give me the same rebuke about being ignorant of your humanistic psychology training.

As a Christian, I would encourage you to spend equal time, and become equally educated about God, the Bible, and His Truth about human nature before dismissing it with silly comments about moonlight.

You don't know me. If you did, you would know that I am intelligent, sincere, hard working, loving family man. I take my stands on TRUTH based on study, logic, reason and objective conclusions glued together with undeniable evidence.

Much of it goes against that world's thinking, and the popular opinion because the world is moving away from the Truth of God at alarming pace... something the Bible clearly predicts (another indication of its authenticity).

I have no objection to medicine, therapy or counseling... but it must be based in the truth of human nature and sin... not the humanist ideas that dominate today (and in fact, only make people WORSE, not better if you measure all levels physical, mental and spiritual).

I don't need the world's accreditation to hold firm to what God has clearly revealed on a matter. Nor do I seek the world's approval or acceptance. My calling in life is to speak the truth, according to God, and God can handle the results.

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Brent Riggs - Author, teacher, mentor, online business expert
riggsreport.com | brentriggsBLOG.com | brentriggs.com | seriousfaith.com | brentriggsPHOTO.com | brentriggsSTUFF.com

I am responding specifically to the issue of mental health, a difficult problem in many respects. While I am a Bible-believing Christian, I am also trained in science and medicine, including preventive medicine and psychiatry, although all of that took place before my conversion, and I did then have a humanistic world view. I generally agree with Brent's broadside at the mental health industry. The experts do in fact define what is disease/pathology/abnormal/dysfunctional. Conditions are regularly added and deleted, all from a secular humanistic worldview. (One of the more famous examples of this is homosexuality which used to be considered a psychiatric disorder [we would say it's a sin disorder]. Through a deliberate assault by homosexual activists, this was deleted. I don't have the date handy, but I believe it was in the 1970's.) My opinion is that the vast majority of "mental illnesses" are in fact problems of living. Our souls are sickened by sin. This can be true of Christians as well, but at least we have the power of God to deal with this, working in concert with scripture, prayer and Biblically based Christian counselors. (Most "Christian" counselors have learned and practice from a humanistic perspective, with some Christian faith thrown in. I would also venture to say that most "pastoral counseling" is ineffective or worse, because of a lack of Biblically based training, or in fact lack of trust in God.) The flood of psychotropic medications that is intoxicating our populace is a disgrace. Many of the medicines commonly prescribed are very powerful, with significant side effects. A recently published study even called into question the effectiveness of the most common type of anti-depressant. The diagnosis of bi-polar disorder has expanded far beyond the classical definition. This does not happen with medical diseases. Jesus, as our model of the "Great Physician", healed diseases and cast out demons all over the land. I believe those demonized would very likely have manifested signs of "mental illness". And I believe the same is true today. Lord knows the many portals we have for demonic entry. That is why we need that armor of God every day. For both Christians and non-Christians, rebellion against God will lead to confusion of some sort in the soul. This could be manifested as depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc. There may in fact be a small subset of mental illness that is medical/biological in nature (for example, the prevalence of schizophrenia is remarkably constant throughout all cultures, at about 1%). Medicines that can help such patients are a God-send, But that is not what we are talking about here, rather the medicalization of and humanistic approach to life problems resident in a fallen world. This is one more area where the church must get it right, before we can expect the world to change.

To CMarion:
I made the remark on the moonlight (only) because frankly, psychiatry is out of my league...i share my opinion with Brent, though i don't think i could add much to what he already had written.
going back to the moonlight, or rather your position on whether or not everything in the bible is truth, you wrote: "Also, doesnt the bible say that there is light from the moon? isn't that wrong?" You paraphrased the scripture to add your statement nice "punch" but this also makes it easier to answer: No, it's not wrong! if only by the very definition of the word "moonlight". I don't wan't to end my post with any possible signs of sarcasm, but the simplicity of your question demands simple, short answer...i am aware of the sun and all that, but it is all irrelevant, because every time the bible speaks about the light from the moon, it's only concern is the light, which shines from the moon's surface down to the earth, in every-day (night) life situations, let's say you're driving down an empty strech of road it's 2am full moon, suddenly you realise you got flat tire, you pull off to the side of the road and start changing your tire.....you've got no flashlight....after you got back home are you gonna tell your folks :"well, i'm really glad the sun was shining at the moon last night, you know that sun's reflected light illuminated everything i needed to see...." I don't belive that even the most extreme elite scientific/atheist circles communicate that way.... Make a change CMarion, take the bible and try to find the truth.
-walter broda-