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I haven’t blogged in years (if I consider what I did years ago as blogging!) and have decided to give it another go in 2012. I hope to encourage healthy discussion about the interaction between Christianity and psychology, and later on, my other interest, the Chinese people! So here goes…

As a clinical psychologist who is also a Christian, I get asked a lot by friends for a recommendation for a Christian psychologist. Given that I am not doing private practice at this point in time (I work for a public hospital clinic) and that even if I were I can’t have as a client anyone that I know (that would be a ‘dual relationship’ which can impair objectivity and/or judgement of the psychologist), I try and find someone for them to refer to (although I don’t know a great deal of psychologists who are Christian so let me know if you are one!). Though technically, all clinical psychologists should be sensitive to a clients’ religious background and it shouldn’t matter that much whether they are Christian or not. Besides, the clinician’s particular branch of ‘Christianity’ may differ to yours.

Whether or not someone is seen by a Christian or non-Christian psychologist, I think the important thing is that one is able to understand how their particular problem affects, or is contributed to by, one’s religious beliefs - whether a clinician helps in that process, or you piece together the connections yourself (through talking with your pastor, friends, family). What matters is that therapy is delivered in a religiously sensitive way. It may contribute a lot or none at all. Of course, if you have a sense that your particular problem is intricately linked to your attitudes towards ‘grace’ or some other Christian doctrine or idea, then it’s probably a good idea to speak to someone who knows what you’re talking about.

If you’re thinking about seeking help, also remember…

1. Psychological therapy is not a substitute for God

Just because a Christian goes to see a psychologist, does not mean that they stop trusting in God. Going to see a psychologist doesn’t mean you’ve given up on the ’spiritual’ and traded it for the ’secular’. Like other physical problems such as having the flu, chronic health problems, or cancer, where God works through doctors, medications to heal a person physically, God can work through counsellors / psychologists to heal a person emotionally / psychologically. We can trust God AND actively seek help. Like any other stressor in life, such as having upcoming exams where we can ask God for a favourable outcome but also study hard at the same time, we can pray for emotional healing but also put into practice what the psychologist has taught in each session.

2. Struggling with a psychological problem does not mean you are a ‘weak’ Christian

Some well meaning people can advise those with emotional problems such as depression and anxiety to ‘pray more’ and ‘trust in God more’, which can come across as implying that those who are struggling don’t do it enough (they may well be). Those struggling with these issues may feel like they are not as strong as others who on the surface, seem to be happy all the time.

The predominant explanation behind ‘why you feel the way you do’ is that unhelpful beliefs and attitudes triggered off by current events and developed throughout the years (particularly when you were a child) are responsible for why you are feeling the way you do. You’ve also learnt various ways of dealing with problems, and over the years have learnt ways to cope (can be positive or negative). For example, you might have a deep seated belief that ‘I’m not good enough as a person’ which makes you feel down, and you cope with that belief by working really hard to achieve in life. A friend of yours may have a similar belief and emotion, but cope with it by consuming alcohol.

We all have different beliefs and attitudes with varying levels of ‘helpfulness’, but for some, under certain circumstances, unhelpful beliefs have been triggered and have led to their current problem. These problems can feel like a ‘test’ for your faith, as it questions the things that you know about God, yourself, the world, others; and what you experience in the world can seem to contradict what you have read in the bible. So, this does not mean you are a weak Christian, put simply, a normal person going through a hard time and struggling to cope with it due to what kinds of beliefs and coping strategies and predominated so far in life.

I hope to write more again soon, so let me know if there is anything you want me to write about!

For those of you who read the title of this post and thought that it’s an engagement announcement, sorry for the disappointment.

I just came back from an awesome long weekend spent at the CCC 5pm Church Houseparty. This year’s theme was on the topic of money, and Nathan ‘Wal’ Walter gave a series of talks on issues that we face today as (relatively) rich Christians living in a materialistic society.

Now, one thing that has pretty much been ingrained in our culture is the whole engagement ring issue – the sparkly is taken to be a prerequisite to proposal. If you don’t have one, don’t bother popping the question. And of course, the bigger and shinier, the better.

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Often people ask, “When is the right time for me to go out with someone? How do I know I’m ready?” Even if you’re not dating or not thinking about dating anyone soon, I think it’s still helpful to read the stuff below. These are just a collection of thoughts accumulated over the years from books and observations from others.

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Last week in our Housegroup, we looked at the topic of ‘The Place of Music and Singing’ within the church. As I was preparing the study, I had a lot of questions about this topic that I probably would not have been able to deal with during the study (we went overtime already!). So I thought I might post these questions up, and see if anybody has any thoughts about it.

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Having been around a few years in youth ministry, I see several of my Christian friends burn out around me. Sometimes it takes the form of changing churches, changing services, changing ministries, or not doing any formal ministry. There is nothing wrong with those things, I’m more interested in the psychological, physical aspects of burnout and how it’s not good in the long term.

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I’ve finally gotten off my dilatory derriere and posted up photos from KYLC up here.

Recently, I’ve been involved in some discussions regarding Christians staying at work in secular jobs and those who leave to undertake full-time paid ministry. We were also talking about this today at the Christian group at my work, since we had two people (one of whom is Stephen Farrar, for those of you who went to Ruse) leave at the end of last year to undertake “religious vocations”.

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with Victor J. Stenger, he’s an emeritus professor of physics and astronomy who has written a number of books on topics including religion, philosophy and science.

Anyway, I stumbled upon a page of his containing a summary of arguments that claim to prove (and by this, I mean hand-wavy arguments with flawed logic) that God does not exist. For those of you who have a background in formal logic (be it from mathematics, computer science, whatever), the incoherence is blatantly obvious. Whilst he claims that ‘these are not meant to be formal, deductive arguments, but rather arguments “beyond a reasonable doubt”‘, they are far from being rigorous enough to be convincing. There also seems to be very little actual science considering that it’s about “How Science Shows That God Does Not Exist”.

Now, those “arguments” presented are for a “God” from his own understanding and interpretation of what a “God” should be. Unfortunately for him, this understanding is different to the God from Christian theology. To me, it seems like what he has done is defined “God” and itemized some attributes and argued that those attributes cannot mutually agree/exist with each other.

On the other hand, to a Christian, God is simply the entity having all of the characteristics that the Bible attributes to him. These characteristics in themselves are locally consistent and as such, any scientific approach to an understanding of God or a debate to whether God exists or not is moot and pointless.

Of course, it makes for rather amusing philosophical arguments and omnipotence paradoxes, but I’ll leave that discussion for another time…

Hi guys,

If you’re in TeenSS and you came along to the Summer seminars in 2007, my handouts are available online and can be downloaded from the Resources section of the site. If you have any further questions or issues, feel free to contact me.

I had just gone to the orthodontist’s on Monday and he added in my mouth two springs to attach to the two ‘bolts’ coming out of my gums; and two hooks, one of which to hook a rubber band onto one of the bolts with. For dinner that night, I took off my rubber band to eat and I forgot to get a new one (or put the old one back on) afterwards. Upon realising, I sensed myself saying, “oh it’s okay, it’s just one night I forgot.” But as that thought began to drift through my mind, another voice reminded me of what my Pastor said the other Sunday. He said it takes one month to get a habit going. Regularly, day after day for one month, and that is the best way to set a habit. Someone also said once, it’s the accumulation of time that makes the outcome so effective.

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