RESOURCES Identity: Where Religion and Psychology Meet For decades preachers have touted from their pulpits that psychology is bad. Even within the last few years it has been preached, “psychologists don’t have the answer”. Psychology focuses on functioning; how well you are ‘functioning’ in society. Negative thoughts and behaviors are replaced with more ‘functional’ ones. Psychology looks at how you began to have poor reasoning skills and low self-worth. Then an attempt is made to create a healthy view of the self. The self, or identity, is evaluated by seeing how well you function in society. When God enters the scene, things look a little different. God created each person with a unique identity. Psalm 139 speaks about the intimacy of God’s creating each individual within the womb. Even identical twins are unique on the inside, they are not the other twin, no matter how similar they may seem. Hang around with twins long enough and you will be able to tell them apart. Each person to ever live had their own identity, or spirit, the part of them that makes them unique and not their neighbor. God made billions of unique identities, no two alike. God’s plan all along was that His identity in each person would be nurtured and supported by the two parents who birthed each child. It was God’s design that each child would
grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 4:6) and be trained in the way he should go (Proverb 22:6) and learn of God’s love from birth (Matthew 19:7). Each child’s identity would be cherished and fed, loved and nurtured until they reached maturity. Sadly, this is rarely the case. In the United States we have very high rates of single mothers and absent fathers. There is also abuse and neglect with unknown rates, as so much abuse is not reported. So, what happens to a child’s identity if it is not cherished and nurtured the way God intended? The labels we have are psychological in nature: depression, anxiety, obsessions, eating disorders, personality disorders, addictions, nervous compulsions, and more. When a child’s identity is abused, traumatized, or neglected, the ramifications are endless. Sadly, psychology only deals with the symptoms of identity abuse and not the cause itself. This is where the psychological field falls short. Christianity, however, has a wonderful answer; you’re identity was given to you and is still in tact! Due to identity abuse you may find this extremely hard, even impossible, to believe. Things in life that occur, or you observe, will blind you to the true spirit God put in each person. You will have a
The Voice of the Christian Community, serving Yuba, Sutter, and Butte Counties
WWW.AMBASSADORNEWSPAPER.COM lens of life that is tainted by your history. Thus, when God says, “I love you” you try to believe it. But, you find it easier to believe for others, rather than yourself. What would happen if we all started to believe that God gave us each a unique identity and it still exists today? Even with all the things that happened to us or that we did to others, we are still the same person inside that God created. And when He created you, He smiled and said,
“This is good!” Then we would be able to see all the psychological disorders in a different light. They would just be coping mechanisms for identity abuse. When we realize that our identity, or our spirit, was given by God, we can begin to heal our negative perceptions with the truth. The truth will set you free
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HEY MOM AND DAD!!! What will your kids do THIS summer? How About a Great Christ-centered Summer Drama Camp? Faith Christian Schools, Yuba City First United Methodist Church and the Award-Winning FCS Players 17th Annual Young People’s Summer Theatre Program
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