Question about Christianity, Therapy, and Moving On

[wicky2828]

The pastor of the church I attend stated that one of the things that hold Christians back from being whole is that we hold on to the past. We can’t become new when we are holding on and remembering the past. The past is no longer real and just something that lives in our mind.

He then moved on to closure and how it is something that is not mentioned in the Bible and that it is a modern day psychological term. When Jesus died on the cross he closed it. We shouldn’t wonder about why someone did wrong to us, just to let it go and move on to the life that God wants us to live. You literally can’t be holding on to the past and expect to move forward. We are the ones that hold on to the past not the other way around.

What really got me to thinking is when he started talking about therapy. He stated that when therapists are talking about whatever problems that we may have a couple of years ago, they go all the way back to our childhood and asks us to start from there. He added that basically we are depending on someone to heal us that charge us by the hour to keep the emotional door of our life open. We can’t get over the problems of our pasts while wallowing in them. I don’t want to misquote the pastor but he also made a comment about how a can a natural person solve a spiritual/ divine problem.

Does going to therapy for help getting over what happened to us in the past not fall in line with Christianity? Should we ask God to help us with what we can’t do which is let go of what happened in the past and rebuke thoughts of the past as they come? Would it make a difference whether it was church counselor or if you went to a therapist outside of the church?

I would also like to state that I am not in any way trying to be disrespectful in questioning the message that the pastor was speaking as I thought the overall message was great and inspirational. I have just never heard a pastor make a comment like that about therapy and I want to get a full understanding as this is a subject very near and dear to my heart. I also know of a lot of people that I wish would go to therapy to deal with their emotional issues.

Wicky

 

[Laela]

Hi, Wicky....

Great post..thanks for sharing that.

I believe that therapy can be used in tandem with God's Word to heal past hurts. Just as medicine / surgery can be used in tandem with believing in God for healing. This is what Faiths with works means to me... I have do what I can in the Natural for God to give me complete breakthrough through his Super. It's not always easy for anyone to get over a death or forgive someone, so they may need the help of others to ge to that place. It could include therapy or support groups. That is not to say a Christian who is in a support group has no faith -- actually I think the opposite is factual.

Many of the folks in the Bible who had great faith actually DID something.. a great example is the woman with the issue of blood who pressed through the crowd to touch Jesus' garment. Her faith indeed made her whole. But she did something in the natural to get there.

When I take action by being obedient to God, I are being faithful. God will speak to me through his Word and when he tells me to do something and I do it, it's the beginning of transformation for me . So, yes, if I hold onto to past hurts and don't deal with them (do nothing in the natural), those hurts keep me from growing in Christ.

 

[wicky2828]

Laela,

Thanks for taking the time to break down your thoughts for me. I thought that therapy was an example of meeting God half way for deliverance from whatever you were dealing with as well. I also believe that if the majority of the black community didn’t see therapy as being such a negative thing, that we would be in a much better place as a whole.

People are quick to pray about generational curses. Children that are brought up in homes were there is spousal abuse happening or there is an alcoholic parent, they are more likely to become what they parents were or be in a relationship with a person that carries that negative trait. We are always been told to take it to the Lord in prayer and no one ever mentions what we can do to meet God halfway. Why can’t we take our kids to therapy? Maybe if we exercised a little faith with works then things may end differently.

Wicky

 

[Aviah]

IMHO, The best therapy I ever got was from God himself, just writing dowm and searching through myself to the root of my problems, talking to God along the way. There's a differnece between healing and dwelling. If there's glass in a wound, it may sort of heal over it, but the wound will not heal properly. Sometimes we have to go back and take the glass out and then leave it alone to heal, in other words go back to the root of the problem then go about solving it, and move on. Otherwise that old wound will have very contemporary implications. I think the mistake is thinking that a man(human) can do it all for us, when really God knows best. I can honestly tell you, my old issues with my estranged father are not a problem for me anymore. I've dealt with those. It was very necessary to go back in that case, but to wallow- nah, there's definately a time to move on.
HTH

 

[Laela]

Oh, let me tell you... generational curses are no joke and ought to be dealt with, IMO. Taking it to the Lord in prayer helps but I believe that in some extreme cases, the demons riding that family must be confronted. That's a whole other discussion...

Exercising faith when it comes to children is a little more complicated IMHO. Children are so precious, these little lambs are like innocent bystanders in the spiritual realm. That's why it's important they not be around when devil casting is going on, they can easily be infiltrated. But at what age can they do therapy? I don't know and I'd think it depends on the situation. If the child is 2 or 3 and suffered the death of a parent, as opposed to a teenager, therapy may be more necessary for the teen because he's of the age of reasoning and understanding. But I'd think if sexual abuse of a child is involved, it shouldn't matter the age. Just my opinions.. thanks.

Laela,

People are quick to pray about generational curses. Children that are brought up in homes were there is spousal abuse happening or there is an alcoholic parent, they are more likely to become what they parents were or be in a relationship with a person that carries that negative trait. We are always been told to take it to the Lord in prayer and no one ever mentions what we can do to meet God halfway. Why can’t we take our kids to therapy? Maybe if we exercised a little faith with works then things may end differently.

Wicky

 

[GV-NA-GI-TLV-GE-I]

He then moved on to closure and how it is something that is not mentioned in the Bible and that it is a modern day psychological term. When Jesus died on the cross he closed it. .......

Does going to therapy for help getting over what happened to us in the past not fall in line with Christianity?

Christ gives us the potential to live a fully whole life. Whether we do or not is up to us. How can one achieve closure in life if they do not revisit the past that is causing the problem of unresolved issues? Sometimes, we do not know consciously what is bothering us until we uncover all the layers. From there can our complete healing begin. There are therapists who integrate faith into the healing process.

I truly believe that one of the biggest disservices the faithful religious can give to a person is making someone feel that Christ is magic and that G-d didn't give man a complex makeup, psychology being a powerful part of us. To heal, truth must come out into the light. If we forgive when we find the truth, then completeness can happen. G-d is complex...so is man, finite, but complex. Christ brought us completeness...but if we don't shop for it, we'll never have a full cart.