Many of us, as Christians, believe the Bible in its original manuscripts is inerrant, and despite the fact that this notion is being challenged more and more today in our churches, I would presume that most Christians stand by this fact. Unfortunately, although inerrancy of the Bible is believed by most, the sufficiency of Scripture is not.

I suppose I feel strongly about this matter and the need to address it, especially within the Christian community today, because of the ever-increasing psychological movement that continues to pervade our churches and take hold with a vengeance. The thought goes like so. Though the Bible is infallible, the Scriptures are not truly SUFFICIENT to meet my needs; therefore, I shall go out and find a science or substance or person that does. Now, most Christians when asked would not admit that they truly believe this idea, at least not intentionally. But as the saying goes: Actions speak louder than words.

Certainly in the secular world, psychology, blaming others and the lack of responsibility is obvious and all-encompassing, but it indeed surprises me at how these same things have taken over the Christian community as well. Subtly, psychology steps in and begins to envelop the church by cleverly blaming the problems of sin and selfishness on other things. Instead of calling sin what it is, we begin to label it; therefore, making excuses for our very own actions. Isn’t this just how cleverly and subtly Satan works?

Those labels can come in many forms, and I want to challenge you to consider some of these possibilities in your own life as I’ve embraced many of them myself at one time or another. I desire that you consider the truth which will set you free, so, I implore you in love to take a good, long, hard look at yourself and consider whether any of these, or even other things in your life that I may not mention, just might pertain to you.

Let’s take a look at child training. Instead of realizing that many of us today are no longer spiritually training our children in the way in which they should go, we instead label them with such things as ADD, behavior-disordered, strong-willed, "in the genes", or some other designation which takes the focus off our own inadequacies, mistakes, sinfulness, and most definitely, responsibility, and makes us feel better. Does this mean that all children are cookie cut right out of the box and ADD or strong-willed children don’t exist? No. It simply means that all too often, even if we know our children are a bit different in certain areas, we make excuses for their behavior and take the focus off of ourselves, instead of directing, training and disciplining them for the better good of society, and especially for the glory of God. After all, who wants to deal with an unruly, aggressive, disobedient little kid? It’s just easier to label them, fill them with drugs, and not address the issues.

Still yet, we want to make certain that our children do not grow up with a lack of "self-esteem" like so many have felt they’ve endured, and so we overcompensate for this so-called "deficiency" in their lives, not realizing that instead of helping them, we are actually creating even more selfishness in our own children by teaching them to continually focus on themselves instead of others. In order to "feed" the self-esteem machine, we often compromise the Word of God and His will for our lives and our children, and we create monsters in the process. If you really want your children to get a good dose of "self-esteem", teach them to go serve others.

How about addictions? Today, we label them. Alcoholism becomes a disease. Taking drugs is a problem. I’ve even heard some scientific circles claim adultery is actually a predisposition as if it is something we cannot change. As Christians, we often embrace these so-called secular "scientific theories" instead of naming these things what they truly are...SIN! If we label them, once again it takes the responsibility and focus off of ourselves and lays blame elsewhere thereby making us feel guilt-free. What we fail to see is that ALL of us are "pre-disposed" to becoming drunkards or drug addicts or adulterers because all of us are SINNERS! The only way we can become UN-predisposed or free from the bondage of ANY sin is to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and live for Him.

What about putting up "boundaries" toward others without even considering God’s will for our own lives? Boundaries are good at times when dealing with certain things such as our time with family, spiritual disciplines, not over-extending ourselves. But when we put them up so no one steps on our toes, calls us into action, challenges our "comfort zone", forces us to accountability, or messes up our plans, then boundaries become a real problem. And when those boundaries begin to pass from setting them up toward other people to setting them up toward God, then we start becoming our own "gods" by trying to control our lives. Instead of living as the Lord Jesus did, (who, by the way, never stayed in the "comfort zone of life"!), this idea tends to take rather than to give. It tends toward selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-focus instead of us learning to be servants of others.

Divorce is another prime example and may hit hard with some people, but often we make excuses for those who have gone through divorce. A spouse was not involved spiritually, emotionally, or physically. Someone had some sort of trauma happen to them which affected the marriage and caused it to fall apart. Or perhaps one of the marriage partners just "fell out of love" with their spouse. Perhaps one or more of these things are true in the relationship, but we forget that God’s Word gives us the solution to relationship problems and the only reasons for divorce that we should even consider, if we only search out what it says. By rationalizing in this manner, we only encourage people to be self-focused, self-centered, and selfish. It gives people excuses to make instead of reasons to stay, and harms the commitment and sanctity of marriage. Once again, it is always easier to quit than to forge ahead in the jungle of life where the bugs and snakes are biting at you and the wild beasts are ready to attack and devour you. Where does your commitment lie?

If you’ve already been through a divorce and have remarried or known someone who has, I’m not suggesting that you start judging them or that you dissolve your current marriage and go back and try to change all things. But what I am challenging you to do is to consider your past actions so that in the future you don’t make the same mistakes. After all, the past is the past. God is God. He has forgiven you if you’ve asked Him, and once forgiven, your sins are wiped away as far as the east is from the west...the north from the south. The goal would be that you learn from those mistakes so as not to repeat them.

And if you are at a place where you think you just cannot go on in your marriage, begin now to get on your knees and pray for God’s wisdom and seek His will. Mightily and miraculously, He has healed marriages in the past, but only with His guidance and help can one have the power and strength to go through such a endeavor. (Check out the marriage resources in the resources section of the book.)

I could go on with examples, but you get the point. Some Christians truly believe that there is a place for certain types of psychology in the church in regards to these kinds of things, but my question for those who believe that is to consider where you truly rate the Scriptures. If we are constantly running to counselors or medications or the next "fix" for our problems, I would challenge those who do so that perhaps you don’t truly believe that Christ is able to meet all of your needs. This lie is perpetuated by Satan to subtly take our eyes off Christ who CAN meet all our needs, and instead puts our focus on ourselves and our situations with the "woe-is-me" complex. It robs us of faith in Christ and takes our focus off of ourselves as sinners and Christ as the Savior.

At this time, many might argue, "Well, you’ve never been where I have been in life. You’ve never gone through what I have gone through." Yes! You’re right! Everyone has their own experiences, their own trials, their own tribulations in life. Though some people have experienced the same types of burdens and can relate to one another, each person is unique in his or her trials. Circumstances are hardly ever exactly the same for people. But our God is a God who is above all that and in control of all that and can heal all that, even though others might not have gone through all that.

Let’s face it. It’s hard to die to self and live for Christ. We tend to want to stay in control, make excuses, deny our sinfulness and conveniently forget that CHRIST IS SUFFICIENT and His Word will tell us ALL we need to know! Our identity problems, our lack of self-esteem, our failed relationships, our addictions, and our lack of action can all be summed up in the fact that we do not know who we are in Christ anymore, and more importantly, we do not realize who HE is. When we fail to call sin sin and to admit our wrongdoings, we fail to surrender to Christ our whole self and to make Jesus not only our Savior, but also Lord of our lives.

Does this mean that we shouldn’t ever seek counseling or help at times in our lives? Let me just say, there is a difference between "Christian counseling", which has overtaken some churches and is a paradox versus an accountability partner or a spiritual mentor. One is based on the lack of belief in God’s ability and often uses secular ideals to try to fix problems. It tends to keep one in bondage to the "master". There is no real biblical basis for it at all. The other is a discipleship paradigm that was modeled to us by Christ Himself. It is a "Pay It Forward" system where student learns from teacher, student then is discipled to a point that he can become teacher, and finally pays it forward by becoming the teacher himself for the next generation of students. In all situations, ultimately Christ should always be our Teacher. And we should consider that this model of discipleship really ought to be used in all areas of our lives, and not just where we encounter problems.

My challenge for you is don’t allow secular humanism to replace Jesus in your life. If Christ created the WORLD, don’t you think He is more than capable of handling all the problems that come our way? After all, God has already given us His solution – Jesus Christ! Realize that truly, if we REALLY believe God, He is the only counselor we need. If we learn His truths, believe them, live them out, and abide in Christ then there will never be the need again for the science of psychology, or any other pill, potion, remedy, technique, or science to inundate our lives and the church. Glorious freedom and joy amidst the trials of our lives will ensue and we will be able to deal with all that is handed to us without having to pay a psychiatrist a dime.

Consider the sufficiency of Scripture. The question is who do you run to in times of trouble or need. Do you first seek out your best friend, your counselor, your prozac, your drink, or do you head straight for the Creator of the universe?