Being a mental health professional in the 21st century, caring for the mentally infirm, the emotionally damaged, and the spiritually afflicted from a Christian perspective can be a daunting endeavor to say the least. This is, in no small part, due to how Western civilization has come to recognize pathology, specifically psychopathology. When the word itself is broken down and viewed from its Greek origin we learn that psyche means soul, pathos means suffering, and logos means the study of. Adding it all together and we arrive at the study of a suffering soul. At one time, this may have very well been the ultimate goal, and to some extent, it still is. However, mankind has its peculiar way of codifying things, twisting and distorting them
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In this case, that area is mental disorder. The majority in today’s society would like to stop right here and not proceed with further examination of what psychopathology truly is. Which, in my opinion is a mixture of both sin and weakness: Two words that some have difficulty accepting. Because if we were to stop right here, then man does not have to face the fact that they are not perfect. That they are accountable for their actions. That there exists something larger than themselves which one day they will have to answer to. That it is essentially our fault for being in the state of affairs we are in in regards to brokenness because at one time everything was perfect. Consider the …show more content…
Everything was quite literally perfect. But God did not desire soulless beings, automatons, to worship His goodness so he bestowed upon man the gift of free will. The ability to choose either to do good or to do bad. This may seem a bit over simplistic, but ultimately, in life, this is what it boils down to. We can either behave in a manner that brings both glory and honor to the Creator or we can act in accordance to our own selfishness seeking instead to place our lives above Him. Once Adam and Eve made the significant decision to defy God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil His once perfect creation was tainted. This one sinful act of disobedience marked the first entrance of psychopathology into the world. And like any disease it spread like a windblown wildfire out of control which God has continuously attempted to extinguish.
Since the fateful moment when sin entered the world a conflict between good (God) and evil (sin) has persisted. Herein lays the difference between a Christian worldview and a secular worldview. “Our understanding of God necessarily influences our behavior and our service to Christ. Thus, our worldview must place God at the center of everything” (Esqueda, 2014, p.
In this case, that area is mental disorder. The majority in today’s society would like to stop right here and not proceed with further examination of what psychopathology truly is. Which, in my opinion is a mixture of both sin and weakness: Two words that some have difficulty accepting. Because if we were to stop right here, then man does not have to face the fact that they are not perfect. That they are accountable for their actions. That there exists something larger than themselves which one day they will have to answer to. That it is essentially our fault for being in the state of affairs we are in in regards to brokenness because at one time everything was perfect. Consider the …show more content…
Everything was quite literally perfect. But God did not desire soulless beings, automatons, to worship His goodness so he bestowed upon man the gift of free will. The ability to choose either to do good or to do bad. This may seem a bit over simplistic, but ultimately, in life, this is what it boils down to. We can either behave in a manner that brings both glory and honor to the Creator or we can act in accordance to our own selfishness seeking instead to place our lives above Him. Once Adam and Eve made the significant decision to defy God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil His once perfect creation was tainted. This one sinful act of disobedience marked the first entrance of psychopathology into the world. And like any disease it spread like a windblown wildfire out of control which God has continuously attempted to extinguish.
Since the fateful moment when sin entered the world a conflict between good (God) and evil (sin) has persisted. Herein lays the difference between a Christian worldview and a secular worldview. “Our understanding of God necessarily influences our behavior and our service to Christ. Thus, our worldview must place God at the center of everything” (Esqueda, 2014, p.