Long Term Psychology

Many like to use logic and science to argue the non-existence of God. I argue that God exists by paradox and intuition. Many of the things people consider anti-Christian I think are more consistent with Christianity than the former.

I am a born again Christian but almost every other view I have is contrary to what most Christians believe in America. There is more than one way to live life and still be a Bible believing Christian.

I think we as Christians can learn from both the Bible and modern psychology. I also think like many other things attributed to other people modern psychology comes from the Bible. If you read through the letters of the Apostle Paul, I can not understand why you wouldn't believe he is the first existentialist.

One of God's titles is Wonderful Counselor. Reading in the Psalms makes me think of someone confiding in a good psychologist. Jesus did not just make simple literal responses to what those who talked to Him said but took time to listen to them and meet them where they were. He realized that what a person is saying does not always fully reflect what they are thinking.

We are not fully rational in our psychological composition and this is a good thing we need to work with rather than struggle against. Just like there are two sides to every personality trait that have both useful and troubling aspects, so there are positive and negative uses and properties of every emotional response. Fear can save your life or destroy it, depending in how, when, and why you use it.

The emotional aspects of the brain can be worked with in extreme and time sensitive situations. In the Army, you constantly train in the combat survival skills you first learned in basic training, so that you can perform them without thinking. The military requires great mental toughness and fast decision making under pressure but is not difficult intellectually for the most part.

We need to learn to develop control of our emotions as much as we need to learn to make use of our intellectual abilities. We need to continue to teach people of all ages what the appropriate ways of reacting are in different situations. Of course, in order to do so, we must first decide upon a common moral standard and philosophical system.

Currently most people do not know what is appropriate in group settings as our society teaches conflicting principles and people have opposite ideas on how they want people to interact. This is why the online world is so abusive and depressing. We need to learn as much from the humanities as the sciences as a society.

Creativity is very important but so is self control. You do not want to have to choose between either of these, because a society that does not value both of these is not going to survive very well and will be dominated by other societies that can. Some of the most important emotional attributes are kindness and forgiveness. A society that cannot master a at least this will be like hell to live in.

People were meant to live and work together, even in crisis situations. Even in a hunter gatherer or agriculturally based society, no one can survive by themselves. People who go off grid are still dependent on society working together so that they can trade and get energy without constant warfare or stealing. While our society is as complicated as it is, we all need to learn how to recreate and maintain as many aspects as possible with as little outside help as possible. At the same time, we still depend upon many others just to be able to use what are now very common systems.

But we are spiritual life forms as well. This means there are complex interactions between not only other people but within ourselves with major connections between the spiritual, mental, and physical aspects of ourselves. This is at least part of what being created in the image of God means. God also has a spirit and a human body. God to an extent looks like us although His thinking and morality are perfect rather than our absolute failures.

Christ gave the best examples of self control, creativity, kindness, forgiveness, leadership by example, and obedience to His Father. Unfortunately many people have broken family relationships and so have trouble understanding who God is. But we can see in the Gospels what an ideal child parent relationship should be.

People are evil by default. They were created good and can eventually be restored over time to a be better people. Essentially we are never going to live up to the kind of people we can and should be.

Many people do not want to follow rules of any kind on both ends of the political and social spectrum. But being a religious person means following the instructions of someone else voluntarily. It requires spiritual maturity and most importantly humility. The lack of humility in the world today is a big contributing factor as to why there is so much unnecessary suffering.

Spiritual things are ignored in our society largely because we have decided to move things along so fast. We consume so much in natural resources and generate so much waste. We treat each other like garbage and run through people and animals to produce as much as fast as we can to entertain each other.

We do nothing that truly satisfies us so we continue to hunger and try to get filled on negative experiences. Only God can truly satisfy all our needs. Removing God from our society has made life meaningless for most people. That is why most people want to be distracted. Meaningless information can be the most distracting thing of all.

For us to find God we must turn down the noise and wait patiently for Him.

Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament, mourn, and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you.