Page 13 - Biblical Counseling II-Textbook

“Contrary to this popular view that religion and science are antagonistic, many intellectual historians
argue that the seventeenth-century development of modern science was supported by Christian ideas.
If, as had often been supposed, nature is sacred, then we ought not tamper or experiment with it. If,
however, nature is not an aspect of God, but rather is God’s intelligible creation – a work to be enjoyed
and managed – then by all means let us explore this handiwork. If we wish to discover its order, let us
observe and experiment, believing that whatever God found worth creating we can find worth studying.
Moreover, let us do so freely, knowing that our ultimate allegiance is not to any human authority or
doctrine, but to God alone” (p. 2-3).”

Professors Meyers and Jeeves continue by explaining how several
founders of modern science, like Blaise Pascal, Francis Bacon, Isaac
Newton and even Galileo, were motivated by this belief in our ultimate
allegiance being to God alone. “Whether searching for truth in the
book of God’s word or the book of God’s creative works, these scientific
pioneers viewed themselves in God’s service. Believing that humans,
too, were finite creatures of God, not extensions of God, they did not
depend solely on intuition and reason but also on observation. They
assumed that we cannot find the whole truth merely by searching our
minds – for there is not enough there – or merely by guessing or making up stories . . . Instead, these
first scientists would study, understand and adapt their concepts to what their observations and
experiments revealed (p. 3). For example, “when scientists’ data told them that the earth was not
stationary, then they must abandon the notion that heavenly bodies circled the earth. Reason, they
believed, must be aided by observation and experiment in matters of science, and by spiritual revelation
in matters of faith” (p. 3).

Professors Myers and Jeeves clarify that scientific pursuits apply also to the “scientific study of human
nature, because humans, too, are part of the created order. This can be both a humbling and uplifting
thought. In the Hebrew Scriptures, humans are created by God ‘from the dust of the ground.’ Thus after
gazing at the heavens the psalmist could wonder, ‘What are human beings that You are mindful of
them?’ Yet this human creature was a special creation, a majestic summit of God’s creative activity of
whom the psalmist could in the next breath rhapsodize (enthuse), ‘Thou hast made him little less than
God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy
hand’ “ (p.3).

As we learn about psychology as the science of the mind and behavior, where does it fit with Christian
faith? Myers and Jeeves state, “Psychological explanation has provided satisfying answers to many
important questions regarding why people think, feel, and act as they do. But it does not even pretend
to answer for life’s ultimate questions. Let us therefore celebrate and use psychology for what it offers
us, remembering that it is but one aspect of a larger whole (p. 11).” As we learn throughout this course,
we will build on what you learned in Biblical Counseling I by adding in the study of the mind and
behavior.

In Biblical Counseling I, you learned that help can only come through God’s revelation. This includes the
belief that, “people are capable of making accurate observations of the world” (BCI, p. 9). Your Biblical
Counseling I text states:

“As we think about the discoveries of modern science, and especially modern psychology, we must be
careful to note that God has given humans an amazing capacity for knowledge. Believer and unbeliever

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