Religion and Spirituality in Psychiatry

Psychotherapy from a Christian Perspective 29711 It teaches how to nurture children.12 It enunciates rules of sexual behavior.13 It enhances our self-esteem.14 It teaches how to avoid diseases.15 It teaches how to control greed.16 It teaches good dietary habits.17 It provides the basis for emotional healing.18 It provides real values.19 It defines real humility.In these and many other ways, the Bible teaches ahealthy way of living.5.6. WorshipThe purpose of worship is to bring us into anencounter with the living God. Having queriedmany who have left a church, I find that mostleave because they do not encounter God there.An alive church will foster such encounters. Peoplewill encounter God in the music, in prayer andscripture reading, occasionally in the proclamationof God’s Word, and especially in the witnessof other believers. All should encounter him in theEucharist.Encountering God will result in access to anew experience of the Holy Spirit. All need thisfrom time to time. God’s Spirit guides and revealsChrist to the person. With these encounters, theperson is spiritually renewed. The need for refillingby God is best stated by Dwight Moody. Hewas asked if he was filled with the Holy Spirit.His response was, “Of course I am, but I leak.”I doubt that anyone understands why thisoccurs, but it may be the same thing that istrue of all relationships. The need to be constantlyrenewed with regular encounters is trueof almost all intimate relationships, and thisis probably the reason for the need for repeatencounters with God.People encounter God in music. Music elicitsemotions. In worship, music will elicit theemotions of love and awe. The music that mostcommonly brings about an encounter is music inthe idiom of that culture. Karen Boring, an ethnomusicologistwith Wycliffe Bible Translators,said in one of their newsletters, “Music, althougha universal phenomenon is not a universal language.It carries cultural meaning.” I have seenAfrican natives respond to music expressed intheir heart language with behavioral evidence thatthey are encountering God. I agree with CharlesWesley that the devil should not have all the goodmusic.Prayer, whether solitary or corporate, canbring about an encounter with God. It is importantthat the prayer be of praise and not petition.When petitionary prayer is self-centered, itmay not have the intimacy that brings about anencounter. Because music is a form of prayer, itis easy to understand why nonmusical prayers ofpraise will also be stimulating.J. B. Phillips has commented that the purposeof the Eucharist is to provide a refilling with theHoly Spirit. Even so, it rarely elicits an encounter.The problem is not with the sacrament, but has todo with the celebrants. They do not understandits real meaning and the necessity of preparingfor the sacrament. Therefore, they come to thetable unworthily (1 Cor. 11:27, 28).5.7. Confession, Repentance,and ForgivenessThese three spiritual interventions usually gotogether, so they will be described in the order Ihave listed them. Most patients come to a therapistwith the expectation of confessing theirwrongdoing. They may not consider it as such,but they will still confess it. In the course of thehistory taking, they will reveal their most innerthoughts and describe past behavior and its consequencesin detail. In a like manner, they mayfeel that they deserve punishment to atone fortheir wrongdoing. This gives rise to the despairof morality. To alleviate their suffering, theymust repent, that is, they must realize that theyhave sinned against God (Ps. 51:4) and intend toamend their ways. They do, however, need to beforgiven. Forgiveness can only come from God(Luke 5:21). Fortunately, Jesus deputized his followersto pass on God’s forgiveness to repentantsinners (John 20:23). Thus, the therapist caneffectively forgive in the name of Jesus. Human