there are many claims being made in the counseling world what I'm endeavoring to do is build a systematic theology this Systematic Theology is the way a way to think about counseling systems we can think in a very systematic way about trauma Theory you only have one page of notes this morning but I'm going to warn you that I'm going to overwhelm you with information so if you are interested in all the claims about brain research you will need to find a blank piece of paper and take extra notes a lot of claims are being made about what's going on in the brain is a basic principle is that we must get the diagnosis correct this is true in the medical world and it's true in the counseling world if I do not get the diagnosis right the treatment will not be right in the secular World the Main premise is that something is wrong with the brain but we have a much bigger picture than this is let me give you a simple illustration from one of my daughters by the way my wife wishes she could be here sorry my wife wishes she could be here um but we just had new twins so she is being a grandma um she has a very important job to do this daughter that just had twins has some type of nerve damage many years ago we took her to a number of doctors to get a diagnosis she has problems in her shoulders she has problems in her neck and it causes her regular pain she went through all kinds of tests and the doctor gave a diagnosis and then he gave a treatment plan yeah but the treatment plan made the problem worse it just increased her pain in some way the diagnosis was incorrect so the treatment plan was incorrect in counseling I have to get the etiology correct what is the source of the problem last night I gave you seven areas that make up a counseling systems then we started with the first one which is there is always a source of authority we call that epistemology epistemology and epistemology is a world view a way to look at life but I want to have a Biblical worldview last evening I told you that I'm also interested in creation science and I mentioned very briefly that you have amazing fossils here in Brazil [Music] you have a fossil field here called the Santana formation system some of the most amazing fossils in the world they are very unique most fossils in the world are just a flat there are impressions of fish in rocks but your fossils are three-dimensional mysos they are whole fish fossils sound uh the complete fishing they are amazing to look at they sound fantastic if you've never learned about this you ought to do a Google search they are quite fascinating there are whole insects ants and wasps and grasps for Migos you can see the intricate details down into the the veins in their wings the secular world has all kinds of theories about how this happened there's local floods that buried these fossils is but you know that there are fossils all over the world there are fish fossils high up in the Himalayas how did this happen we believe that the Bible gives us perspective on this we believe there was a worldwide floods Genesis 6 through 9 are accurate Genesis if we start with that assumption then we can go study the world I want to do the same thing with humans I am a Scientist of humans I study humans that's what counseling is about but I don't start with secular assumptions I start with Biblical assumptions and then when I hear the theories of the world I try to evaluate them through my biblical eyeglasses I'll remind you of my illustration from last night you all just became very blurry and I believe that that's what's happening with secular science they're seeing something but they don't quite see it accurately but we have an advantage the creator of the world gave us a book to explain the world so as soon as I put on my biblical eyeglasses everything comes into focus it explains the fossils that are in Brazil these speakers and it explains the fossils that are high up in the Himalayas and it also explains why humans respond to trauma the way they do it so I want to read the secular literature uh but there is some type of distorting effect because of sin on their research this morning we're going to talk a little bit about how there is no neutrality all facts are interpreted facts researchers carry their biases into their research uh so those who study trauma start from an immaterial world view it is they they think we are crazy because we believe there's a soul it is and they also believe we're crazy because we believe there's a sin nature their world view is called monismo this monistic worldview means there is only one part to your being Cosmos there is no soul there is no immaterial part of your being there is no sin nature so it must be the ideology of trauma theory is based upon Neuroscience as the ideology sorry all again the etiology of trauma theory is based on Neuroscience is let me be very honest with you I I have no credentials in Neuroscience I don't want to pretend that I have Neuroscience training but this has become a hobby for me I've studied a lot of Neuroscience just because I'm interested here is why I'm interested anything that seems to undermine the authority of the Bible I need to study so because such amazing claims are being made I needed to study it is I'm very blessed to have a neuroscientist friend many years ago I was Pastor while he was doing his PhD at a local University I pastored near a major university for many years I had all kinds of interesting discussions with professors this man was in our church and he was studying the brain is but he also has a very high view of the Bible so he and I can have honest conversations he now leads the PHD program at another major university Masters University gave me a sabbatical universities as part of my sabbatical I went and spent time with him to learn about brain research [Music] amazing things are being claimed about the brain against this morning I would like to address some of the myths that are being claimed in brain science this information is not from me yes information I have no credentials these are from my friend who leads research at another University as part of my sabbatical I interviewed his PhD students one of his students was studying the effect of combat stress on the brain um we call that PTSD astrology post-traumatic stress disorder problems another one of his students was studying depression and what are the effects on the brain another student was studying anxiety and what are the effects on the brain as I heard them describe bribing their research I thought to myself I'm interested in that foreign when I'm studying those areas I'm thinking of the whole person I'm starting with assumptions that humans have a soul and that the whole person is being impacted by combat stress and this is a very important Point who that person is before they go into combat will determine how they respond to the combat stress is let me give you an illustration many years ago we had an elder at our church who was a Vietnam veteran um this man was in horrible combat situations in Vietnam he told me stories about combat and horrible situations but he was functioning in a normal way remember last evening I raised the question I raised the question with you why do some people respond in some ways and others in other ways and they both could have been in the same stressful situation here's one of the interesting things that he told me he had a study Bible and he carried it with him all through combat in Vietnam he told me that he saturated himself with Biblical truth truth as he was in the jungles of Vietnam I have to believe that his belief system helped him deal with the stresses of combat yeah let me contrast that with another veteran this I grew up in a small town and in this small town there was a World War one veteranesidage even on hot hot days he would wear a heavy wool trench coat long coat uh he would walk up and down the streets of our small town mumbling to himself he had long hair and long white beard long hair and long hair and a Long White Beard everybody stayed away from him one day when I was a little boy I asked my father who is that man my father said oh he gave me the name and he said he has shell shock from World War One it was affecting his whole life why did these two combat veterans respond differently is I have to believe it has to do with something about their belief systems the one man was a believer in Jesus Christ he believed in the lordship of Jesus Christ over his life he believed truths about the God of the universe therefore he was more prepared for combat let me address some of the things that are being said by brain science this is under 0. 1 in your notes [Music] um in trauma Theory there was an there is a new question to ask um they would say we used to ask the first question yes when we are counseling we would ask what's wrong with you yeah trauma Theory says we should ask what happened to you in trauma Theory the source of the problem is the chronic stress in your life um this is the missing piece of the puzzle we have finally figured out humans why do humans do all the strange things they do because it must be because of something that happened to you in the past even if you don't remember it just a repressed memory theory is part of what's going on in trauma Theory something must have happened to you in the past and that's why you're using drugs today all bad behavior flows out of traumao portamento party because damage has been done to the brain and as I mentioned to you there is a main researcher says his name is and he says therefore you are not responsible for your bad behaviors as a Christian you should have a problem with that statements we'll talk about this in a little bit but scripture says we have a sin nature in Psychology there has been a debate between nature and nurture psychology nature would mean it's your biology that's causing the problems nurture would say it's your environment your family trauma theory is a combination of both it's your brain and it's also your environment it's what combat did to you that leaves out a very important components there is a whole spiritual part of our beings [Music] or a more precise term biblically is the heart is uh here's some of the things being claimed even by biblical counselors I think in an attempt to be relevant some are making too broad of statements uh in an attempt to study research some are believing too much of the research one of the common myths is that you can do a brain scan Hondas and from this brain scan you can tell that it's a trauma-impacted brain is I'm going to give you the the facts from my researcher friend in just a moment which downstairs remember one of my main goals is to help you grow in discernment we must use our minds and think about all these claims being made slice I heard a video from a Biblical counselor in the United States I come from I come from a video a recording I watched it yes and he talks about how your amygdala has been hijacked is the amygdala is part of your brain that supposedly stores memories so therefore it is storing the trauma in your body the theory is the theory is this for the amygdala to change it must be activated I said an important word there Theory so this biblical counselor said we must help people become anxious to help them change their memories I was listening to this recording about how do you care for anxious people is and he was just teaching secular theory yes we must help activate the amygdala and then help them work on their thinking their thinking will not change unless the amygdala is stirred up um so I must help people become anxious that directly violates scripture scripture says be anxious for nothing it does not sound very loving to me is a Biblical counselor to get people agitated part of my job as a Biblical counselor is to calm people down Jesus says he leads people beside the Quiet Waters he was taking secular Theory and trying to combine it with Biblical thinking is my researcher friend told me that is much too simplistic yes the brain all works together it's not just the amygdala there are other parts of the brain that all work together so to change the thought life it is not just the amygdala Spain please be thinking about the things that are being claimed here's another one I heard a Biblical counselor talk about the Broca's area of the brain yes the Broca's area of the brain has to do with speech is the book that this is in has become a popular book in the United States after it was released from the publisher I wrote to the publisher um this is a well-known publisher in the United States of biblical counseling literature is and I respectfully told them you just published inaccurate brain research here's the problem with that students are now reading that book and quoting it in their research papers let me explain what's inaccurate about what was said in the books this biblical counseling book said that the brocus area of the brain shuts down if the brocus area of the brain shut down you would not even be able to talk the way it was explained in the book is that the brocus area of the brain shuts down therefore people have a hard time explaining the pain they are going through it's important to understand that the brochus area does not shut down again my researcher friend who studies the brain said this genoves all of these functions of the brain all work together plus that makes it only about the brain plus their problems are only then about the brain problems it doesn't explain who is this person and how has their background impacted them yes I can tell you for certain that in the secular World they don't study the soul that's where we Excel as biblical counselors let me talk about another myth about brain research this is as recent to me as last week this morning the pastors of our church at our pastor's meeting were discussing an article we have 19 pastors at our church and we meet every two weeks to have a pastor's meeting our senior pastor is Heath Lambert and also Pastor principal El hit Lambert and he wanted to discuss an article that has become popular in the United States this article was about why Pastors in the United States are resigning yes during the years of covid and right after there were many pastors resigning this article was addressing that yes one of the claims made in the article was that a pastor went and had a brain scan um the doctor told him your brain looks like a combat Veteran's brain now I can admit that pastoral Ministry can feel like combat sometimes um especially when I've been leading congregational meetings but the brain scan is not accurate here's what my brain researcher friend explained yes very extravagant claims are being made about brain research very very extravagant claims um researchers that are honest about the brain would say this is this is an amazing statement so please listen carefully we know more about the universe than we do about the human brains Neuroscience is a Pioneer field brain scans are not sophisticated enough to say that's a depressed brain and that's a trauma-filled brain it is my researcher friend explained that there has to be large group studies for example for example there may be 700 veterans who are studied for example there may be 700 veterans who are studied there has to be a large groups and they have to have the similarity of they were all in combat and it would even be better if they were all in the same combat situation together and then if you studied their brain you might start seeing similarities there is no such thing as doing a brain scan and saying that's an anxious brain is or this is a depressed brain that's not how it works plus that does not take into account all the other variables I know I'm being technical with you I'm sorry I just want you to be well informed biblical counselors because amazing things are being claimed about the brain there are all kinds of other variables what is this person's family background what's going on in their heart their soul as DrBerger will talk about or has talked about what's happening with sleep let's move on to the second point in your notes we've seen two things so far of my seven points every counseling system has a source of authority in every counseling system has a view of the source of the problems what is the biblical view of the source of the problem I would like to remind you of what happened in Genesis chapter 3. in Genesis 3 there's an amazing claim made in Genesis is that all of humanity has fallen into sin because of Adam and Eve's sin then please remember what happened in Genesis 4.
just a few verses after the fall in Genesis 3 a brother Slaughters his brother auguns versicles we live in a trauma-filled world we have all been traumatized because of sin the world is full of trauma all of those fossils that I described here in Brazil are the effect of trauma is catastrophe has happened on this planet not just because of the flood no support but the flood happened because of human sin is we live in a catastrophe filled world we have a better perspective on what's going on in the world than secular trauma Theory do you remember what Paul says in Romans chapter 8 he says that the whole creation is groaning the next point is going to be then what's the solution and I'll just give you a little taste of where we're going to go in conclusion our beautiful savior is reversing the effects of the Fall Salvador is uh let me point out the second Point under B the show uh this is a very important point for you to get for your thinking uh why don't you go ahead and read the question that I pose there and your point yes Proverbs no no read this question to them Grange is do you understand the implications of that question is the trauma the source of my bad behavior or is the trauma the pressure in my life that allows my heart to come out scripture would say my body puts pressure on me uh script to the GDA key um my body is not my friend for example I have arthritis all through my body for example I'm tempted sometimes to be grouchy but my body cannot make me sin I am responsible to respond to the pressure my body puts on me a beautiful example of this is a woman that I respect very much her name is Johnny Erickson Tada Johnny Erickson Tada Tada uh she has been paralyzed for over 50 years but she says just because my body is broken that does not give me an excuse to sin against other people um we do not believe in biological determinism sin puts pressure on me my brain can put pressure on me but my soul is responsible to respond properly proverbs 4 23 says guard your heart Proverbs for from it flow the issues of life now what is the solution this is the second point in your notes the good news in secular theory is trauma Theory is as I mentioned last evening I have listened to many many hours of secular presentations and they are all very excited about this new Theory they want the world to know the good news and I am not exaggerating at all this is so exciting to them they want everybody to become trauma informed you see in your notes a definition of what it means to be trauma informed why don't you read that definition foreign uh this is the good news become trauma informed ask the sauce novice we have a much better message I want you to think for a moment about the trauma that our savior went through and because he went through this trauma Our Lives can change no one is stuck with the events of the past is because we become followers of Jesus we have the Holy Spirit living in US the Holy Spirit helped create the world in six days Jesus can't he help somebody deal with their past the scriptures say that when you become a believer in Christ you are now in Christ my identity is not I have PTSD um or I'm a domestic abuse victim I'm going to tell you a story in just a moment about a domestic abuse victim and she refuses to allow that to be her identity please listen to Isaiah 53 verses 1 to 8 [Music] would you do me a favor as my brother is reading would you close your eyes and think about what's being read we need reverence when we read passages like this this is the trauma that our Lord went through to deal with the the effects of sin on the world is please listen to these verses worshipfully so please read is [Music] foreign foreign iniquidades because foreign foreign Our Savior defeated sin and death Sal Salvador he March he came into a trauma-filled world he experienced trauma so that now he can reverse the effects of sin on our lives in conclusion turn to Ephesians chapter one Ephesians in Ephesians Paul explains who we are in Christ notice in particular what he says in chapter 1 verse 19. he talks about the surpassing great power that they have now it is in verse 20 he says it's because of the Resurrection because of Christ's resurrection power it is now in us now turn to chapter 3 verses 20 and 21.
