Therapeutic Culture and Biblical Care: Why Discernment Matters for Christian Women

Author: Angela Mitchell

Are you having trouble sleeping? There’s an app for that. Struggling with fatigue? There’s a cleanse for that. Feeling genuinely sad? There are spiritual rituals for that. Dealing with an ailment? You can buy a course for that. Facing big life decisions? There is a life coach for that. Have a child with a disability? There is an expensive detox protocol for getting rid of that.

I am coining the term “Therapeutic Culture” to describe this phenomenon. It is an offshoot of wellness culture, focusing on how we relate to each other. Many people share wellness tips as if they are therapists, ready to diagnose, treat, and support those in need. Therapeutic culture promises to assist us in numerous ways. It deserves some examination, as anything in culture can infect church culture.

With modern medicine, reliable health advice, access to the wisdom of others, and a multitude of experts ready to help us, we have countless resources at our disposal. However, this therapeutic culture is a double-edged sword, and we must approach it with caution. While many individuals genuinely wish to help us, others may view us merely as a means to their own financial gain.

Many are being taught to believe that there is a remedy for every problem we face. This belief can stem from the overwhelming amount of information from friends, the internet, apps, doctors, and gurus that we encounter daily. Additionally, many have unfortunately begun to filter their interpretation of the Bible through this self-help therapeutic lens. As a result, we are being catechized in a new lens that makes us become health gurus and therapist-like in our conversations and counsel. In this climate, there is a solution for all that ails you if you have a credit card number and are ready to check out. 

The church is currently facing a counseling crisis due to the rise of well-meaning believers who, armed with new perspectives(I’m looking at you, Internet!), feel equipped to provide practical solutions in place of Biblical encouragement and heartfelt prayer. This approach can lead to spiritually weak Christians who often overlook how God may be using trials in our lives or the lives of our sisters to refine us. Instead of seeking to encourage ourselves and each other, we tend to focus on finding quick fixes. We have redefined what it means to care, and care well. We are unsure of what help could look like amidst discomfort and suffering, so we offer solutions instead.

From simple sleep solutions to more complex issues like managing children with autism or addressing unusual health concerns, we frequently turn to therapeutic answers instead of grounding ourselves in Biblical wisdom. We often neglect to remind one another to trust in the Lord and acknowledge His sovereignty over all situations, as well as to pray for His will to be done in our lives.

Is our primary need truly wellness and health, or to understand and heal from our trauma? Deep down, we know it isn’t, yet many of us are tempted to act as if anything obstructing the goal of our earthly flourishing is not part of God’s best for our lives.

“The real challenge of Christian living is not to eliminate every uncomfortable circumstance from our lives, but to trust our sovereign, wise, good, and powerful God in the midst of every situation.” John Macarthur

Using the apostle Paul as an example here. Was God not honored and His purposes carried out through Paul’s imprisonment? Did he not love and care for Paul despite his thorn? Did God not desire Paul’s best through his “trials of various kinds?” My point: We must be careful not to create a therapeutic moral deity who only wants our comfort and happiness out of a Holy and sovereign God.

Man’s ultimate need isn’t wellness or comfort; it is to be conformed into the likeness of Christ. No matter how much suffering goes into that process, we must learn to accept it with a heart filled with gratitude and trust in our loving Heavenly Father. God promises that He will give us grace for each hardship we face, and we must believe Him.

Because of the language surrounding root cause culture, we often assume we can determine the reasons behind someone’s personal suffering or at least establish some kind of percentage or likelihood of the cause. This leads us to diagnose without definite facts, and can lead to a care culture that is merely superficial carrot-chasing, more than based in factual evidence, and spiritually enriching. We are often (like the prophet Jeremiah) on a search for the balm of Gilead, that one supplement or program we can buy that promises to fix the problem, instead of realizing the true balm for our soul is only found in the Lord. (I’m sure a Christian health guru somewhere is actually selling snake oil under the guise of it being the biblical balm of Gilead, but I digress.) 

This seems to be a problem that predominantly affects the minds and dialogue of women. New-age health gurus and the longevity industry often target women with this information more than they do men; they make merchandise of us because God has made women with caring and nurturing strengths. They offer solutions based on our very real problems and exploit our fears. They prey on our good God-given feminine traits to care for others. Many women are adopting therapeutic and new age methods by reading books, listening to podcasts, and consuming articles without adequate spiritual oversight from the leaders in their homes (if they are married). We are being conditioned to believe that this is what “help” looks like. As well-meaning as it all is, do we really need more wellness advice? It seems we are so comfy that we have to create problems at this point because, naturally, humans are bent toward problem-solving. Often, the longevity industry proponents introduce problems to us that we didn’t even know we had until listening to them. I often wonder if people from the past listened to our modern-day American problems, if they would be bewildered about what we find as pressing health issues. For some perspective, if you study colonial history, you’ll emerge with a sense of gratitude for the health and prosperity we enjoy as Americans today. We are truly living in a blessed time in comparison to those who lived before us.

In fact, we have such luxury and an abundance of food and clean drinking water, yet we spend a lot of time reading about how evil it all is. I’m sure many in different cultural contexts and points in history would be dumbfounded by a lot of what we believe are life-altering issues. I complain far more than I should when I consider how stocked the grocery shelves are, how comfortable my house is, and how freely I can worship, speak, and how easily it could all be taken away. 

We live in a time of great comfort. It makes me shudder at the thoughts I often have that are filled with complaints because of trivial and minor grievances. I want to be prepared for genuine suffering so I need to think appropriately about life’s greatest issues. 

With all this in view, we must become discerning women who know our Bibles and understand how to provide Biblical encouragement and words that are fittingly spoken to other sisters who are truly suffering. Therapeutic moralistic deism is the worldview that has infected the minds of many church-going people for decades, but how has it affected the Body of Christ?

Please hear me, therapeutic solutions aren’t always wrong. Sometimes a diet change and a vitamin are truly the answer, and sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes God chooses to be glorified in healing, and sometimes He is glorified in suffering. We often strain our spiritual eyes and flounder in our ability to accept the latter, and often neglect to saturate our minds in the Scriptures so we can Biblically care for one another and counsel our own hearts instead of merely offering therapeutic solutions. 

We know these verses by heart, but oh, how quickly we are to forget them. That is why we must stay in the Word; we have to go back to these bulwark truths daily, because we really do forget. Therapeutic culture doesn’t offer the answers we need to be able to bear up under life’s trials and sufferings of various kinds. Recently, I, through reading the book Anxious for Nothing by John MacArthur, sat in my room and just sobbed. How could I so easily forget these simple, God-breathed Biblical truths? Therapeutic culture had infected my mind, and I needed a straight shot of Scripture to cure me. Maybe you do as well, sweet sister. May it pierce our hearts and change our lives.

When I’m tempted to be anxious about the trials I’m facing. 

Jesus said three times, “Do not be anxious” Matt. 6:25, 31, 34)

When I’m tempted to believe God doesn’t care about my body, mind, or soul in my suffering.

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

When I’m tempted by the longevity industry’s message that I can control outcomes and add days to my life.

Who of you by worrying, can add a single hour to your life^? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith!  And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it.  For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. Luke 12:25-31

When I am tempted to fear death.

I will remember the gift of eternal life.

“When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 1 Corinthians 15:54-55