Returning to a Biblical Framework for Complex PTSD
Does the Bible really have answers for the hurting in a world full of suffering, oppression, and affliction? How can a book that was written centuries ago speak to the human experiences of this century? Can we, as Christians, go to it for our deepest struggles? Does the Bible have answers for my experience of complex trauma as a child?
In Search of Truth
I asked all these questions at the beginning of my journey. I had doubts that the Bible could meet me in the complexity of my experience. I found no comfort in the shallow platitudes of well-meaning Christians who believed in the sufficiency of scripture but were not fully equipped to draw from the depths of the well of Biblical truth to meet me at the place of my hurt. As a result, I looked for answers outside of the church and the Word of God.
I read everything I could get my hands on about trauma, overcoming sexual abuse, complex trauma, neurobiology, and every kind of trauma treatment approach you could think of. I even became a certified trauma recovery coach. I read more research articles on the effects of trauma than I could count. But none of these things satisfied my soul’s craving for truth…real truth…Biblical truth.
I started noticing the effects of “turning towards Sodom” on my spiritual life. There was a distance between myself and the Lord; I began to withdraw from my church community, and my heart started growing cold towards the things of God. Even though I was still reading my Bible and doing my devotions, it seemed empty to me. I was not getting spiritual nutrition from the Word of God like I used to, and I was miserable.
The Fork in the Road
The Lord is a very patient teacher, and He is never in a hurry. He has an individual development plan for each of us. The goal is the same for everyone…to be conformed to the image of His Son, but the path to getting there is different for everyone. I was invited by my missionary brother to go to the annual ACBC Biblical Counseling conference in Memphis, TN. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I completed three tracks of Biblical Counseling training in Lafayette, Indiana, but I found the handling of trauma, PTSD, and sexual abuse to be too shallow and disappointing based on my lived experience, so I moved away from it and turned towards the world for answers.
I decided I would go and spend some time with my brother and sister-in-love to “check-in” on the Biblical Counseling scene to see if they’ve made any progress on their handling of trauma, especially complex trauma. My interest was piqued by the sessions titled “Biblical Counseling and the Body: How much emphasis should the body get?” and “Biblically Informed Trauma Counseling.” I felt hopeful that the Biblical Counseling movement would finally come around to accepting the psychosomatic (soul/body connection) component of trauma counseling, but I was again disappointed. I would say that 2/3 of each session was a defense of the sufficiency of scripture and bashing of “worldly” approaches, but there was little to no equipping biblical counselors on using Biblical concepts to address trauma. I am going to be candid here. If you are a presenter, and your audience is certified Biblical Counselors, those pursuing certification as Biblical Counselors, and attending a Biblical Counseling conference, I am going to go out on a limb and assume that they already believe in the sufficiency of scripture. I was looking forward to hearing how the Bible could be used to help people with trauma and maybe even help me with my trauma, but that’s not what I got.
The Introduction of a Biblical Framework
I thought I had wasted my time and money until I went to a session called “Identifying Abuse: A Biblical Framework” by Dr. Jeremy Pierre. Dr. Pierre wrote a book on domestic abuse called, “When Home Hurts: A guide to responding wisely to domestic abuse in your church”.” He presented a Biblical framework for viewing domestic abuse using the pertinent biblical themes of the image of God, sin, love, oppression, marriage, and the church. He said you will not find “domestic abuse” in your concordance. He said we look to scripture for doctrinal themes to get a perspective on how to view the situation. My soul was bursting and saying, “yes, yes, yes, this is what I was looking for.” Here was someone who understood the depth of suffering that comes from oppression and how to dig deep into scripture to find the Biblical truth that provides hope and healing. I was encouraged by his handling of scripture. That is what I was looking for and needing to handle the complexity of my experience with complex childhood trauma.
When I got home, I told my pastor about this session and asked him how I could learn more about this Biblical Framework that Dr. Pierre discussed. I read Systematic Theology books before, but that was not what I was looking for. I am not going to be a theologian in my lifetime, but I do want to be able to use Biblical themes to address the challenges of life. He recommended a book that Dr. Pierre wrote called “The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life: Connecting Christ to Human Experience.” He also said that Dr. Pierre presented the information to Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary on YouTube.
Of course, I bought both books and viewed all three YouTube videos. I started reading The Dynamic Heart in Daily Life and would highly recommend it. My soul hungrily consumed the YouTube videos. Dr. Pierre presents three functions of the dynamic heart: Cognitive (thinking, knowing, believing, reasoning, remembering, interpreting), Affective (desiring, valuing, feeling, emoting), and Volitional (willing, deciding, intending, committing, acting). He acknowledged that the body is the container that allows the dynamic heart to function and that we are psychosomatic (soul/body union). All functions are interrelated and overlapping. He went into all of the Biblical components of the model (you can either read the book or watch the videos to learn more), and it really resonated with me.
I could immediately see my experience of complex childhood trauma within the context of this framework. This is something I can use to articulate the complexity of my lived experience to help Biblical Counselors and other helping professionals understand the thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions survivors have taken to survive.
In my next blog, I want to use this model to dig deep to understand complex PTSD Biblically. I am really looking forward to it.
