True Biblical Counseling: Part 3

Last time we examined what it means to Counsel someone Biblically, discovering that this idea is rooted in Scripture and is used in the context of the local church. Next, we need to discover the differences between Biblical Counseling (from a Biblical perspective) and Christian (Psychology) Counseling, that is Christians that counsel using Biblical language while supplementing (or even substituting) their material with secular sources. We learn that Biblical Counseling and Christian Psychology have five divergent points. We will examine these in the these final three or four posts.

Lets examine our first point of difference; that is from the perspective of Scripture. In this idea of the use of the Scriptures in counseling there are stark contrasts, while some would see these as only slight. Many Christian Psychologists acknowledge that the Bible has a role of inspiration in counseling with the main focus is for them to adapt a personalized model secular psychology and attempt to counsel and speak from human knowledge and wisdom. Biblical (Nouthetic) Counselors, on the other hand, use the Scriptures as the source for how to understand people and the problems that they face. Let me explain why the latter is superior to the former. Only God knows the heart of man. Who better understands man than his Creator? Jeremiah tells us that the "heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9)"; Paul says, "There is none righteous"( Rom 3:10). This foundational principle explains that, Freud, Skinner, and Rogers (the authorities on psychological counseling theories) could not have known the heart of man, and could only approximate the emotional part of man. They simply devised clever, albeit intellectual, frameworks of how man's emotions work. Is this an arogant statement? No, these men, although brilliant, were not saved; they were aetheists or agnostics. God's Word on the other hand delivers a clear verdict. The end state of a psychologist (no matter their intentions) using his flawed theories can only lead to flawed analysis. On the other hand, 2 Tim 3:16-17 tells us that the Bible is Inspired and is "profitable for doctrine (what is right), reproof (how to stay right), correction (how to get right), and instruction in righteousness (keeping on the right course). The Bible presupposes man's sinfulness, prescribes an inward change (that is salvation); then promises His Spirit as a Divine Agent to use the Scriptures to guide us. This is astoundingly clear! God's Way delivers change that does not want! Respectfully. Merry Christmas! Sherrell