Biblical Counseling FAQs, Part I
People have a lot of questions about what makes biblical counseling truly biblical. The purpose of these brief FAQs or Q/A paragraphs is to provide relevant, biblical answers to basic questions about biblical counseling.
1. What is biblical counseling?
First, biblical counseling is not “beating people over the head with the Bible.” Nor is it saying, “take two verses and call me in the morning.” And it is not one-problem, one-verse, one-quick-solution.
While no one person can provide the final definition, here is a working definition of what makes biblical counseling truly biblical:
Biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate God’s inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering (through the Christian soul care arts of sustaining and healing) and sin (through the Christian spiritual direction arts of reconciling and guiding) to empower people to exalt and enjoy God and to love others (Matthew 22:35-40) by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ.
The rest of our FAQs will “flesh out” this definition.
2. What is the difference between biblical counseling and secular counseling?
While there are hundreds of different secular approach to counseling, they all have two central features in common. First, secular counseling depends upon human reason and research to answer life questions about people, problems, and solutions. Biblical counseling depends upon scriptural revelation to build a comprehensive, compassionate, culturally-informed approach to who we are, what went wrong, and how to solve the issues of the soul.
Second, secular counseling, especially in our post-modern age, assumes that there is no final answer, no all-encompassing story that explains the meaning of life. Biblical counseling, while appreciating our human limitations and understanding our cultural diversity, believes that in the Bible God has given us all that we need for life and godliness. The Bible provides real answers for real people with real problems.
1. What is biblical counseling?
First, biblical counseling is not “beating people over the head with the Bible.” Nor is it saying, “take two verses and call me in the morning.” And it is not one-problem, one-verse, one-quick-solution.
While no one person can provide the final definition, here is a working definition of what makes biblical counseling truly biblical:
Biblical counseling depends upon the Holy Spirit to relate God’s inspired truth about people, problems, and solutions to human suffering (through the Christian soul care arts of sustaining and healing) and sin (through the Christian spiritual direction arts of reconciling and guiding) to empower people to exalt and enjoy God and to love others (Matthew 22:35-40) by cultivating conformity to Christ and communion with Christ and the Body of Christ.
The rest of our FAQs will “flesh out” this definition.
2. What is the difference between biblical counseling and secular counseling?
While there are hundreds of different secular approach to counseling, they all have two central features in common. First, secular counseling depends upon human reason and research to answer life questions about people, problems, and solutions. Biblical counseling depends upon scriptural revelation to build a comprehensive, compassionate, culturally-informed approach to who we are, what went wrong, and how to solve the issues of the soul.
Second, secular counseling, especially in our post-modern age, assumes that there is no final answer, no all-encompassing story that explains the meaning of life. Biblical counseling, while appreciating our human limitations and understanding our cultural diversity, believes that in the Bible God has given us all that we need for life and godliness. The Bible provides real answers for real people with real problems.
2 comments:
Dear Bob,
With all due respect, I do not agree that, as you posted in here,
"in the Bible God has given us all that we need for life and godliness. The Bible provides real answers for real people with real problems."
I agree with the general notion, that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, healing and eternal life, but yet, I do not feel that the Scriptures are the only revelation of God's identity in Christ. What about the table? What about general revelation?
Do you agree with me?
I would love to dialogue about this.
I think that you know more than me about this subject, but on this one point I am finding it hard to agree.
Peter and Anna,
Thanks for your post and for inviting ongoing dialogue. I'm in.
The part you quoted is itself a quote from the Scriptures, that God has given us all things for life and godliness. And I do believe that the Bible provides real answers for real people with real problems.
You say, "what about the table" in reference to a revelatin about God's identity in Christ. Are you referring to the Lord's Table--Communion, the Lord's Supper?
As far as general revelation, that is a huge discussion and debate in the realm of theology and psychology and whether and what role general revelation should have in developing theories of people, problems, and solutions. I have written much more about that in my book Soul Physicians.
Let's keep talking.
Bob
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