Brother-Paul
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- Jul 14, 2015
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Counselling today is a form of psychology, it is a worldly practice that pastors and ministers use, as well as others. The leaders in the places of worship have adopted these counselling practices, they do courses, as do lay people, to be able to counsel other. In this world we are to abide by world rules, set by man.
There is a gulf between biblical counsellors and Christian psychologists, which is often expressed as a disagreement about how one should handle sin when working with clients. It seems that much of this disagreement reflects a misunderstanding of biblical counselling and the inseparability of the Christian doctrines of sin and grace.
The prime reason for counselling today is because of sin of the counsellors client.
Why are they meeting a counsellor, because things are not right in their life, relationship, fear, depression, etc, and all relate back to sin past and or present.
Now I appreciate it is not always straight cut, I for one was counselled for eight and a half months to sort out my past that was locked away, my wife of twenty years, at the time of being counselled, knew nothing of my past that was locked away in the vaults, eating away and moulding me to be a person even I wouldn't want to know.
But again looking back, these were worldly situation, of past experiences, abused and sexually abused, broken marriage where my mother walked out before I was 3, and I only saw my dad one weekend in four until I was 8. What were the causes, sin, sin, sin.
I lived in a none Christian, unsaved fragmented family with no saved souls at any level in the extended family. The sin of parents and grandparents, that were also part of the fear I experienced as a young child, run through to my sins, I was hurt so many times no one would hurt me again, and I became wild, no one would tell me what to do, I was in charge of my life, I control what happens. It was a lashing out to protect oneself, I didn't need a counsellor or psychologist to tell me that,
Around the time I came to Christ, in my early forties, I was suffering deep depression, a lot of things happened that basically took away my control of things. I saw my doctor, expecting more antidepressants, out of the blue he said, 'have you considered counselling Paul?' God's timing often comes as a surprise, my reply was, 'well yes I have recently but, I would want a Christian counsellor'. He said just wait here I have to go out of the room for a minute, when he returned he had a lady with him, he said, 'This is Margaret, she is a Christian Counsellor, would you like to pop into the room next door to have a little chat with her.' I did and that was the start of the eight and a half month of counselling. Little did I know I was being set free, to be free indeed, by the Holy Spirit.
So how was the counselling, slow, very slow at first and far from easy, how did she counsel me, according to recommended practices, relaying the findings back to the doctor. Everything was done in a worldly way, as she would do with any other client, saved or lost souls. Did she ever touch on sin, no! Did she ever encourage prayer, no! I have no doubt she prayed before and after the sessions, but everything was done based on accepted worldly practices.
The Holy Spirit, the Ruach HaKodesh, was the one doing the work for sure. The counsellor, the comforter, the advocate, the paraklētos.
The counsellor deals with a persons worldly experiences, struggles, depression, stress, they do so in accordance with worldly rules and practices, they do not look to the root of issues in accordance with the scriptures, they may quote a few verses etc, but the big question is are they rooting out the sin, rooting out the causes caused by sin. I think not thought some may go a little further than others.
I too have a number of counselling books Sue, most are as described above, though each in their own way, that is how they sell their books!
I have one, not yet read fully, but it is a worthy read He confronts the counselling situation based not just on scripture but on the two conflicting items sin and grace.
Sin and Grace in Christian Counseling
by Mark R. McMinn
It is Christian based on the two elements mentioned in the title SIN and GRACE
His concluding paragraph in his introduction says...
Christian counselors have divided over the doctrines of sin and grace, which is both sad and unnecessary. I hope this small book will prompt us to look again at the central themes of the Christian faith and consider how doctrine informs the soul care we provide. How freeing a sound doctrine of sin can be, because it ushers us into the presence of a surprising grace that touches our deepest spiritual and psychological longings.
