The Rise of Biblical Counseling

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 28. 2014

The Rise of Biblical Counseling

Seems like everybody wants to be a therapist or counselor these days.

Everybody has problems of various degrees, and indeed sometimes it is helpful to talk it over with a trusted person. I have no problem with Biblical counseling. Anybody in a "helping profession" needs to know his limits and needs to be humble about his capacities.

My guess is that biblical counseling as some form of psychotherapy (as opposed to help with relationship to God which I would call Pastoral Counseling) can be most helpful for those whose guilt is honestly come by. By that I mean people who have every reason to feel troubled by guilt and remorse because they have done wrong, have not earned self-respect or earned a feeling of deserving God's love (which is another complicated topic). In other words, non-neurotic guilt.

The Rise of Biblical Counseling

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Our Essays, Psychology, and Dr. Bliss, Religion, The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 14:04 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I always though therapy was a substitute for pastoral counseling, not the other way around. Just one more consequence of the death of religion.

#1 chuck on 2014-10-28 15:54 (Reply)

Many years ago friends introduced us to a very famous local pastor. Small air base town. He was known as "THE BEST" marital counselor. His formula was quite simple: respect each other as you wish to be respected and RESPECT THE NUMBERS (making the budget work)!

Many of our friends and neighbors had gone to him for marital counseling and he said those were the two most important things. He had a quote from scripture that he used and I cannot remember--it was about living within one's budget and making sound investments. He was a very honorable and genuine man, who taken his BA in accounting and done his Master's work in therapy/counseling. I think you would have liked him.

#2 apple pie on 2014-10-28 16:16 (Reply)

I take some issue with the article linked. One is the fact that the website alleges the "science of society". The implication is that the various counseling theories are hard science rather than notions of human behaviors.
I am a pastor and finishing a counseling degree in substance abuse counseling (another up and coming field full of theories, often ineffectual and half baked)
I would ask you Dr. Bliss, what is the real effectiveness of any therapy model?
I hear of statistics from treatment models that claim 70-80% cure rates after one year. That may be true, but the addict is in the program for all or part of that year. What is the abstinence rate at 5 years or 10?
The Macarthur story is hardly indicative of all church counseling. I come from a Pentecostal tradition and often hear admonitions to people not to tell sick people to get rid of their medicines.
I believe church counseling and secular models can co-exist in a comprehensive approach if both will seek common ground.

#3 bill on 2014-10-28 17:46 (Reply)

As an evangelical who works in mental health, you'd think I'd be generally in support of this. Not very. Of the half-dozen best counselors I have known, three were Christians of a definitely committed variety (the other three were a tepid Episcopalian, an almost-truculent atheist, and a cultural Jew). But none of the three used any of the various biblical counseling programs or schools of teaching out there. I remain suspicious of those.

#4 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2014-10-28 19:43 (Reply)

This article is really biased and does not account for the accreditation from recognized agencies for Christian counselors. This is just another bashing of Christians and those who desire to live a Christian life.

How many people going to regular - scientific if you will - counselors go bat crazy? Lots. How many of the recent mass murders used drugs proscribed by those counselors? Every one or almost every one. Too bad that isn't in the news as well.

Heaven help us if some big name news guy says that America was better off when we had a common bond in Christian values. No, America today decides what is OK because of our relative ethical thinking. The base line of right and wrong in America is the 10 Commandments and now we are watching a few in power destroy our nation.

#5 Dave on 2014-10-29 23:02 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 28. 2014

The Rise of Biblical Counseling