A biblical counseling course at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary helped cement in my mind the power of the Gospel and the Bible to address man’s deepest needs. By this, I mean every need. All of them. Every last one.
Viewing oneself as a fallen sinner who has rebelled against a perfect and all-powerful Creator and then through the lens of a crucified and risen Messiah who came to earth and conquered the power of evil forces, sin and death addresses every human need.
Paul wasn’t kidding when he said he counted all things as loss compared to knowing Christ (Phil 3:7). He really lived his life based on that foundation. To him, to live was Christ and to die was gain (Phil 1:21).
Perhaps you are skeptical. Perhaps you are thinking of your cousin who can’t sit still long enough to complete a sentence. Perhaps you are thinking of the co-worker who is as nice as your grandmother one minute and as mean as a Roman soldier the next. Perhaps you are thinking of people who cut themselves, are manic-depressive or who drink themselves to sleep every night. Perhaps you are that person.
Can the Bible and the Gospel really address these needs?
CCEF (Christian Counseling Education Foundation) has posted an article by Aaron Sironi called “Becoming a Biblical Counselor: A Skeptic’s Journey.”
In the article, Sironi shares how he has gone from being a licensed professional counselor who was a Christian to an avid proponent of biblical counseling who works out his Christianity in his counseling.
Here is an excerpt:
How could I have gone through four years at a graduate school that was part of seminary never having explored the depths and breadths of the gospel as applied to specific counseling issues? The most profound and researched psychological perspectives that had seemed so attractive, that seemed to offer penetrating insight, now appeared two-dimensional against the three dimensional biblical descriptions. Alongside biblical explanations, psychology’s answers to the fundamental issues that underlie every psychiatric condition (suffering, guilt, shame, fear, death, anger, responsibility, etc.) came up wanting. In these conversations with my elder, my disaffection with the psychologies grew even as my joy multiplied in seeing rich practical theology applied to counseling. As if beginning to see clearly for the first time, Scripture began to shine beautifully and powerfully into each of counseling’s complex issues. This was just the beginning of the comfort available in the gospel.
Helpful comments on the place psychological studies can play in counseling:
Allow me to clarify. Studying and learning from the astute observations of the psychologies was helpful. Thousands of thoughtful counselors are in the trenches each day comforting, challenging, and attending to people in need. And these counselors have something to teach us. But we must not embrace the anthropologies and philosophies upon which the secular theories and interventions are built. Clearly, the psychologies never address our willful hearts of worship that cherish and defend idolatrous and adulterous passions. They excellently examine many things but are blind to deeper things. They are mindless of that which is most important—the soul before the living God. At the end of the day, our counseling falls short if we’ve addressed physiology, family history, trauma, systemic influences, etc., but have not done so in relation to our Creator, Judge, and Redeemer. Even if our clients experience certain positive change in their lives, we fail them if we do not help them to examine their active, willful, and sinful hearts. We fail if we do not help them understand their sufferings through God’s eyes. We fail if we do not help them find God’s precious mercies.
And the conclusion:
Returning to where I began this journey—as an undergraduate studying psychology at a Christian liberal arts college, I remember learning about “biblical” counseling. But it was presented as a fringe movement of Christians who rebuked just about everyone who walked through the counseling door. Sadly, there was probably an element of truth to that caricature. I too have met counselors who call themselves “biblical” but who are otherwise offensive, overly simplistic, and insensitive to people. Had this been my experience at CCEF, I can assure you that I’d still be a “former” therapist. Remarkably, I have been warmly welcomed and my clinical training has been widely valued and redeemed. The transition to biblical counseling has been slow, at times circumspect, but always full of joy and personal transformation. And if the Lord wills, I’ll continue to grow and work as a biblical counselor for years to come.
If you are skeptical toward biblical counseling, I would encourage you to read this article in its entirety. The truths it stands on are worth staking your life on.