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What is Biblical
Counseling?
By Dr. Marc Graham, Director
A successful counseling model must be based on a correct
anthropology. By this we mean that we must have a correct
understanding of the nature of Man if we are to be able to have a
correct understanding of how Man grows and changes. Further, our
understanding of the nature of Man will determine if we are able to
correctly interpret data from empircal observation of human
behavior and attempts to analyze cause and solutions.
Secular psychology is based on a Darwinian view of Man. In other
words, evolution teaches that the only reality is the material
universe and that Man is strictly a material, or biological being.
Therefore, psychology concludes that Man is born "morally-neutral"
and his life philosophy and morals are formed by forces outside of
him (i.e. his environment, society, his parents, school, church,
peers, etc.). If you want to change Man's behavior, change what's
going on around him.
As this view of Man is false, the traditional counseling model
proposed by secular psychology has been recognized more and more as
failing to produce real change. Because of a tenacious commitment
to evolutionary anthropology, however, Secularists are determined
that the problem and, therefore, the solution must be in the
material realm. The new thinking being offered, then, is that all
behavorial problems must be biological. The popular diagnosis for
almost everything these days is that problems are either
genetically predetermined or result from a chemical imbalance in
the brain: theories being presented as FACT, though they cannot be
substantiated by good scientific analysis and are, in most cases,
unprovable. The solution being offered to these supposed biological
maladies? Drugs, drugs, and more drugs!
The Bible, on the other hand, tells us that the material universe,
including Man, was created by a supernatural, powerful and holy
God. Scripture tells us that Man is His special creation in His
image (Gen. 1:26-27). Therefore, Man is not only a biological
being, he is, at his root, a spiritual being with an eternal soul.
Further, the Scriptures teach that human behavior (apart from a
verifiable medical problem, such as a closed-head injury, for
example) flows from this invisible, immaterial spiritual root (Mark
7:20-23). Due to Adam's Fall (Gen. 3:1-6), sin has been passed down
to the whole human race. Therefore, the heart of every human being
ever produced through sexual reproduction receives a sin-nature at
conception. Incidentally, this is the reason for the Virgin Birth
of Christ-to prevent the sin of Adam from being passed down to
Christ's humanity through sexual reproduction.
Understanding the impact of these truths upon counseling is
critical. Human behavior (barring a medical problem) is ultimately
a spiritual issue.
For the unbeliever, his need is not counseling, but evangelism. The
slavery to sin in the human heart must be broken through the
regenerating work of the Holy Spirit at salvation (Eph.
2:1-10).
For the Christian, Biblical Counseling is using the Word of God to
discover areas of thinking and behavior that God wants to change,
for the counselee's benefit and God's own glory (Psalm 1:1-3). The
goal of the counseling is to help the counselee find joy in
pleasing God and moving toward Christlikeness, no matter what
his/her circumstances (Rom. 8:28-29). It brings hope to the
counselee through the recognition of the sovereignty of God and His
ability to use every adversity to accomplish a greater and more
satisfying work in our lives than providing mere physical comfort
and ease (Gen. 50:15-20).
Because we live in a fallen, sin-cursed world, Jesus warned us that
we would have trouble. He went on, however, to offer a great
hope-"Be of good cheer (have joy) because I have overcome the
world." (John 16:33). This is the hope that Biblical Counseling
offers to the Christian-an inner peace that seems absurd to those
who do not know Christ (Phil. 4:6-7). It is a peace that enables us
to handle whatever difficulty life brings. It works because it is
not based in our circumstances, which we have little control over
and which constantly and unexpectedly change. It is based in the
reality that God is in control of all things and is working them
together in our lives to accomplish His good and eternal
purposes.
Proper treatment requires a correct diagnosis. Biblical Counseling,
alone, correctly diagnoses the root cause of Man's behavioral
problems. Biblical Counseing, alone, brings the correct treatment
to bear: the Gospel for the unsaved; Biblical change for the saved
(John 17:17).
The purpose of this brief article has been to present the core
philosophy behind Biblical Counseling. This we have accurately
done, though some assertions have been a bit simplistic for the
sake of brevity. External forces do, in fact, put pressures on all
of us. People can develop deeply ingrained emotional and behavioral
habits due to a pattern of responding to life a certain way. These
patterns, often formed in childhood, can be carried well into adult
life and magnified in intensity with time.
The answer, however, remains the same. Helping the counselee to
identify destructive thinking and behavior, with its resulting
emotional habituations, and begin a process of replacing it with
Biblical thinking and behavior (Eph. 4:22-24). This process can
take time, but progress can begin to occur quickly and the
counselee receives hope. While some problems (and counselees) are
more stubborn than others, I have yet to encounter the non-medical
life problem that the Bible does not address (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1
Pet. 1:3).
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