| There is no shortage of advice-givers in today's | | | | Psalm 119:105, how can that truth be applied without |
| society. Actually, it seems no matter where you turn, | | | | having more than a Sunday school knowledge and |
| you hear someone giving advice or counsel on one | | | | understanding of God's word? How can the counselor |
| issue or another. Frequently it's hard to try and avoid | | | | provide the lamp and light if he doesn't know its |
| those wanting to give advice. To prove my point, | | | | whereabouts? Richly implies he should not only |
| simply express to others a dilemma you have, and | | | | possess the word, but it should have a significant place |
| watch folks stumble over themselves to give their | | | | in the counselor's life. The counselor should be |
| opinion. Some counsel you hear is good, little is from a | | | | engaged in frequent reading, hearing, and meditation on |
| biblical worldview, and much counsel is simply bad and | | | | the word. |
| ungodly. With that in mind, who are capable to provide | | | | Next, the counselor should possess wisdom. James |
| counsel or give advice? Are Christians competent to | | | | Strong defines wisdom as "devout and proper |
| counsel people with problems? What actually | | | | prudence in relations with men including the skill and |
| constitutes competency? What are the qualifications | | | | discretion in imparting Christian truth." The counselor |
| for a counselor? | | | | must learn how to discover the facts about the |
| Biblical counselors frequently quote Romans 15:14 to | | | | problems to which he must find biblical solutions. Psalm |
| support the position that Christians possess adequate | | | | 111:10 states where one should start in obtaining |
| ability (competency) to counsel: "I myself am | | | | wisdom, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of |
| convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of | | | | wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good |
| goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to | | | | understanding." |
| instruct one another." Colossians 3:16 is considered the | | | | Finally, the counselor should speak with boldness. He |
| comparable verse to Romans 15:14, "Let the word of | | | | should reprove, advise, and exhort without dread or |
| Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish | | | | fear. 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the Word; be prepared in |
| one another with all wisdom,...." Continuing in Romans, | | | | season and out of season; correct, rebuke and |
| Paul makes the case for boldness: Romans 15:15, "I | | | | encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." |
| have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to | | | | Having stated the biblical prerequisites for what |
| remind you of them again, because of the grace God | | | | constitutes a competent counselor, what then |
| gave me." Each of these verses contains the | | | | constitutes an incompetent counselor? One might |
| necessary characteristics or prerequisites required of | | | | assume it would be just the antithesis of what I just |
| a competent counselor. Counselors are to be, "full of | | | | stated. However, since all Christians possess the key |
| goodness," "complete in knowledge," the word of | | | | competent attributes in some degree (albeit many in |
| Christ should dwell in them richly, they should be full of | | | | extremely small amounts), there is more to what |
| wisdom, and they should speak boldly. | | | | constitutes incompetency. The strength of biblical |
| First, counselors should be full of goodness. This is not | | | | counseling begins with its presuppositions. In other |
| goodness that is natural within us, but is from the Spirit | | | | words, it accepts on faith that God exists and the Bible |
| of God whose fruit is goodness, Galatians 5:22. Being | | | | is true, and understands the implications of adhering to |
| full of goodness denotes an abundance of grace | | | | it. |
| consisting of benevolence, humaneness, and an | | | | What are some of the key presuppositions in biblical |
| understanding to fellow Christians in the spirit of | | | | counseling? To start, counseling issues are theological |
| Galatians 6:1, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, | | | | issues because our life is lived before God. That is the |
| you who are spiritual should restore him gently." | | | | exact opposite of psychology's main presupposition of |
| Second, counselors should be complete in knowledge. | | | | there is no God. If there is one single difference that |
| This is spiritual knowledge relating to: 1. God, His nature | | | | makes the two counseling models stand out, it's the |
| and perfections, His mind and will, 2. Christ and the | | | | fact that one acknowledges God and the other does |
| work of redemption, 3. The Holy Spirit and how He | | | | not. Also, the heart drives behavior and all counseling |
| operates, 4. The Gospel knowledge necessary to | | | | issues are heart issues. This establishes that all |
| salvation. If a counselor is to have an understanding of | | | | behavior is righteous or unrighteous, not healthy or |
| the biblical issues relating to human nature and | | | | unhealthy; and certainly not the psychological heresy |
| behavior, the study of the scriptures will be | | | | "feelings are neither good nor bad, they just exist." |
| fundamental to his or her qualifications and | | | | Furthermore, one's view on the nature of man is critical |
| effectiveness. It would be paradoxical for someone to | | | | in understanding behavior and offering biblical solutions. |
| say they counsel biblically, yet lack the wherewithal or | | | | If man is depraved and his behavior is the result of sin, |
| inclination to provide biblical explanations to issues and | | | | the biblical counselor can offer solutions, hope, and a |
| problems. 2 Timothy 2:15, "Do your best to present | | | | cure. If there is no sin, reductionism becomes the |
| yourself to God as one approved, a workman who | | | | presupposition and all behavior is reduced to chemical |
| does not need to be ashamed and who correctly | | | | imbalances, diseases or other ambiguous impulses. |
| handles the word of truth." | | | | Doctors David Tyler and Kurt Grady explore this |
| Third, the word of Christ should dwell richly in the | | | | further in their book, "Deceptive Diagnosis: When Sin is |
| counselor. The counselor should understand the | | | | Called Sickness." Dr. Dr. Ed Bulkley comments from the |
| scriptures, especially those which speak of Christ and | | | | forward of the book are most appropriate: "The |
| testify of Him, teach pardon by His blood, justification | | | | church has a growing tendency to pathologize every |
| by faith, and salvation. He must know the Bible | | | | form of spiritual discomfort..., instead of seeking God's |
| thoroughly and how to use it practically. I would | | | | definitions and explanations of human behavior, more |
| seriously question the motives and presuppositions of | | | | and more pastors, elders, and congregations are |
| a biblical counselor who lacked the willingness or desire | | | | accepting a secular world-view which is based on |
| to study and learn the doctrines central to the work of | | | | humanistic psychology rather than the Bible. The result |
| a true biblical counselor. If a counselor believes "Thy | | | | is an increasingly weakened Church, no longer certain |
| word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path," | | | | of its message, mission and calling. |