Bible a textbook for counseling?

[stovebolts]

This is an article from Jay E. Adams that I found very informative. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :D

http://nouthetic.org/jay_adams/answers/Obj-textbook.asp

"I have heard that you call the Bible a textbook for counseling. How can you say that?"



Easily, because that’s exactly what it is. When Jesus said that you can sum up the entire law and the prophets in the two great commandmentsâ€â€love God; love your neighborâ€â€He declared it so. “How is that?†you ask. He did so because He spoke about the two prime elements that are involved in counseling: one’s relationship to God and to his neighbor. The fundamental problem with sinful man is that he loves himself rather then God and neighbor. Counseling, like the Bible, at its most basic level, is concerned with bringing people to love both.

It is with interpersonal relationships that all counselors (pagan and biblical) are concerned. People don’t come to a counselor to discuss the problems they are having with their new computer. No. They come talking about their problems with spouses, with children, with other Christians, and with their friendsâ€â€their neighbors. And, when they raise questions about life, pain, meaning, and purpose and the like, though they may not realize it, they are talking about problems with God. Every complaintâ€â€and men are full of themâ€â€in the final analysis is against God. That is because of His plan and providential working of it. So, since what Scripture is all about is helping people to love God and neighbor, and because that is the stuff of which Christian counseling is made, it is right to say that the Bible is the textbook on counseling. Your counseling should fit the textbook, not the other way around. If Scripture is not your primary textbook for counseling, then there is something wrong with your counseling!

Now, as to its being a textbook: of course, it doesn’t resemble modern textbooks. But it is a textbook, nonetheless. It is God’s kind of textbook. Today, for instance, few would claim that the format of the Book of Proverbs from which students were trained for life, is a textbook format. And, by our standards, of course it is not. But by God’s standards it is the ideal textbook for learning the practical wisdom that He calls prudence, knowledge, understanding, and discernment (cf. Proverbs 1:1-7). Indeed, rather than look down our noses at the writing that Solomon and others did, it would be wise for us to learn how to use a textbook with a divine format that differs radically from ours. We might just learn much from learning differently! But we shall have to come down off our high horse to do so.

If the Bible is a textbook for counselors, they would do well to spend the lion’s share of their study devouring its pages. Anyone whose mind is marinated in Scripture will counsel differently from those whose thinking is equally influenced by Adler, Maslow, or Skinner. You soon become like that with which you spend much time. And, incidentally, the Christian has the opportunity to think about his own life in relationship to God and neighbor as he studies God’s Word in order to counsel more effectively. Study of God’s counseling textbook is edifying study. What a boon! That is certainly more than can be said for the study of other counseling textbooks.

How does God’s textbook differ from ours today? I shall mention two ways. God rarely speaks abstractly; He addresses what He has to say directly to the reader. Nor does He deal with matters academically; He deals with them in life situations. For these reasons, study of God’s textbook enables one to learn experientially, practically, as well as academically. He becomes involved with the text and its Author as he studies. Study may bring encouragement, repentance, fear, blessing, hope, challenge, and the like. As Hebrews puts it “God’s Word is alive and active†(Hebrews 4:12). What a wonderful counseling textbook it is! It counsels the counselor as well as provides counsel for his counselees. Surely, it behooves you to learn it well!

Dr. Jay E. Adams

 

[Catlover]

I have to disagree with that. The Bible is the book of knowledge of The Lord and a historical account.

However if one is suffering from depression or is bipolar or schizophrenic how can one honestly use The Bible alone to treat these illnesses?

I am not saying people with mental illness can't get insight, and comfort from The Bible, they certainly can. However, saying one should use The Bible alone for mental illness is like saying a cardiologist should only study The Bible and not go to medical school.

 

[stovebolts]

Here is Dr. Adam's response, you can find it at the site listed

http://nouthetic.org/jay_adams/answers/Obj-medicine.asp

"Nouthetic Counselors Oppose the Use of Medicine, Don't They?"

Of course not. From the outset of the Nouthetic movement we have worked closely with physicians. We feature them in training programs, publish their books, and refer people to them regularly. That is a totally false charge that is often made against us. Now, we are careful to distinguish between true disease and that which does not have an organic etiology. We are concerned to see that medicine not be used to obtain pain relief while by-passing non-organic causes of some difficulty in living.

Roughly speaking, there are two types of medicine. One is supplementary to bodily output. For instance, if the body is not producing insulin as it should, we think it proper to add insulin from the outside. Or, if one is suffering from atrial fibrillation we believe in taking a beta blocker in order to achieve a normal, steady heart beat. The use of medicine in such cases helps the body to junction as it was supposed to function.

The use of psychotropic drugs, on the other hand, inhibits the body from functioning as it should. It is that use of medicine that we deplore. Mood changing drugs affect a person in such a way that the benefits of pain and other unpleasant feelings are not realized. Discomfort was designed to call attention to some underlying problem (organic or non-organic) so that it might be dealt with. One would hardly want to desensitize the nerve endings on his fingers because he has found that touching a hot stove hurts. If he did, the first he would know of the fact that he was resting his fingers there would be when he smells meat cooking! To desensitize these nerves, in the long fun, would cause serious damage to the body. As an alerting system and warning device, then, pain is a friend. We do not believe in masking such pain by drugs.

There are, of course, many organically-caused problems. Our counselors regularly refer counselees to physicians whenever they suspect that something organic may be behind their behavior. They do not want to miss a brain tumor, an aneurysm, or anything else that might require medical treatment. While Nouthetic counselors refuse to diagnose, since we are not trained to do medical work, whenever we suspect that something more than heart-motivated behavior is operating, we will send counselees to a physician for a medical checkup.

For some time the problem of when to refer to a physician was a serious difficulty. There were no guidelines. Now, since the recent publication of The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference, by Bob Smith, MD, we have a helpful guide to enable us to make much better judgments about the matter. This book, written and published under Nouthetic counseling auspices, meets a real need. It alone cannot make the determination as to whether or not to refer a counselee to a physician, but it helps counselors to become aware of the signs and symptoms that may indicate the presence of a physical illness. The very fact that this publication was produced within Nouthetic circles gives the4 lie to the charge that we do not believe in medicine to treat truly organic problems.

What we do deplore is the use of medicine to deal with problems that have no organic cause. We are adverse to masking those difficulties with medicine. For instance, if one’s conscience is troubling him by triggering unpleasant feelings, we think that the solution to the problem is not found in drugs but in dealing with whatever it is that activated the conscience in the first place. In such cases the counselor deals with sin, not with the feelings. That is the bottom line. For help on so-called “chemical imbalances,†for instance, see The Christian Counselor’s Medical Desk Reference. Timeless Texts (2001); Huntersville (1-800-814-1045).
Dr. Jay E. Adams