This is not a cut and dry issue. I cannot pretend I am fully confident in my opinion or in anyone else’s. We have fought about this since Freud and will continue as long as both Christianity and psychology must coexist. Just like the therapies we have been studying these semesters, nothing is a cure-all. Nothing can encapsulate the human experience, or save us from it. Not even our 2000 pages of scripture, it simply guides us to God’s truth. Never mistake that I do not believe that the bible is sufficient. The word of my Lord is more than enough for me. But all truth is God’s truth, and simply because it is not written plain and clear in the law, doesn’t make it evil. I admittedly get frustrated at those `who claim the bible is all we need. Is that so? Have they never read a novel or an article in a newspaper as a material for critical thinking? Should we not know anything about anything outside of the bible? We as Christian look poorly upon drug use because we know about what it does to the body and the mind and from there have biblically determined that is poor use of our God-given bodies. But those who forget our own depravity in the midst of stimuli and chemical imbalance are equally misled. Life is not a black and white series of straight lines. Some people are demon possessed. Some people are histrionic bipolar. Some people just need Jesus; some people need meds so they can think straight enough to get to Him.
I am not sure I believe we need to be psychologically minded to be good counselors. I am also not sure we need a bunch of scriptures to either. All that is truly necessary is the leading of the Holy Spirit and his word spoken through us fully. That being said, we are human beings. We can’t make sure that happens all the time, I am not sure I can ever have that happen through me. So with that knowledge, I am not sure what would inspire me not to understand both humanity from a biblical perspective and the human mind from psychological knowledge to the absolute best of my God-given ability. If I will commit myself to serving people with my life in any sense, I will commit to doing an excellent job by knowing and learning everything I possibly capable of. Or else what have I shown? Love enough to learn or pride that my way is best?
My final thought here may be in contradiction to a point made by the author. The fourth note he made was that you do not have to be a professional counselor to make a difference. This is true. But when we as Christians start believing that counseling is a capability we all have we demean the calling and gifting given to some specifically and we risk hearts and lives by assuming we are equipped for something we simply are not. There are always times we walk outside our callings, but statements like this give power to Christians to think we might live our lives outside of the way God has made us, and this disrespects His design and plan.
