Secular, non faith based, psychology accomplishes none of these things. It offers none of these things. In fact, as ironic as it sounds, psychology, meaning, the "science of the soul or study of the soul", rejects the very existence of the soul. It refuses to admit even the concept of the possible existence of the soul. It affirms man is but an animal. As the existential philosopher Sartre put it, "...man is but a useless passion." Godless psychology asserts the soul is but a myth and God is but a human idea which developed over time. Unfortunately, secular counseling stands under this same criticism. 'Psychology' minus the soul. How can this be? Imagine, for example, a mathematician rejecting the concept that there exists a variety of number theories or an electrical engineer who rejects the belief in electricity. This is impossible to imagine.
Christian counseling embraces both the scientific evidence regarding the mechanical operations of the brain and central nervous system and the experiential wisdom born out of a faith which only comes through the 'observations' of believers lives lived in Christ. Christian counseling is grounded in an awareness firmly imprinted into us by God that there are things which simply are right and wrong. Moreover this sense of right and wrong emanates from that deep self, the soul. Indeed, what keeps us busy at the Day Spring Center is the general failures of people to live rightly and in accordance with Biblical principles. Instead, we encounter people who have breached the covenant of their marriage, became addicted to drink or drugs, are rebellious to their parents, are sold out to vanity or fashion or greed or lust and so on. Clearly, these topics are soul topics. They are sin categories. It is the participation in these sinful acts which grind against the souls of mankind producing the myriads of ailments which counselors classify as depression, anxiety compulsive disorders and such like. These topics reside in the arena of the spiritual alone and are not the property of the secular psychologist or counselor.
The Christian counselor is called upon to analyze the outworked effect of sin in a client's life and to prayerfully consider the remedy for the transgression. On a human level this is a responsibility which has no parallels. The counselor is offering advice which directly impinges upon the soul of the client, the very soul of his brother or sister!
Christian Counseling and What You Should Know
According to Johnson and Ridley, Christian Counseling involves four aspects: accommodation, this means that the patient will succeed if he or she has the same values as the therapy; the hope, based on the motivation we give to our patients, supported by all means with God's Word, the Bible, the truth based on Jesus Christ as a Role model. The most important of these four aspects is the divine agent (God, Jesus and Holy Spirit) participating in the therapy. These four elements help the patient increase his or her sensitivity, values and Christian beliefs.
