Competent to Counsel
Dr. Adams’s premise is overtly scriptural, steers away from jargon, and makes abundantly clear his presuppositions are based in the Christian worldview rather than guided by pop psychology. His reasoning from Scripture and priority on the confrontation of sin was convicting, persuasive, and helpful.?
The brief overview of modern psychiatry and its abysmally low success in chapter 1 is shocking. How is it that so many have been led to this method when it is empirically unsupported? How do so many Christians get swallowed up in this mode of thinking where individuals are not responsible for their own actions? What can pastors do to actually reassume the mantle they were intended to bear in handling those spiritual problems which so often are put down to mental illness? I am not sure how Christianity in the US has fallen for this “psychological pottage”, but it does highlight man’s ability to manufacture idols at a dizzying pace.
Chapter 2 puts the burden of the work of counseling on the Holy Spirit while assuming the responsibility of the counselor to direct the counselee in the way of the scriptures, just as in 1 Corinthians 3. The counselor is free to work, because he is called to the work, but he is also free from the burden of changing anyone, because it is the Spirit that works and convicts. Why should one bother to change these behaviors, or why are these problems actually problems? Because God has demands on the lives of His image bearers that mankind is built to fulfill. The habitual sins of the counselee point to his need of a savior from the consequences of sin. The counselor acts in obedience to Romans 10, presenting the One on whom the unbeliever should call. When speaking to a believer or an unbeliever, Adams’s point is still to get the counselee to go to the cross by the presentation of the law and Gospel with reminders of the promises of God and His warnings about the consequences of sin. I agreed totally in his assertion that counselors need to use consecrated means for consecrated ends.?
The reminder of the effects of sin in confusion, pain, and death presented in chapter 7 are wonderful reminders to a culture that sees the ills of the spirit divorced from the conditions of the body, with few exceptions. This was something I had personally experienced at least twice in my life, once that resulted in a period of severe and near delusional insomnia brought on by trying to quit a sin that I didn’t really want to quit. At another point the Lord afflicted my stomach in a memorable way when I had to deal with lies that I had told my wife. Adams was very clear that humans are whole people, not divisible into clean and distinct parts. Mankind is always affected by what happens to each ill-defined physical, emotional, or spiritual event. Sometimes the effect is just more visible than others.?
One of the most encouraging and helpful and oft repeated lessons is that the Christian who is well acquainted with the scriptures is equipped to counsel. His consistent reminders of 2 Timothy 3:16 - 17 are perfect reminders of what the man of God is ready for, in the Lord’s providence. While that could be considered overwhelming, I thought it was an immense relief. In some regards, this guarantees the counselor’s success, provided he comes prepared with the scriptures in his heart and his mind engaged with the work at hand. Whether or not the counselee ends up with a normally patterned life, or in the kingdom of heaven, the counselor has what he needs to see the problems, highlight the solution and help the counselee bear his burden and fulfill the law of Christ. Even if the counselee walks out unchanged, the counselor has done his duty, the counselee has heard the Word, and the Word does not return void.
I found chapter 11 on the school context surprising. Although the publishing date likely has something to do with his focus on the schooling context, I cannot fathom the idea of a teacher being permitted to exercise the kind of radical directness necessary to counsel a student nouthetically today. While it is possible one could be a believer and a teacher in public institutions, there is likely not a long tenure in the future for one who adopted nouthetic counseling. My own teachers in middle and high school were cautious about nearly any matter involving faith, even when they knew they agreed with their students about the matter.?
My own personal experiences in counseling have been studies in contrast between a highly biblical nouthetic counseling and a highly Freudian methodology a counselor used with me almost a decade ago. It will come as no surprise that the issue I was in counseling for in 2014 was the same issue I needed counseling for when I arrived in Greenville. It will come as no surprise either that the nouthetic counseling I received resulted in success by all metrics in terms of abstaining from sin that had dominated my life, deepening my relationship with the Lord, improving my walk as a husband and father, and filling me with hope at the work God was able to do. In spite of this, I found the early discussion of the place of psychiatrists uncomfortable. Perhaps it is because I assumed their good will was sufficient to justify their position, but Adams addresses that permissive attitude quite pointedly. Benevolent intent does not necessitate beneficial results.
Dr. Adams is very easy to agree with. While I did have areas of surprise, his unapologetic focus on the Word of God as the standard for directive counseling struck me as something that was hiding in plain sight. It should be obvious to someone who loves the Word, but I have to address the same biases he critiques based on the evidence and my own experience