The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling Part I: Christian Counseling Is Scriptural -- By: Jay E. Adams
Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 131:521 (Jan 1974)
Article: The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling Part I: Christian Counseling Is Scriptural
Author: Jay E. Adams
BSac 131:521 (Jan 74) p. 14
The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling
Part I:
Christian Counseling Is Scriptural
[Jay E. Adams, Associate Professor of Practical Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.]
[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of articles entitled “The Use of the Scriptures in Counseling,” which were the W. H. Griffith Thomas Memorial Lectures given by Dr. Jay E. Adams at Dallas Theological Seminary, November 6–9, 1973.]
Introduction
The controlling design of this series of articles is to be as concrete, informative, and practical as possible. There is, at the outset, a certain amount of foundational work that must be done in order to support the more concrete structures that I hope to build. So, let us break the ground and pour the footing.
You Must Use the Scriptures in Counseling
I do not think that I need to labor this point at Dallas Seminary. I am sure that the reason why I was invited to deliver these lectures in the first place was because of our common conviction about this vital imperative. Therefore, since I think that I can safely assume that we are in basic agreement about this, since I have argued the issue elsewhere in print1 and since I am certain that your interest lies more in questions growing out of problems connected with the ways and means of using the Scriptures in counseling, I shall quickly move beyond this point. But before I do, perhaps a word or two would be in order.
BSac 131:521 (Jan 74) p. 15
You Must Have Conviction, Courage, and a Steady Determination to Use the Scriptures in Counseling
First, you may think that it will be easy to graduate from this school, take up your work in a conservative pastorate, and as a part of your effort there, begin to do biblical counseling. Please believe me when I say that it will not be that simple. The pressures exerted against a ministry of biblical counseling are great, as you will discover all too soon. For one thing, when you begin to counsel biblically some counselees will rebel. They will protest that you are being unduly hard on them, and will demand an easier way out. After all, scriptural counsel is often hard. Sin creates no easy problems; they are all so difficult that it took nothing less than the death of Christ to meet them. Untangling men from the webs of sin can be a quite painful process. The hard (but needed) directions that you will give to others from God’s Word about repentance, confession of sin, reconciliation with one’s brother, and so on, will not sit right with those who want to remove the miseries caused by sin without dealing with the sin itself.
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