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Under the Juniper Tree Season 8, Episode 1 for Tuesday, August 7, 2018
· There seems to be a common fear I have been able to note in many a Christian.
o There is a nervousness when I mention that I am studying to be a counselor.
o I have even had one preacher express these concerns in a story about a friend of his.
o I can appreciate their kindness.
· Common fears I hear:
o You can fall away from studying counseling.
o What if you decide to quit preaching?
o There’s a lot of Atheism in psychology/counseling.
· To answer:
o The first and last will be answered together. Both points are true.
§ I have known preachers to fall away from the church from studying the Bible. I knew one man who began to believe that Hell was inconsistent with the nature of God. That idea has led him to take more of an Agnostic approach to things.
§ Many school books that I read contained Atheism, thinly veiled attacks on Christianity/religion, and such. I also noticed there were many times the writers of the book wanted to push evolution but had no clue how.
§ I also have the benefit of going to a Christian college.
§ When people talk about Atheism in counseling they usually do so because they are familiar with one man in the field: Sigmund Freud. Here’s the problem with that point of view. There are many different areas of psychology/counseling that are nowhere close to the views of Freud.
§ Are these questions a possibility for some? Yes. Is this a hard and fast truth? No.
o The second will be answered in a shorter manner. If I choose to stop preaching to focus on counseling full-time, I can still be a faithful Christian working for the Lord.
· Let me, from my own point of view, express why I believe counseling is a good thing.
o Many of the relevant points of counseling are found in scripture.
§ Examples: Adlerian Theory: Charles Adler believed a sense of community somewhere would help the one suffering. (Acts 2:42 — Fellowship = Community).
§ Cognitive Behavior Therapy teaches that some of our problems come from lies we tell ourselves. We need some correction in those areas to see the truth. (1 Kings 19:14, 18).
o I have grown as a Christian from my study of counseling.
§ I have had the chance to use principles in my own life, in the lives of others, and even in my sermons.
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