Feelings Emotions: Biblical and Unbiblical Ways to Handle Our Feelings

Note from Bob: You’re reading Part 4 of a blog mini-series on emotions. For Part 1, read Emotions: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. For Part 2, read Emotions: Why Do We Feel What We Feel? For Part 3, read Emotions: Gone Bad and Mad.

Stuffing Our Feelings: Over-Controlled Emotional Suppression 

For most people, especially us as Christians, “spearing of emotions” seems like the worst possible scenario. Additionally, many Christians seem to assume that the opposite extreme is actually a healthy emotional response: “stuffing our feelings”—over-controlled suppression of our feelings. That’s not the biblical approach to healthy, Christlike feelings. 

The psalmists model how to handle our feelings maturely. The psalmists faced their feelings face-to-face with God, candidly and boldly shared their feelings with God, and they soothed their soul in their Savior God.

Instead of being like the psalmists, many times as Christians we think we are supposed to be like Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame. He tried to repress his emotions, deny them, if he could, eradicate them. And we try to live without pathos, without passion and feeling, thinking somehow that this is the Christlike way to manage our moods.   Continue at Bob Kellemen

Setting Believers Free from the Prisons of the Mind

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:3-5).

The Apostle Paul makes it clear that the “warfare” in which believers in Christ are involved is a well-thought-out “campaign.” The word he uses is strateia, from which we get “strategy.” Specifically, the devil’s battle against Christ-centered wisdom is not an accident. Satan specializes in disguising himself as “an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Therefore, the invasion of man-centered counseling philosophy into the church is a well-planned and well-executed war against the sufficiency of Christ and His Word and the transforming power of His gospel.    Continue at Paul Tautges

The Mind, Body, and Medications

In my ongoing study of the subject of mental/emotional illness, counseling, and the church; I found a very helpful chapter in the recently released book, Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling. The final chapter, “The Complex Mind/Body Connection,” is written by Dr. Laura Hendrickson. As a trained medical doctor, and board-certified psychiatrist, Laura brings insight that is appreciated within the biblical counseling world.

In this chapter, Laura explores the complexity of our humanity and seeks to bring biblically-informed wisdom to bear upon the mind, body, and psychiatric medication. In this post, I will summarize and highlight her main conclusions. For the full benefit you would do well to get yourself a copy of Christ-Centered Biblical Counseling.

There Is Mystery in this Body, which Is Made by God. Just as Christians have many misconceptions about emotions [the subject of the preceding chapter] so “the body fares little better, perhaps worse, in our mind’s eye.” But it is important to remember that “our emotions and our bodies are God’s idea….The interrelationship between body and soul defies our capacity to fully comprehend. The complexity of the mind-body, soul-brain connection is both majestic and deeply troubling to many.” Hendrickson then refers to the Biblical Counseling Coalition’s Confessional Statement, and reflects upon the dozen drafts of the portion that addresses the mind/body connection. This section of the confession closes with the following paragraph: “We recognize the complexity of the relationship between the body and soul (Genesis 2:7). Because of this, we seek to remain sensitive to physical factors and organic issues that affect people’s lives. In our desire to help people comprehensively, we seek to apply God’s Word to people’s lives amid bodily strengths and weaknesses. We encourage a thorough assessment and sound treatment for any suspected physical problems.”    Continue at Paul Tautges

The Local Church is THE place for Biblical Counseling

Can local churches become a natural home for counseling ministry? Often the limitations or failures of the church get cited first, making it seem that church is at best an adjunct to “the real work of counseling.” But, in principle, the local church is the natural home for face-to-face ministry. Counseling can and should thrive in local churches. Here are five of the numerous advantages to counseling being localized in the church.

First, a wise pastor (or friend, elder, small group leader, mentor, etc.) has many advantages over the secular paradigm of the office-bound counselor. In your own church you know people. You have seen them in action. Perhaps you know their parents and friends. You see how they treat their kids. You know how they handle themselves in a group. You have “back-story,” and aren’t limited to hearing only one side of the story. You know what kind of Christian nurture they are receiving week to week—and counseling can build on that. In addition to a wider knowledge base, you relate at multiple levels. You can invite people to your home, and invite yourself into their home. You can initiate the relationship, and express your concern. In contrast, office-bound counseling is structurally passive, always only on the receiving end of inquiry or referral. There is an active, outreaching quality to counseling ministry when we conceptualize it in the church.   Continue at David Powlison

Be Counseled by Thomas Chalmers

“The Expulsive Power of a New Affection” is the classic sermon of Thomas Chalmers, Scottish mathematician, political economist, and a leader of the Free Church of Scotland. Many months ago, I printed off this sermon and it’s been in my briefcase ever since. Yesterday, when I needed to get out of my office into the fresh air, I grabbed my briefcase and headed to a local park. After finding a picnic table in the shade, I fingered through my papers and decided to pull out “Expulsive Power.” I’m so glad I did. This sermon is an important contribution to our understanding of how we are converted, namely, by the Spirit’s regeneration and granting of a new heart of faith. It is also an important contribution to our understanding of how we grow in holiness, namely, by the consequent replacement of our natural affections with a new, supernatural affection for God which is birthed by the gospel.

CHALMERS’ MAIN PREMISE: There are two potential ways to stop loving the world (to be sanctified, to become holy). [1] You may withdraw from the world’s allurement having recognized its vanity (Put Off), or [2] You may replace love for the world with something more worthy (Put On). Chalmers wrote, “There are two ways in which a practical moralist may attempt to displace from the human heart its love of the world; either by a demonstration of the world’s vanity, so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon simply to withdraw its regards from an object that is not worthy of it; or, by setting forth another object, even God, as more worthy of its attachment; so as that the heart shall be prevailed upon, not to resign an old affection which shall have nothing to succeed it, but to exchange an old affection for a new one.”

CHALMERS’ MAIN PURPOSE: “My purpose is to show, that from the constitution of our nature, the former method is altogether incompetent and ineffectual and that the latter method will alone suffice for the rescue and recovery of the heart from the wrong affection that domineers over it.” In other words, Chalmers is convinced that we are transformed in holiness by first having our desires transformed.   Continue at  Paul Tautges

Psychotropic Medications: In Search of a Biblical Context

We generally do not engage others who are blogging as there is no end to the controversies in which we could involve ourselves. We also rarely post guest bloggers. Today we make an exception to both general policies to bring you an important article from our friend “Ab” Abercrombie.

In recent weeks, an article appearing on the Internet has caused great stir in the biblical counseling community, and in the Body of Christ at large. There has been much debate through the years regarding psychology, psychiatry, and medication, as they relate to and interface with biblical truth. This latest addition is no different except it advances opinion and position without biblical consideration.

The article “Listening to Prozac…and to the Scriptures: A Primer on Psychoactive Medications” is written by Dr. Michael Emlet (M.Div., M.D.), a faculty member of the Christian Counseling & Education Foundation (CCEF). As a medical doctor and theologian, Dr. Emlet should be considered an expert in this matter. However, a thorough review of the article reveals a position, which is unbiblical in its foundation.

The article begins with reference to two different case studies; one benefiting from medication; another showing no gain and feeling a conviction to live medication free. The author speaks to the conundrum of these diverse situations and suggests, rightfully, that medication has become commonplace in the Christian community and counselors must increase our knowledge of pharmacology. But Dr. Emlet also states “we need a biblically-based philosophy to guide the use or non-use of medications” (Emlet, p 1).

Amen…I thought. Then I read the rest of the article.   Continue at Abercrombie

How Pastor-Counselors Differ from Secular Counselors

David Powlison’s essay “The Pastor as Counselor” (available free online) is far and away the best thing I have ever read on the role of pastor-elders in counseling God’s people. It was originally published in For the Fame of God’s Name and is reprinted in CCEF’s The Journal of Biblical Counseling. At our church we have read through it together as an elder council, and I’d encourage other churches to do the same. I also wish every seminarian could read through this at least once.

Here is one section directed to pastors on their unique role in counseling:

The uniqueness of your message is easy to see. But you already know this. I won’t rehearse the unsearchable riches of Christ, or the 10,000 pertinent implications.

But I do want to note the uniqueness of your message by contrast. Every counselor brings a “message”: an interpretation of problems, a theory that weighs causalities and context, a proposal for cure, a goal that defines thriving humanness. How does your message compare with their messages? Simply consider what our culture’s other counselors do not say.

• They never mention the God who has a name: YHWH, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Almighty, Savior, Comforter.
• They never mention that God searches every heart, that every human being will bow to give final account for each thought, word, deed, choice, emotion, belief, and attitude.
• They never mention sinfulness and sin, that humankind obsessively and compulsively transgress against God.
• They never mention that suffering is meaningful within God’s purposes of mercy and judgment.
• They never mention Jesus Christ. He is a standing insult to self-esteem and self-confidence, to self-reliance, to self-salvation schemes, to self-righteousness, to believing in myself.   Continue at Justin Taylor

Loving Fellow Strugglers

Remember, not all counseling is specifically sin-related in a personal sense, but some certainly is. The love-motivated efforts of brothers and sisters in Christ to help one another overcome sin is the focus of this post.

While some of these sin-related counseling situations are initiated by counselees when they finally recognize they are trapped and cannot get out of sin’s bondage without help, other counseling relationships are initiated by biblical counselors as a result of observing foolish choices or sinful life patterns in brothers or sisters in Christ. Whether or not the ensnared brothers or sisters see that they are in bondage is not the issue. Love initiates the restoration of strugglers to a place of fellowship and blessing. William Goode, long-time pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana and founder of Faith Baptist Counseling Ministry, compellingly writes that “to consider counseling an optional ministry is to withhold biblical love at the time it is needed most in the believer’s life—when he or she is in trouble … we must be about the business of restoring rather than ignoring such Christians … Believers will never become like Christ if they are not winning the battle against sin in their lives and investing themselves in the lives of others. And there can be no discipling if there is no plan to help the disciple who gets into trouble.”

Galatians 6:1–5 provides such a plan. Take some time to meditate on this passage of Scripture and its implications for loving one-another ministry. If you are part of a small group then dedicate one of your meeting times to discussing this Scripture and its implications for Christian community.  Continue at Paul Tautges

Puritan Resources for Biblical Counseling

The works of the Puritans are a rich resource for biblical counselors because: 

1. The Puritans were committed to the functional authority of the Scripture. For them it was the comprehensive manual for dealing with all problems of the heart.
2. The Puritans developed a sophisticated and sensitive system of diagnosis for personal problems, distinguishing a variety of physical, spiritual, tempermental and demonic causes.
3. The Puritans developed a remarkable balance in their treatment because they were not invested in any one ‘personality theory’ other than biblical teaching about the heart.
4. The Puritans were realistic about difficulties of the Christian life, especially conflicts with remaining, indwelling sin.
5. The Puritans looked not just at behavior but at underlying root motives and desires. Man is a worshipper; all problems grow out of ‘sinful imagination’ or idol manufacturing.
6. The Puritans considered the essential spiritual remedy to be belief in the gospel, used in both repentance and the development of proper self-understanding. Continue at Puritan Resources

The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams

The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams by Heath Lambert (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011)

It may surprise some that the brief history of biblical counseling is a complex one considering its fairly straightforward premise that the Bible is the sufficient foundation and guiding authority of counseling. But biblical counseling is itself, in fact, a complex practice shaped by diverse influences - hermeneutics, psychology, ecclesiology, apologetics, and even epistemology. The interplay of these various disciplines naturally leads to different emphases and practices by biblical counselors.

 

Heath Lambert has performed a great service in providing a succinct well organized summary of the biblical counseling movement as it has developed after Jay Adams. It is a book I recommend for those who want an overview of the biblical counseling movement but aren't ready to tackle David Powlison's hefty 352 page, The Biblical Counseling Movement, a book I recommend for those who want to dig deeper. One of the prominent characteristics of Lambert's book is that it is not simply a history of the movement, but an invitation to participate in it; to know not only what the movement is, but where it has been; and to play a part in where it is going. In fact, the foreword itself, written by David Powlison, outlines six stages of development to help the reader know his or her role in the movement and Lambert himself makes his own suggestions about where the movement needs development in Chapter 6, "An Area Still in Need of Advancement."  Continue at Winston Smith

Go Beyond the Sex Questions

Evangelicals appear to be preoccupied with sex. One megachurch pastor and his wife have written a book challenging married couples to a “sexperiment” of making love for seven days straight. Mark Driscoll’s controversial new book on marriage contains a chapter titled “Can We?” in which he and his wife answer questions they are typically asked in counseling situations, questions related to different sex acts.

This post is not meant to be a critique of Driscoll’s book (I haven’t read it and don’t plan to). Nor do I want the comments section to degenerate into a fiery back-and-forth about what activities are appropriate for married couples.

Instead, I want to offer a pastoral look at the underlying issues that prompt these questions and encourage pastors to go for the heart, not merely the surface, when approached with questions of this kind.

1. Recognize the legitimacy of the questions.

First, we should not be surprised that new converts are asking pointed questions about what activities are appropriate for a married couple. We live in a pornified culture.  Continue at Trevin Wax

The Biblical Counseling Movement After Jay Adams

Most biblical counselors would dismiss the term schizophrenia as an unhelpful and confusing label. Heath Lambert has demonstrated, however, that the term has validity as a literary genre. The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams is a number of contradictory things. It is a respectful recounting of the contributions of Jay Adams and a collection of harsh and unkind epithets about the man and his followers. It is both a carefully researched Ph. D. thesis and grievous academic malpractice. It identifies important issues within the biblical counseling movement and embraces as authoritative shoddily constructed straw men. Lambert praises concepts he himself finds questionable, and confuses movement with maturity, differences with development, and provocation with progress. Upon a careful reading of this book, biblical counselors who are familiar with the issues reported here will be made both thankful and appalled.

Lambert has a genuine respect and appreciation for Jay Adams. It is evident in his first chapter in which he surveys Adams’ early writings and places them in the context of the times they were written. It is a careful and complete survey and serves as a great introduction to the man and his writings. In his conclusion, Lambert correctly points out that Adams has always welcomed a careful examination of what he has written and invited others to build on what Adams himself admitted was preliminary (although not tentative). Lambert does just that. He seeks to identify specific areas where, in his view, Adams’ work was deficient—even erroneous—and marshals support for his conclusions by quoting as authoritative those who do not share his deep respect for Adams—many of whom have misrepresented Adams, and questioned his integrity, character, and scholarship.

As a credible scholarly work The Biblical Counseling Movement After Adams was doomed from the beginning. It began as a Ph.D. project at the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville where Lambert teaches. His purpose was to chronicle what he perceived to be the “development” of the biblical counseling movement in its “second generation” iteration. In Lambert’s mind, it was to be a continuation—a volume two—of a dissertation written by David Powlison in 1996 and later published in book form in 2009. Continue at Institute for Nouthetic Studies

A Vision for the Entire Church

The Biblical Counseling Movement

Powlison first takes his readers to the historical backdrop that led to the rise of modern nouthetic biblical counseling. As E. Brooks Holifield explained in A History of Pastoral Care in America, so Powlison traces the movement of pastoral ministry from a focus on salvation to a focus on self. In the generation before Jay Adams’ ministry (the 1920s to 1950s), pastoral counseling was strongly influenced by liberal Protestantism and secular psychology.

Powlison tells the riveting story of Adams’ journey as a young pastor facing crisis after crisis among his parishioners and feeling inadequately prepared. Adams’ internship under the secularist O. Hobart Mowrer, of all people, was a culminating experience leading to Adams’ rejection of secular psychology.

In Powlison’s hand, the narrative is never shallow. He describes other influencing factors on Adams’ theory, including his personality, his background as a preacher, his Reformed Presbyterian theology, and his study of Van Til’s pressupositional apologetics, among others. One cannot understand Adam’s nouthetic approach apart from grasping these background elements. Read it all HERE

What Drives Porn Addiction: A Conversation in Biblical Counseling

Porn for a man is not primarily about the physical attributes of a woman. Pornography is primarily about the “theater of the mind,” when a guy creates a storyline where adoring, fawning women pursue him. It is a way in which an insecure person can create a private, self-centered drama that focuses exclusively on his desire to be stimulated physically, mentally, and emotionally.

There has never been a time in our culture where men can so easily escape the disappointments and frustrations of life. Covenant Eyes is doing a remarkable job caring for members of the Christian community, who are tempted by Internet porn. You can have your computer monitored and a report sent to a trusted friend. This is a safe and intelligent way to provide accountability for those who enjoy watching pornography. Read and Listen HERE