Competent to Counsel

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Summary: Competent Counselor
Review: Competent to Counsel by Dr. Jay Adams is worthy of reading, but is equally worthy of implementation. This book is not a theory of counseling so much as it is a call for believers to begin the biblical counseling of one another.

Dr. Adams shows a positive approach to what the Bible teaches on counseling. Most relationship problems arrive at our doorstep because sin entered the world ages ago. Many personal problems are a result of God's need to impose trials on His children to help them grow, or, to rebuke sin in His children's lives. This book addresses how to caringly work through such spiritual issues, one believer to another. In many instances, this is accomplished through simple encouragement-an art form and a responsibility often overlooked by the church today.

While modern "psychotherapy" is often grounded in doctrines of amoral values of humanism, Dr. Adams is careful not to disparage all psychology, the study of the human mind and human behavior. Actual illness needs to be referred to the appropriate medical doctor. But issues of sinful behavior patterns by professing Christians need to be handled by the loving care of fellow believers working through a biblical model of problem identification, repentance (where needed), and change.

Many have called this book groundbreaking. What has happened with Nouthetic Counseling since this book was first introduced is nothing short of revolutionary in the Christian church. The numbers of Christians who have been restored into a healthy relationship with God and the church as a result of this book are simply uncountable.

Read this book. Put the principles into action.

Rating:
Summary: straight talk
Review: Finally someone that dares to place the opinion of Scripture above the opinion of man. Dr. Adams does a tremendous job of demonstrating how the Bible speaks to the issues of the day, pointing to the fact that our spiritual state does have a bearing on our mental and physical states. (As scripture clearly and repeatedly tells us.) Dr. Adams begins by pointing to insufficiencies in the current psychological paradigm. Next he shows how the Bible guides us to deal with "psychological" problems in a manner that yields results, by confronting the real issues (usually sin) and challenging the counselee, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to take responsibility for their actions and change their behavior. In doing so the counselor gives hope to the person who previously had none. To borrow a phrase I've heard applied to God, "He loves us where we are, but loves us too much to let us stay there." Dr. Adams loves the counselee too much to allow them to wallow in the depths of their sin, choosing instead to do the often difficult work of guiding them out from those depths and back into a place of peace with God.

Rating:
Summary: Competent Counselor
Review: I purchased this book and give it a two or maybe a three. I used some of its references in working on my Thesis. I found it also a pretty good source for biblical reference for use while doing psychotherapy. One of the main issues is that even though the book does use scripture to back up many of the ideas, it fails to acknowledge professionalism in the field of Christian Psychology. I do agree that almost everyone is able to counsel with some informal training, but this can and does lead to trouble down the road in a Church. Some people may need Pastoral Counseling, some may need Christ based psychotherapy. The issue is that someone in the Church needs to determine that issue. A lay person should not be addressing this issue, but a qualified person as either a Pastor or Psychologist. It needs to be noted that there is a big difference between counseling and therapy. Psychotherapy goes much deeper than counseling and deals at dealing directly with the root of the problem. This is why Psychotherapists are highly trained in dealing with many of the deep issues requiring much care and spiritual guidance. I believe a much better book is "Christian Counseling" by Gary R Collins. I find this book much more informative and offers more "meat" of the subjects at hand while using scripture to back up these ideas. This book is a very good tool for lay people, pastors, social workers, counselors, and psychologists.

Rating:
Summary: Nouthetic Counseling - Jay Adams
Review: I purchased this book and give it a two or maybe a three. I used some of its references in working on my Thesis. I found it also a pretty good source for biblical reference for use while doing psychotherapy. One of the main issues is that even though the book does use scripture to back up many of the ideas, it fails to acknowledge professionalism in the field of Christian Psychology. I do agree that almost everyone is able to counsel with some informal training, but this can and does lead to trouble down the road in a Church. Some people may need Pastoral Counseling, some may need Christ based psychotherapy. The issue is that someone in the Church needs to determine that issue. A lay person should not be addressing this issue, but a qualified person as either a Pastor or Psychologist. It needs to be noted that there is a big difference between counseling and therapy. Psychotherapy goes much deeper than counseling and deals at dealing directly with the root of the problem. This is why Psychotherapists are highly trained in dealing with many of the deep issues requiring much care and spiritual guidance. I believe a much better book is "Christian Counseling" by Gary R Collins. I find this book much more informative and offers more "meat" of the subjects at hand while using scripture to back up these ideas. This book is a very good tool for lay people, pastors, social workers, counselors, and psychologists.

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Summary: Competent to Counsel is just what is Needed
Review: My review has very little to do with the author, but more to do with the material offered. I am studying to become a counselor and this book has helped me to understand the current principles introduced by Freud and others and why they DO NOT HELP the counselee.

The book clearly offers both sides of the picture so that the reader can be informed of current psychiatry and biblical counseling. I believe God's word is sufficient to help ANYONE in ANY form of health. C2C helps us to understand how to apply it and the role that the Holy Spirit plays in counseling.

A must read for pastors and Christian Counselors alike!

Rating:
Summary: Provocative in its time, but its time to move on.
Review: This book by Dr. Adams is remarkable because it opened the debate among Christians about the practice of counseling. Adams goes after some easy targets, namely Freud and Rogers. He invites the Christian to examine the sufficiency of Scripture for providing counsel in times when wisdom is needed. He identifies important passages in Scripture that certainly encourage us to counsel one another in love and truth.

However, there are several notable shortcomings. First, Adams adopts a simplistic approach to mental illness - one that has potential to do considerable harm if misapplied. While he rightly differentiates between faux non-organic "illnesses" and bona fide chemical brain disorders, he neglects a significant in-between region that consists of deeply troubled individuals whose cognitive make-ups or personality organizations make responding positively to simplistic and direct confrontation unlikely. The nuances of relationship-building that are an important component of therapy and discipleship appear to be lacking.

Second, to say this is a reformed perspective on counseling appears to misapply the meaning of "reformed." Reformed theology acknowledges the Lordship of Christ in all things, including psychology and psychotherapy. To exclude some theories, practices, and methods simply because they are extra-biblical (not anti-biblical, just not in the Bible) denies the Christian's ability, even the command via the Cultural Mandate, to examine the truth in God's world and apply it in faith and wisdom. It is best embodied by Kuyper's insistence that there is not a square-inch of creation over which Christ does not say "mine!" Unfortunately, Dr. Adams seems to miss this wider application of reformed theology in favor of a vehement rejection of theories that are becoming historical relics and an application of Biblical behaviorism. Adams is unable to maintain a sense of consistency in his own model: he rejects some secularists but praises the reality therapy of Glasser and Mouwer.

Whether Adams intended for this to occur or not, his book has become a rallying point around which to bash psychology and psychotherapy. There is without question some truly unbiblical stuff in historical psychology and some truly hideous stuff in contemporary pop psychology. However, the study of the workings of the human mind, human thought processes, emotions, and behaviors, is as important an endeavor as studying any other aspect of creation. We cannot simply toss the whole discipline out because those who pioneered its study rebelled against God and sought to suppress His truth in unrighteousness. This is the classic ad hominum argument. As Christians, we should do better.

I am grateful that Dr. Adams has given us a starting place to recognize the dangers of the likes of Freud and Rogers (he should have come down hard on Jung - he's both dangerous and looney), the high value of Scripture in providing counsel for wisdom, comfort, and therapy as needed, and the importance of examining psychology closely to separate truth from error. However, it is time to move on. Let's elevate the dialogue and stop knocking down the straw man. He's about out of straw.

Rating:
Summary: this book is a must for the conscienteous bible leader.
Review: This book uniquely removes the counselor from the counseling. It centers it's context on what the scriptures say, as opposed to what the counselor thinks.

With the nouthetic approach, the counselor has the unique ability to remain apart from the solution, not a part of the solution. This dynamic is critical to effective counseling.

I believe that in the counseling arena there is to much human intervention, opening the door to a high subjective point perstective. Although there is often good intention in the human perspective, we must know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Bible centered counseling is the state of the arc in counseling. When you get your anwser, it's god that is giving it not man.

I would applaud mr. Adams for a work well done.