Customer Reviews

Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically (MacArthur Pastor's Library)

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The purpose of this book is to expose and refute the prevalent influence of humanistic, worldly philosophies (originating from modern psychology schools of thought) on the thinking of Christians, and specifically counselors, today. Its purpose is to reiterate the complete sufficiency of Scripture to meet every human spiritual need and address every human problem. "The Bible PLUS" anything is not true Biblical counseling. The purpose of this text is also to familiarize pastors and laymen with the principles and methods of Biblical counseling that they might apply them both formally and informally in the local body of believers. The purpose of this book is to reaffirm the necessity of the Biblical counselor's commitment to the Person and sovereignty of God.

One of the greatest strengths of this book is that it is a compilation from multiple authors. Eight credible men writing from various viewpoints on Biblical counseling topics uniformly support the purposes of the book as articulated above. I found three chapters to be outstanding: Chapter 4, "The Godward Focus of Biblical Counseling," by Douglas Bookman, Chapter 7, "Spiritual Discipline and the Biblical Counselor," by Robert Smith, and Chapter 9, "Instilling Hope in the Counselee," by Wayne A. Mack.

There are many things with which I agree in this book. Personally, I found much food for thought in the Psalm 19 paradigm on pages 41-46 (John Street) and 205-210 (John MacArthur). Also, I greatly appreciated the enlightening discussion of a dichotomous vs. trichotomous view of man, something that I've wrestled with in my own mind for several years. (pp. 256-258)

Several statements that were particularly significant to me were:
"A conscious commitment to a Godward focus in biblical counseling is also imperative because destructive consequences are certain to follow when people exalt themselves rather than God." (p. 56)
"In short, a lie is powerful not because it is deceptive but because it is delicious." (p. 58)
"In all counseling problems involving a conflict with another person, there is evidence of failure in that person's relationship with God." (p. 92)
"Biblical change cannot take place without hope." (p. 114)
"God's commands are not merely demands, they are invitations--invitations to fullness of life. They are not merely obligations, they are opportunities. [Opportunities to do right] They are not merely precepts, they are promises. [Promises of the power to obey] (p. 137)

I found several things that can aid in a counseling ministry. Wayne Mack's explanation of what the counselee is actually saying when he says, "I can't" is excellent and very useful in exposing both selfish motives and ignorance. (p. 128) The same author's challenge to produce a personalized chain-referenced Bible (p. 174) was taken to heart and is something I hope to do in the near future. In chapter 13, I found Mr. Mack's definition of biblical commitment using the acronym ACCEPT to be a potentially very useful tool. (p. 177)

This book is a great complement to the three other foundational works in biblical counseling: Curing the Heart by Bill Hines and Howard Eyrich, Instruments in the Hands of the Redeemer by Paul Tripp and Competent to Counsel by Jay Adams. MacArthur provides good practical application to the multidimensional process framework provided by Hines and Eyrich.

Every pastor and every lay person who desires to practice biblical counseling should have this work as well as the others mentioned in his/her personal library. They provide the foundational framework and will often be referenced for wisdom on a variety of problems.

This book is the perfect compliment to Jay Adams' "Christian Counselor's Manual". While the Counselor's Manual is primarily a conversational "how-to" guide this book is more "scholarly" and more profoundly addresses the Scriptural and logical reasons to adopt and apply the Biblical Counseling model. If you have questions about whether the Biblical Counseling model is appropriate or whether Scripture is sufficient for addressing the counseling needs of individuals in today's complex society, this is the book to purchase.

The book is excellent. Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically deserves to be at the forefront of every Christian counselor's practice. However, MacArthur's non-acceptance of the notion of mental illness and the logic he uses to fund his argument are reprehensible. So it is OK to be depressed because of an organic cause such as under-active thyroid but not because of an organic cause such as an imbalance in neurotransmitters? Oh, but if you treat the thyroid, the depression goes away makes sense, but if you take an SSRI and medical science does not know quite how it works but there is a statistical significance in therapeutic results then what? No dice? As MacArthur states "Two concurrent events do not automatically mean that one caused the other." Of course not, that is why much of medical science is based on degrees of statistical correlation. Check out the statistics of successful chemotherapy, or any medical procedure for that matter. What, not 100% effective? The problem is that MacArthur makes a direct correlation between science and medicine and then takes medicine, as science, to be an OK domain of Christians. "The scientific disciplines have shown us truth that goes beyond the truth of the Scripture." If he truly followed his own logic he would never (and maybe he never has) take an aspirin for a headache - no one really knows why the aspirin works, the brain is a complicated place and there are about a gazillion reasons for a headache, but there is also a high enough correlation between taking an aspirin and headache relief that one might even call the invention of the aspirin a blessing - God works in mysterious ways Mr MacArthur - there is no need to limit God by one's own ignorance. Aside from that one quibble, the book is excellent and offers much whether one agrees or disagrees with the quibble at hand.

Overall I thought it was difficult to read. Even though I love the biblical counseling process I could just never get into this book the way I did something like Spiritual Depression by Martin Lloyd Jones. The content is what you would expect from MacArthur.

I am concerned that in a number of places the authors seem to raise the Bible to be the fourth person of the Trinity. The Bible is God's gift to us but they seem to credit the Bible for changing human hearts when in fact that's the work of the Holy Spirit.

I purchased the book for my son in college and I am sure he is enjoying the book. I appreciate the fast shipment...I was hoping that the book will make it to the school prior to the start of class and it DID....thanks