Tailoring Interventions to Match Sin Motivations

A typical definition of sin is that it is disobeying God or “missing the mark”.  These simplistic descriptions are often learned during childhood. However, as the person matures his understanding of sin needs to also mature. Sin is a complex subject demonstrated by the numerous terms used in the Bible. Some terms emphasize the cause of sin, including ignorance, error, and inattention. Other terms focus on the character of sin such as missing the mark, irreligion, transgression, iniquity or lack of integrity, rebellion, treachery, perversion, and abomination. In addition, there are terms that center on the results of sin such as agitation or restlessness, evil or badness, guilt, and trouble. ^[i] Theologians have attempted to describe the central aspects of sin. A survey of nine contemporary theologians[ii] resulted in 13 different descriptions of the essence of sin. Sin was described as sensuality, disruption of shalom, sloth, selfishness, pride, unbelief, mistrust, lawlessness or transgression, covenant breaking, apostasy, rebellion, idolatry, and power. These descriptions have given us a greater depth to our understanding of sin. This understanding needs to be applied in the counseling room.

A Complicated Conscience-Friendly Counseling

In counseling many cases, if not all, involve making right and wrong decisions, discerning good and bad, and judging the moral appropriateness of thoughts, emotions and behaviors. Conscience is a faculty that works in service of this dimension according to one’s value framework.

The Oxford Dictionary defines conscience as "a moral sense of right and wrong especially as felt by a person and affecting behavior or an inner feeling as to the goodness or otherwise of one's behavior." Thus, there is the notion that the conscience both reflects upon and directs an individual’s choices and behavior. The traditional Christian view, based on Bible verses like Rom 2:14-15, is that all people know right and wrong because they have been given the conscience as faculty by God. The Apostle Paul particularly alludes to it when referring to those who now know the will of God for governing their lives. Jerome suggested that the conscience is “a spark of the divine mind” (Kirk, 1927, p. 379) and Calvin associated it with an awareness of God’s existence, sensus divinitas, within all people (Zachmann, 1993,p. 102). Thus, conscience significantly displays God’s image in human beings.

Questions to Ask Yourself After a Difficult Session

Have you ever finished a counseling session beset with disappointment, confusion, or fatigue? Confused because the meeting seemed fruitless or counterproductive, disappointed because you were clueless about how to correct the situation or knew you had made mistakes, and fatigued because it seemed like you just emerged from a lost battle? Perhaps you were overwhelmed with the immensity of the issues presented or with the intensity of the interactions experienced or with the intractable personalities involved. In any case you were worn out, with little positive to show for your efforts.

Clinging to the Truth

Grenz, Guretzki and Nordling defined evil as “any act or event that is contrary to the good and holy purposes of God” (1999). People have struggled with the problem of evil for a long time. Writers in the Old Testament questioned how a just God could allow wicked people to prosper (Jeremiah 12:1-2, Psalm 73:3-9, Habakkuk 1:3-4). Philosophers argue that it is illogical that a God who is omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly good, can co-exist with evil (Mackie, 1955). A much more personal question is asked in the counseling room, “Why did God allow evil to happen to me?” The question may be in the form of “Why did God allow a drunk driver to kill my loved one?”, “How could a good God allow my child to be sexually abused? “or “Where was God when the tornado destroyed my home?”

Clinical Christian Psychology: Theory, Technique, or More?

For more than forty years, Christian mental health professionals have been writing about Christian psychology. Though these writers share many values and view points, there are significant differences amongst leading thinkers. (Most readers of this newsletter are well aware of the sizeable differences. If you are new to Christian psychology, you might try reading recent publications such as Eric Johnson’s Foundations for Soul Care or the edited volume, Christianity and Psychology: Five Views). If some of the variations in our core writings are the result of different views on ultimate reality, most are due to divergent definitions regarding the nature of problems and the subsequent path to healing. What should we make of these differences? Are these differences a tempest in a teapot? Are they real differences that influence how one might assess and intervene with a particular counselee?