Religion and Theology

The book teaches about how individuals become capable counselors through effective biblical counseling. Majority of the society are religious to some extent, thus there has been a great demand for a religious counseling. But Dr. Crabb emphasized his methodologies by combining the psychological and psychotherapy strategies of secular counselling with biblical concepts of Christian counseling to help individuals be more positive in coping with their problems and be more psychologically healthy.
According to the author, Christian counseling relies mainly in biblical concepts like the role of the Holy Spirit, the nature of salvation, and sanctification in Christ, which are not recognized by secular counselors. But the thesis of Dr. Crabbs counseling is the transformation of the mind. His methodology focuses on the Christian community which he relates to the family as the basic foundation of a society. According to him, a community is like a big family with every branch working together as one. Based on these ideologies, the author focused on the idea that every Christian is a minister and that the local church is the main venue of Christian counseling. Dr. Crabb emphasizes that it is not a necessity for a counselor to be a lay member of the church. A good knowledge of the biblical principles and practice should be enough to enable an individual to be an effective counselor.

The most interesting pronouncement written in the book was the authors concept of spoiling the Egyptians. The idea is that biblical counselors should learn from his environment, choose the best experiences, and evaluate them using the Bible as the firm basis. The scriptural basis was discussed by Dr. Crabb throughout the book and offered a three-level model counseling program to be used in the local church. The first level is to aid the members of the local church with necessary knowledge, tools, concepts, and strategies for an effective biblical counseling. The second level is the use of exhortation in counseling. Biblical principles and practices are applied to different situations that people can relate to. The counselor should be familiar with the Bible so they can rely on it when they are counseling a person in need of encouragement and emotional and spiritual support. The third level is establishing a character and behaviour that conforms to the standards of Christ. This includes a proper education and inculcation of Christian values and principles to the lives of every individual.

Dr. Crabb used pictures and charts throughout Effective Biblical Counseling. The charts greatly help readers grasp the authors ideas or principles. The author greatly relied on the Bible to support his ideas in Christian counseling. He combined the biblical passages and practices with psychological and psychotherapy strategies thus making the book very effective.

YOU
When I was in high school I joined a religious organization in our local community headed by a group of young adults who were active members of the church. My first encounter with the organization is through a youth camp where the recruits like me underwent several types of counseling aimed at developing and strengthening every individuals bond with God. The activity was highly regarded by the church as a good way of bringing the youth closer to God. First, we were introduced to the concepts of Christianity which most of the recruits were not familiar with. There have been several talks provided by the members which let us think about the importance of the role of the youth as a member of the society. The talks attempted to penetrate the psychological aspect of our lives. As one of the members said, the problem being faced by the majority of the youth is recognition. Many of the recruits, including me, have had difficulties in coping with the environment were living in due to criticisms and discriminations. The situation put me in a box- locked in the four corners of nothing but empty space. It was a discovering process of every individuals core.

After the talks, several activities were held to develop more our devotion to God. One of the activities was aimed at developing our trust and leaving doubt behind, and relying on the other individuals around. I was constantly pushed to fight my fears and relate myself to the characters in the Bible who, by trusting Him, were able to succeed in achieving their purposes in life. Other activities were held to develop our self-confidence. We were asked about individual strengths and weaknesses and the members taught us to capitalize on our strengths but never forget to protect ourselves from our weaknesses, thus, not making ourselves vulnerable to attacks. Due to these activities I have been given the necessary tools to live my life as I expected it to be.

LOOK
Dr. Crabbs attempt to bridge the gap between secular and Christian counseling is a difficult process. But I am amazed to say that he was successful in delivering his ideas and the book can be a valuable guide to people who are interested in Christian counseling. I realized that it is possible to connect two distinct but different ideologies, particularly in counseling, and still deliver better results than just relying on just one ideology. His concept of Spoiling the Egyptians is a truth that should be exercised by Christian counselors. Most of the problems can be solved by reflecting in ones own experiences and applying the good lessons learned as evaluated based on the Bible. I believe in the authors philosophy of the basic direction. The difference between being redeemed and unredeemed and the concept of salvation conforms to my understandings of Christianity. I also accept Dr. Crabbs position that the primary problem with people today is misplaced dependency. We will have problems if we depend on anything other than God for our basic needs.

What bothers me the most is Dr. Crabbs idea of establishing a godly character and display behavior that conforms to the standards of Christ. The concept is very idealistic and is very difficult to achieve since it takes time to inculcate Christian values and principles to the lives of any individual. I have some sort of a doubt that the third level in Dr. Crabbs model can be perfectly achieved, since every human is subjected to committing mistakes every now and then. However, the idea could otherwise boost any individual to reach for an ideal life rather than just a normal and recurring one.

DO
The authors purpose in writing the book is to give the readers, particularly Christian counselors, the valuable tools and knowledge necessary for an effective biblical counseling. His knowledge and wide background about human psychology and the Bible have played an important role in the book as seen on the methodologies he used. Accordingly, he managed to incorporate the two conflicting ideologies both secular and Christian, and used its advantages to create a new, improved, and more effective technique in counseling.

Based on the book, I will be able to change or modify my way of life and be more drawn to things related to God. New principles and knowledge that I gained from the book can help in evaluating my thoughts and actions about certain issues I am concerned with. I learned about my misconceptions and found a new perspective of being more positive towards the decisions I make. The concepts introduced by Dr. Crabb in many ways will help me develop a godly character and display behavior that conforms to the standards of Christ.

To further improve my relational style, it would be necessary that I use some techniques provided by Dr. Crabb. One way is to bridge my own knowledge of secular and Christian counseling. I could use the idea of cleansing the mind of a person through hypnosis, as suggested by secular counseling, and combine it with the exhortation of Christian counseling. By doing so, I would be able to effectively reduce the risk of a person being dragged down by his psychological dilemmas and further strengthen his positivist view.

Dr. Crabb defined personhood relative to the image of God. According to him, personhood is evaluative thinking (rationality), active choosing (volition), emotional experiencing and deep longings (needs). The common problem faced by man is a deficiency in any of these thoughts and results in misleading intensions and thus intensify the need for counseling. Focusing to these four thoughts in my counseling method would most likely increase the rate of success and improve the effect of counseling. Incorporating the teachings of the Bible with these thoughts is the most visible way seen to maximize the effect of Christian counseling.

There are several questions that could help a counselee think rationally, be able to weigh things, and make the best probable decisions to solve his problems. What made you think that way How does it make you feel How do you feel about that What are your bases for those How does it affect your life How will you approach the problem Do you trust yourself are some of the questions that will test the subjects psychological status and will enable me, as a counselor, to assess the situation and give the appropriate advice.

Proper understanding of the problem is the basic foundation for a successful counseling. Once understood, it will be easier for the counselor to adapt to the changes of situations and apply the necessary tools needed to solve the problem. A good communication between the counselor and the counselee is necessary and can be done through trust-respect scenario.