Does the Christian faith believe in theological counseling? I believe that is what it is called. My boyfriend went through it after his divorce. My boyfriend’s ex-wife was committing numerous adulteries. He received counseling through faith with a minister and not through medicines. Do you think this is a good idea for us to do together?<\/p>\n\t
I’ve never been a fan of secular psychological counseling. Its self-imposed rule is not to make moral judgments but rather to help a person accept and live with their own thought processes. Therefore, secular psychology rarely improves a person but instead leads a person to be content with things as they are. I also find it disturbing that so many psychologists have been turning to drugs to manage people’s distresses. Drugs typically calm a person down by making them feel disconnected from the issues they face — but they can’t solve the problems. Instead, problems tend to build as the person remains disconnected from reality.<\/p>\n
Religious based counseling can be better. Such counselors have less restraint in helping a person come to moral conclusions and encourages people to change their behaviors for moral reasons. They also tend to be less dependant on using drugs as a “cure” for problems. Of course, much depends on the standard applied. You can get good and bad counselors, just as there are good and bad teachers of religion.<\/p>\n
That your boyfriend sought out and received advice on how to handle a bad marital situation can be good — assuming he received good advice that came from God’s word.<\/p>\n
I strongly encourage people who are about to marry to talk at length with a preacher. There are numerous issues that arise from attempting to blend two people’s lives into one. Choices have to be made and God has much to say about what are good and bad choices. “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue<\/em>” (II Peter 1:3). Personally, I don’t marry couples unless they sit down and study about marriage with me from the Bible before the wedding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Does the Christian faith believe in theological counseling? I believe that is what it is called. My boyfriend went through it after his divorce. My boyfriend’s ex-wife was committing numerous adulteries. He received counseling through faith with a minister and not through medicines. Do you think this is a good idea for us to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[64,1055],"class_list":["post-18965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-marriage","tag-psychology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":69633,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-get-advice-from-non-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":18965,"position":0},"title":"Is it wrong to get advice from non-Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good morning, Brother Hamilton, I hope this message finds you well. I wanted to express my gratitude for the valuable resources on your website, which have been a blessing to me over the years. I have a question regarding scriptural authority for seeking counseling outside the church. Specifically, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":55220,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/marriage-counseling\/","url_meta":{"origin":18965,"position":1},"title":"Marriage Counseling","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford I'm a simple man. I believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that it is sufficient to equip us for every good work. My favorite hymn is \"Give Me the Bible\". 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