minister is not only for public preaching, but to be a known counselor for their souls . . . And because the people are grown
unacquainted with the office of the ministry, and their own necessity and duty herein, it belongeth to us to acquaint them herewith, and to press
them publicly to come to us for advice in such cases of great concernment to their souls. We must not only be willing of the trouble, but
draw it upon ourselves by inviting them hereto. What abundance of good might we do, could we but bring our people to this! And
doubtless much might be done in it, if we did our duties.
Richard Baxter
There is no indication in the Scriptures that anyone but those who have been so recognized should undertake the work of counseling
or proclamation of the Word officially (i.e. as an office, work, or life-calling). This means that persons with a life calling to do
counseling ought to prepare for the work of the ministry and seek ordination, since God describes a life-calling to counseling as the life-calling
of a minister.
Jay Adams
Human therapies are embraced most eagerly by the spiritually weak -- those who are shallow or ignorant of biblical truth and who
are unwilling to accept the path of suffering that leads to spiritual maturity and deeper communion with God. The unfortunate effect is
that these people remain immature, held back by a self-imposed dependence on some pseudo-Christian method or psychoquackery that
actually stifles real growth.
John MacArthur
It is disheartening to see conservative churches, denominations, and fellowships running after psychological theories and therapies
and acting as if Jesus Christ is not enough, as if the Holy Spirit indwelling a believer is impotent, or nearly so, and treating the Word of
God as only useful for minor problems or theological questions. Instead of searching the Scriptures and warning their sheep, too many
pastors believe two lies: (1) that they can only deal with spiritual matters (with a very limited definition) and (2) that only those who
are psychologically trained are equipped to deal with psychological matters (which virtually includes everything about understanding
the nature of man and how to help him change).
Martin and Deidre Bobgan
My concern is that the disease concept so central to the recovery industry has not only taken popular culture by storm, but has found
its way into the church of Jesus Christ as well. Although science debunks it and Scripture contradicts it, this view now thoroughly
dominates many Christian programs dealing with addictive behaviors.
William Playfair, M.D.
According to the Augustinian view of sin, on the other hand, individual wrong choices do most emphatically come from the
underlying state of the person who engages in them. The will most emphatically is not free in the sense that it can choose this or that, no matter
what the nature of the person doing the choosing may be. So far the Augustinian view of sin is in accordance, I suppose, with what is said
by most of the psychologists and criminologists of the present day. But it differs from what is said by those psychologists and
criminologists in holding that a man most emphatically is morally responsible for wrong choices springing out of his evil nature, and that he is
most emphatically responsible for the evil nature out of which those wrong choices spring. Augustinianism differs, in other words, both
from Pelagianism and from modern psychology in holding that a man is responsible for things that he cannot help. If he is a bad man, if he
has a bad nature, he is responsible for that bad nature, no matter how it came to be bad.
J. Gresham Machen
Modern materialism, especially in the realm of psychology, is not content with occupying the lower quarters of the Christian city, but
pushes its way into all the higher reaches of life . . . Mere concessiveness, therefore, will never succeed in avoiding the intellectual conflict.
In the intellectual battle of the present day, there can be no `peace without victory'; one side or the other must win.
J. Gresham Machen
