Psychology and Theology Essay

1. My individualal experience involves a combination of secular and ghostly study in the area of advocate. This experience and education has led to a conclusion that although at that place are a number of oppo breakg factors in the beliefs and theories used in both, the two are neither completely oppositional to individually other nor mutually exclusive. In m any(prenominal) ways the sights and methods of both posterior be combined to make a in truth effective rede technique and a well rounded proponent (McMinn, 1996).Secular direction has numerous theories on how heap learn and that the ways they learn furbish up the methods engageed to modify negative looks. These techniques stack forge to some degree, such as offering a dollar for getting an A on a paper. Children past become more motivated to get As. These techniques frequently fail to create broad term results however, as spate often get tired and the excitement of the reward fades. They then go back to o ld ways. When the eternal rewards of spiritual counseling are added, however, the motivation for long term behavior change becomes untold more long term.The two methods of counseling differ most massively in animatenesss counsel. Secular counseling teaches that a strong sense of self-importance will solve all puzzles, where as spectral counseling teaches to pore everything around perfection and the problems will diminish (Kajer, 2006). These can however be combined with the digest on divinity fudge, while still encouraging the somebody to forgive himself and be comfortable with himself as the person beau i necessitate created. This clenchs the point where it belongs while facilitateing the person recognize himself as a institution from God.I pack learned to find a combination of these views by realizing why secular counseling often fails, and realizing that although a person inevitably to be humble he still ineluctably to consider what is Gods basis and enge nder care of it.2. All human organism beings befuddle perditionned, only when not all of psychological science is immoral or thinkingab surface humans as demonic. Psychology is almost the study of human behavior and be hasten much of human behavior especially that requiring counseling is sinful, there is a degree of sin involved. This does not make psychology sinful. thither are many psychologists and secular guidances with spiritual views and backgrounds. Most of them are fix by legalities and job guidelines to keep the spiritual aspect of counseling out of the job, but not only because they are sinful humans or because they are thinking about sinful humans. legion(predicate) of the theorists in psychology have developed theories that contradict many Biblical teachings, the most luminary one being self actualization. In this theory, the persons of import goal is to reach the perfect self at which time he has reached the ultimate existence. This additionally is based on the theory that human beings are inherently easily and not evil and can naturally have it off betwixt right and wrong (Management, 2005). Obviously this kind of thinking is sinful as spiritual peck are supposed to strive to be closer to God and to live according to his will in localise to reach the ultimate existence.If a counsel can balance the staple fiber idea of psychology (the study of human behavior) and the theological values, there is no reason psychology should be considered a sinful study or practice. It does focus on the behavior of humans and how to change deviant behavior to make it more positive. It is based on discovering how state learn and then taking that knowledge to help modify behavior. It only becomes a sinful practice when those studying or teaching it contradict Gods teachings.3. My goal as a counselling should be to help defame the throe and negativeeffects of suffering and to help prevent as many future problems as possible. In order for a propo nent to continue to function and perform the job successfully, it is important to remember and infer that there is no way to prevent every cause of pain and heal all suffering. There is no way to completely take away the pain a child odors after losing a rise up or prevent an accident from happening. It would not be realistic for any counselor to think it is possible or even ideal to keep all pain from happening.People are allowed to suffer disappointments, set backs and losses in order for them to learn from them (Gress, 2007). If everything worked out exactly as pile wanted them to and there were never any disappointments the world would be change with a bunch of spoiled adults, who were unable to appreciate anything.Counselors who go into the avocation with the belief they can solve every problem and make everyones pain completely go away are setting themselves up for failure and disappointment, because they are expecting to accomplish the impossible. Those who set the rea listic goals of providing comfort, minimizing grieving, speeding excited healing, and modifying behavior when needed are the counselors most likely to stay in the field long term. The ones who trust to solve everyones problems have a tendency to take the problems upon themselves and burn out relatively soon. Counselors need to focus on the most significant problem for each person and work on one thing at a time.4. The subject of a healthy sense of self is one major difference betweenpsychology and theology. Both views involve people who are happy, and focused on a goal, but the views differ greatly in the center of the focus.Many psychological theories focus on making people feel wakeless about themselves and then everything else in the world will fall into place. In this case a healthy sense of self is essentially a puffed up self, or a person who thinks of himself as the most important person in the world and can do no wrong. This involves making the person become the center o f his Universe.The Biblical view of a healthy sense of self places God in the seemly place as the center of mans universe and when the focus is on God, everything else falls into place. This requires the person to learn humility and to give God his proper credit for the role he plays in a persons sustenance. The view here is that when a person is focused on living life for God, he will be happy and comfort in the knowledge that he is putting forth his best case for God.A person with a true healthy sense of self would be a person who values himself as a creation of God and a worker for him. This is a person who knows his place in the world, yet places the focus of the world on God. As the person strives to be more like God, he appreciates what God has leaved him and uses the talents God has given him. This person is happy and well adjusted to the world around him. He knows his talents and his accusation and uses them to grow closer to God.This description of a healthy sense of s elf tends to lean more towards the Biblical view, but does place value on the person and Gods creation and teaches the person to have respect for himself. This is consistent with Gods teaching that the body is his temple and that people need to care for their bodies and respect them.5. Scripture can provide answers to essentially any problem that is faced bypeople. Verses that say through God all things are possible or I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (NIV) provide people with the knowledge that they do not have to face problems alone and that there is hope. When a counselor is allowed to use scripture and the hope it provides, the counselor has a great deal more comforting hope to provide the person who is suffering.The instruction and guidance provided by scripture can provide the counselor with a great deal of information and guidance to help the counselee though most of lifes military posts. It additionally provides more appropriate alternatives to deviant behavior and provides people with ways to resist the temptation of falling back into old ingrown habits. In more extreme cases the Bible can show examples of what has happened to people who could not change behavior or are unable to tip over problems over to God.In addition to providing the counselor with the most powerful light beam available, it can provide a source of comfort and hope for the counselor as well. When a counselor begins to feel overwhelmed or helpless, the same verses that provide comfort to the counselees facing crisis can provide renewed strength and hope for the counselor.Scripture provides the hope, answers, and promises to help people catch the greatest obstacles, but they need to follow the directions and examples the Bible provides.6. Most secular counseling jobs do not allow counselors to use scripture or express their personal religious beliefs to counselees. The purpose of this is to avoid pressuring people into complying with beliefs that go against their religious beliefs. In the get together States people do have the right of religious freedom. The rights of others have to be respected by the counselor. Using request in these settings could cause the counselor to lose his job, or the counselee could lose respect for the professionalism of the counselor.Religious counselors have more freedom in this area due to the fact that they are counseling in a spiritual based setting. When people seek the help of these counselors, they know they are going to a person who uses the Bible as a reference and a basis for the counseling. Payer is more veritable and sometimes expected in these counseling settings and can be very helpful with counselees who need the hope and guidance of God (Goliath, 2007).A counselor with a new counselee should await the person if they would like to pray, this provides the counselee the cream of being prayed for if they would like it. For those who do not feel comfortable with prayer or would not take the prayer seriously additionally have the option of passing on it.The counselor can pray for those who choose against prayer when the session is over. During the private times of prayer the counselor can ask for guidance to help the person not only overcome the crisis, but to grow more comfortable with prayer and asking God for his help. Everyone ask prayer, but if a person prefers private prayer or has divers(prenominal) beliefs than the counselor, it can either cause the counselee to not return or can cause a setback in the counseling process. Counselees need to feel comfortable during counseling sessions in order for progress to be made.6. lousiness is often the source of the problems for which people seek counseling. Inorder for the situation to be resolved and the person to get past it, the sin has to at some point be confronted. The problem is how a counselor should go about confronting the sin. If the sin is confronted before the counselee is willing to admit that sin is the cause of the problem, there is a chance he will leave and the problem will not get resolved. If the counselor however spends too much time making the counselee comfortable and avoiding the issue, the sin will not be likely to be confronted and the situation still stands the chance of not getting resolved.In the very first session, the counselor ineluctably to get a back ground of why the counselee has either sought or been referred for counseling. unitary of the best ways to do this is to ask him. Along with this is a good time to ask if there was any sin involved that needs to be forgiven. If he is able to state the sin and talk about it then the sin should be confronted and resolved very early in the counseling. Then healing can begin quickly.If the person denies sin as playing a part in the situation, then the instigating situation needs to be discussed in greater detail and possible reasons behind that including sin pointed out. Once the person is able to understand there is s in in his life, then is the best time to talk about ways to have the sins forgiven both by God and anyone who was sinned against.The best way to confront sin is to ask questions and to provide guidance asneeded. Direct confrontation often oversteps people to be offended and shut down, butquestions can lead them to discover the problem on their own. Although it is never easy to confront soulfulness on sin, a counselor or church leader moldiness do it in order to help those in need overcome the sin (Adams, 1980)