Wayne Oates stated that counseling is inevitable, but there is a choice “between counseling in a disciplined and skilled way and counseling in an undisciplined and unskilled way.” (Introduction to Pastoral Counseling, 1959, p.vi).

But the Bible was not written as a textbook on counseling, but it does deal with loneliness, discouragement, marriage problems, grief, parent-child relations, anger, fear and a host of other counseling situations. In medicine, teaching and other “people centered” helping fields, mankind has been permitted to learn a great deal about God’s creation through science and academic study. Why should psychology be singled out as the one field that has nothing to contribute to the work of the counselor? Over the past 100 years God has allowed psychologists to develop careful research tools for studying human behavior and professional journals for sharing their findings. Psychologists have learned what makes people tick and how people change.


Biblical Counseling: This is a series based upon personal study and reading.

  1. Biblical Counseling
  2. The Goals of Counseling
  3. The Counselor’s Role
  4. The Counselor’s Characteristics
  5. The Techniques of Counseling
  6. The Process of Counseling
  7. The Counselor’s Ethics
  8. The Counselor’s Motivation
  9. The Crisis in Counseling
  10. Crisis Intervention
  11. The Counselor’s Vulnerability
  12. The Homework in Counseling
  13. The Counselor’s Burnout
  14. The Counselor’s Sexuality
  15. Referrals in Counseling
  16. Counseling and Anxiety
  17. Counseling and Loneliness
  18. The Future of Counseling
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