Discussion: What the Bible Has to Do With Life
Discussion: What the Bible Has to Do With Life
What the Bible Has to Do With Life
Introduction
When you think of the Bible, what do you think? What images, associations, and
emotions come to mind? Discussion: What the Bible Has to Do With Life
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If you were asked to describe the Bible in one or two sentences, what would you say? Discussion: What the Bible Has to Do With Life
Perhaps a starting point is to say that it is a book, or more accurately a collection of 66
books, each with its own characters and themes, that flow into one main story. In saying
this, you are acknowledging that the Bible is literature, in one way like any other book—
material written for a particular purpose. Literarily, it is comprised of a variety of
different types of literature or genres: history, law, wisdom, poetry, letters, and
apocalyptic literature.
In some ways, the Bible is just like any other book, but in other ways, it is very different.
According to Christian tradition, and the Bible itself, it is divinely inspired
communication originating with God but penned by human authors, approximately 40
of them writing in three different languages over the course of about 1,500 years. This is
what makes the Bible unlike any other book and the reason it is called the Holy Bible or
Sacred Scripture. People call it “Holy” because they believe there was one supernatural
author who assured that each of the authors and books were aimed at accomplishing
the same purpose, that it was and is true in all that it affirms and teaches, and that its
content is more important than that which is found in any other book in world history.
So, what is the Bible about? There are a lot of good answers to that question. According
to Bartholomew and Goheen (2004), “biblical Christianity claims that the Bible alone
tells the true story of our world” (p. 20). Like most stories, the Bible proceeds from a
beginning (the first two chapters of Genesis), to a middle wherein a conflict develops
that needs to be solved, and tension builds as the key characters take their places (the
rest of the Old Testament). And then after a very long wait (the intertestamental
period), the hero of the story arrives and saves the day, bringing a shocking and yet
wonderful solution that was not exactly what everybody expected (the Gospels). The
story proceeds by telling about the implementation of that solution (the New Testament
letters) and then, to the end of the story wherein the good guys win and the bad guys
lose (Revelation). God and love and goodness win, and he and his team live happily ever
after.
Worldview
A worldview is a person’s internalized framework for seeing, interpreting, judging, and
comprehending life and reality. It is a conceptual paradigm composed of basic beliefs or
presuppositions that are absorbed from family and culture and religion, and is much
more automatic and subconscious than conscious. Your worldview is the big picture or
map that directs and guides your explanations for and responses to life. It is an
interpretive system by which individuals explain and make sense of life. It functions like
a map, orienting and guiding individuals toward answers to the major questions of life,
including understanding of people and why they do and think and feel the way they do.
Every counselor has a basic perspective on what life is about. Counseling theories arise
out of the theorist’s particular worldview, entailed within which is their view about
people and problems and solutions. What is a human being? Are people merely physical
things, or are they more than that? Is spiritual stuff real, or just a figment of your
imagination that makes you feel or function better? Is the American dream the real
purpose of life?
According to Albert Wolters (2005), a worldview is “the comprehensive framework of
one’s basic beliefs about things…. Your worldview functions as a guide to your life. A
worldview, even when it is half unconscious and unarticulated, functions like a compass
or a roadmap” (pp. 2, 5).
Contemplate the following statement by J. D. Hunter (2010):
Perhaps the most important thing to realize is that this “worldview” is so deeply
embedded in our consciousness, in the habits of our lives, and in our social
practices that to question one’s worldview is to question “reality” itself.
Sometimes we are self-conscious of and articulate about our worldview, but for
most of us, the frameworks of meaning by which we navigate life exist
“prereflectively,” prior to conscious awareness. That is, our understanding of the
world is so taken-for-granted that it seems utterly obvious. It bears repeating
that it is not just our view of what is right or wrong or true or false but our
understanding of time, space, identity – the very essence of reality as we
experience it. (p. 33)
As a counselor, you will counsel out of some theory that is related to some worldview
that provides the basis for how you understand what is wrong with people and how you
should go about helping them. A particular worldview grounds a counseling theory,
which then directs counseling practice.
The counseling theories that you are learning provide explanations for human behavior,
thought, and emotion. They organize your knowledge about the person and guide what
you observe and ignore, and how you interpret, explain, and predict how people work.
Thus, your counseling theory and practice arise out of some very basic beliefs about
reality and life and people.
Consider the following questions:
1. What is a human person? Are humans just physical things, or are they spiritual beings also? If they are both, how do body and soul relate to one another?
2. What are we here for: self-actualization or something greater?
3. What on earth is wrong with people? Why do they kill one another and themselves?
Why is there so much abuse, disorder, and unhappiness?
4. How do you fix this mess, or your mess?
Many counselors are naïve about both their personal worldview and the worldview of
the counseling theories they employ. The job of this course is to make sure that is not
true of you.
So, if the Bible tells the true story of the world, the Bible functions as the primary source
for developing a Christian worldview, a Christian psychology, and a Christian perspective
on counseling. Therefore, if your counseling is going to be Christian, you will have to
become more conscious of your worldview and let the Bible provide the primary cues
for your worldview and your psychology. “Psychology” in this paragraph, mean the basic
beliefs about what a person is, what the purpose of life is, why people do what they do,
and what is most essentially wrong with them.
The Bible and Counseling
What would be a proper relationship between the Bible and actual counseling
practices? A variety of answers can be found among contemporary Christian counseling
authors.