It’s one thing to hear or read Berg’s teachings through the ears of one who has sinned—for example, one who has traumatized another. It’s quite a different thing to listen or read through the ears of one who has been sinned against, that is, the oppressed.
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North Korean defectors can tell us what it’s like to live with daily extreme trauma. Here’s one, for example:
Other people have also lived with daily extreme trauma. If you care to become trauma informed, which I talk about in this blog post, you can meet and listen to a trauma survivor sitting down the row from you at church . . . that is, if they’re still trying to go to church.
After all, for just one example, the child pornography business is a multi-billion dollar business in the United States alone. Do you really think no adult survivors of child pornography have tried to find answers in the churches? The traumas they endured are different from the traumas of North Korea, but are also devastating. They often feel alone in the horrors they carry, but they need to be heard and understood.
It’s not likely you’ll encounter a North Korea defector. But the child pornography survivors are all around you.
Because many of my friends have been traumatized, I often get to hear about the “noisy mind” or the “chaotic brain,” which I understand to be an aspect of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Jim Berg’s Quieting a Noisy Soul addresses this very problem.
Jim Berg’s counseling teachings
Jim Berg’s name may not be well known in the larger conservative evangelical world (being, as he is, a Bob Jones University independent Baptist fundamentalist), but his counseling principles—an obvious combination of nouthetic counseling (called “Biblical counseling” by its proponents) and Gothardism— do represent much of mainstream counseling in the larger conservative evangelical world, such as the Sovereign Grace circles, the Gospel Coalition and Desiring God blogs, the vast majority of conservative Christian counselors, the halls of most of the conservative Southern Baptist seminaries and several of the Reformed seminaries, and the counseling practices of the majority of conservative evangelical churches. In fact, I’ve critiqued other similar teachers on this website several times (a few examples of which are here and here and here).
The commonality they share is that their style of counseling seems evidently designed to keep the abused silent and unhelped, as they are shamed and blamed for the problems they face as a result of the trauma they’ve experienced.
It’s one thing to hear or read Berg’s teachings (critiqued at length in the GRACE report on Bob Jones University and discussed further at the BJUGrace blog) through the ears of the one who has sinned—for example, the one who has traumatized another. It’s quite a different thing to listen or read through the ears of the one who has been sinned against, that is, the oppressed.
But for a nouthetic “Biblical counselor” or a Gothardite, there is no difference. Everyone who comes for counseling must repent of their sin and strive to change. That’s all there is to it.
I’ve spoken with many people who have been counseled through Jim Berg’s method, even people who have been counseled by Jim Berg himself. The BJUGrace blog has several testimonies from such survivors, such as this one.
In his series Quieting a Noisy Soul, an outline of which you can see here, Berg describes the problem, the cause of the problem, and the solution.
Spoiler:
The problem is the noisy soul, since that’s what this book is about.
The cause of the problem is your sin, since this is nouthetic counseling and Gothardism.
And the solution comprises several things: determining to change, meditating on Scripture, repenting, learning to be content, forgiving, getting grace through humility, and others.
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Part 2, discussing the solutions, is here.
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Go here to download your free Guide, How to Enjoy the Bible Again (when you’re ready) After Spiritual Abuse (without feeling guilty or getting triggered out of your mind). You’ll receive access to both print and audio versions of the Guide (audio read by me). I’m praying it will be helpful.
He is accusing the suffering person of unbelief, then telling them to strive for their salvation rather rest in the promises of God. Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
I sat under such counsel for 15 years. Always searching for how to clean up this elusive sin so that things could move forward. Instead, his ongoing sin was minimized, excused and many times defined as a response to my “elusive” sin!
I am happy to say that freedom and truth won and life is sweet but so much was lost and there was additional time neede for healing and oh, the poor children that grew up under this religious confusion……..the trials they wade because of living in a drama filled, hypocritical home! They lost what I fought to give them……..growing up in a secure, loving, fully accepting home!
I’m so sorry for what you and your family had to endure because of this wrong teaching.
I grieve over the decades of destruction caused by Jim Berg’s teachings. He is not solely responsible. Bob Jones University gave him the platform to teach these ideas, knowing that he didn’t have the educational background to assume such authority. They and many others have taken his ideas and passed them on with what appears to be not the slightest concern for the many who have been so deeply harmed by these teachings.
When the GRACE investigation into BJU revealed a pattern of horrific treatment of abuse survivors and identified Berg as one of the primary people responsible for the harm inflicted, no one seemed to blink. That two-year-long investigation resulted in a 300+ page report with clear recommendations that, if followed, could have potentially set the school and its “feeder” churches on a path to becoming much healthier.
Instead, BJU buckled down, insisting that their counseling is best. That investigation was not just an opportunity for BJU and their affiliated churches, schools, missions, etc. It was also an opportunity for the broader Christian community. Many fundamentalist and conservative evangelical pastors are aware of the two-year investigation as well as the sobering findings of that investigation, but they all chose silence. They turned a blind eye and declined any involvement in urging BJU to make right choices or in doing so themselves. Many seemed to fear, especially the ones who have had some sort of past connection to the school. Maybe they thought if they spoke up, they would be linked to BJU in some way
I’m familiar with the area of South Carolina where that school is, and I believe that Christian community is not a healthy or safe place for those recovering from the effects of severe trauma. While some more “trendy” evangelical churches will host conferences that make them appear to be interested in reaching those impacted by abuse, their actions towards victims often only cause more hurt and more harm.
I’m so sorry. I want to do my small part to expose this problem and change the system.
This kind of thinking is rampant in churches worldwide. Not just in Gothardism or Reformed movements, many Chrismatic circles also teach about ‘being dead to your fleshly emotions’..
I remember hearing from many preachers and pastors how you have to be ‘dead’ in order to stay out of ‘offence’. ‘Dead man cannot be offended’, aka if you were truly mature, Christ-like and spiritually minded, nothing would disturb you or offend you.. (The paradox being, many of those pastors would be very volatile and react angrily if anyone would dare to question their teachings in any way)
Thank God, I have since realized it is OK to be offended at evil and wrong doing. Being ‘dead’ was not what Jesus was – He was offended at hypocricy, hard-heartedness and pure evil, willing to show it. He had a whole gamut of mixed emotions, while staying fully focused on the Father.
Good thoughts. He also never died to self or told us to die to self. Instead, He told us to live abundantly. I’ve written about that here: https://heresthejoy.com/2017/07/dear-christian-your-marriage-is-not-supposed-to-kill-you/
One reader wrote to me, “In our case, the nouthetic counselor was literally telling kids that if you got upset when you were bullied, it was your fault for being upset.”
What an utterly perfect environment for abuse to thrive.
“Quieting A Noisy Soul”
Wow! This terrible admonishment is specifically mentioned in the Bible… but it’s the “crowd” that advises noisy souls to be quiet, not the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus has compassion on noisy souls who cry out to Him for healing. Jesus asks them what they need! He heals them!
But Jim Berg has revealed that he agrees with the “crowd” and not with Jesus.
Matthew 20:30-34 (NIV)
30 Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
31 *The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet*, but they shouted all the louder, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”
32 Jesus stopped and called them. “What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Lord,” they answered, “we want our sight.”
34 Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.
Beautiful Scripture! Thank you.
Oh yes. Jesus loved to help those who reached out to Him in genuine need!
That story in Matthew is parallel to the testimony of blind Bartimues on Mark 10. I love it how he did not quiet down, but shouted even louder… *Jesus, Son of David, have mercy!* Something that has been my cry so often.
The same with the Syro-Phoenician woman asking for help, or Hanna in the Old testament. Those who had the guts to ask, were rewarded in the end – even if those close to Jesus tried to shut them up 🙂
My guess is those who actually are guilty–and need to do what Berg recommends–don’t see him for counseling. Why should they? They’re not distressed. If their unsubmissive wife or adult child stopped acting crazy everything in the family would be perfect. A lovely bed of roses.
Quote:”I’m familiar with the area of South Carolina where that school is, and I believe that Christian community is not a healthy or safe place for those recovering from the effects of severe trauma. While some more “trendy” evangelical churches will host conferences that make them appear to be interested in reaching those impacted by abuse, their actions towards victims often only cause more hurt and more harm.”
I would tend to agree with this statement whole heartedly. While some churches repress and shut down victims, some as in my experience open you wide up and then leave you dangling.
As I look back to a YWAM experience they had an “openess and brokeness” component. Its like forcing you to open a can of worms, that nobody is prepared for to deal with in the aftermath. They want you to neatly pack it all back up when your turn is done.
Or lets say, homegroup . Someone gives a word, I can remember trying to remember stuff, but because of dissociation things got really loud in my head, chaos ensued. I always left homegroup or church feeling worse than I came because I always felt like they opened me up, said a prayer and expected it to be over.
The ignorance wrapped up in “hearing God” in the moment but no preparation for the fallout affect caused so much extra trauma. I realise some wanted and tried to act in good faith really believing that methods used were okay, but they really were not.
So in my experience my “stuff” or trauma exceeded the knowledge, or ability of the prayor and caused more damage to the prayee. Which ended up making me feel like a failure or that God didnt answer those prayers because the damage just continued long after the prayer ended.
It made me angry and question God. Why didnt I see progress and move on like others?
The church needs to be educated in trauma, abuse and what to expect. What kind of reactions they will get. And the church needs to have experienced , educated psycologists on a referal list.
And I really really believe the church needs to be educated that dealing with trauma, is not fixed immediatley with a prayer time… I was always asked if I felt better. I said yes, but no I did not feel better. I often felt 10x worse. But I didnt want them to think they were doing a poor job praying for me, or that God didnt answer their prayers.
This is such a heart-wrenching story, Bunkababy, and I’m so sorry for what you’ve endured. I wrote a post about the need for Christians at large to become trauma informed, here: https://heresthejoy.com/2018/07/an-absolute-must-if-you-want-to-deeply-help-others-in-the-church/
I wrote a post about the problems with small groups insisting on “transparency” (the “openness and brokenness” component) here: https://heresthejoy.com/2018/05/5-reasons-for-church-small-groups-to-replace-transparency-with-integrity/
I want to write more about how Christians who want to help others need to understand dissociation, especially dissociative identity disorder, because I see how it has been so misunderstood and mischaracterized in the church context.
As you indicated, I’m guessing that most of the people who tried to help you in the YWAM setting meant well, but they were woefully misinformed or underinformed. The enemy is at work and takes full advantage of the people of God who try to deeply help others without being willing to acknowledge and learn about the great darkness and evil the enemy is perpetrating even within the walls of the church through people who serve him while making a show of being the people of God. I wrote about this more in the post called “The other kind of hypocrisy” (in this case, the “possums”), here: https://heresthejoy.com/2017/05/the-other-kind-of-hypocrisy/
Rebecca, my yam experience was very very very spiritually abusive. I actually got kicked out with another person as wounded as I was. Two years later I confronted the ywam leader leader, who was stunned I still had issues with my experience. He did rectify his role, and admitted he kicked us out and lied to save ywams face.
He knew we had lousy leadership but didn’t want to be bothered to intervene.
But he never could have imagined the circumstances on our outreach. It was from the pit of hell.
Yes, there is immense confusion surrounding DID, and it would be nice to have people aware of it. But most people are not as willing as you to learn , understand and work with people.
There is a major stigma around it in everyday psychology, never mind Christian circles.
You do remember who Bunkababy is don’t you? We emailed extensively. If you don’t that’s okay. You are a heck of a busy lady!
I certainly do remember you (I remember how our correspondence got started and what you told me about your background and experience, not just your horrible Youth With A Mission experience, but the abuse assocaited with the DID, and other things), and I’d be glad to pick up the correspondence again whenever you’d like to, though it may take a while for me to respond.
Since I’m wanting to write more about spiritual warfare because I believe it’s important, I really appreciate your input from your extensive experience with “spiritual warfare” abuse. If you’d like to email me with a list of cautions, warnings, and red flags, that would be fantastic. Thank you so much.
I struggle with noisy thoughts, anxiety and depression. Sin did contribute to it but it was not my sin. It was the sin of my father via emotional abuse and manipulation. Compounding that was exposure to Gothard and similar teachings. Even now at age 41 I am still healing and recovering.
It sounds like Berg’s book is the usual easy out of blame the wounded so we can pat ourselves in the back for delivering the “godly” message then blame the suffering when things don’t work out in healing and recovery .
I am a 1985 graduate of Bob Jones University and am utterly disgusted about this spiritual abuse.
Yes, I’m a 1983 grad (master’s degree) and agree with you.