Part 1 in the Series: Competent to Examine Jay Adams and His Nouthetic Counseling
I have posted about “nouthetic counseling” (later rebranded to be called “Biblical counseling”) more than any other tagged topic on this blog.
But this series will examine Jay Adams’ writings themselves, drawing from the work of Valerie Jacobsen on her Facebook page, with her permission.
Because all Christians have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit and life experience and access to the findings of brain science, so all of us can be competent to examine Jay Adams’ teachings.
Jay Adams, founder of nouthetic counseling, later rebranded to be called “Biblical counseling”
Jay Adams, who died in November 2020, was so highly regarded in the fundamentalist and evangelical Christian world that his influence can hardly be overestimated.
Through his long and prolific life—over 100 books telling us we need no book for counseling other than the Bible—his teachings can be reduced to just a few points.
Primarily, this one: almost every single non-physical problem a person has can be boiled down to a problem of personal sin. (He does make exceptions for brain injuries.)
The solution, then, to every problem of the soul or spirit—including such a variety of experiences as anxiety, depression, obsessions, compulsions, dissociation, nightmares—and much, much more …
… the solution is to be found in acknowledging the sin, being sorry for it, and turning from it by an act of the will (what he calls “repentance”).
Then the way to grow in the Christian life is to determine to change, do prescribed homework, and practice particular habits.
Four simple steps in helping people change
Second Timothy 3:16 is the Scripture on which Adams ostensibly formed his entire counseling model. According to that, he says, there are four steps in helping people change.
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- Teach them what is right (“doctrine”).
- Press for conviction (“reproof”).
- Correct them (“correction”).
- Discipline them in righteousness (“instruction in righteousness”).
That, according to Adams, is the simple four-phase path to helping people change in any way involving the soul or spirit.
Each of these steps is accomplished through application of the Scriptures and no other means. Adams scorns the “mystical” idea of “hearing from the Lord in our hearts.” (You can see from my “Beliefs behind the blog” page that I disagree with this.)
I agree, of course, that the Scriptures are profitable for these things, but I want to point out that the Bible does not claim that this is the one and only path to change in the lives of all individuals. (Again, this is elaborated on in my “Beliefs behind the blog” page.)
Trigger Warning: Casual attitude toward child sexual abuse
The example I’m looking at today is from his book How to Help People Change, originally published in 1986. The edition I’m using was published in 2010.
I’m diving into the middle of the book, because it has an especially notorious section in chapter 14, “The Use of the Scriptures in Conviction.”
On page 126, Adams says,
Let’s take an example [of counseling people from Scripture]. You have been counseling with Ted, a Christian, who tells you of his “overwhelming desire” to fondle little girls.
So let’s get this straight.
This is a pedophile. We’re talking about a pedophile. (One who claims to be a Christian??)
The more benign word “fondle” should really be replaced with the more accurate word “molest.”
This is the kind of thing that can have deep and lasting negative impact on little girls, though it’s evident here that Jay Adams has zero concern about that.
Adams goes on to say,
He claims that he cannot help it and that he has tried to stop, but this “desire, like a power greater than myself,” as he puts it, just takes over before he realizes what he has done.
Please note that Adams is describing ongoing criminal behavior.
What if Ted had said, “I have this constant urge to go to the park and find women who are jogging alone and rape them. I’m currently raping about two a week.”
Try to imagine Adams’ casual attitude toward this sin problem (and yes it is a sin problem, though it is also far more).
Adams responds by instructing the pastor/counselor to read or recite 1 Peter 4:1-2, telling Ted that,
“it is now possible to live the remainder of your time in the flesh no longer following human desires, but following the will of God.”
First Peter is Scripture, and it’s true for anyone who is in Christ Jesus. (That’s what the “now” refers to.)
But criminal behavior in which children are being harmed cannot simply be treated the way we would treat impatience or chain smoking.
Adams goes on to say (page 127),
[The Apostle] Peter’s words, when pressed, explained, and applied to Ted’s situation, put an end to his excuse making, convict him of sin, and bring him to repentance, including an eagerness to change.
Well that was easy.
Adams then tells the pastor to file this verse away to use when someone argues that they can’t change, to refute people like Ted who have these overwhelming urges.
If after this Ted still puts up an argument, the pastor is to say (p 127):
“Yes, I know your desire can be strong, especially when you have submitted to it for years.” [Emphasis mine.]
So now it is revealed that the pastor knows that Ted has been molesting little girls for years.
No problem, though. Let’s just keep working through the program.
“Perhaps you have tried to quit and failed,”
the pastor is instructed to say.
That is, Ted may have tried to quit molesting little girls just as a chain smoker may have tried to quit smoking.
Then the pastor is instructed to say the next appalling thing. In the context of how the Holy Spirit can help a person overcome sin, he is to say,
“Ted … there are many Christians just like you who have given up because they have failed in the past.” [Emphasis mine.]
Now, lest you forget, I’ll remind you once again that we’re talking here about a pedophile. One who sexually abuses little children for his own perverted pleasure.
A Christian pedophile, so Jay Adams tells us, assuming there is such a thing.
Jay Adams is normalizing pedophilia and treating it as if it will regularly be found in the Christian church in the body of Christ. Other Christians, he says, have failed to curb their perverted desires to molest little girls. They have given up and just keep on doing it.
He tells Ted it is a sin, to be sure, but he has no interest whatsoever in the impact of the abuse on the little girls he has been sexually abusing for years.
Ted sees the light
If Ted says he sees the error of his ways and says he wants to change, then we must assume he is to be forgiven and the sin is to be thought of no more (from Jay Adams’ other writings).
Perhaps in honor of his repentance he would then be promoted to a new leadership position, such as head of the children’s church. I have known this type of thing to be done in churches that practice nouthetic counseling.
If the pedophile resists the counsel
If on the other hand Ted is honest enough to express resistance to the idea of putting a stop to his molestation of little girls, then Adams has the next directive:
The counselor may wait a week or so to see if the Spirit will yet use the presentation of the Word that was given.
(“No, it didn’t work, pastor. I molested a few more little girls this week at the school where I work. Lost count.”)
The counselor will make it clear that counseling cannot continue until repentance takes place.
So when we have a confession that someone is committing criminal activity, endangering the lives of children, there is no mention of law enforcement. No mention of the fact that this activity is criminal. And no concern about the lives at risk.
Church discipline
Adams continues on page 129:
If at any length, there is continued refusal to acknowledge sin and repent, the counselor may have to institute the process of church discipline, in which one or two others (and eventually the whole church, if necessary), continue to bring relevant scriptural exhortation to bear upon the reluctant brother (see especially II Thess. 3:15). Throughout, he must be confronted with the Word in order to be brought to conviction.
Any thought about keeping him away from little girls?
No, not one mention of it. Doesn’t even cross the radar.
How much harm this one section of this one book has done through the years!
I ponder why Adams chose to use the example of a man who molests (“fondles”) little girls. If I didn’t know better, I might consider that this book was originally written in 1986 when these things were less understood. But indeed they were understood enough at that time by the secular world (which Adams spurned) for them to know this was a huge problem. And besides that, the edition I’m working from was published in 2010.
As I ponder it, I consider that Adams has most likely counseled men with a similar sin problem, and this is how he counseled them.
I wonder how it turned out.
I wonder if any of the women are still around who were “little girls” when the pedophile Adams counseled—or any of the pedophiles Adams’ thousands of disciples counseled—was abusing them. I wonder if any of them would give testimony about how it worked out for them.
The repentance
On page 133 Adams says,
[L]et me make it clear that conviction must not become a morbid, drawn-out exercise in introspection. The idea is not to make the counselee sweat it out. There are people in the church who have revived the notion of some Puritans that people must repent of their sins over long periods of time. No such thing is in view. The discussion should continue until the conviction has been carried out, no longer. When a counselee acknowledges that he has sinned, makes no excuses for his sin, is sorry and seeks God’s forgiveness, counseling must move on.
That is, counseling would move on to the next stages, correction and instruction in righteousness. Adams adds on page 134,
God … tells us to look for the fruit of repentance in a changed lifestyle.
I would have thought that the fruit of repentance would include Ted’s willingness to turn himself into law enforcement and name all his victims so they can be properly helped and he can make restitution.
But this is not part of the picture for Jay Adams. In his teachings he makes quite plain that what he means is a particular list that he suggests and the counselor lays out: things like church attendance, Scripture memorization, and completing the counselor’s assigned homework.
Who is the real hypocrite?
On page 134 Adams writes,
[T]here are those whose consciences have been dulled, perhaps even “seared” by lies, hypocrisy, and a failure to listen to truth. Such people must be confronted about that dullness itself and the scriptural need for change must be freshly pressed upon them. Sometimes, however, the only thing that restores life to the deadened nerve cells of a seared conscience is the threat or actual pursuit of church discipline. Some people must be “taught by discipline” (1 Tim 1:20). That is unfortunate, but for their sakes, as well as for the purity of the church and the Name of Christ, such persons must be excommunicated if all else fails. [Emphasis mine.]
Now, I can’t tell you how firmly I agree with this. All Scripture points to this, and I would draw our attention especially to Hebrews 12:15, which tells us that the “bitter root” (the sociopathic abuser) is to be cast out of the church. (More about that at this blog post, in my first Untwisting Scriptures book, and in this conference talk.)
However, I do want to point out that those whose consciences have been dulled, even seared, those who fail to listen to the truth, may be absolute masters of hypocrisy.
Adams assumes that the pastor-counselor will recognize the hypocrisy, but I know for a fact that they often don’t.
So, what has happened, notoriously, in those who follow Jay Adams’ teachings?
Not just once, but hundreds and perhaps even thousands of times?
First, let’s consider this scenario:
A man comes to the pastor for help because he molests little girls.
Because his wife found out.
She is utterly distraught, beside herself, doesn’t know what to do, in a moment of boldness tells him to move out of the house, tells him he can’t come back until he gets help, and assumes the pastor knows the answers and will help him appropriately.
The pedophile “sees the light” and “repents” (and secretly vows to become better at hiding his predilection).
The pastor is convinced that all is well and is elated to have such an eager new counselee.
And since he uses Jay Adams’ book How to Help People Change, it never even crosses his mind to go to law enforcement or try to find the little girls who have been harmed and tell their parents. (What they don’t know won’t hurt them, right?)
The tables are turned
The wife, however, is afraid to let her husband back in the home. After all it was her own young daughter and her daughter’s friend that she found her husband molesting.
Suddenly then, to her shock, she finds that the tables have been turned.
“You must be confronted about your lack of forgiveness for this brother who has repented,” the elders tell her. “You are trying to act like a Christian but you are failing to listen to the truth. This means you’re living in hypocrisy and need to be church disciplined. If you don’t repent and let him back into the home, we’ll have to excommunicate you.”
The wife wonders, “How did I get to be the wrongdoer here?”
In Jay-Adams-following churches, the details may vary, but the basic scenario has been the same. The criminally abusive husband gains favored status by jumping through the designated hoops. The wife who wants to protect her children and herself—unless she allows him back in the home without mentioning his sin again—will find herself facing the possibility of losing almost every person in her life.
Is this the kind of counseling Jesus would have us do?
Or is this kind of counseling actually coming from the father of lies?
You will know them by their fruit. And not simply the “fruit” that is produced in the public image. But the fruit that is growing behind the scenes, in the dark.
*****
I have heard many stories from those who have experienced nouthetic counseling and from those who have been trained in it. I appreciate further commentary here regarding similar scenarios, as we expose the dark underbelly of nouthetic (“Biblical”) counseling.
*****
Edited to add: I’ve received questions from a couple of people about whether or not Ted, the pedophile in question here, was actually acting out on his desires, or was successfully struggling against them when he came in for counseling.
I replied to one of those below (another by email), but since that reply to this important question may be missed in all the many comments, I’m copying my reply below here:
Regarding the possibility that Adams was describing simply the *desire* to molest rather than the actual act, I could be wrong, but this paragraph leads me to believe that’s not what Adams was talking about:
He claims that he cannot help it and that he has tried to stop, but this “desire, like a power greater than myself,” as he puts it, just takes over before he realizes what he has done.
Also this:
“Yes, I know your desire can be strong, especially when you have submitted to it for years.”
I would ask, what does it mean to submit to a desire except to carry out the action that the desire is pushing you toward?
Part Two of this series is now published here.
Part Three is now published here.
***
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.
Oh my…i shudder to think of the horrific stories that might come forth … how true AND IMPORTANT exposing this terribly damaging counsel is‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️
Yes it is. I hate that it has to be done, but because it’s out there, it has to be done.
Thank you so much for doing this, Rebecca.
Nouthetic counseling is very big on the belief that a counselee who does all the homework is a repentant counselee.
We can see an example of this in a letter that Doug Wilson (who uses nouthetic counseling and follows Jay Adams) wrote to a judge on behalf of an admitted serial pedophile, who had numerous child victims in at least three states and perpetrated *extreme* levels of abuse against children as young as two.
This pastor and nouthetic counselor wrote to Judge Stegner, in part–
“Not only have I provided counsel for him, but have also given him a number of assignments to complete during the time between our sessions. He has been faithful and diligent in seeking to do what I have asked, and I have good reason to believe that he has been very eager in this. It is important to note that I have not offered him any spiritual panacea or ‘quick fix,’ and I believe Steven understands the importance of his need to resist these temptations over the long haul. The assignments I have given him have included the reading of books on everything from the obvious issues of sex and sexuality, to the underlying issues of his discontent. In all this, Steven has been most responsive, and has been completely honest with me.”
This is incredibly naive. What it is, really, is an invitation from the nouthetic counselor to the person running a very successful long-term criminal enterprise, “Please, manipulate me.”
The whole corpus of Jay Adams’ work tells criminals in the church that there is an easy-peasy way to get around all that pesky justice out in the world. Just tell the counselor what the counselor wants to hear, and you’ll be good to continue just as before.
And if the same things happen all over again two, three, five, or ten years later? Just rinse and repeat. The criminal takes up the nouthetic counselor’s EAGER INVITATION to be manipulated and used, and more victims pay the price, because the model says that each new offense is approached as if no old offenses ever happened.
Oh, and btw. The victim’s responsibility in this? If the perpetrator says sorry, don’t bring it up, and never tell anyone. And do the mental work of denial–this is explicitly demanded–to come to a point where there is actually no more memory of the crime committed. Only bad, sinful victims go on through life remembering that a crime was even committed.
I see that I never replied to this. Thank you so much for your comment, Valerie, and for all the tireless work on this topic that you’ve done through the years. You have paid a high price, and I know your wisdom is hard won. I pray that many will benefit from it.
Wow. Client confidentiality should not apply if the client is thinking of hurting someone. That’s a legal reason to spill the beans. Studied psychological counseling in college.
Yes, however, confidentiality in nouthetic and Biblical counseling seems reserved for the offender. Yet in those same settings, the victims don’t get confidentiality. Having a licensed counselor on staff at a church seems to just be a way for church leadership to access information that would be confidential in any other setting.
Biblical counselors are often not licensed by the state and therefore do not have the appropriate professional standards and safeguards in place.
I hesitate to say that government licensing is what will make a counselor a safe one. I know of people who are not licensed who are safe and good and who keep confidences. And I know of licensed counselors who have given truly destructive counsel and some who are or were sexual abusers. Licensing is purportedly put in as a safeguard, yes, but I believe it can lead a person to think they’re in a safe situation when sadly, it may not be any safer. I know people have found amazing counselors just by doing an online search, but perhaps the safest way is by word of mouth recommendations.
In many states, clergy are mandated reporters. When not specified, they fall under “any persons” with knowledge of abuse. There is no excuse for not reporting abuse. https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubPDFs/manda.pdf
I encourage those who read this to read through to the end as the last section is particularly significant as it highlights a part of this cycle that is often overlooked.
Also, for those who would say that their church or religious group does not follow Jay Adams’ approach, then what exactly is your approach?
The greatest harm I and my children have endured came from a church who claimed to have a better approach. They claimed that they make reports to the police, DSS, and other legal entities when there were allegations of abuse. They claimed to always consult with the local sexual trauma center for help. They claimed that their counseling program was better as they included a licensed counselor on their counseling team. Each of those claims was true, but only in part.
In particular, they claimed not to be “nouthetic” and instead, they were “biblical.” “Biblical” counseling, however, is just better packaging for the same solution. In the end, it is horribly destructive to victims and enabling and protective to offenders.
If I could pick ONE thing that has the most power to drive people away from God, it would be nouthetic and/or biblical counseling. It is incredibly destructive. The second would trying to keep counseling in-house within a church, particularly when abuse is the issue. That puts even licensed counselors in a terrible position where they have to choose between overlook abuse or risking their jobs.
I know people who claim to be “Biblical counselors” who actually understand trauma and its repercussions and care about victims. It isn’t the Bible that’s the problem, really. It’s the twisting of the Scriptures or taking them out of context in a way that ends up in utter and complete wrongdoing, comforting the oppressor and shunning the oppressed. (It is not an anomaly–it has happened countless times.)
When the Scriptures aren’t twisted or taken out of context, we can see that they can be of great comfort to the hurting, and they cry for justice for the evildoers.
When I have heard the term “biblical counseling,” it seemed to be referencing a specific style of counseling. I first encountered the term after nouthetic counseling started to become exposed as abusive and harmful. It seemed that many just shifted to new terminology with a little bit of a better slant to try to re-market nouthetic counseling.
I know of many people, however, who love God and who use the Bible to offer comfort, kindness, compassion, and hope.
Yes, when nouthetic counseling was renamed to be “Biblical counseling,” it was clearly a rebranding effort. And seemed cheeky to me to for them to claim to be The People who counsel from the Bible. But I’ve known at least one person who uses the term but isn’t associated with Jay Adams to any degree. I’m afraid, though, that for now the term has been tainted, and I’d recommend not using it with anyone who has experienced nouthetic counseling.
You said, “I know of many people, however, who love God and who use the Bible to offer comfort, kindness, compassion, and hope.” I’m so thankful for that and trust that they’ll be an encouragement to you.
It seems that, in many (but not all) cases, Biblical counseling is a kinder, gentler form of nouthetic counseling. Whereas nouthetic counseling seems to view EVERYTHING as willful, personal sin, I have seen teaching in the Biblical counseling world that acknowledges suffering and the damage done by the sins of others. I think there can be good Biblical counselors but they HAVE to get additional training in the areas of human development, trauma, abuse, addiction, and abnormal psychology to be able to adequately care for their clients. I have rarely seen a curriculum in a Biblical counseling program that seems remotely comprehensive enough to address a wide variety of human experiences.
This could be true, and since counseling varies from person to person, I would assume you’re accurate. But much of the critiquing of nouthetic counseling I’ve done on this blog has been of the variety that calls itself “Biblical counseling.” It still sounds nouthetic in all the most important ways.
Oh, yes. Absolutely. It still treats all problems as strictly spiritual problems which can be a tremendous burden on those suffering.
Yes, it’s all about submission until it’s about them submitting to the actual authorities. Then submission doesn’t apply. They put themselves above the law. I was reprimanded for going to the police IN FRONT OF MY HUSBAND after he left a handprint bruise on me. I was told “even if he hits you upside the head, don’t go to the police, come to us.”
But, you know, they have it in their policies to involve authorities so we are all good.
What utter hypocrisy. I’m so sorry this happened to you, Julie, but it’s a common scenario, sadly.
SO!! MUCH!! TRUTH!!
As a victim of domestic violence and neuthetic counseling I can tell you this is EXACTLY what happens!! The pastor goes before the court and attempts (often successfully) to minimize or dismiss criminal charges because of the great success of their counseling.
The victim is continually put in harms way and it is insisted that she NOT go to the authorities for help because that would be choosing a humanistic approach and not trusting God. The counselor ABSOLUTELY does not understand the manipulation that is going on by the abuser to get his life back the way he likes it and how the abuser is using the counselor to push the abused wife to not only never bring up any incident in the past (bitterness) but to let her unchanged abuser move home. The abuser revels in watching the further abuse of his wife while walking free of repercussions of his actions.
Oh you’ve spelled it out so perfectly, Megan. I’m so sorry for the evil you endured at the hands of those who claimed to love God.
Not only that, but the Christian wife is taught that anything outside the church is BAD. She is taught to be suspicious of the worldly Children’s Aid (Child Protective Services) and of any kind of social worker outside the church. So she submits to the church leaders and biblical counselors because after all, they are God’s children, and they are the wise ones.
This is such an important series. Thank you, Rebecca (and Valerie), for taking it on.
Many, many years ago, I was trained in Nouthetic counseling. I believe it can be so damaging. A sin I have definitely repented from (using their model) is hurting people I cared about with this narrow, unskilled, and uninformed kind of “counseling.”
I have been the recipient of it as well and felt gaslighted, silenced, unheard, and further traumatized because of it.
Five years ago, I began the “no-no” journey of licensed professional counseling for trauma. Oh. My. Word. What a difference! My faith community taught me that it was of the world and evil. Yet, it has
transformed my life and strengthened my faith. Imagine! I look forward to reading the rest of your series. Thank you again!
Yes, people who mean well can in fact hurt others deeply through this style of counseling. I know others who have also repented of it. And then, when their eyes are opened and they start experiencing this kind of counseling themselves! Yes–you’ve said it well here, Sandi. Thank you.
I could have written the first part of this myself!
Rebeca, Thank you for your stand on Biblical Counselling. I went for biblical counselling in the past. It is criminal that “Christians” view sexual abuse so relaxed, like it is “Normal” . It has infiltrated in the Church Culture.
Absolutely it has. There are wolves in the churches, and they’re using nouthetic counseling.
(Edited to clarify: This does not mean that everyone who uses nouthetic counseling is a wolf. It means that for one who is a wolf, nouthetic counseling is a useful tool. I’ve written about this many times on my blog.)
Wish this was accountability within ACBC but they themselves enable and perpetuate the abuse and bolster the reputation of the abusive leaders and the abuser! More to come!
I’ve never heard of Jay Adams but am very familiar with this type of teaching. It was I, at 16 years old, who was told that I had a ‘seared conscience’ because I refused to associate with my abuser. After all, he’d been to counseling and “only liked little girls”. I was given stacks of detailed documentation of the “help” he’d received to prove to me that the “matter” was properly handled. And yet, I who suffered at his hand my entire childhood, never received a day of counseling, was never told it wasn’t my fault (in fact was told not to ‘tempt him’), charges were never brought against him and his family made sure dad was ‘comfortable’ until he died. Only once was I told that my father didn’t believe that my abuser was repentant, but even that was brushed off because my sin of unforgiveness out trumped anything my abuser did or did not do. The only conversations about my abuse were arguments about how wrong I was. My parents liked to call these ‘explanations’.
I’m so sorry you were treated that way!
I am beyond disgusted and furious that you were treated this way, Sherry. The accusation that you had a “seared conscience” actually made my jaw drop (though heaven only knows why I continue to be surprised by these things).
I applaud you! for at the age of 16 standing up to these charlatans and refusing to associate with your abuser!
I am reading and re-reading your comment, and continuing to shake my head in disbelief at the evil perpetrated on you not just by the abuser, but by his enablers. THAT is where so many decide they’re going to leave the church.
As I’ve said before in another blog post, if these leaders had tried to devise a plan to get people to walk away from Jesus Christ, they couldn’t have come up with a more perfect plan than this one.
I am so sorry.
Thank you. I tell my story in small doses where I find opportunity and feel it’s appropriate. Especially in instances like this blog post where I can be a witness for what this teaching does to a person.
I know my experiences have value to others either to learn from when their experiences were different, or to find community when they’re fighting the same fight. The abuse itself forever changes who you are and that is so crippling and frustrating. There is not any part of my life left untouched by my experiences.
You’re right, when a survivor is met with demonic teaching such as this, it is truly miraculous if that person does not leave the faith entirely. Only by the grace of God have I not walked away, but I rarely attend church. I hope as healing continues my future will be able to include corporate worship. I believe it will. But it is a long and terrifying road. I have a small group of Christian friends on Twitter who I learn from, who are not part of the denomination of my past, and who are, for the time being, my church. I have found it to be a comfortable and yet challenging way to stay in touch with fellow believers, to grow in my faith and to learn who God truly is.
I’m thankful you can find like-minded Christians through the internet when you can’t enter a church building. I’ve heard over and over how the church enabling and coddling of the abuser and shunning of the victim is far more traumatizing than the original abuse. Love to you, Sherry.
This is so horrific that anyone reading here who isn’t familiar with nouthetic counseling would think SURELY this is an exaggeration. But this nightmare is not an exaggeration. It’s exactly the way it goes down, again and again and again, in church after church after church.
It’s enough to make you think that the enablers in these situations are actually wicked men themselves, all winking at each other behind the backs of their victims.
“The wife wonders, “How did I get to be the wrongdoer here?”
“—will find herself facing the possibility of losing almost every person in her life.”
Such a good article. Look forward to the series. In my quest to be an obedient wife and most importantly to be following the Scriptures faithfully it took a long time before I discovered ministries that helped me untwist the Scriptures.
The man I married is a quiet, passive abuser, however, the local women’s shelter advised me that those are often the most dangerous as you never know what will set them off. 🙁
And sadly, I have lost my adult children to ‘him’. God is not their source of wisdom or love.
I apologize for the long comment but I can’t believe how this is still affecting me?
Oh, this is heartbreaking, so heartbreaking. I am so sorry, HiH.
Oh how I pray that nouthetic counselors–surely there are those out there whose hearts have not been hardened–will read stories like yours and others here, and have their eyes opened to the truth of the damage wreaked by nouthetic counseling.
The man I was married to for nearly 45 years was a quiet, passive abuser, too. I was the one who was feisty and furious when he abused my children. I also strove to be an obedient wife and a godly Christian, and because of that I was willing to put up with neglect and abuse for decades. I thought I was protecting my family, but my staying has left permanent scars. I’ve lost most of my children, and this will affect me the rest of my life.
Rebecca, Thank you for your insight and truth to this type of counseling.
I was told when my ex “repented” that “time tells truth” which I learned to watch snd wait as he had more than one revelations of his abuse.
So thankful you are speaking out against false counseling, and exposing these wolves just keep putting in sheep’s clothing and the church so desperately wanting to celebrate a soul repented.
I do think that desperate desire might be part of it, but also you are perhaps more gracious than I am to see such an innocent and good desire as the primary motivation.
I see perhaps more evidence of a combination of ignorance and arrogance, sometimes massive. Both of these areas could be expanded on at length.
And then, to top that off, I have learned from abuse survivors that some of the nouthetic espousers are downright evil themselves. I could also expand on that at length.
But these are my three top reasons that I believe it has proliferated to such a great extent. I’d also welcome the perspective of others on this topic.
I wonder if we aren’t seeing the w
fall out from this type of counseling within the Sovereign Grace churches sexual abuse disaster. I’m not sure if they subscribe to the biblical counseling model. It’s worth looking into.
Thank you for putting together this series. I look forward to reading more. Having been trained in biblical counseling, I appreciate the critiques and cautions. I’ve learned so much by listening to other perspectives. They’ve helped me to sort through my own faulty thinking, as well as personal hurts from the movement.
Haha, well, I haven’t put together the series yet, and now I’m saying “Yikes, I need to get cracking on this.” Hopefully Valerie Jacobsen will come to my aid.
I’ve written about the teachings of the Sovereign Grace cult, which seem to have a slightly different spin than Jay Adams’ teachings. The “CJ Mahaney” tag on my blog is probably the best way to find them. https://heresthejoy.com/tag/cj-mahaney/
These are difficult but necessary discussions to have, because this type of counseling remains common, particularly in Reformed churches. Even without having participated, many of us were exposed to the principles of nouthetic counseling on Focus on the Family or other such christian thought shaping sites.
First and foremost, it needs to be understood that true repentance does not involve freedom from consequences. It is one thing to repent of drinking too much alcohol, whether the party genuinely turns from his addiction or continues. It is another to repent of an active crime against another human being. Although, in reality, both are dangerous, as the harm from alcoholism continues, albeit to the one counseled.
However, if the ‘sin’ being dealt with involves a crime against another, the harm done and future risk of all victims and other potential victims cannot be ignored. If a man has committed murder, rape or child abuse – or any other crime – this must always be reported to the authorities. If victims are known, or can be determined, contact must be attempted to provide any needed assistance in recovery.
Crime can NEVER be dismissed. Genuine repentance means not only openly confessing the crime, but suffering the necessary legal consequences and, where possible, making restitution.
And, as suggested, the crime is only multiplied when the victim is compelled to ‘forgive’ and often even continue in a relationship with her abuser. When, as in my relative’s case, the abuser – a close relative – is caught and goes to jail, what happens when he is released and one is expected to invite him back into the family circle? He has ‘paid his dues’, even though, after initial confession, he later denied all wrongdoing and never apologized to his victims or the entire family. And he was a retired pastor. Nothing was ever done to see how many victims likely remain unknown from decades of access to trusting children.
The church simply does not know how to handle such criminals, repentant or not. By practicing a naive form of ‘forgiveness’ they often perpetuate abuse, and multiply the suffering of the victims.
You will likely receive condemnation for opening this discussion, Rebecca, but it needs to be done. Not only to bring healing to the many who have suffered at the hands of ‘Biblical counseling’ but to shine the light brightly upon dangerous, harmful practices that continue to this day. Thank you. And my heart goes out to all who suffered from this evil ministry. May they find comfort, healing and peace.
This is very well said and well-explained TS00. Thank you!
I’ve been posting about and against nouthetic counseling for years, so any condemnation I may receive I’ve already been receiving, but I do appreciate your concern. And you’re right, it does need to be done, over and over and over. The light needs to continue to be shone on any rats (and those who are following the rats without realizing that they’re rats).
I will never forget the little girl I was counseling many years ago who was molested by her youth minister. She had great courage and testified in court. The pastor of the church (who was counseling the molester and his family) appeared in court along with other members of the church community showed up in court – all in support of the molester. Ugh. The court prevailed and the molester was sent to prison.
So horrible! But so, so horribly common.
I’m thankful that in this case justice prevailed, though I imagine the pastor spun it as “the world” coming against “the man of God.”
“Books on sex and issues of his discontent??” A man so clueless about the nature of evil has no business pastoring a church or counseling anyone.
This is so bad. Thank you for exposing it. I was trained in the nouthetic counseling model. The damage is immense. Most of the stories I can’t tell because they aren’t mine. But it is as bad as you describe, and worse in many cases.
Same for me. I have many stories, but they aren’t mine. I’m thankful for those who are willing to tell their stories so others will be warned.
I was ACBC certified myself and in an abusive marriage. I formally complained to ACBC after parents (I was counseling the mom) were arrested for child abuse and charged with multiple counts each of child abuse and neglect with intent to cause great bodily harm. I knew the girl had been locked in her room with the door tied shut with a rope. My ACBC certified pastor kept telling me not to call CPS. I was a new counselor and as a member their covenant, I was expected to obey him. Obviously I now realize my responsibility to report regardless here, which I did when I left the church. I wept hysterically when I saw the news article about their arrest. ACBC got their lawyer(s) involved and they basically said I was the one at fault and “we thought you would want to know this for discreetness moving forward”. (How’s that for a threat?) This church was also an ACBC training center! There’s been no humility, no remorse, just image control on the part of the church and ACBC. These men want all the “authority” with no accountability or responsibility.
This is a horrific story, Julie. So much evil.
For reference, for those who don’t know, ACBC is Jay Adams’ organization “Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.” That is, after someone has gone through Jay Adams’ program and done all the assigned coursework, he can be certified as a “Biblical counselor” in the Jay Adams model.
Obviously this does not make him a wise person, a God-fearer, or a people-lover. It doesn’t even mean he knows the Bible. It just gives him a piece of paper saying he has been through Jay Adams’ program and knows how to fill in blanks, write papers, and memorize verses out of context.
I personally think that this terribly naive and destructive “counseling” as well as other misguided church practices occur because we believers desperately want Jesus and the Bible to ” work.” In other words, how could it be that a supposedly godly person has a dark side? And why wouldn’t Jesus and the Bible be able to quickly heal the dark side? It’s painful for us to admit a lack of transformation and sanctification. But we must, and seek God to discover why we are more powerless over sin than we care to admit. And also we must address that there are those in the church who are just playing along; they have never been truly born again; they are living still out of their sinful nature.
By the way, is it possible that the Jay Adams quotes are based on a desire to molest but not the actual act? Still terrible counsel…and terribly dangerous.
There is certainly a naivete involved in thinking a one-size-fits-all counseling approach that has the nature of a flow chart will work in every case.
But Jesus does “work.” I have seen His good work in person.
And the Bible does too. I see how the Scriptures bring wisdom and guidance to bear on cases of foolishness, sinfulness, trauma, demonization, grief, and many other circumstances.
The Adams approach uses a cherry-picking (or proof-texting) of Scripture in order to follow through on the Adams model. I would argue that it is not faithful to the body of Scriptures as a whole.
I think the concept of a person having a “dark side” doesn’t match with Scripture, though. The way the Bible presents it is that they present themselves as good in public but are doing evil in private. I don’t believe that’s a “dark side.” I believe it’s hypocrisy. Jesus had a lot to say about hypocrisy.
Jesus can heal and restore hypocrites if they truly repent of their hypocrisy and turn to Him. Actually, we’ve seen a few of those testimonies right here in this comment thread. But there are many who love the darkness because their deeds are evil. They do not want to turn to the Lord. But they will use nouthetic counseling and other means to cover their dark deeds.
So that to say, transformation and sanctification are readily and joyfully available from the Lord to those who want it. He will not force it on those who don’t want it. But the Scriptures say that those who love and follow Jesus are *not* powerless over sin. In fact, sin has no more power over us, according to Romans. We are free from its power and can choose to walk in the light instead of in the darkness.
Regarding the possibility that Adams was describing simply the *desire* to molest rather than the actual act, I could be wrong, but this paragraph leads me to believe that’s not what Adams was talking about:
He claims that he cannot help it and that he has tried to stop, but this “desire, like a power greater than myself,” as he puts it, just takes over before he realizes what he has done.
Also this:
“Yes, I know your desire can be strong, especially when you have submitted to it for years.”
I would ask what does it mean to submit to a desire except to carry out the action that the desire is pushing you toward?
Even if he wasn’t physically acting out this desire, which it sounds like he was to me too, shouldn’t there still have been safety measures put in place?? I wouldn’t want a man with this kind of strong desire around my daughter. There was no mention of this in the book.
Absolutely. If a man has a nearly uncontrollable urge to molest little girls, he is unsafe for your little girls to be around.
Yes, I’m new to this blog and this is the first article I’m reading. I’ve read Competent to Counsel and was really impressed by it because of the confidence it seems to hold out in the power of God’s word to change people and I want that for my own life. I haven’t actually received nouthetic counselling though. I’m wondering if the principles themselves are good but they have been put into practice in an unwise way. My main take away from Competent to Counsel is that God’s word can change people’s lives and that counselling should therefore primarily be done within the church with God’s word at the centre. I’ve “Biblical Counselling After Adams” which sets out that the modern Biblical Counselling movement sees Adams as a bold but blunt pioneer who got a lot of things wrong. In the UK, Biblical Counselling UK is trying to get churches to adopt biblical counselling but it seems very different from what is described here. E.g. I went to a seminar run by someone being trained by Biblical Counselling UK and the first thing she said was that secular counsellors are often better and more equipped than church counsellors and churches should always seek to direct people with serious problems to experts in the secular world and work alongside them rather than trying to do everything inside the church.
That’s very encouraging to hear, and it doesn’t fit with nouthetic counseling as Adams presented it.
In my statement of faith, here https://heresthejoy.com/the-beliefs-behind-the-blog if you scroll down to “The sufficiency of Scripture,” you’ll see what I believe about the Scriptures and counseling.
One huge irony about Adams is that he said the Bible was sufficient for counseling, but then he wrote over 100 books about it. And from my observations, his disciples spend a lot more time with his books to learn counseling than they do with the Bible.
You can see more of what I’ve written about nouthetic counseling at the “nouthetic counseling” tag here: https://heresthejoy.com/tag/nouthetic-counseling
I first became familiar with Jay Adams in the late 80s when I worked for a Christian organization. A coworker was a big fan of his and I will never forget how appalled at the teachings she had absorbed (Postpartum depression is a sin? Really?). Years later we were in a church where, best I can tell, the pastor totally took Adams’ teachings to heart and it did so much damage, not only to those he counseled, but also to us who looked on, knowing how our struggles would be understood and handled. Adams’ ideas also spread throughout the church and the leadership a distrust in anything connected to psychology or emotions. Much of the leadership had the view that counseling was unnecessary as long as you listened to a good sermon.
There was the belief that the “right” theology fixed everything and there seemed to be no interest whatsoever in understanding issues that came up, such a domestic abuse, sexual abuse, depression, etc. After all, Jay Adams says that the scriptures made them “competent to counsel.” Who needs more?
It was the classic toxic combination of ignorance and arrogance: ignorance of the complexities of life, of suffering, and the impact they have on mind, body and soul, and the arrogance that because they know theology they can and should (because of their “authority”) be able to address any issue with a few Bible verses and some admonition….that ignorance and arrogance left so many people bloodied and bruised and crawling out the back door, including me.
Yes. Ignorance and arrogance. Yes.
And WILLFUL!!!
There are so many aspects to Adams’ scenario that are being overlooked by the counselor.
The girls he is molesting: Whatever you do to the least of these, you have done it unto Me. Whoever causes these little ones to stumble, it would be better if a millstone were tied around his neck and he be cast into the sea.
If the little one is his own child, he is worse than an unbeliever.
His wife: He has broken his vows, his covenant with her. He is an adulterer.
The pastor: His duty before God and man is to act justly and in protection of the sheep. “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness… to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke” (Isaiah 58:6-12). That’s the IF part; here’s the THEN part: “Your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer.”
They call it “biblical” counseling but it ignores so very much scripture.
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YES! And yes and yes. THANK you! It ignores so much Scripture.
As u said cherry picks!! What about God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble!??
“In hundreds of Jay-Adams-following churches, the details may vary, but the basic scenario is the same. The criminally abusive husband gains favored status by jumping through the designated hoops. The wife who wants to protect her children and herself—unless she allows him back in the home without mentioning his sin again—will find herself facing the possibility of losing almost every person in her life.”
This is true. Add to this the horrific teaching of the permanence of marriage. It would be a sin for her to divorce, because God hates divorce, and she made her bed and must lie in it. In fact, she is bringing glory to God through her patient suffering. She feels trapped but constantly seeks to die to self in order to be a good Christian. She prays and prays and prays for her husband’s salvation, for her children to be safe. She is vigilant and sets down rules meant to protect, and she projects her own shame and sorrow onto her pedophile husband, figuring he must be so very ashamed and trapped in his sin. She is required by the NANC certified Biblical Counselor to think of ways she can put up barriers in order to help her husband. It’s all on her…she is completely responsible. The counselor has repeatedly told her to look at her own sin…that the problem is always in her heart. She repents again and again, not realizing that sin-leveling is from the pit of hell.
Dear Grief-stricken mom,
I sorrow with you. You and your family were handled in a most destructive way. The counselors are culpable, accessories to crimes committed by the abusers. God sees and He is just.
May God give you and your children comfort and healing, and restore fellowship among you.
Dear, dear mom~ Yes, this is so terrible and tragic. Some have blinded eyes and think they are serving God, as Paul did when he persecuted Christians. I pray that the eyes of many will be open as they listen to the truth, even the truth presented here in these comments, and in so many other places around the internet, if they will only look.
The actions and attitudes you describe here, that protect the offender instead of the offended, those actions and attitudes are not of God. They are from someplace else.
To be fair, a lot of these “biblical counselors” also excuse female abuse… telling the abused husband that he is the head of the household and responsible for his wife’s behavior. It is almost like a form of psychological legalism that flattens human relationships so it can apply the moral law, it minimizes the need for healing, and always seems to side with the narcissistic abuser. It’s like a magic formula for the narc to manipulate.
It also seems to severely minimize the enormous long-term impact of trauma. I remember getting a booklet from a “counselor” that suggested that my suffering was due to not forgiving my molester(s). That was their solution… get over your unforgiving heart (“just do it”).
You’d imagine that knowing reformed theology that they’d understand the inability of the law to create change in the heart. I swear Jay Adams created this because he was annoyed by other people’s pain and wanted an excuse to quiet those annoying (hurting) victims.
“You’d imagine they’d understand the inability of the law to create change in the heart.” YES. But I have seen many reformed people who act as if Moses leads you to Christ and Christ leads you back to Moses, as Anne Hutchinson said to those who thrust her into the Boston winter.
And yes, it does appear that way about Jay Adams. Or some have made the case that it’s even worse than that–he wanted a way for the abused to keep being abused with impunity for abusers.
There is another kind of Christian councelling / prayer ministry: the type where the counsellor / minister claims to hear revelations from the Lord and find reasons behind their ‘clients’ issues. It doesn’t matter if the ‘victim’ agrees or not, since the one with a ‘prophetic gift’ has decided something, that is the absolute truth, and trying to disagree or deny is considered rebellion.
I know horror stories of such treatment sessions, and I have been in the receiving end of them. When someone is weak and in need of support, they aren’t always in the mental and emotional state to stand against and be on guard against the ‘ministry’ and its effects… When you expect to get encouragement and instead get a whole barrel of accusations and reasons why you’re in the predicament you’re in, it can be a totally numbing and shocking event.
In my country, most churches are not against secular & professional therapy and councelling… the situation being that many Christians go to psychoanalysis for years, keep on digging and re-digging the same childhood issues (which don’t get any better or easier when the time goes by), obediently take psych meds in order to survive, without having any change or feeling better.
That isn’t the solution either…
The only lasting and life-giving solution I know is God Himself, His love and miraculous intervention (whether day by day, or suddenly..)..
Since I don’t have any councillor I would trust to give me comfort or insight for the events of the past few years, the positive side has been that I’m learning to be my own – asking God and myself what kind of wise advice I would need and want to hear from someone, and then telling it myself. At least, that way I am not exposing myself to fruitless repeat of painful issues and endlessly rehearsed cliches.
Yes, I know that abuses happen in the charismatic world too, and I have it on my list as something that needs to be written about more thoroughly.
You’re exactly right about the weakened state of those who come to the church looking for help, only to find that they are further victimized. I’ve heard so many times “What the church did to me was far worse than what the abuser did to me.”
Utterly heart breaking.
The common denominator in all these abusive patterns is… lack of compassion.
It’s surprising how similarly some staunchly anti-Charismatic and ultra-Charismatic groups often react towards people who suffer, and go through hardships.
As has been mentioned in this blog before (and other sites): If someone has been through trauma, it’s easily explained either as
1) the person’s own fault, or sin or lack of faith;
.. in which case, there is no need for support…
OR,
2) God’s training lesson / sanctification for some glorious future and ministry, in which case, again, no help or compassion is necessary..
It’s really really twisted.
Yes. Lack of compassion is KEY here. The counseling that will cast out the oppressed and embrace the oppressor (as long as he says the right words) is a counseling model lacking in compassion.
From a friend (edited slightly for anonymity):
<<Thank you for your post today. I used to be excited about “biblical counseling.” The claim that the Bible can answer every single problem a human being can experience was very attractive to me. I even went to several counseling training classes because I wanted to pursue certification with ACBC in “biblical counseling.”
When we went to those classes, though, there was this uneasy feeling deep inside me. At the time I probably just attributed it to the dingy lighting of the church basement. I was enamored by the idea of “sola scriptura” being the solution to any problem a person could face.
This was before I remembered my own experience of sexual abuse after having forgotten it for years.
The breakthrough in my depression was never through a verse being pushed on me by a person to convict me of sin. The breakthrough happened when God Himself revealed His presence and His love for me.
I don’t believe that true conviction of sin comes through a person forcing conviction on us so that by some sheer act of willpower we will change our behavior. It comes through the Holy Spirit opening our eyes to what is really sin, and giving us the power to change.
Your post is very important to me. This post helps shed some light on my search for understanding.>>
I am speaking as a survivor of abuse within a conservative church where the former pastor was trained in nouthetic counseling and trained others (including the current pastor) in the same.
I am also speaking as a survivor who, after experiencing the dark side of nouthetic counseling (the side that tries to cover everything “for the glory of God” and silences the victim), has sought counsel from an ACBC certified counselor.
The first experience was one of extreme pain, double abuse, deception, PTSD enhancing condemnation, shame, punishments, and an experience I would call a “holy” terror.
The second experience has been an experience of healing, genuine care, help, answers, and compassion.
Both claim to represent “Biblical counseling”, but only one represents Jesus’ definition of biblical counseling. The first still haunts me. The second still helps me. The first harmed me. The second is ministering healing to my soul.
I say that to say this… Not every biblical counselor out there is a villain, the same as not every psychotherapist is a hero. I recently came in contact with a secular therapist who was verbally abusing and berating their own children when they did not know I was listening, then acted as though they were an angel when I approached.
To the survivor… Do your research on the individual you will speak with as well as on the method. Don’t simply accept the title. I cannot emphasize this enough as a fellow survivor.
This is very encouraging, Survivor! I’m so thankful you received the help you needed from someone who loves the Lord.
I’ve tried to indicate in my post that it is those who call themselves nouthetic counselors who follow in Jay Adams’ footsteps, and that they are only one subset of those who call themselves “Biblical counselors.” I appreciate your testimony to the grace and help in time of need that a Biblical counselor who loves Jesus was able to offer.
I am glad you want to expose error and abuse, we could certainly use more of that, but you can only do so with the truth. Sadly, at the very beginning, you start off with a huge distortion, if not massive lie:
“Primarily, this one: almost every single non-physical problem a person has can be boiled down to a problem of personal sin. (He does make exceptions for brain injuries.)”
That’s like trying to fly from L.A. to Hawaii, but you start flying north. You are doomed from the start.
I agree that Adams had many problems, but just the idea of boiling down (apparently 100 books) to one assertion is crazy, at best, and it is sure to deceive everyone who buys into it.
Furthermore, that one assertion is, itself, a lie. It is false (although some people might believe this, yet others are falsely accused/slandered with this.) If you do not believe me, you can contact his associate (Don Armms?) for clarification (that would have been great to do so before you wrote this deceptive article).
And then you make a make-believe scenario, which is false, and based on an entirely false-premise, that slanders a man who has passed away, who cannot defend himself.
Does anyone here, anyone who is truly objective, who truly thinks that if J.A. was “confronted” on these assertions about himself, he would say, “Yes! Absolutely! That is how I would handle this!!”??
No, so why do this?
But, to make matters far worse, you make sweeping generalizations and sweep biblical counselors in with all these false accusations.
Please examine your own words, motives, and the impact this is having on others. And please consider the irony of wanting to expose error while basing it on error, and spreading error.
The “make believe scenario” was straight out of Adams’ own book. If he were here to respond, he would say, “Yes, that’s exactly what I wrote.” (Because it is.) And he had over 30 years to correct it before he died, but he didn’t.
From your response, you apparently also think it’s heinous.
I know there are some very good people who love God and others and understand trauma, etc, who call themselves “Biblical counselors.” That’s why I tried to make the distinction here that I’m referring only to “nouthetic counseling,” which is the counseling method Jay Adams made up. It gets tricky, though, and I know it can be confusing, since the nouthetics rebranded themselves as “Biblical counselors” as well.
The “almost every non-physical problem boils down to personal sin” is what I would call a linchpin teaching, on which many or most of the other teachings are based, but I did describe other ones on the post. Obviously there are many more teachings, like what repentance looks like, what forgiveness looks like, what restoration looks like, what sanctification looks like, etc. But the actual problems are by and large described as personal sin problems.
I would appreciate your pointing me to an Adams quotation where he says that a non-physical problem is not a sin problem. There very well could be some out there but I haven’t found them yet. (I’ve found many indicating the personal-problem-as-sin-problem, though.)
And if there are, I would stand corrected, but just barely. It would be more like an arrow barely missing the bullseye, rather than a Honolulu-bound airplane flying north.
You said, “I agree that Adams had many problems.” Could you explain what, in your estimation, some of those were? And you wouldn’t see the way he would counsel a pedophile as one of those problems?
Also, could you explain the impact this article is having on others (besides validating the experiences of some abuse survivors)? I genuinely don’t know about it.
The scenario was out of his book, but you did misrepresent part of the scenario through not following context. (Just a small misrepresentation). When you quoted him saying:
“Ted … there are many Christians just like you who have given up because they have failed in the past.” [Emphasis mine.],
you used dots to cover the first part…creative editing?
“Ted, why do you think the Holy Spirit put these words in here?” (page 128) (from 1986 edition, making reference to IPeter 4:1-2).
In the paragraph prior, one can see he brought up this part of the scenario to emphasize being able to resist sin. He was making an example of Christian sinners (a broad reference, not specifically pedophile, as you state).
The part I left out (about the Holy Spirit writing the Bible) was simply because it didn’t pertain to my point, not because I wanted to misrepresent him.
Adams did say Christians *just like you.* I believe it’s evident that Adams minimized pedophilia and thought it’s not a big deal at all, so I suppose he would have thought pedophilia was essentially the same as any other sin. This is sin-leveling, which I’ve written against numerous times.
Wow! That is clearly the “marriage” counseling I received for years!!
Is this the same counseling that is now titled ACBC?
Jay Adams started the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors (NANC). In 2013 they changed their name to the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.
Many of the members of ACBC, however (as I understand it), would say that they’re distancing themselves somewhat from the original teachings of Jay Adams and the early NANC years.
Slightly off topic. Maybe.
Forgiveness is a key aspect to healing for the victim, (yet forgiveness is so often misunderstood, and takes accountability away from the perpetrator).
Do you do any posts about what true forgiveness, coupled with accountability for the perpetrator looks like?
With the understanding that forgiveness and restoration are two different things.
This is probably the best one about that: https://heresthejoy.com/2019/04/that-forgiveness-talk-at-harvest-bible-chapel/
Any person with a brain and the Holy Spirit in them also submitted to government powers would turn this pervert in to governmental authorities while they are submitting it to te pastor and elders for church discipline.
There is a great book by Mary DeMuth on such subjects as rape, molestation, abuse and how the church brings the offender closer and rebukes the victim of sexual assault.
Called “We too”, as a rape @18 and molestation @ 12 survivor it helped me so much not just with my own walk, when I was hushed by Christian elders in my family, but also as I volunteer to lead ladies in small bible study groups.
This story is right at our doors over and over and we find that it can be the “church” hurt that turns someone from a relationship with God.
As I now understand that my fight is not against flesh and blood, but the enemy. I understand that God has now worked those dark days into light for other’s.
I would not want to walk through them again, but I can be a part of the solution to help others that are blaming God or haven’t walked back into church because of this pain.
Forgiveness of the darkest moments can bring peace that only God can be part of.
Thank you Abba father ❤️
So true. Bless you for not allowing your pain to harden you, but for allowing it to be transformed.
SAME SCRIPT! Roman Catholics, Jehovah Witnesses, Jewish communities, Mormons & the AMISH, (RAMPANT IN MANY OF THEIR COMMUNITIES! & OH YES, EVANGELICAL CHURCHES. Let the sex offenders in the church, don’t tell anyone who they are, have this crazy hope that by showing them “love” that they will be saved, blah blah blah! NO! they are just going to continue to molest or rape the little children in those churches & without law enforcement being called!!! Ane the FORGIVE AND FORGET IS THE MANTRA…everyone forgive the abuser & tell the child to FORGET?!?!?!? That will never happen!
Yes, that’s pretty much the script. Perhaps you’re aware that I wrote on “Forgive and Forget” too: https://heresthejoy.com/2018/03/forgive-and-forget/
Hi Rebecca – how would you suggest counseling a man in your church who says he is a Christian and that he has a problem with fondling little girls?!!
I would tell him to turn himself in to the authorities immediately, and I would offer to go with him. I would tell him to name every single girl he had fondled his entire life and I would notify parents of any little girls he had been around, so they could seek proper care for their children if they were harmed by him. That’s what comes to mind right away, but I’m open to other ideas.
Thanks for your response. Do you think or know even – if Jay Adams taught that people should confess to crimes and face the consequences? Not in the section of his teaching which you quote – but as general practice.
Others have studied his works more than I have, and they will be more qualified to answer that than I, but no, I know of no evidence of that.
From what you’ve said in this article, I get the impression that you reject the nouthetic approach entirely, but couldn’t the approach still be valid if the serious criticisms you mention here are taken on board. E.g. could the counsellor still use the nouthetic approach but say that repentance does involve the counsellee reporting to law enforcement and that counselling cannot continue until that has happened?
I do reject the nouthetic approach as I understand it: that the counselor should help the counselee find their own sin in the situation and just deal with that. Sometimes the sin of the counselee is truly not the problem.