In my previous post, I shared the foundational role of accurate data gathering and interpretation in biblical counseling. I emphasized the importance of understanding both scriptural truths and the counselee's perspective to facilitate meaningful change. In order to achieve biblically informed solutions, the counselor must be skilled in the analysis of the counselee's data.
Ten Questions
The above is the first step in the process of interpreting the counselee’s data. The actual interpretation itself, which is the second step, is the most difficult stage in this process. Under this step, Wayne Mack suggests ten questions with subsidiary questions and insights. The ten primary questions are related to the following:
Biblical category that describes the counselee
Biblical language that describes the problem
Biblical insights about the immediate cause of the problem
Interrelationships between problems
Obstacles
Expectations and desires
Possible organic or physiological factors
Motive
The counselor's identification with the counselee's problems
Previous counseling cases similar to the counselee's problems.
The list appears exhaustive. Realizing this, the charge against biblical counseling as simplistic is superficial and uninformed.
The First Three Questions
Regarding the biblical category that best describes the counselee, three subsidiary questions are useful. These sub-questions include the spiritual standing of the person, level of maturity, and an insight taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:14.
Based on Hebrews 5:11-14, Christian maturity is defined as someone who applies in his life the doctrines that he learned, which gave him the ability to discern the difference between good and evil.
The 1 Thessalonians 5:14 text provides us three categories of people: the unruly, the fainthearted, and the weak. Each of these categories requires a different approach in counseling. If the person is unruly, there will be a time that counseling must be stopped, for the person is unwilling to change. Continuing to do so would be a waste of time. The fainthearted needs encouragement. The weak needs more than encouragement; he needs someone to support him.
As for the question related to biblical language, its importance lies in the accurate description of the problem. If the problem is labeled as sickness instead of sin, such as homosexuality and promiscuity, the prognosis will be misleading, for the diagnosis was inaccurate from the very start.
Turning to biblical insights, the Bible provides us proximate causes of many problems that people these days encounter. Conflict is usually caused by selfishness; instability by double-mindedness; and lying by diverse kinds of fear, such as the fear of being hurt, fear of rejection, fear of failure, and fear of losing the respect of people; confusion by jealousy or selfish ambition; fear by lack of understanding of God's love or lack of love for others; insecurity by lack of self-confidence and guilty conscience; bizarre behavior by wanting to get attention; anxiety by wrong priorities; and judgmentalism by wanting to be the first. All of these problems and their causes are based on biblical passages.
The Last Seven Questions
In explaining the relationship between problems, Wayne Mack gives anxiety and sleeplessness as examples. Which one comes first, and which one is the result? Is sleeplessness the reason why the person is anxious? Or is anxiety the reason why the person struggles to sleep?
As to obstacles, the counselor must discern whether they are related to a misunderstanding of the problem and the solution, failure to take action on the part of the counselee, or anything in the counselee's environment that tends to aggravate the problem.
Let me skip the expectations and desires and turn to possible organic and physiological factors. Under this consideration, it is important to identify whether the counselee is consulting any physician. The doctor's conclusion about the problem must not be taken for granted.
As for motive, the goal is for the counselee to change to give glory to God. If the motive is for others to change in order to make his life easier, still, the motive is self-centered and not glorifying to God. He should not expect that his problem will be solved. Most likely, the problem happened in the first place because of selfishness.
The counselor's identification with the counselee's problems is crucial in order to avoid subjective interpretation. If the counselor himself is suffering from a similar problem, the most likely scenario is that he will come up with a wrong interpretation and solution. If he is not able to contain his emotion, it will derail the counseling process.
Likewise, if the counselor handled similar cases in the past, he must be cautious not to come up with the hasty conclusion that all problems are the same. Though commonalities exist, counselors must also take into account that human personality is complex and no man can fully comprehend the depths of someone's heart.
That concludes the second step in the science of interpreting the counselee's data.