Too many Christians have a low view of therapy. These same Christians have an even lower view of secular therapy. The reason Christians hate therapy so much is because they believe that secular therapists have an anti-Christian agenda. It is almost as if these Christians believe that secular therapists wake up thinking, "I cannot wait to destroy a Christian's faith today!" They seem to not be able to fathom the idea that a non-Christian counselor could genuinely be interested in seeing all of their clients grow emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. However, I do believe that there is much benefit that a Christian can receive from seeing a non-Christian counselor. In this blog, I shall discuss why it could be appropriate for a Christian to see a non-Christian for counseling sessions. I will be building my case from the Reformed concept of Common Grace. What is Common Grace, you wonder? Ligonier Ministries says, Common Grace
"encompasses the biblical teaching about the universal and undeserved goodness of God toward sinners. By Common Grace, God restrains sin, evil, misery, and wrath in this fallen world, while conferring general, nonredemptive blessings on all mankind"
You may be wondering where we see this idea of "Common Grace" in Scripture. Well, we have our Lord's own words in Matthew 5:44-45. He says,
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust"
As you can see from this text, Jesus wants us to love our enemies, but the reason He gives us this is because God is good to all of mankind. Since God gives everyone good things, so shall we be good to those who would harm us.
So what does this have to do with believers seeing a non-Christian counselor? It is because of God's common grace that he confers on all mankind that we can accept counsel from even counselors who do not profess our faith. Wait a second! I know you may be skeptical of this because you may be under the impression that Christians should only seek counsel from other Christians. However, do you use this same logic for anything else in life? For example, would you expect a dentist to be a Christian before he operates on your mouth? Now, you may answer back by saying, "A dentist is not going to affect my worldview by teaching me wrong ideas". That's fair enough, but let's imagine you are in college. Would you expect all of your college professors to be Christian before they can teach you anything? After all, some professors would be teaching you from faulty presuppositions. But, you would not expect your professors to be Christian to teach you true facts. In the same way, a therapist does not need to be a Christian to equip you with the right tools to know how to manage your mental health.
It is precisely because of God's common grace that we can trust our non-Christian counselors to teach us true things. As I always say, "All truth is God's truth". This means that any true fact that a non-Christian counselor can teach us is a true fact from the Lord. Scripture is sufficient in everything it addresses, but this does not mean that it addresses everything. For example, Scripture does not tell us how to treat Schizophrenia or it does not tell us about molecular biology. For these, we must turn to the experts in the field of mental health or science.
But, aren't non-Christian counselors anti-Christian in their core presuppositions? This line of reasoning would have worked back in the days of Freud and Carl Jung. However, in these modern times, psychology has progressed so far away from its founders that it no longer holds any weight in modern psychological thought. I've been to many non-Christian counselors in my life and I can tell you from personal experience that many non-Christian counselors are very friendly towards religion and they even see religious beliefs as being beneficial for stable mental health. But, do not take my word alone for it. Read the words of Christian Psychologist Dr. Gary Collins on this matter. He says,
"It would be highly inaccurate to assume that most non-Christian counselors are like vultures, ready to pounce on the Christian's faith in an attempt to ridicule it, tear it apart, and destroy it. On the contrary, secular counselors frequently recognize the mental health value of religion and seek to strengthen rather than weaken the counselee's faith"
I hope that by now you can see that it is perfectly fine for a Christian to see a non-Christian counselor. However, the question does remain, what is more beneficial for a Christian to see between a secular counselor or a Christian counselor? In my honest opinion, I would say that it is a million times better for a Christian to see another Christian for counseling because it is a lot easier to talk about your faith with a counselor who already shares your beliefs. However, if you cannot see a Christian counselor for whatever reason, then there is absolutely no harm in seeing a secular counselor. As James 1:17 tells us,
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"
James wants us to know that every good gift is from God Himself. This means that if your secular counselor has proven to be helpful and beneficial to you, then they are a good gift from the Father in your life. You can trust your secular counselor.
I hope that this helps you to better understand why it is right for you to see a secular counselor. Hopefully, you will not feel condemned or that you are a "lesser Christian" for doing this. If you ever get the opportunity to see a Christian counselor, I highly recommend that take that opportunity, but if that opportunity never comes your way, you can rest easy knowing that your secular counselor is just as good. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
"encompasses the biblical teaching about the universal and undeserved goodness of God toward sinners. By Common Grace, God restrains sin, evil, misery, and wrath in this fallen world, while conferring general, nonredemptive blessings on all mankind"
You may be wondering where we see this idea of "Common Grace" in Scripture. Well, we have our Lord's own words in Matthew 5:44-45. He says,
"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust"
As you can see from this text, Jesus wants us to love our enemies, but the reason He gives us this is because God is good to all of mankind. Since God gives everyone good things, so shall we be good to those who would harm us.
So what does this have to do with believers seeing a non-Christian counselor? It is because of God's common grace that he confers on all mankind that we can accept counsel from even counselors who do not profess our faith. Wait a second! I know you may be skeptical of this because you may be under the impression that Christians should only seek counsel from other Christians. However, do you use this same logic for anything else in life? For example, would you expect a dentist to be a Christian before he operates on your mouth? Now, you may answer back by saying, "A dentist is not going to affect my worldview by teaching me wrong ideas". That's fair enough, but let's imagine you are in college. Would you expect all of your college professors to be Christian before they can teach you anything? After all, some professors would be teaching you from faulty presuppositions. But, you would not expect your professors to be Christian to teach you true facts. In the same way, a therapist does not need to be a Christian to equip you with the right tools to know how to manage your mental health.
It is precisely because of God's common grace that we can trust our non-Christian counselors to teach us true things. As I always say, "All truth is God's truth". This means that any true fact that a non-Christian counselor can teach us is a true fact from the Lord. Scripture is sufficient in everything it addresses, but this does not mean that it addresses everything. For example, Scripture does not tell us how to treat Schizophrenia or it does not tell us about molecular biology. For these, we must turn to the experts in the field of mental health or science.
But, aren't non-Christian counselors anti-Christian in their core presuppositions? This line of reasoning would have worked back in the days of Freud and Carl Jung. However, in these modern times, psychology has progressed so far away from its founders that it no longer holds any weight in modern psychological thought. I've been to many non-Christian counselors in my life and I can tell you from personal experience that many non-Christian counselors are very friendly towards religion and they even see religious beliefs as being beneficial for stable mental health. But, do not take my word alone for it. Read the words of Christian Psychologist Dr. Gary Collins on this matter. He says,
"It would be highly inaccurate to assume that most non-Christian counselors are like vultures, ready to pounce on the Christian's faith in an attempt to ridicule it, tear it apart, and destroy it. On the contrary, secular counselors frequently recognize the mental health value of religion and seek to strengthen rather than weaken the counselee's faith"
I hope that by now you can see that it is perfectly fine for a Christian to see a non-Christian counselor. However, the question does remain, what is more beneficial for a Christian to see between a secular counselor or a Christian counselor? In my honest opinion, I would say that it is a million times better for a Christian to see another Christian for counseling because it is a lot easier to talk about your faith with a counselor who already shares your beliefs. However, if you cannot see a Christian counselor for whatever reason, then there is absolutely no harm in seeing a secular counselor. As James 1:17 tells us,
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change"
James wants us to know that every good gift is from God Himself. This means that if your secular counselor has proven to be helpful and beneficial to you, then they are a good gift from the Father in your life. You can trust your secular counselor.
I hope that this helps you to better understand why it is right for you to see a secular counselor. Hopefully, you will not feel condemned or that you are a "lesser Christian" for doing this. If you ever get the opportunity to see a Christian counselor, I highly recommend that take that opportunity, but if that opportunity never comes your way, you can rest easy knowing that your secular counselor is just as good. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry
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