Nouthetic Counseling - Debate Within The Christian Community

Debate Within The Christian Community

Nouthetic counseling has been criticized for being narrowly conceived, with a confrontational focus upon sin and behavior, which fails to deal adequately with emotion, grief, and suffering, and which lacks understanding of complex human motivations.

Clinton and Ohlschlager describe what they call the historic debate between nouthetic counselors and integrationists. Nouthetic counselors, they say, argue that truth can only be known as revealed in the Scriptures. According to an article published by the Spring Christian Counseling Center, secular counseling and psychology are primarily pseudo-sciences which only can be transformed into true sciences within the framework of faith based Christian dialog. Integrationists argue that God reveals his truth universally. This includes general revelation, or what they define as truth known by scientific investigation, as well as truth known by special revelation in Christ. Clinton and Ohlschlager express their belief that "shrill criticism and rancorous debate" are ill-suited to the mission of uplifting Christ as the model for counseling.

Christian counselor and psychologist, and leading proponent of the rival 'community model', Larry Crabb states that Adams compares behavior patterns "with his understanding of biblical behavior patterns, and commands change." Crabb agrees with Adams that obedience to God's commands is "absolutely necessary for effective Christian living", but takes issue with what he sees as Adams' apparent belief that this is the "single key ingredient for spiritual growth". Crabb believes that this neglects what he refers to as the "'insides' of the behaving person", particularly "the person's assumption system and his evaluation of situations based on his assumptions."

There is also debate among Christians with regard to mental illness and demonic influence on counselees. There are three views as to the origin of mental illness:

1. Disease occurring in the natural realm,
2. Habitual sin, and/or
3. Influence by "demonic forces"

Furthermore, "In the counseling field, many nouthetic counselors have said that Satan and his demons were bound, bruised, curtailed and restrained at the time of Christ’s death and resurrection. They assert that human beings today primarily struggle with their own sin natures rather than directly with Satan and his emissaries."