A Gift from Bob: Your Free Resource
Today’s post is a brief introduction to a lengthy free resource:
The Sufficiency of Scripture and Extra-Biblical Information.
I’ve collated this free resource from chapters 1-2 of my book, Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ Changes Lives.
The Bible and Extra-Biblical Information
Here’s an uncommon way of talking about scriptural sufficiency and biblical counseling:
The Bible is sufficient to teach us how to engage with extra-biblical information.
Or said another way:
The Bible is sufficient to equip us to engage with, evaluate, and potentially employ extra-biblical information.
But What Does That Look Like???
Now that all might sound kind of “heady,” “academic,” “philosophical,” “abstract,” and “perhaps not-too-practical.”
It’s not. It is relevant to every issue that you and I face. It is relevant to every struggle faced by those we minister to and love. Here’s the question we ask and answer in this free resource:
- “Where do we find wisdom for life in our broken world?”
Ashley and Nate
In this free resource, we explore how we find wisdom for Ashley and Nate. Here’s part of their story…
Ashley and her husband, Nate, met with me at church the day after their twin sons’ eleventh birthday. With tears streaming down her face, Ashley shared that twenty-five years earlier, not long after her eleventh birthday, a relative had begun sexually abusing her.
Those who knew Ashley would have been shocked. She grew up in a Christian home, was active at church as an adult, served as a leader in the women’s ministry, and was always “pleasant.”
As Ashley described herself, “Yes, I’m the good girl from the good home. The good mom; the good wife. But nobody knows the ugliness I feel inside. Nobody knows how I’ve pretended and denied all these years. I just can’t keep faking it any longer. I’m a mess. Depressed to the point that at times I’ve thought of suicide. Always fearful and anxious—terrified I’ll displease someone. Terrified someone will find out what an empty but evil thing I am…”
As Ashley’s voice trailed off, Nate asked, “Pastor Bob, can you help? Does the Bible offer any hope for my wife?”
When dear folks like Ashley and Nate courageously share their raw concerns with us, how do we respond? What do we do? What do we think? What runs through our minds? Where do we turn?
- Where do we turn with them to find wisdom for their life in their broken world?
- Do we believe the Bible offers any hope for them?
- How do we view and use the Bible to develop a robust, relational, relevant approach to caring for people like Ashley and Nate?
- Is there any value in becoming informed about research on abuse, sexual abuse, anxiety, depression, and traumatic-suffering?
- Does the Bible help us to evaluate extra-biblical information for helping people like Ashley and Nate with their trauma and suffering?
- In response to her depression and suicidal thoughts, would it be helpful if Ashley saw a doctor? A psychiatrist? Could there be physical issues? Could medicine be an option? How do we address complex mind/body connections and interactions? How does the Bible address embodied-soul issues?
- Do we refer them to outside “experts”? Is every Christian automatically equipped to counsel Ashley and Nate? Who is equipped to minister to Ashley and Nate, and how does a person become equipped to minister to people like them?
Your Free Resource
Where do we find wisdom for life in our broken world?
That’s what I address, in detail, in this free PDF resource:
The Sufficiency of Scripture and Extra-Biblical Information.
