In this course, Dr. Eric Johnson provides examples of how to help those going through common struggles or major crises. He dissects the four dimensions of human beings—biological, psychosocial, ethical, and spiritual—and describes how the Christian counselor should approach problems of each kind. Dr. Johnson provides a counseling model that promotes healing and always keeps Christ at the center of treatment.
“In the Christian community you find sort of the opposite problem, and we might call it ‘reverse reductionism,’ in that it looks at the spiritual and ethical orders as being the most important ones, so much so that the biological and psychosocial are either minimized or even ignored.” (source)
“‘Sin,’ it says, ‘is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature.’ So whenever we violate a law of God or a law of our conscience, that’s an example of a personal sin.” (source)
“People who know certain things are true but it doesn’t affect their lives—that would be an example as well of a kind of resistance to God and His ways.” (source)
“Suffering is a kind of personal distress where we are experiencing some kind of pain. Physical pain” (source)
“My goal with people who struggle with depression is to help them to internalize the gospel more deeply than ever before, to take in what Christ has done for them and the blessings that they receive through their union with Christ—forgiveness of sins, being justified, being declared righteous by God, and being adopted, being brought into the family of God—all of it leading to a new identity in Christ. So the goal of Christ-centered therapy is to help foster a deeper internalization of the gospel than ever before.” (source)