Counseling Principles: 1. When seeking to bring about change, never attempt to do so in the abstract; people change only in concrete ways. 2. Always give hope. People will not persevere during the often-difficult process of change without hope. 3. Never minimize the severity of problems; instead always maximize Christ and His power to solve problems. 4. If a person has a life-dominating problem, aim at total restructuring. 5. Always approach the seemingly hopeless situations with emphatic disagreement. Empathy alone removes all possibility of help. Disagree when the counselee says, “It’s hopeless.” Say, “It is difficult, but not too difficult for God.” 6. Don’t become orientated toward people’s problems, but toward God’s solutions. 7. Gauge how much change is now feasible; too little is boring, too much is discouraging. 8. Don’t let people settle for less than the scriptural solution. 9. Use biblical, or biblically derived, language when analyzing and labeling problems, and when planning solutions to them. 10. Be command-oriented rather than feeling-oriented.

— Jay Adams (1929–2020), Theologe, Buchautor und Begründer der biblischen/nouthetischen Seelsorge

Topics: Growth & Character, Wisdom & Understanding

Jay Adams

Jay Adams (1929–2020) war ein US-amerikanischer presbyterianisch-reformierter Theologe, Pastor und Autor. Er begründete die nouthetische Seelsorge, die säkulare Psychologie strikt ablehnt und seelische Probleme primär auf sündiges Fehlverhalten zurückführt, das biblischer Zurechtweisung bedarf. Während sein Ansatz in konservativ-evangelikalen Kreisen als Rückbesinnung auf die Bibel geschätzt wird, kritisieren Fachleute und Seelsorger den oft konfrontativen Stil sowie die Vernachlässigung psychischer und organischer Krankheitsursachen.

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Jay Adams

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