# Why is a person’s worldview important to the way they approach counseling?



## Matthew1344 (Jan 30, 2015)

This was my first assignment in my Into to Discipleship Counseling class at Eternity Bible College. My first question was this. 

I am no scholar, but I had a blast thinking through this answer. I am really loving school!

I have always loved you guys input, because you all really challenge me a lot. Please, if you have a sec, skim through this and pick apart my answer. 

What did I miss? 
Is there a logical flow?
Doctrinally wrong?
Bad understanding of scriptures?




> A simple definition for worldview is how one sees the world. The best worldview is one in light of the Gospel.
> 
> "Worldviews exert their influence at the deepest level of a culture" (Hiebert 5). I agree with this and I want to bring it home. I would say that worldviews exert their influence at the deepest level of a person. "For as he calculates in his soul, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).
> 
> ...


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## yeutter (Jan 30, 2015)

I would add this to what you have said. World view, or world life view, or perspective on reality, or weltanschauung is also important because it determines what the individual believes truth is, and if they believe truth is knowable. This impacts whether or not they believe their are absolutes taught in the Bible.


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## Matthew1344 (Jan 30, 2015)

Thank you Thomas! It is good hearing from you brother!


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## Toasty (Jan 30, 2015)

A person's worldview is very important. If someone says, "I don't care what the Bible teaches. I don't care if I give counsel contrary to what the Bible teaches." then he is going to give counsel that is different from the person who believes that the Bible is the supreme authority.

If someone is struggling with sin and he goes to a non-Christian counselor for help, that non-Christian counselor will give him a man-made remedy for his sin problem. He won't hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. He won't hear about how God sanctifies people. He won't hear anything about walking in the Spirit or putting on the full armor of God.

A counselor who believes that sin is a non-curable disease that cannot be overcome is going to give counsel that is different from someone who believes that God can help you to overcome any sin.


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Jan 30, 2015)

One's worldview forms the questions to the "big questions"...

1. What kind of God, if any, actually exists?
2. Is there anything beyond the cosmos?
3. What can be known and how can anyone know it?
4. Where did I come from?
5. Who am I?
6. Where am I?
7. How should I live?
8. What should I consider of great worth?
9. What is humanity's fundamental problem?
10. How can humanity's problem be solved?
11. What is the meaning and direction of history?
12. Will I survive the death of my body and, if so, in what state?

It is in the testing of one's worldview that we learn how others may be borrowing intellectual and spiritual capital from the believer's worldview:

1. Coherence Test: Is a particular worldview logically consistent?

2. Balance Test: Is the worldview properly balanced between simplicity and complexity?

3. Explanatory Power and Scope Test: How well does a worldview explain the facts of reality (`power"), and how wide is the range of its explanation ("scope")?

4. Correspondence Test: Does a particular worldview correspond with well-established,empirical facts, and does it correspond to a person's experiences in the world?

5. Verification Test: Can the central truth-claims of the worldview be verified or falsified?

6. Pragmatic Test: Does the worldview promote relevant, practical, and workable results?

7. Existential Test: Does the worldview address the internal needs of humanity?

8. Cumulative Test: Is the worldview supported by multiple lines of converging evidence that together add increasing support for its truth-claims and extend the breadth of its explanatory power?

9. Competitive Competence Test: Can the worldview successfully compete in the marketplace of ideas?

See also:
http://www.amazon.com/World-Difference-Reasons-Believe-Truth-Claims-ebook/dp/B00B8582GK

http://www.fpcr.org/MDV10 WorldView.pdf

http://www.amazon.com/Worldviews-Conflict-Choosing-Christianity-World/dp/0310577713

http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Philosophy-Made-Easy-Developing-ebook/dp/B0050K0NL6


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## Steve Curtis (Jan 30, 2015)

Patrick,

I like those 9 tests. Is there a source (other than you)? If not, may I use them? They would provide a helpful outline for a comparison study I am doing of competing worldviews.


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## whirlingmerc (Jan 31, 2015)

I think you wrote a good answer.

Putting it in other words:

Christianity addresses a broken person in a broken world to the glory of God. They may be longing for justice or other longings in a dysfunctional way inconsistent with the best way for their good. What is seen as good will depend on the world view. There is probably a way to do it that is God centered and a way to do it that is not. It's possible a person's depression is due to God showing them a particular idol is 'out of gas' in their lives 

In contrast you might mention some other views:
Buddism may call on a person to look within themselves and be their own light... that is asking a broken person to correct their own brokenness
Achieving Nirvana is extinguisher of all desires, even love because desire is seen as a cause of problems... in a biblically informed views desires are neutral and can be set on good or bad things and I think that applies to some forms of Buddism
A secular councelor might be more pragmatic: is this working in your life?
A man centered councelor might focus on how can you achieve your goals and be happy

You can mention how a counselor may be addressing the world view competitors various ways:
Idols of the heart might be addressed by a counselor with a Biblical world view
A counselor might address more external or more internal things depending on whether their world view emphasizes internal conscience and feelings, external behaviors or both
That might come out as appeals to conscience or appeals to shame or both

As I understand it, the eastern religions of India tend to address the problem of pain
The religions of China tend to address living in harmony


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## Ask Mr. Religion (Feb 1, 2015)

kainos01 said:


> Patrick,
> 
> I like those 9 tests. Is there a source (other than you)? If not, may I use them? They would provide a helpful outline for a comparison study I am doing of competing worldviews.



The first link to Samples' book contains the list and extensive discussion to the tests I listed above.


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