Assignment: Confronting Sin

Assignment: Confronting Sin

Permalink: ‎

Discussion Question: McMinn discussed guidelines when confronting sin during a counseling experience and the lectures reviewed some factors as well. Your thread needs to be answered in two parts:

First, what would be the challenges (based on the lectures) of confronting clearly wrong behavior/ “sin” in the life of your client if you were working in a secular human services setting? Draw in concepts from the lecture to support your position. How might the approach from psychology make it difficult to confront clearly wrong behavior (worldview and perspective on attribution, for instance)?

Second, assume that you counseled in a human services setting in which you could integrate spirituality and a Christian worldview. Review the following brief “case” and answer the following questions:

1. Based on the lectures and McMinn, why can’t a sensitive Christian counselor just automatically and quickly confront obvious sin in the life of the counselee?
2. Of the cautions mentioned by the course materials, which ones do you think counselors most often overlook?
3. From what you learned from the lectures/McMinn, how would you best address the clearly sinful behavior of this client?

Case Study

Jim is a client in your counseling center, who you have seen for about eight months. He has been cycled through several other counselors and one described him as a “basket case.” Jim has several children, each with a different mother. He casually mentions that he rarely sees them, and since he can’t hold down a job, he provides no financial support. Some of his children are now in foster care. He engages in unprotected sex on a weekly basis. Typical of many of your clients, Jim drinks heavily and abuses street drugs. He comes to counseling only because it is required for him to receive the tangible support services of your agency. You are at the point in your counseling with Jim that you’d like to “let him have it” but your counseling training did not include that as a valid counseling technique. There is obviously much more to Jim’s story but suffice it to say that he is repeating many of the behaviors he learned from his parents’ dysfunctional parenting.

While you are sharing opinion here, you must demonstrate informed opinion by supporting your points with references to the course materials.