As biblical counselors, we have something of a checkered history with research. For more about what I mean by that, you can read my blog post Biblical Counseling and Scientific Research.
As biblical counselors, we will sometimes say,
“I quote from research. Here’s an example!”
But read the examples closely and you’ll note that often we are quoting a secular researcher debunking another secular researcher.
There’s a label for doing this: the co-belligerent use of research.
We wage war against a common enemy by quoting those who we might otherwise disagree with. It follows the adage: “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” For example, a biblical counselor who is anti-DSM would only quote secular psychiatrists who were also anti-DSM. Put another way, we can be prone toward only quoting secular research that is negative about secular research! Or, put yet another way, we can have a tendency only to quote research that seems to agree with our preconceptions. The Noetic Effect of Sin
As biblical counselors, we talk about the noetic effect of sin on the mind of an unsaved researcher—because they are not regenerate, their conclusions are negatively impacted.
My question:
But shouldn’t
To continue...read the full-length post originally published on this site.
