t to Christian couples. First, as just discussed, marriage is a God-created institution with implications for one's communication with and relationship to God. Thus, counseling cannot only help couples to better their relationship with one another but also with God.
Second, because the redeemed are nonetheless in need of the renewal of their minds, there is often a need for psychological and emotional growth (both at the individual and relational level) in marriage. Christian counseling assists couples in meeting this need and as a result helps to maintain and/or increase spousal compatibility.
Further, marriage is not without a variety of problems (e.g. financial problems, problems with children, etc.). Counseling helps couples to resolve these problems in a manner that maintains harmony and peace between the couple. Counseling helps Christian couples to not only hold on to their marriage through maintaining peace and harmony but it also strengthens the marriage because of its ability to foster harmony and peace.
(1)What makes for an effective Christian marriage counselor in relation to the counselor's own marriage?
From the perspective of the Bible, it is not necessary that a counselor's own marriage be perfect; nor is it necessary that the counselor's own marriage have been "through the mill" in terms of the counselor having experienced a variety of tough or hard marital problems. Neither of these marital elements in the counselor's own life guarantee effective Christian counseling.
Rather, effective Christian counseling proceeds from a counselor who exhibits certain characteristics and behaviors. In particular, the counselor must be aware of three things if he or she is to counsel effectively. Specifically the counselor must be:
(1) Aware of what the Bible teaches about marriage and the martial relationship;
(2) Aware of the need to counsel not out of his or her own marital experiences but rather out o...