Die noodsaak van 'n Bybelse mensbeskouing in berading : enkele snitte uit die Skrif en die praktiese implikasies daarvan

Abstract

Where the nature of man and the purpose, direction, destination and sense of human existence in the counselling situation are concerned, it is essential to remember that man was created in the image of God. The assumption is made that a Biblical view of man (anthropology) will result in counselling that is justified from the Bible. In fact, the return to a clearly defined Biblical anthropology is one of the biggest challenges of current reformed theology. This study aims to indicate that, should the counsellor and the person who seeks counselling develop and maintain a valid Biblical anthropology, the resulting insight can benefit and solve the total counselling process satisfactorily. It is assumed that the end result of the counselling process will be a situation in which the person who seeks counselling should function in the correct relationship to God and his/her fellow man. To prove this, guidelines based on a view of man as revealed in the Bible are researched by means of exegetic study in order to determine their implications for the counselling process. This reveals that man is the image of God and not merely the conveyor of the image of God. Furthermore. the Trinity plays an important role in the way in which man is the Image of God. In addition to the exegesis, the underlying view of man in current non-Biblical and some Biblical models of counselling is also investigated This is done in order to determine the way in which the anthropological foundation influences the practice of counselling These underlying assumptions are evaluated by means of the norm of the findings from the exegesis of Scripture The study concludes with the tracing of contours that serve as a basis according to which a Biblical anthropological model can be developed for use in counselling practice. This has the practical aim of providing means to both the counsellor and the person who seeks counselling for developing a Biblical anthropology and on the basis of which the total Biblical counselling process can be optimised.