Counseling News from the Week of March 20, 2026
Counseling Articles
Important New Book on the Debate about Whether Human Behavior is Determined or Voluntary
Whether human behavior is determined or whether we have the ability to make choices is an issue debated in both psychology and theology. This book about the theological debate was published two weeks ago. It was written by a Baptist pastor. It is only 120 pages long, so you can read it in about two and one-half hours.
The book is entitled “From Rome to Geneva” and is written by Phillip Johnson. The title comes from the historical fact that Saint Augustine developed several ideas that were adopted by John Calvin and incorporated into his Institutes of the Christian Religion, the book which introduced Calvinism to the Protestant world.
[The content in the next three paragraphs is not in the book “From Rome to Geneva,” but I’m adding them to aid the discussion.] In recent psychology the first deterministic theory was psychoanalytic determinism. Freud believed that humans were determined by psychological processes that were kept out of conscious awareness by ego defense mechanisms. A second theory of determinism was behavioral determinism, developed by behaviorists, which theorized that humans were determined by the reinforcement patterns to which they had been exposed.
Two more theories of human determinism were developed in the 20th century were biochemical determinism, which hypothesized that we are determined by a complex combination of our genetics, our glandular functioning, possible drug and alcohol addictions, and our present biochemistry. A fourth theory of determinism was sociocultural determinism, which believed our behavior is determined by the social and cultural influences to which we have been exposed.
During a 20th century another group of psychologists emerged, called humanistic or existential psychologists, who asserted that we are influenced, but not determined, by unconscious processes, by our reinforcement history, by our biochemistry and by sociocultural processes. Human beings have the ability to make voluntary choices, and are responsible, except for rare circumstances such as psychotic episodes, for those choices.
[Now I’m returning to a preview of the content of the book.] Theology has also had proponents of either determinism or voluntarism. Calvin, following Augustine, adopted a deterministic theory. Calvin, based on his definition of God’s sovereignty, asserted that in eternity past, God chose who would be his elect, and predestined people to either eternal salvation or eternal damnation based on His choices.
Johnson agrees that all Christians believe God is totally sovereign (has total authority) over all creation, but he differentiates sovereignty from total control. Johnson believes God grants humans a period of free will while on the earth, making them accountable for their choices.
Johnson says that Calvinism’s definitions, which were later formulated as the TULIP doctrine, are outgrowths of his definition of sovereignty. Total depravity is defined as totally inability to respond to God’s invitation. Unconditional Election is defined as the belief that God chooses whom He will elect based totally on His sovereign choices, not on any other factors (such as His foreknowledge of how humans would respond if they were given a choice of how to respond to God’s invitation). Limited Atonement is defined as the idea that the atoning work of Christ and applies only to those whom God has elected. Irresistible Grace means those whom God has elected will irresistibly be drawn to God, and that no one who is not elect will be able to come to Him, and Perseverance asserts that those who are elect will never lose their salvation.
One problem for Arminians is that Scripture says we are “dead in our sins,” which suggests we would not be able to choose to come to God on our own. Arminius responded with the concept of prevenient grace (grace that comes before salvation), that enables us to either respond to God or reject Him). Other theologians have referred to this as “common grace.”
Johnson looks at each of the TULIP doctrines and asserts that they result from reading Calvin’s theory of sovereignty into Scripture, rather than reading the plain meaning of the Scriptural texts themselves. He shows how, from the very beginning of the Old Testament through the concluding verses of Revelation, God tells human beings what is evil and what is good and encourages them to choose the good. He (and Jesus) weep over the fact that people (including his Chosen People) continually choose to reject his paths and instead choose to practice wickedness.
Johnson examines the passages typically used by Calvinists to support their beliefs and argues that their interpretations are based on defining sovereignty as total control versus the belief that God has total authority over the universe.
I encourage you to go to Amazon and download the Kindle or paperback version of From Rome to Geneva by Phillip Johnson and take the 2.5 hours it will take to read it. The majority of the book is simply asking you to read Scripture and then ask whether a plain reading of the text supports the Calvinist or the Arminian understanding of those verses. He also includes a brief history of Calvinism and why he believes it has attracted so much attention (Arminianism, or voluntarism) it is still the view held by the majority of evangelical Christians).
This question has important implications for all Christians, and especially all Christian counselors. If everyone’s behavior is determined, then there are limited things we can do in counseling to improve people’s lives, and certainly nothing we can do to change their eternal destiny. But if, in contrast, psychology and theology teach that in this life, God gives humans the freedom to make choices, and to be responsible for the choices they make, then that means we as counselors have a great deal more freedom to make significant differences in helping clients improve their lives.
My thoughts on this matter are of little importance. I am not speaking as a representative of SFACC, and SFACC has not taken a position on this issue. The important thing is what God’s Word teaches. I encourage you to read this book, think and pray about this issue, and then decide how God is leading you.
Henry Virkler
Britons are worried about the decline of Christianity
Britons are still more religious than Europeans in general, but Britons are worried about the decline of religion in their country, believing that Christian beliefs have something good to offer or at least offer helpful moral guidance for a nation.
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No Spouse, No House: Marriage Decline and Homeownership Among Young Adults
One frequently hears that people are delaying marriage and purchasing a house because of finances. This researcher looks at these issues carefully. He suggests that there are greater societal issues causing young adults to delay or defer marriage and then also purchasing a house. But probably changing young people’s attitudes about marriage is foundational to any significant change in home ownership.
Sorry. I forgot to save the link for this article.
'All the Lonely People': Loneliness Is Exacerbated by Childlessness
Loneliness is becoming a significant problem in our culture, and it is exacerbated by the number of women who are childless, and who enter their later years without families. It seems like this is a ripe area for our churches to do something to address this problem.
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When Iceland Gave Citizens a Tax-Free Year, They Had More Babies
Governments have tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to encourage young couples to have children, or to have more children. Last week I included an article about how South Korea is paying grandparents to watch their grandchildren, a plan that has been received enthusiastically there. In Iceland the country decided to give citizens a tax-free year without any particular purpose in mind, and they found that couples had more babies during that year. This may have been due to increased income, but no direct causal link has been established. Probably the South Korean approach would have greater likelihood of success in motivating young couples to have more children.
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Rethinking 'the One': How the Soulmate Script Distorts Romance
Many people in our culture put off marriage because they believe they need to wait until they find a soulmate whom they will fall in love with and be able to live together with effortlessly. This couple believes that such thinking is a myth that prevents many people from entering into marriage. They recommend substituting the myth of “soulmate marriage” with the “only one-marriage” model, where two imperfect people find one another, fall in love, and then work together to work through their inevitable differences to form a stable and satisfying lifelong union.
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A Recipe for Hospitality That Does Not Require Five-Star Meals
One idea that some restaurants have encouraged some people to believe is that in order to entertain one must cook exceptional meals. This discourages some women and families from having parties and gatherings in their homes. The author and mother notes that these gatherings are mainly about relationships, with food serving as a backdrop for connection.
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Slow Running Is Better for Health
In case you have some reason you can’t run fast, be encouraged. Dr. Crandal, my former cardiologist, cites medical reasons why slow running may be even better for you than faster running.
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9 Ways to Rebuild Trust and Repair Your Relationships
This article was written for people with bipolar disorder who need to repair their relationships. But I think this would be a good article to share with anyone who needs to repair a relationship, regardless of whether they have bipolar disorder.
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In Sickness, These Are Profiles in Courage
Here is an article about Ben Sasse and a retrospective about Rush Limbaugh’s last year of broadcasting (which he also knew was his last year of life), and how for both men, their faith did and does support them during their final years of life. For us as Christians, the best is still to come!
Sorry, I forgot to copy the link for this article also.
A Utah woman who wrote a book on grief after husband’s death found guilty of murdering him
In a rather bizarre story, a wife who wrote a children’s book about grief was just convicted of murdering her husband by slipping 4.5 times the lethal dose of fentanyl into his drink. She was apparently 4.5 million dollars in debt and wanted to inherit his 4 million dollars in the event of his death.
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Are We Responsible for Actions Taken During a Mental Health Crisis?
This article is by a person who has bipolar disorder, who has experienced several psychotic episodes, and who describes what it is like to experience psychosis.
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Hyperthymia, Dysthymia, and Cyclothymia — Understanding Bipolar Temperament
This article is by a psychiatrist who specializes in treating bipolar patients. Like many illnesses, bipolar disorder expresses itself in many different ways. Three of those are hyperthymia, dysthymia, and cyclothymia. He describes what each of those are.
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Therapist Exposes the ‘Pathological’ Mentality Behind the Transgender Mutilation Pipeline
This is certainly a position about which there are a lot of different opinions within the therapeutic community, but this therapist takes the position that when counselors encourage young people to begin taking hormone suppressing drugs and follow those with opposite sex hormones and gender surgery they are giving in to a pathological mentality rather than being therapists. Read the article and see what you think.
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Sex Drive: How Do Men and Women Compare?
Interesting research that contradicts most things we have been told. We’re usually told that men are much more quickly sexually aroused and want more sex than women. This research says that although individual men’s and women’s drives vary, women’w public comments about their sexual drives are often influenced by cultural expectations and that, while individual men and individual women’s drives are unique to them, in general men’s and women’s desires for sex are generally about equal.
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‘Don’t Waste Sympathy on Me, I’m the Happiest Person Alive’
The story of Fanny Crosby is inspiring and reminds us that happiness comes from investing our lives in others, not from having a privileged life. She was blind from birth or from the first few months of life, but was raised by her mother and grandmother who instilled a deep Christian faith in her and provided her early years of education, since she could not attend public school by her blindness. At 16 she was admitted to the New York Institute for the Blind. She eventually became a teacher at the school, wrote 800 beloved hymns, married another blind man, and although their marriage was reportedly not a happy one, had a child who died young. She spent many years of her later life working for the blind and less privileged and donated many of her royalties to those organizations. Despite all these hardships, she wrote the statement in the title of this article. I think she is a testimony to the fact that happiness comes, not from a life of comfort, but from a life devoted to the service of others.
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I hope you have a wonderful week!
Henry Virkler