Why Should Christian Counselors Care about Ethics Research?
At the top of Mt. Sinai, as the earth shook and fire blazed in deference to the Almighty, God didn’t instruct Moses to go down the mountain and conduct an opinion poll regarding the people’s views on Sabbath, adultery, murder, and how they ought to treat their parents. Neither did Jesus conduct a systematic program evaluation to see if having entrepreneurs in the temple was distracting to people trying to pray. Instead, he made a whip and drove out the merchants. God does not determine truth by empirical research, but defines and reveals truth and calls us to follow. But then again, most of us don’t do counseling with tablets of stone or whips in our hands. And it’s a good thing we don’t, because none of us are nearly as wise and righteous as God, and time and experience has proven both that we understand God’s truth imperfectly and that we often communicate it poorly to those who do not share our Christian values. Through many centuries, Christian e
