Disorder in The DSM-5 VS Disorder In The Bible

In the new DSM-5, the word “disorder” is used to describe now over 300 maladies identified with being human!

This got me thinking, from a biblical theology and practical counselling perspective: the word “disorder” is in some ways actually an accurate word to describe the biblical story of what went wrong with the world and a clue as to what is required to make things right again, when we engage in the restorative ministry of the counselling of souls.

As Christian counsellors, our counselling practice has to be firmly grounded in a robust biblical theology. Another way to say that is, our theology provides us with the compass we need, to know what our “true north” is when journeying alongside our clients; and our counselling knowledge and skills that we learn and become more and more competent in along the journey, is our street map giving us the necessary tools or practical direction on the ground. Our theology and counselling complement one other rather fittingly as they journey together within a biblical worldview that sees our story framed within God’s good order, sin’s disorder, Christ’s re-order and the Kingdom to come’s new order. The world as we know it is essentially disordered compared to God’s original good order that we find in the opening chapters of the bible, namely Genesis 1 and 2. Like the planets in our galaxy that revolve around our sun in harmonious order, God made everything in this world, our hearts and the universe to centre around him.

The disorder we find our world in, is akin to one of the planets in our galaxy deciding that IT wants to be the centre and breaks orbit, thereby throwing the natural order into chaos and confusion. The cataclysmic consequences of planets crashing into each other would be literally earth shattering! When mankind originally broke rank with God as recorded in Genesis 3, we put ourselves at the centre instead of God, this broke God’s perfect world order and now our hearts are out of step with God and the universe and each other and our very own selves.

The consequences have been compounded and multiplied through every generation bringing death, destruction, disease and disintegration into every aspect of God’s creation. The world is essentially in a state of disorder because our hearts are full of disordered loves as St Augustine famously said in his Confessions. Instead of joyfully loving God supremely, our loves are now disordered as we love other things and ourselves more than and instead of God and others, as ourselves. This is essentially what sin is, not loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and soul and our neighbour as ourselves.

Indeed we live in a broken world with many disordered loves! Thank God that he has not left us up to our own devices to fix up our disorders on our own, but he has stepped into our mess, rolled up his sleeves and started to re-order the chaos. Jesus Christ, who through his obedience to the Father’s order, absorbed the consequences of our disordered lives, even unto death on the cross, reordering creation through the victory of his resurrection, he now offers to include us into his new world order!

Through trusting Jesus and joyfully reordering our lives around God at the centre, we get to join in on the mission of reordering all of creation for God’s glory, the good of others and our own highest joy! As Christian counsellors we have the privilege of coming alongside those who have recognized their own disorder in whatever form it takes; and traveling with them in the footsteps of our Wonderful Counsellor as he gently restores peace and order in him again.

Although the reordering has already begun, the last two chapters of the bible (Revelation 21-22) point to this seemingly unbelievable new order that is coming.

In summary, looking at the bookends of the bible (Gen 1-2 and Rev 21-22) and everything that happens in-between, we could sum up the story line this way:
God’s Original Good Order God’s Good Order Falls into Disorder God’s Plan with Man to Re-Order God’s Good Man brings in a New Order What do you think, could that work as a biblical theology for Christian counselling?

Ps. Stephen Poisat
Advanced Diploma Assistant Centre Director – PERTH
Credentials: Cert IV TAE, Adv. Dip (CFT), B.Min, M.Th. ( Pastoral Ministry – in progress)