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Alexander, Desmond And David Baker Term Paper

The person does not need to worry about creating his or her image, or intrinsic goodness; rather it is already there, waiting to be found. The goodness of humanity, as affirmed by the beginnings of humankind outlined in the Old Testament are some of this text's most powerful notions for creating a Biblical vision of counseling. Much of secular and sacred counseling involves creating a tale of one's origins. Often these tales of individual origins, in a troubled mind with a troubled past, may not be initially told in fruitful ways. If a counseled subject has suffered greatly in the past, been injured by others, perhaps by the individuals one cared about the most in one's past, like one's parents or one's spouse, one's sense of origins may be negative rather than positive. Other narratives of healing and redemption and an affirmation of the goodness of one's image can be spiritually beneficial -- one is always a child of God, even when one has not been treated as such, and one is always made in God's image, even if one's own personhood is not always respected in an imperfect world.

The Pentateuch itself is a tale of many origins as, first of the origins of humanity, and then of the prophets, then of the people of Israel. By viewing the human soul...

By understanding the minute nature of the divine plan, how long and carefully it has been planned out for humans over centuries, the counseled individual can also gain a sense of peace and empowerment.
Constructing a Biblical form of counseling with an eye upon viewing the subject's own origins, however troubled, in a positive light, and the subject's spiritual self as created in the image of God, and thus required to value one's self, is important. Of course, to be created in God's image and according to God's plan is also a great responsibility for the individual, as it requires knowledge and obedience to the commandments as well as simply self-respect. Again, congruency between one's contemporary self and the ancient Biblical mission, as expressed by Alexander and Baker, is a positive way of tying the Bible together, and the contemporary counseled self to the Bible -- healing is always achieved through making one 'whole' rather than creating a sense of division between one's self and one's past, or one's self and one's maker.

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