Page 102 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 10

Comment to

“Questions about

conscience in the process

of counseling (case study)

In her text, Marina Molodeckaya makes it clear
that, in the process of counseling, the conside-
ration of moral questions and of the function of Monika Hess (Germany)
the conscience itself can make a great contribu- B.Psych. (APA Germiston) / studies
tion to making the process deeply meaningful in Christian psychology (IGNIS), is
for the person seeking advice. At the beginning, in charge of training as a „Christi-
she examines how there is often a taboo regar- an Counselor“ at IGNIS in Germa-
ding this approach in general psychological ny and deputy chair of the IGNIS
practice: there is great concern about evoking board. She is married and has 3
a bad conscience in the client where it was not children.
previously present, thus multiplying his suffe-
ring instead of relieving his burden. There is no
disputing the fact that this certainly can happen
when counselors moralise without due reflec-
tion. the conversion of the conscience. Whom do I
In a carefully detailed case study, however, M. allow to determine from me what is good and
Molodeckaya demonstrates that precisely this bad? If no conscious effort is made to exami-
tuning of the conscience, that is, of the internal ne this question, the subliminal outworkings of
compass for right and wrong, is a decisive factor family background or of ideologies remain in
in whether a person can find his way back to his effect like invisible magnetic poles.
own dignity. In an easily followed text, the point Christian counseling understands the orien-
is made that the conscience can be “deformed” tation of the conscience to be one of its core
– that is, supplying impulses for action which areas, although it calls for a difficult balancing
are oriented on negative values. In the case pre- act, for precisely the values which the Sermon
sented, this is the disproportionate adaptation on the Mount presents to us cannot be fulfilled
and submission on the part of the client to the in human strength. There is a great danger of
expectations of other people. Impulses coming presenting the values of the gospel to the cli-
from his conscience support this system of va- ent as a rigid system of rules, which leads to
lues and trigger constricting feelings of obliga- a permanent bad conscience if he has not yet
tion and guilt. He suppresses his own self-asser- firmly grasped the message of grace. Only when
tion as if it were an immoral impulse. This leads the relationship-based nature of the Christian
to pronounce confusion between perceived and message is communicated can a person disco-
expected feelings. He concludes that “emotions ver that “the faith in Jesus Christ is his good
are opposed to values, values shackle and bind, conscience” (Martin Luther). In a relationship
they suppress life… Emotions absorb me, I lose with Jesus experienced personally, the values
the ability to reason.” are then no longer a rigid set of rules, but can
The way in which the human conscience works be grasped by the heart in an interchange bet-
depends on which value system it is built up on. ween love and understanding. Making mistakes
In a figurative sense, it works like the compass and failing then does not have to lead to falling
needle, which is aligned on the magnetic poles. into the hands of a bad conscience, but finds
The process of conversion to God also includes an answer in grace. A conscience shaped in the

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