Theology, broadly defined as the study of God and/or God’s nature, is at the core of how every person responds to the world around them. If you believe that there is no God, you are an atheist and will likely have no belief in an eternal afterlife or any sense of concern about an eternal judgment. But if you believe in a god, you will likely have at least some small idea of what that god is like and will respond accordingly.
The un-biblical belief, “As long as I am a generally good person, I’ll go to heaven,” will result in a generalized attempt at doing more good than bad with no real concern for the consequences of the bad.
“God is an old codger looking to burn us under his magnifying glass as though we were ants on an ant-hill,” tends to lead people to shake their fists at a cruel God and leaves them living their life however they want.
“God is like a warm, bearded grandfather who listens to our prayers and guides and directs us the way he wants us and occasionally slips a little candy into our pocket when our parents aren’t looking.” This leaves someone believing that God is there for our benefit and tends to treat God as such, rather than believing that we are here for God’s sake.
Each of the above views leaves a person responding to each hurdle, victory, and relationship in life with a bent that they wouldn’t have if they believed God to be something different. Theology, the study of God, then informs not only how we advise those we provide guidance to, but also how those we guide respond to that very teaching.
Knowing not only the theology of those we provide pastoral counseling to, but explaining our theology to them is an important part of counseling. The characteristics of God help us show those we are counseling why we advise as we do and sometimes dictates that we not say anything at all but only provide a listening ear. But then at times, what we would advise is not very clear to a person until we explain the very nature and character of God.
Theology then is an important part of counseling. Without studying Scripture and the character of God, a pastoral counselor will be very limited in his effectiveness. And without responding to God as Scripture reveals, a counselee will wrestle with whatever it was that drove them to seek help in the first place. Theology is central to counseling.