Self Confrontation

The purpose of this manual is to teach you how to examine yourself biblically so you can live in a manner that pleases the Lord and help others to do the same. The material in this manual also has been used in Bible studies for youth and adults, classes for Christian students (junior high, high school, college, and seminary level), courses of study designed to prepare missionaries for their ministry, evangelism training, discipleship training in prison ministries, Sunday school classes, home group studies, personal devotional studies, and Scripture memorization programs. In addition, it has proved valuable as a resource for pastors, counselors, health care professionals, personnel managers, educators, social workers and other professionals who are responsible to deal with personal and interpersonal problems. As you progress through this manual, you will discover many other uses for this material in your life and personal ministry. Please do not be intimidated by the volume of Scripture references contained in this manual. A new believer in Jesus Christ can find great comfort and help from looking up only one verse out of many that are listed on a particular subject. On the other hand, the Bible scholar or seminary student may desire to research many of the Scripture references from the original languages of the Bible. No matter how proficient you are in using Scripture, this manual encourages you to rely on the Word of God to discover God’s sufficiency for every aspect of your life.

The Student Workbook is designed to lead you through a personal life-application study of God’s Word, using the Self-Confrontation manual as a reference. The Workbook leads you through key Scripture passages and points you to relevant portions of the Self-Confrontation manual. It can be used: • for your own personal study • in a one-on-one discipleship format, or • in a small group setting. The lessons have blank portions to complete, based on passages from the Bible. This is part of what you might call your written homework. The Self-Confrontation Bible Study is a great way for you to spend daily time in God’s Word, with the emphasis on your own walk with the Lord and your relationships with others. These principles are timeless and cultureless; and they will change your life, when applied with God’s enabling power.

An experiment was conducted to assess relative effectiveness of two techniques for training United States Air Force military advisors in cross- cultural communicative skills. Retention of skills over time and effects of attitude on learning were also studied. A scenario required subjects to play the role of an Air Force Captain who had to interact in specified ways with a 'foreign counterpart, ' a role played by a confederate of the experimenters. Subjects were to perform 57 distinct behaviors appropriate to the situation and to the fictitious cultural description, which gave either a positive, negative, or neutral impression of the culture. Sixty-six male subjects were divided into two groups and taught the desired behaviors either by extensive reading of training manuals followed by three role-playing sessions or by less reading but with self-confrontation by a videotape replay between successive role-play trials. Subjects returned and performed the same role again either 1 day, 1 week, or 2 weeks following initial training. Self-confrontation proved superior to manual reading in training the desired behaviors. Subjects with positive attitudes toward the culture learned fastest. Retention of skills learned through self-confrontation was high. A discussion of planned future research on cross-cultural training techniques and programs is given.

This unique, in-depth discipleship training program helps believers discover scriptural principles of counseling from the Bible itself. Thorough and systematic, the manual is based on a program designed by the Biblical Counseling Foundation that has been used successfully in many different cultures and countries.

One of the major inadequacies of our culture is our inability to verbally confront one another. It kills interpersonal relationships. It is a time bomb within families. It causes low productivity, stress, headaches, and increases our consumption of alcohol, and drugs. Very few even recognize it as a problem, and even fewer know what to do about it. Why? Because we were never taught how to confront properly and effectively. But, our success depends on these skills. The Art of Handling Verbal Confrontation guides the reader in how to approach, verbally address issues, and face others successfully, without fear. These skills belong to the inner tactical strategy of facing yourself, facing the issue, and facing the other person. It is a key to spiritual empowerment.