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I really shouldn't read my hometown newspaper, but I did. I had just woken up from a hydrocodone induced nap with my knee on which I had surgery yesterday throbbing and my head hanging off the side of the love seat pillow. I may have even been drooling. I staggered on my crutches to my Mom's table to try and wake up and I read one article about a nearby school board and it was really ticking me off (won't go into those details). So, I turned the page and read this title: "Free of Charge, a Non-Medical Cure for Depression." Sure enough, it was by a guest columnist who is a retired PASTOR! (How did I know? I would grit my teeth but I'd bite my tongue that's in my cheek.) Well, I just had to write. I wanted to write a letter to the editor, but my mom gave me one of those looks, so I decided to write in my blog for now. The letter may still be in me.
To summarize the article, if you have Jesus you'll never be depressed, and a person cannot have conflicting emotions at the same time. The retired pastor wrote, "Few know about (this claim based upon a promise made by Jesus) because most of the 85 percent of the American people who claim to believe in the Bible have neglected to read it." Well, I must be part of the 15% who do read it, and I wonder what Bible the retired pastor is reading because it ain't the same as mine! Honestly, I don't even know where to begin in response to his article, so I'll just start from the beginning and work my way to the end.
Ignorance is understandable. A person is ignorant when they lack knowledge or training in a particular subject. I am ignorant in a lot of areas because it is knowledge I have never been taught or researched on my own. Ignorance can be fixed or overcome by providing a person with necessary information.
Senseless, on the other hand, is failing to use reason and sound, practical intelligence even after being presented with the information needed to no longer qualify someone as ignorant. Dogma received without question is senseless to me. Dogma can easily become "the commandments of men" Jesus referred to in Matthew 15 when he said, "Why do you trangress the commandment of God because of your tradition...Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'" (Matthew 15:3b, 6b-9). I have to wonder how many of the statements made in this article were traditions passed down rather than truly researched.
To believe that depression can be cured by salvation is as ludicrous as believing cancer or high blood pressure can be as well! Dear Mr. Retired Pastor, depression is an illness, not just a blah day. It has specific criteria that must be met, criteria that have nothing to do with one's spiritual state. It is debilitating on its own, without having "Good Christians" like you adding to it through senseless, misplaced GUILT!!!
Do you have any idea how much of my practice is spent trying to undo damage done by "well-intentioned Christians" such as yourself? It practically keeps me in business! From the grief-stricken who have to hear "It was God's will" to the devastated who endure "God won't put more on you that you can bear," I hear day in and day out the pain and agony that "well-intentioned Christians" put people through simply because they cannot manage their own anxiety enough to keep their mouth shut! They feel it is their duty or that God is leading them to say something of comfort, so they open their mouths and this unscriptural drivel runs out!
Why unscriptural? First, just how do they know what is God's will and what isn't? “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). Sounds like He knows His will a lot better than we do. And the whole "God won't put more on you than you can bear" bit, try II Corinthians 1:8-9: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." Sounds rather depressed to me. He promised that we would not be tempted without a means of resisting; He never made the same promise about burdens.
And about this rubbish about not being able to feel more than one emotion at a time? Do you have any scripture or evidence to back that up? No? I do. First of all, have you ever talked to someone who is grieving? Have you ever sat with them through trying to comprehend how they can feel such profound sadness and relief at the same time? I have, too many times to count. I have talked with parents who have lost children, siblings who have lost siblings, spouses who have lots mates, and the list goes on and on. I have held their hands as they try and grasp all the complex and contradictory emotions that are flooding over then like a tsunami carrying devastation in its wake, trying desperately to drown out the impact of words thrown out by well-intentioned Christians who can't just sit and let someone cry. "Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent, discerning, when he seals his lips" (Proverbs 17:28 HCSB). Or, as Abraham Lincoln paraphrased, "It's better for a man to think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
I have no doubt...
To summarize the article, if you have Jesus you'll never be depressed, and a person cannot have conflicting emotions at the same time. The retired pastor wrote, "Few know about (this claim based upon a promise made by Jesus) because most of the 85 percent of the American people who claim to believe in the Bible have neglected to read it." Well, I must be part of the 15% who do read it, and I wonder what Bible the retired pastor is reading because it ain't the same as mine! Honestly, I don't even know where to begin in response to his article, so I'll just start from the beginning and work my way to the end.
Ignorance is understandable. A person is ignorant when they lack knowledge or training in a particular subject. I am ignorant in a lot of areas because it is knowledge I have never been taught or researched on my own. Ignorance can be fixed or overcome by providing a person with necessary information.
Senseless, on the other hand, is failing to use reason and sound, practical intelligence even after being presented with the information needed to no longer qualify someone as ignorant. Dogma received without question is senseless to me. Dogma can easily become "the commandments of men" Jesus referred to in Matthew 15 when he said, "Why do you trangress the commandment of God because of your tradition...Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men'" (Matthew 15:3b, 6b-9). I have to wonder how many of the statements made in this article were traditions passed down rather than truly researched.
To believe that depression can be cured by salvation is as ludicrous as believing cancer or high blood pressure can be as well! Dear Mr. Retired Pastor, depression is an illness, not just a blah day. It has specific criteria that must be met, criteria that have nothing to do with one's spiritual state. It is debilitating on its own, without having "Good Christians" like you adding to it through senseless, misplaced GUILT!!!
Do you have any idea how much of my practice is spent trying to undo damage done by "well-intentioned Christians" such as yourself? It practically keeps me in business! From the grief-stricken who have to hear "It was God's will" to the devastated who endure "God won't put more on you that you can bear," I hear day in and day out the pain and agony that "well-intentioned Christians" put people through simply because they cannot manage their own anxiety enough to keep their mouth shut! They feel it is their duty or that God is leading them to say something of comfort, so they open their mouths and this unscriptural drivel runs out!
Why unscriptural? First, just how do they know what is God's will and what isn't? “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9). Sounds like He knows His will a lot better than we do. And the whole "God won't put more on you than you can bear" bit, try II Corinthians 1:8-9: "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." Sounds rather depressed to me. He promised that we would not be tempted without a means of resisting; He never made the same promise about burdens.
And about this rubbish about not being able to feel more than one emotion at a time? Do you have any scripture or evidence to back that up? No? I do. First of all, have you ever talked to someone who is grieving? Have you ever sat with them through trying to comprehend how they can feel such profound sadness and relief at the same time? I have, too many times to count. I have talked with parents who have lost children, siblings who have lost siblings, spouses who have lots mates, and the list goes on and on. I have held their hands as they try and grasp all the complex and contradictory emotions that are flooding over then like a tsunami carrying devastation in its wake, trying desperately to drown out the impact of words thrown out by well-intentioned Christians who can't just sit and let someone cry. "Even a fool is considered wise when he keeps silent, discerning, when he seals his lips" (Proverbs 17:28 HCSB). Or, as Abraham Lincoln paraphrased, "It's better for a man to think you're a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."
I have no doubt...
Julie, I just got on board and enjoyed reading this. Although I didn't read the article by the pastor, I think it would be a good idea to send a letter to the editor. Although, moms usually do have a lot of wisdom.
ReplyDeleteI too am one of the 15% who read the Bible on an almost daily basis, and I trust that it's His written Word. You mention in your next post, which I really enjoyed reading, that you've never been one to like confrontation. I sometimes feel the same way initially, but I find it always challenges me to question my statements for acuracy, motives in my heart, and the motives of others. It may never be comfortable, but it almost always causes growth and therefore beauty within, just like a tree being pruned or iron sharpening iron.
We know according to Ephesians 6:17 that God's Word is a sword. It divides between truth and falsehood, just as you've used the above scriptures to do, but it can also be used to attack if we have the wrong motives in our hearts as you've shown above with others. Satan tried to do this with Jesus when He was in the wilderness. There's a time to speak and a time to be silent according to Ecclesiastes 3:7. I think it's when it's not time that we are foolish. We can sometimes cast our pearls before swine if others aren't receptive, even when the info is accurate or we have good intentions.
So with all that said, I want to say thank you for challenging me to dig deeper into God's Word. God is using you in ways that you may not even realize.
Isaiah 55:1 says we're to LISTEN. most of Romans 8 says that we're to be CONTROLLED and LED by the Holy Spirit, Psalms 95:7 tells us that we're to HEAR HIS VOICE and John 10:2 tells us the same as well as being LED.
Just WHY does He tell us to do the above? So that we can know His WILL. He does show us His will through His written Word and His Rhema, spoken word. I thinkso many Christians are UNHAPPY because of missing His will by NOT doing the things I just mentioned.
I think we miss the mark when we don't pray for those in need and yield to His Holy Spirit within us concerning when, what, why and whom to speak to. We sometimes have good intentions and sometimes not, but then comes the adage...the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
This is my first comment. Perhaps, as long as it was, it should have been a post!
Thank you for writing this Julie. As a Family Medicine Physician I see many people who are suffering from depression. Many refuse treatment and get worse because they think there is something morally wrong with treating depression. Depression is a Medical Condition. Treating it doesn't mean you love God less or a you are a bad Christian. I can't find any scripture that would say we shouldn't treat depression or that a person should pray their way out of depression. Depression does not equal sin.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention above that I used to suffer from depression as a result of having diabetes since childhood. I struggled with trying to treat it just as a spiritual condition, or simply mind over matter. I felt like a miserable failure becuase I couldn't overcome it. I thank God for leading me to someone who could treat it with medication.
ReplyDeleteI do believe God is in the healing business, but He may choose to do that through medical treatment.
I once heard a parable where there was a flood and a man was on top of his roof. Along came a boat and the captain told the man to get on board, but the man refused, saying that God would save him. Next came a raft of survivors who offered to throw him a life jacket. Again the man refused, saying that God would save him. Finally, a helicopter flew over and dropped a rope, but the man refused to take hold, shouting back that God would save him.
The flood waters rose, and the man drowned and went to Heaven. Upon his arrival he asked God, "Why didn't you save me?"
God replied, "I sent you a boat, a lifejacket, and a rope! Besides, you are now saved aren't you?"