I have mooed

I have moved to couragetotremble.wordpress.com
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Building Up When A Bridge Collapses

The bridge across the Mississippi on Interstate Highway 35W, connecting twin cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, collapsed yesterday during the afternoon rush hour. It is a tragedy of historic proportions.

At such times:

• People, who have not understood the gospel, question the existence of God, saying, "If there was a God, this would not have happened."
• Some, though not questioning God's existence, may question His actions saying, "Where is God when we need Him most?" or "How can a loving God allow a tragedy like this?"
  
• Some preachers use this opportunity to say that this is God's punishment on a sinful generation.
  
• Sure enough, you have others reacting to these preachers, making them look heartless and flippant.

I found the reaction of one good pastor very refreshing and edifying.
Link to: Putting My Daughter to Bed Two Hours After the Bridge Collapsed

Mental Illness and Prayer

My previous post was about a woman we called Flower Queen who probably was schizophrenic. I knew another person who was very close to me, and a believer, who had schizophrenia. Whenever the person stopped taking the prescribed medication, after a few weeks, the voices were back, and we would sometimes have some bad episodes. We would then find some way of motivating the person to take the medicines, and when that was accomplished, relief was almost instantaneous because the person came back to us from the terrifying world of insanity in a matter of hours. The times when the person refused to take medication are similar to the stuff that nightmares are made of. I know that there is a chemical imbalance or something biological that is behind the condition.

Pastor John MacArthur has been criticised for his opinion about most so-called mental illnesses actually being results of sin and treatable by prayer and repentance. We have been reading his books for 20 years now, he has won over our confidence many times over, and I do not think he would have expressed his opinion on this matter without much thought.

I do not know how exactly to reconcile his opinion with my experience, and my little brain cannot begin to understand all the ramifications of either theology or medicine. This much I know that all our mental states--pleasure, anger, sadness, and so on--result in the release of chemicals called neurotransmitters in our brains. These chemicals are also responsible for cravings and addictions in people. Sinfulness and a lack of faith in God must impact our mental well being profoundly, and such mental illnesses can therefore be relieved by godly counsel.

But if organic and irreversible changes take place in the brain, we probably need to complement our spiritual healing with medicine. After the illness is brought under control by medication, mentally ill people need to be counseled by pastors who are really godly men who base their teachings on the word of God. The ill person may need to continue to take their medication as well. I am sure that counseling from a pastor is absolutely necessary, but I am not sure if medical treatment can be dispensed with in many cases.

Having expressed my doubt about whether it is advisable to avoid psychiatric treatment in many cases, here are some reasons why I, as a believer in Christ based on the infallible word of God, am uncomfortable about going to a psychiatrist:

• Far too many conditions are being treated as psychological disorders when they could just be psychological problems resulting from bad parenting and so on.

• Our minds and our spirits are not separate aspects. As a redeemed person, I am a new creation; surely my mind is different in some way now. My interests have changed. My perspective is different. With sanctification comes the renewal of my mind. How can a psychiatrist, who is not a believer, be able to sort through the reasoning of this new species that books on Psychiatry do not even acknowledge?
  

The conditions that we perceive as mental illness may have various causes; some may be a direct result of sin; some may be the result of sin that has since been forgiven; some may even be demonic; some, like the case I mentioned, may be inherent in the individual and really really need medical intervention; some may be a combination of these causes. In all cases, we must pray first and pray much.

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:13-16)

Flower Queen

Maharani slept on the pavement with her son. She tried desperately to eke out a living by selling flowers in Chennai, and her mental problems did not help matters. I tried to help her but found it difficult to sift through the facts that she gave me. It was impossible to be completely sure when she was under a delusion and when she was telling me the truth.

She was waiting for compensation from the Government because her husband had been killed in a road accident, and I found that she was no match for the general apathy and corruption through which she would have to fight her way. I published the journal that I maintained at the time, calling my book Flower Queen. It is available at Amazon.com
Click here for the editorial review, pricing details, and Search Inside feature

An excerpt from the book:
"My husband's sister is our family saathaan and brings misfortune to the family.” Whenever Flower Queen said these ‘profound’ things, she took on an expression that looked like something between a puppy and a learned sage.

She flashed her wise puppy look at me another time when she took me into her confidence and whispered in my ear that it would not rain in Chennai till she got a house because she had cursed the city. She predicted that it would rain in torrents the day she got a house.

“Only after I sleep a night in the new house will it rain, you will see.” She also had some kind advice for me

“Do not go out in the sun because the sun will be extra hot these days.”

“Why is that so?” I asked her absent mindedly.

“Because of my curse. I have cursed the city with a dry spell.” Then she continued. “Amma, if you walk in the sun, you will go wonky in the head like me. Then you will start roaming the streets as I do.”

I was going wonky already. I also had to keep these stories to myself because Philip said they made him sick.