As it was they were written of by most of their contemporaries. When you read their stories however you have to ask - who were the mentally unhealthy? I mean if you look round the world and see vast amounts of injustice and oppression and don't get horribly miserable can you really claim to be mentally healthy.
With all this precedent in our holy scripture, with God so clearly using people who think differently how come the church gets it so wrong on mental health all the time?
My experience is that Christians while quiet happy to go to a secular doctor and get prescribed antibiotics often break into cold sweats at suggestions of seeking medical advice and support in relation to mental well-being. Only Christian counselors will do all of a sudden. And because we are Christian's with a direct line to heaven we are also convinced that we are better able to diagnosis a fellow believers problems and suggest appropriate remedies than most trained professionals.
In all our discussions about the prophets my friend and I never got on to Haman. MD did:
"When his idol is fed he is so happy, when his idol is threatened he is so violent, someone in our culture would be diagnosed bipolar - sometimes they're idolatrous"
This is not OK on so many levels. Equating being bipolar with violence feeds an inaccurate and damaging prejudice. Equating being bipolar with idolatry essentially blames individuals for their own suffering.
Let's rather speak up about the violence and prejudice those with mental health concerns face, show Christ like compassion and empathy in our speaking and praying and lets give space to learn from them how to change our practice.
Useful resource: http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/churches
Brilliantly and clearly written. Iniatlly read MD as irony if medical profession is going to have to treat as mentally unwell anyone who's emotional well being fluctuates according the state of 'an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship' we better clear the beds in time for the next world cup (though of course there is no relation between football fans and violence) and there is NO WAY I am covering a&e for the finale of stictely come dancing. Lucky England hardly ever wins at anything. Seriously though all of us have emotional responses independent of a relationship with God. If we accept that an idol can also be 'a person or thing that is revered and loved' them if we are being honest don't all of us have external things money / possessions / status or my somewhat oversimplified example of identifying with a sporting team which can govern our behaviour in this way. In a fallen world is this not a sin we all share. It is perhaps to easy to hold on to an old testement concept of idolatry where a statue is worshiped as a god and more closely examine
ReplyDeleteCont our own valuation of earthly possessions
ReplyDeleteCont (my phone only allowing certain amount of text) historically our perception of illness has been linked to sin. Epileptics were thought to be possed as an example. As a doctor I would suggest that what we fear and cannot fully understand label as 'evil' or 'mad'. We don't want to face the idea that it could be us (1 in 4 in the population will suffer from a mental illness 1 in 3 some form of cancer) it is much easier to lay the blame on the sufferer. In less enlightened times they were demonically posessed. Now there are elements of the church that will say a depressed patient is this way because they have turned away from God that they are 'bad'. For example suicide is still seen in many religions as a sin and a rejection of God's love. I would argue this attitude is born of fear. Mental illness is intangible (I cannot hand you a scan result or blood test confirming or disproving a diagnosis) and can devestate lives. The idea that it could be you is scary, so much easier to label as sin for if the patient is unwell because they are a 'bad' Christian then we the 'good Christians' are safe. It saddens me that a religion in which Christ reached out to those which society deemed untouchable and told us that we are all equally deserving of his love still thinks this way. We happily pray for those suffering from cancer but not for those suffering from mental illness. If we truly wish to live as Christ taught us we should reach out to all who suffer. Christ did not condem the sick, he welcommed them so ask a colleague with depression how they are doing, if you are worried about a friend take them to a doctor. The highest suicide rate is Chistmas and New Year lets for those who suffer mental as we pray for those who suffer physically
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