I’ve had a few as roommates, have you?
LOL! In fact, I have. My first roommate at Moody was an extraordinary individual who was in constant communication with someone called “Boss,” but if you caught him in the act he could give you a stare to match anything you’ve ever seen in a horror flick. I also had a roommate who was, apparently, a pathological lothario. Both of these folks were eventually kicked out.
I also had a neighbor I went to school with. En route to the school bus every day, he would curse at me incessantly and had started throwing stones at me, for no provocation. I was familiar with the biblical accounts of demons etc, so one morning, when I saw him, at a great distance, looking my way and holding a large block of snow, I decided to conduct a scientific experiment. I reasoned that if it was a demon, it wouldn’t matter if I didn’t raise my voice, because this would be a matter between the demon and Jesus. So I decided to whisper, under my breath as it were, a command to the demon to leave in the name of Jesus, believing that the result of the experiment would be determined by God, not me.
And what do you supposed happened? The instant, the very instant I finished my experimental command, I could see my young friend immediately go limp, drop the chunk of snow, and just stand there with his head down. So I walked until I was next to him, then we walked together in peace up to the bus. As we were about to board the bus, he turned to me and asked, ‘ How can I become a Christian?” I told as best I knew how at the time to believe in Jesus. We never had trouble after that. The problem was over. You might be able to guess what conclusions I drew regarding the outcome of my experiment.
Having said all that, I do recognize there are biological aspects to some forms of mental illness. But I also think the science of psychiatric treatment is flawed in two major ways. First, it presumes an entirely materialistic solution set, which leads it down many dead ends. Second, in part because the premise of materialism is so damaging to research, the state of the art is primitive at best, about where we were with using leeches few centuries ago for various maladies. Future generations will mock us for our barbarism. It’s time for a change.