That should be “family members in denial”.
Agree. Gd is there to help us and provide answers in the rom of science, love, etc. you don’t need to be godless to help people with mental illnesses. Gd wants us to help each other. But we can’t blame mental illness on the devil.
hey there gov, long time no talk. Good to hear from you again. Sorry I never got back to you on the Benghazi immunity question, but its been busy here, and I didn’t want to give a response that wasn’t carefully thought out, then procrastination set in, etc.
Anyway, the mental illness question is personal for me, as I am both a family member to such a person and, according to some, a Bible-thumping neanderthal, i.e., I do believe in such things as God, angels, demons, and the human spirit.
However, I also follow the long Reformed tradition of recognizing that God has graciously given us the tools of science, which we can use to understand and solve many human ailments.
So its “both and” for me. I have seen people benefit from psychiatric treatment that wasn’t just throwing meds at the patient till something stuck, but also addressed cognitive and spiritual issues. I do not accept the premise that we are just the sum of our chemical constituents. As a Christian, while I can benefit from understanding and treating the material component of any problem, I cannot be a pure materialist. There is a God, and therefore there is everything else that that first fact implies, including the reality that we are more than a bag of chemicals, but are noble, spiritual creatures, made in the image of God, with all the respect, challenges, and high expectations, that accompany that office.
Peace,
SR