Posted on 08/30/2018 10:28:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Is it possible to be spirituality healthy but have mental health issues? It's a question that many are asking and that one pastor at a megachurch has chosen to address.
Brad Hambrick, who serves as pastor of counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, wrote in a blog post that the answer to the question is "yes," but it is important to explain why.
Hambrick, who is also an author and instructor of Biblical Counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, first suggested several measures of what makes a Christian spiritually healthy, such as embracing the Gospel.
He defined the above as: "An individual [who] recognizes their sinful condition and leans fully on the hope of Christ's death-resurrection to provide freedom from the overwhelming guilt this sober self-awareness would otherwise create."
Other markers for a healthy Christian include spiritual discipline, personal devotion, devout character, and having a robust theological framework, where an individual "is able to understand and articulate the biblical world-view that undergirds the previous four marks of spiritual health."
He argued that it is possible to display those characteristics while simultaneously suffering from mental health challenges.
One of those challenges, he noted, is emotional regulation — where an individual "has a difficult time preventing unpleasant emotions from intruding into times when the situation does not warrant such emotions or to a degree greater than an unpleasant situation warrants; 'taking thoughts captive' does not eliminate the physical responses of disruptive emotions for them."
Another mental health challenge he listed is when a person has "a difficult time, persistently or episodically, having a sense of self that is either self-loathing or grandiose."
Other signs of mental health problems can include having "a difficult time being at peace in social settings" (thus resulting in isolation, conflict or stigmatization); bizarre behavior or paranoia due to intrusive thoughts or having difficulty "discerning fanciful thoughts from actual events;" and having "a dispositional struggle to regulate their impulses towards actions that are known to have negative consequences."
Hambrick listed these five mental health qualities as aptitudes, though he admitted mental health cannot be reduced to a set of aptitudes.
But to make his argument, he stated, "When I say that a Christian can be spiritually strong and still experience mental health challenges, someone can be a devout Christian and have a persistent struggle with these aptitudes/skills; a struggle that is only moderately improved through the best available interventions (Christian growth or therapy) and will not be ultimately remedied until heaven."
"I am not saying all of these are only biological or physiological like diabetes or cancer. Doubtless our genetic makeup determines the baseline from which we cultivate these aptitudes," he added.
"But it should be apparent that our social settings, personal experiences, and life choices also have a profound positive or negative influence on these factors."
The pastor argued that people are not powerless against these factors, and practical theology and self-help literature could potentially teach some how to improve.
In the end, he stressed that struggles with mental health should not be a matter of shame or cause Christians to doubt their salvation.
"Our bodies and minds, like the rest of creation, are groaning to be made whole (Romans 8:22)," he noted.
Hambrick also pointed out that just as there is variance in physical health and abilities among Christians, "we should expect to find the same variance in mental health expressions."
"We believe vibrant Christians can have physical maladies and low IQ's, why would we think mental health would be different?"
Hambrick encouraged Christians to be "excellent stewards" of their mental health and hopes more believers can gain a better understanding of the intersection of mental health and spiritual maturity."
Other church leaders who have spoken extensively about mental health and the church include Rick and Kay Warren, co-founders of Saddleback Church in California. Their commitment to spreading awareness of mental health began after their son committed suicide in 2013 following mental health struggles.
In 2017, Kay Warren revealed that she had a prophetic vision of churchgoers not long after her son's death.
"In my mind's eye, I pictured the Worship Center at Saddleback full of people who are living with a mental illness — depression, anxiety, borderline personality disorder, an eating disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia — or any other mental illness that was making life challenging," Warren described at the time.
"Everyone in the room was reaching out to God without having to pretend that life felt okay — some people were crying, others wrapped themselves around a large wooden cross, some were praying, some were offering hugs to others — but all felt safe to bring their pain and their sorrow to God," she added.
"Then I saw laughter — the kind of laughter that comes when others walking a similar life-path talk about the shared, common ups as well as downs, the moments of absurdity and humor in living with a mental illness. In my vision, hope began to rise."
Who ever said you couldn’t?
I agree. The brain is an organ and, like every other part of your body, is not perfect. Just as every one has a mole here and there, I think we all have mental defects to one degree or another. Even me.
Now, I gotta get back to cleaning the guns. The voices are getting restless.
I expect some interesting responses to this thread.
I’ll start. It’s not something I ever really contemplated as being in-spiritual to have certain mental health issues.
It’s just too trite to tell someone with serious issues to just buck it up and be happy.
On the other hand, God clearly states that he will not let anything occur to us beyond what we can handle.
Someone going through some mental crisis, like depression isn’t going to come out of it immediately. On the flip side, psychology based treatment is a sure loser and is far too often anti-Christian.
My son worked at a Christian Camp over the summer. A fellow staff member drowned. My son participated in the rescue and failed CPR attempts. Naturally, he and the rest had some serious emotional challenges. Some wise biblical counsel helped them far more than a visit to a shrink would have done.
Shhh ... you’ll wake *them* up.
And they’ll proceed to tell you that unless you’re life is perfect in every way, then you’re obviously just a horrible, sinful person and God didn’t like you anyway.
Because health, wealth and worldly success are obviously signs of God’s favor, dontcha know?
Just ask them, they’ll tell you.
And for the record, yes, that was snark, but ... I had a roommate like that in college. Insufferable little prig, and one of the reasons I don’t really care for “charismaniacs” much anymore.
Because speaking as someone who’s lived a lifetime with asthma, I don’t want to hear about it. And that sort of thing is the last thing that someone who is experiencing difficult times in their lives needs to hear. There’s a reason Christ said “Blessed be the poor in spirit”. We seem to forget that sometimes, in our own arrogance and superiority.
After a large number of difficult events in rapid succession, I’m having a tough time. I’ve found far more healing in faith than with therapy. That said, people do get more than they can handle... all the time.
I apologize, I somewhat misquoted scripture instead of actually looking it up.
However, I do believe that it is true. We all have things happen that cause us to question God and the abilities he has given us.
I know firsthand of getting hammered by events in rapid succession. Years ago, we had a job loss followed immediately by my wife contracting mono followed by a miscarriage, all in a span of just a few weeks.
I don’t know your events but don’t despair (too much) It will end. Faith is far stronger than therapy.
I was told by authorities to get therapy “to be a man and a human-being” and when I went to the place as instructed, I was told me they couldn’t help me.
Top that one.
Can’t top but have experienced similar.
I once had a Christian friend who married the Deacon’s daughter...
On July 24 I was washing dishes so my wife could cook us dinner.
The cops arrived and took my wife to jail.
I was unaware this was going to happen.
When my questions got ignored I threw some F-bombs.
A couple MFers.
I put my hand on the commander and maybe pulled.
The cops took me down and maybe I called them “Nazis”.
Then my daughter started crying.
The cops called in the Jugendamt.
They took my daughter to her Grandmothers home.
Ten minutes later they came back and took the puppy for my daughter.
I was alone wondering what happened.
Later it was explained to me that ten years ago Germany passed a law that if a parent yells around a child that is considered abuse and the authorities have the right to remove the child. And since I yelled and she cried that is what they did.
Later I agreed to see a psychiatrist “to be a man and a human-being” to get permission for my daughter to return. But when I went to the place a man said they have doctors and staff but they don’t do this therapy. Now I need to find a man and human-being specialist, I guess. I put it off to next week. I already got my daughter back home two weeks ago. My wife might get out of jail early in a few weeks.
Not Christian but I have been taught that Gd takes care of those who can’t pray or care for themselves. They are covered. They can be in good standing. No responsibilities toward their religious upkeep.
I hate to pry, but why did they haul her off to jail?
Don’t feel obligated to tell if it’s going to cause trouble.
It seems clear that she did nothing wrong since you were not expecting it.
I understand asking but I’ll pass since that is her personal situation.
She got sentenced three months but might be out in two so it wasn’t murder.
“On the other hand, God clearly states that he will not let anything occur to us beyond what we can handle.”
This is the passage to which you are referring:
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
This is talking about temptation to sin. It does not mean we are capable of “handling” every problem we face. Paul, who wrote the passage above, also wrote this description of his own experiences:
2 Corinthians 1:8-10
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us.
He and his companions were “burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life”. They experienced unbearable difficulties that made them long for death! That’s pretty extreme.
It is important not to make simplistic and knee-jerk interpretations and applications of scripture. Otherwise, we become susceptible to Satan’s influence as he also uses scriptures to mislead people as well.
Where is the scripture to back this up? From a biblical point of view, the real evidence of salvation is faith expressing itself through love. Jesus said, "By this they will know you are my disciples, if you have love one for another."
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