Posted by snood on October 24, 2002, at 0:14:50
In reply to Re: Agreement or Confutation » IsoM, posted by Dinah on October 18, 2002, at 8:43:15
I'm not sure why but I just had to give MHO, so, here goes.....
I find it interesting that people who teach that mental illness can be overcome by prayer, do not seem to have any mental illness at all. My mother told me recently that my depression can be healed, and that she would pray that God would heal me. She also doesn't understand it, and that I should just get over it. I tried explaining it to her, and that's when she said I had to believe that God would heal me. Do I need healing? I don't think so. I think that God gave me depression, anxiety, and ADD as a way to make my faith stronger, and a "special" way of learning the bible and about life in general.
It also helps me so much, that my Pastor is also taking AD's, and so is his wife. He totally believes that depression, and any other mental illness, should be treated. He also believes that cancer, diabetes, etc. needs to be treated. All are diseases, and, no, God is not punishing us for any sin by giving us these health problems.
Sorry to hear that your church is teaching this to it's members. It's like the church is saying "Feel even more ashamed for having OCD, Depression...etc." You really should have taken this up with your pastor, and let him know why you've been skipping sunday school. Faith is one thing, but reasoning is another. Without knowledge, or even seeking out what the bible truly says on any given topic, one can not have reasoning. We have to have some level of reasoning to have faith (or at least I do).
> (I must be honest, IsoM. While I have no problems with the beliefs of anyone, as long as they don't cause anyone any harm, I do have problems with direct encounters with blind faith where I'm expected to agree with it. I just bought my new Sunday School study book, and it seems to suggest that mental illness can be overcome by prayer and that anyone unable to overcome, say, fear (including one overt example of OCD) by prayer and faith was sinful, since God told us directly not to fear. I checked with my husband to make sure my perception of the book was accurate, then decided to skip Sunday School for a couple of months. There are many in my class who find great comfort in faith without reason, but I'd find myself challenging their faith if I showed up for these classes, and I have no real desire to do that. Well, not too much anyway.)Also, challenging them on this topic, would not be a challenge to their faith. We are called to question other christian's beliefs when we don't agree with theirs, and help them and/or us to gain knowledge and understanding of God's word. It actually makes faith in God and the bible stronger. Aren't we also called to gain knowledge? Somewhere in Proverbs, I think....
Like I said this is JMHO, and I don't mean to offend anyone. I think that every person should believe in whatever they want.....besides, who am I to say that one religion or belief system is inferior to mine...that's not what I'm saying.
I feel I won't know if my faith, or someone else's faith was the right faith, until I can ask God personally.
poster:snood
thread:1086
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20021001/msgs/1154.html