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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 7 of 7. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by nickguy on August 17, 2006, at 18:23:44
I'm sure other people feel this way too. I don't believe taking medication is a sin or anything like that, I'm just not sure if this is what God has intended. Perhaps I am put through these trials of anxiety and depression to become a better person, like st. John of the cross describes in "Dark Night of the Soul." I just wonder if taking my medication (ativan) is taking away a trial God has chosen for me that I could benefit from. Or if not taking something that helps me to live would just be doing harm to my life?
Posted by finelinebob on August 17, 2006, at 19:37:48
In reply to feeling unsure of medication and God, posted by nickguy on August 17, 2006, at 18:23:44
Short quote from a song not everyone may appreciate, but anyway:
"And if they were not meant to be
Well, don't you think they wouldn't be?"I don't think God wants us all to be martyrs or to suffer needlessly. There are so many joyful and wondrous ways to become a better person. There are so many other challenges you can take on if you want to show your devotion or better yourself. If taking a medication removes the pain and allows for possiblities that are out of reach when you're mired in that pain, then is that medication enabling you or disabling you?
If you think the struggle to return to "normal" without medication will give you some strength of character you cannot get otherwise, then what words can we say? If taking the medication would give you the freedom from pain that would allow you to "build character" by interacting with and helping others, which path would you choose?
Posted by James K on August 17, 2006, at 23:54:00
In reply to feeling unsure of medication and God, posted by nickguy on August 17, 2006, at 18:23:44
Hey Nickguy. nice to meet you. I like what finelinebob had to say.
Your question got me thinking. I'm going to be cautious even though this is the faith board and put qualifications on my response that I'm not pushing one faith over the other or anything, but you mentioned Paul, so I'm going to answer with other New Testament ideas.
My first thought was Jesus saying if your ox went in a pit or ditch, on the Sabbath you would get it out. Even though some of the point of that is about legalism, I think the idea of doing what is necessary in real life terms is addressed there.
Even better to your situation to my mind though is the parable of the good Samaritan. This guy was injured, and another helped him, and got him medical treatment.
So I think there is precedent for the idea of needing help, and medical treatment. And the people that supply it are the good guys.
Jonah and Job both suffered in the Bible for different reasons. God may have reasons or tests. These are complicated theological ideas. But I believe from a Christian standpoint, Jesus isn't asking us to take what we don't have to, and might be asking us to help ourselves the best we can.
if you can trust an individual doctor or pharmaceutical company is a whole nother can of worms, but I think trying to help yourself and using the available resources is right.
James K
Posted by Declan on August 18, 2006, at 22:08:33
In reply to feeling unsure of medication and God, posted by nickguy on August 17, 2006, at 18:23:44
Hi Nick
Interesting that you mention St John of the Cross. I only know about him because TS Eliot wrote about him and Eliot would have been seriously depressed by our standards. OTOH Eliot drank a fair bit, smoked, and ended his life on barbiturates.
You ever read East Coker, from the "Four Quartets"?
The second part of East Coker is the most wonderful thing, all about spiritual despair and stuff.Eliot was asked by Auden why he was always playing patience, and he replied 'I suppose it's because it's the closest thing to being alive'. (The intended word is the opposite of 'alive')
Declan
Posted by nickguy on August 19, 2006, at 20:38:39
In reply to Curses on software, posted by Declan on August 18, 2006, at 22:08:33
> Hi Nick
>
> Interesting that you mention St John of the Cross. I only know about him because TS Eliot wrote about him and Eliot would have been seriously depressed by our standards. OTOH Eliot drank a fair bit, smoked, and ended his life on barbiturates.
>
> You ever read East Coker, from the "Four Quartets"?
> The second part of East Coker is the most wonderful thing, all about spiritual despair and stuff.
>
> Eliot was asked by Auden why he was always playing patience, and he replied 'I suppose it's because it's the closest thing to being alive'. (The intended word is the opposite of 'alive')
>
> Declan
I'll definetely read that book. I'm always looking for spiritual experience to mine. I don;t blame T.S elliot. I'm drunk right now, sometimes that pain can be too much. I think the anxiety pills are o.k for me because they allow me to interact with the world in a more rational way. I've tried pretty much every treatment out there for depression (besides ECT, MAOI's, and ADDERRALL) and I"m not sure that depression is my diagnosis as much as God taking away the pleasures of my life to open an experience of him beyond the senses. I believe theres always hope, and God loves the worst of people in the world. So I don't always know pain is such a bad thing. But social anxiety is crippling and doesn't allow me to find my way. I think it's o.k for me in God's eyes to take this medicine, atleast for the time being.
Posted by lynn971 on August 24, 2006, at 19:50:25
In reply to feeling unsure of medication and God, posted by nickguy on August 17, 2006, at 18:23:44
As a Christian, I do not think that taking medication is a sin. I think that it is a blessing that God gifted doctors to make medicines that work.
Luv ya,
Lynn
Posted by Declan on August 25, 2006, at 21:19:15
In reply to Re: Curses on software, posted by nickguy on August 19, 2006, at 20:38:39
www.darknightofthesoul.org may interest you.
It actually mentions St John of the Cross.
The quote I was thinking of but could not find goes something like:
Unless the soul is divested of the love of all created beings it cannot achieve divine union.I always wondered if that was Eliot trying to be difficult. It sounds counterintuitive to me.
This is the end of the thread.
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