you all have mental issues

[Chester]

absolutely but if it is a sickness I was healed or I was not? I do not have any mental illness nor will I accept a suggestion that I do. but that's just me

I find this whole thread rather hilarious, and maybe a bit relieving! I can identify with the "Oh, I'm not the only one a bit crazy", but I also identify with the truth that I "have the mind of Christ".

So, I admit freely that my mind is quite sick (if I compare it with Christ's mind). When I say "my mind" here I mean my "flesh" as Paul would say, not the part of me that has been renewed by the Holy Ghost.

 

[crossnote]

And now that I just read what I wrote........ Never you mind....

Too late. I already called 911.

 

[Magenta]

I think of it in terms of being handicapped...
We are all handicapped to one degree or another

 

[oldethennew]

anyone who is born into this wicked world will and cannot help but to have 'mental-issues'....
come on people, have you forgotten that we are conceived in sin and have you forgotten
the lives that you lived before being called of your Creator???

oh my, thankfully the old memories no longer have any power or hold on me, but the memory
is still there and my Rock reminds me when He needs to of just how much He has done for me
and of how lovingly He has made a brand-new-road for me to travel on through
His Sacrifice of Love...
this keeps me in a constant state of humility and thankfulness, not to mention
all of the promises He has laid out before us to look forward to...

 

[Txroads]

Too late. I already called 911.

Again?.... Aww.... Here we go again... They still mad at me for last time I called them... They said "hello what's your emergency"... And I said "hello.. I just wanted y'all ta know everything's ok and ain't nobody gotta call ya"

 

[PilgrimPassingThru]

Not to put words in Posthuman's mouth but I took his use of 'mental illness' in a metaphorical sense not literally which many seem to be taking it.
Maybe that's just a sign of my mental illness

This is why I like you crossnote, folks do too much of that

 

[Lynx]

Regarding the OP: The only thing that comes to my mind is Philippians 3:12.
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus."

Now I'll stop regarding the OP before someone tells me we are not supposed to regard one person above another...

 

[GracethroughfaithinChrist]

Romans 8:6
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Galatians 6:8
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

 

[posthuman]

Sadly when one says "I am still a work in progress" or " I still have mental issues" they think they are being humble but it's false humility. Either God is correct when He said by His stripes we ARE healed and that we are new creations in Christ or He was not. We can choose to accept we are who God says we are or we can continue to try and please the world with our false humility. We can not do both. I realize this is difficult as we don't "feel" like saints and we don't "think" we are no longer sinners but God says both. I have found when I feel or think differently than what God says I am one of us is wrong. Hint, it isn't God.

you do say this:

'"I have found when I feel or think differently than what God says I am one of us is wrong. Hint, it isn't God."
​

so i take it that you have found that sometimes you think and feel differently than what God says.
and you have discovered that sometimes you are wrong.

that's what i'm talking about here, dude.

"examine yourselves" says the scripture -- and it says also "my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"
Paul also says, "i do not consider myself to have taken hold of it" -- the fact remains that Jesus is The Medicine, and if we are taking medicine, does that not mean that we are afflicted? regardless of how well that Medicine is able to make us whole -- we still wait to be fully redeemed. we have a foretaste now, and a sure hope, a complete faith that the work began will be completed. but we are also liars of we say 'we have no sin' - so also i believe we are liars if we say 'our minds are perfect'

 

[blue_ladybug]

Not to derail the thread, but does God take the minds of mentally ill people into consideration at the final judgment? For example, if they kill someone, does He know that they probably didn't know that was wrong of them to do?

 

[posthuman]

Not to derail the thread, but does God take the minds of mentally ill people into consideration at the final judgment? For example, if they kill someone, does He know that they probably didn't know that was wrong of them to do?

i'm not sure that derailing this is possible lol

and i don't believe that a just God would punish someone for something they did not have knowledge was a sin, or could not have understood was a sin.

also, that what we do with Jesus Christ - whether we believe Him or reject Him - is the pivot point of judgement, not any individual transgression or failure

 

[posthuman]

as long as we're "expanding the topic" --

something that jumping off from the initial thought of the OP i've been thinking about, and that concerns me, is how so many tens of thousands of believers in America go to a secular psychologist or other doctor for things like anxiety and depression and difficulty concentrating -- and have those things medicated away with pharmaceuticals and treated with the advice and consultation of an atheistic body of study that considers religion and theistic belief a 'coping mechanism' or in some other way a form of mild psychosis.

. . when in reality if we have unrepentant sin, or if the Spirit is trying to conform us to something in our actions or thinking, and we resist that, that can lead to our anxiety, to our depression, to our difficulty concentrating on other things -- we could develop that thought a lot further, but for brevity.. - is it possible that many of us are looking to the spirit of the age to address things that are actually spiritual concerns?

that we turn to drugs and secular self-help instead of to diligently studying the scripture, praying Biblically, and seeking out wise counsel and advice from elders and shepherds in the church?

i recognize that there are legitimate, physical problems that can affect the mind; that's not what i'm talking about. but we in the USA ((not sure what situation is in EU or other places)) really over-medicate ourselves and have a culture of 'positive thinking' and this sentimentalist idea that feelings of guilt and sadness and concern are somehow unnatural.

are some of us damaging ourselves even further this way??

 

[Ugly]

I have a close friend that has OCD and intrusive thoughts. She will struggle greatly with her faith during these bouts of OCD. And when her intrusive thoughts come into play they may sometimes be verbalized and can be blasphemous or anti-God. But none of this is a reflection on her heart. It is a condition of the mind that she is unable to control. I don't believe for one minute that those glitches in her brain will be held against her as long as her heart is where it needs to be. She doesn't want these thoughts, doesn't like them, doesn't believe them and doesn't feed them, but they are still there. Wouldn't it make sense that God sees her struggle and has compassion, as opposed to punish her for it?

 

[notmyown]

I have a close friend that has OCD and intrusive thoughts. She will struggle greatly with her faith during these bouts of OCD. And when her intrusive thoughts come into play they may sometimes be verbalized and can be blasphemous or anti-God. But none of this is a reflection on her heart. It is a condition of the mind that she is unable to control. I don't believe for one minute that those glitches in her brain will be held against her as long as her heart is where it needs to be. She doesn't want these thoughts, doesn't like them, doesn't believe them and doesn't feed them, but they are still there. Wouldn't it make sense that God sees her struggle and has compassion, as opposed to punish her for it?

if she is Christ's, it doesn't simply make sense.

it's downright Just. and Biblical.

eh, don't mind me. been doing a study of the word 'checed' in the Old Testament.
we typically see it translated 'lovingkindness' but i wonder if it might have something to do with God's covenant loyalty to His dear but helpless children?

i have a daughter who goes through periods of a similar struggle. she almost becomes convinced at those times God cannot forgive her. so i try to help her recall to mind all His faithful promises to her in Christ.
and because He is faithful, these times are becoming less severe and fewer in between. it's a battle for her, but she told me a couple of months ago she knows the ultimate battle has already been fought. and won, but not by her.

Who is a God like Him?

 

[blue_ladybug]

I think maybe people figure that God has given up on them, or doesn't hear or care about them, or has nevered answered their prayers, so they turn to what makes them feel better: drugs. Whether it's illegal drugs, prescribed meds, or even alcohol.. They don't realize that drugs and alcohol only numbs the feelings, it doesn't cure them. People figure if God won't make them "feel good", then the drugs or alcohol will..

People want a "quick fix" to their problems. The thing is, God doesn't always work that quickly.. And so they seek out a seemingly faster solution.. jmo

 

[Demi777]

absolutely but if it is a sickness I was healed or I was not? I do not have any mental illness nor will I accept a suggestion that I do. but that's just me

Well but doctors say that a mentally ill person doesnt know that he is ill. so people who think they are ill are not..but people who think they arent ill are... lol hugs

 

[Depleted]

absolutely but if it is a sickness I was healed or I was not? I do not have any mental illness nor will I accept a suggestion that I do. but that's just me

On November 21, my husband had a massive heart attack. I did not want to understand what the doctors were telling me. By nature, I am an optimist, and I could have easily taken their words to mean, "he'll be fine." I'm also a realist, so took what they said at face value to deal with it.

My husband was semiconscious when they wheeled him from one hospital to another to have stents put in. He too heard what they said. "This one's not going to make it."

He made it through that night. He lost a microvalve during the heart attack, but they couldn't replace it until he was sufficiently recovered. Pneumonia, kidney failure, and another infection so bad yet another doctor was telling me that he was the sickest patient in an ICU with 35 patients -- many who just had heart attacks too -- likely to die within the next 12 hours, delayed that surgery until December 23.

He's had over 50 pints of blood, they were supposed to wean him off the vent, but they just pulled it out and hoped for the best, (he was breathing like the last day of his heart attack -- gasping so hard, I found myself breathing deep, as if my breathing would force him to breath better, and then they put the vent back in and gave up trying to take it out until he was transferred back), they removed his teeth, oh and he had a Stage 4 bedsore so deep it dug into his hip bone in the INTERIOR portion of that bone! He went into total atrophy, unless you consider being able to move one index finger makes it not "total." Food was tuned into him, and the "other end" was tubed out of him. They were sure, he'd have to use a catheter for the rest of his life. (Surprised all of us, when God decided he wouldn't after a mere six hours off it.)

Did God heal him? YES! He's coming home on Thursday. But, we're still trying to figure out how much need he'll have for that wheelchair, and the walker, and where they'll go when he doesn't need it. The bedsore has healed enough now, last I heard (yesterday afternoon) was he may or may not be put back on the wound vac. It was about 7 inches wide and 6 inches deep. (Some confusion on exacts only because we didn't know they were using centimeters, and we were thinking "inches.") It's down to as wide and deep as a quarter. (Who would think that could be met with such big smiles on our part. lol)

He was healed. He is healed. He will heal some more.

And then one day, he will die and be totally healed!

That's the the truth of the gospel. That is how God heals us. It is "healed" though. We are mentally disabled in our sin, and God is healing us until he cures us by giving us a new mind and body. This one's purpose is to get healthier and "healedier" to prepare for the next one.

Do we need to accept that? No, but then again, hubby didn't accept he had a heart attack until sometime last January. Before that he was being healed without his agreement or say-so. After that he has had every emotion in the book, (except anger with God, but that was God given too. I was over the potential for anger before hubby was conscious again, and by the time he was conscious again grateful so overpowered any chance of being angry, I never got angry at God either -- not for this one anyone) and yet, God kept right on healing him. Grateful! The one emotion that seems to carry both of us the most!

God does not need our permission, nor does he wait for it, to make us better. He doesn't even need us to believe we're all that bad off to do his thing. He's The Daddy and knows what we need, so gives it to us for our good and his glory.

 

[Depleted]

No one's perfect. My view is that along as we're doing our best, talking to God every day about what we can do to empower ourselves against the enemy, when and where we need to change and we put in that effort to follow through, then that's a great way to be.

An easier way is to recognize we don't have power, so count on the one who does.

 

[Depleted]

I agree, as I would probably reserve the word retarded more for that which thinks its spiritual life

Like for some of the nutty stuff posted on the forum, people barking and mooing and stuff, its hard to call that intelligence.

Whew! Glad you didn't add talking to pets or stuffed animals to that list.

 

[Depleted]

Sadly when one says "I am still a work in progress" or " I still have mental issues" they think they are being humble but it's false humility. Either God is correct when He said by His stripes we ARE healed and that we are new creations in Christ or He was not. We can choose to accept we are who God says we are or we can continue to try and please the world with our false humility. We can not do both. I realize this is difficult as we don't "feel" like saints and we don't "think" we are no longer sinners but God says both. I have found when I feel or think differently than what God says I am one of us is wrong. Hint, it isn't God.

Why does it never dawn on people, when they come up with their own theories that it might not be God's idea, but theirs? All this "Either God is correct or blahblahblah" stuff means, in reality, is, "Either I'm totally right in my full and complete understanding of God or you're wrong!" Which honestly, is ridiculous to even say out loud.

You're right. It isn't God! It's you! Maybe you were out sick from school the day present perfect was taught. Maybe you have problems understanding God is the creator of time and space, therefore he is not obligated to understand lineally. He understands entirely and completely all at once. Maybe your parents didn't teach you why the Royal We is offensive when "we" really means "all you poor saps." Maybe you missed the days in Sunday School when The Gospel of John and Romans was taught, because you're still thinking we choose God. And, maybe, just maybe you could use some real humility and stop thinking you represent God's POV! You don't, since you just misrepresented God on a multitude of fronts in such a short paragraph.

Suggestion -- try for a little false humility and then you might inch into real humility!

Yes, God has healed us. He is also healing us. He will heal us. He will glorify us. He will! Not you will.