What Made Mental Illness a ‘Sin’? Paganism

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Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 15 February 2018

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Is suffering from mental illness the result of personal sin? Last week, many Christians felt two prominent evangelical ministries affirmed that this was the case. At last week’s evangelical women’s conference the IF Gathering, speaker Rebekah Lyons, in telling about her daughter’s anxiety attacks, suggested that mental illness could be healed through prayer. The incidents at IF occurred several days after John Piper’s Desiring God ministry tweeted “We will find mental health when we stop staring in the mirror, and fix our eyes on the strength and beauty of God.” Nearly 500 people responded to the tweet, saying that the message implied that counselors and medication were unnecessary to cure mental illness. Both ministries later distanced themselves from these comments. IF Gathering founder Jennie Allen later clarified that the ministry supports counseling/medication and doesn't think mental illness is sinful. Desiring God apologized for “leaving off the link that gives the context quoting Clyde Kilby from more than 40 years ago when ‘mental health’ didn’t have the same technical connotations as today.” This link between mental illness, sin, and spirituality “isn’t really a Christian or religious idea,” says Amy Simpson, the author of Troubled Minds: Mental Illness and the Church’s Mission. “It’s really rooted in superstition and a misunderstanding of what mental illness is,” said Simpson. In the 20th century, psychiatry and psychology were heavily secular practices and Sigmund Freud saw religion itself as a form of neurosis. “Many people responded to that, distancing themselves from psychiatry and psychology and thinking they’re anti-God, they’re anti-religion, they’re anti-faith, therefore we don’t want to have anything to do with them,” said Simpson. Simpson joined associate digital media producer Morgan Lee and editor in chief Mark Galli to discuss spiritual oppression and mental illness in the Gospels, how our understanding of the brain has transformed in the past 50 years, and where sin fits into this discussion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.0	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion.
0:14.5	Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:31.2	Music Michael Del Rosario at Apologeticsguy.com. You're listening to Quick to Listen.
0:33.2	Each week we go beyond hashtags and hot takes to discuss a major cultural event. I'm Morgan Lee,
0:38.8	an associate digital media producer here at Christianity today. I'm joined digitally by Mark Galley.
0:44.9	Hey, Mark. Hey, it's good not to be with you today, meaning I'm homesick with the flu, but recovering enough to
0:51.7	participate in the podcast. So that's a good thing. I know. You didn't leave me
0:54.9	stranded here like I had feared. Yeah. Well, I'm not quite as courageous as you. I seem to recall
1:00.8	you coming in and doing the podcast when you had you were sick ones. You're right. It would have
1:05.0	taken an amount of courage for me to let you to do it alone. It's true. There you go.
1:14.8	So who is joining us today? Joining us today is Amy Simpson. She's an author, speaker, and life and leadership coach. She's the author of troubled
1:19.5	minds, mental illness and the church's mission. And most recently, Blessed are the Unsatisfied
1:24.1	Finding Spiritual Freedom in an Imperfect World. She's written for some very prestigious
1:28.9	outlets over the years, including Christianity Today, and many of her most memorable articles
1:34.0	are on her wrestling with the issue of mental illness and the Christian faith. So I'm really glad
1:38.2	she's on our show today. Welcome, Amy. Thanks a lot. It's good to kind of be here with you, too.
1:46.6	Not in the physical space, but virtually. Awesome. We're really glad you're here, Amy, as well. All right, let's get into our
1:52.2	discussion for the day. Last Friday, the Evangelical Women's Conference, the if gathering, drew
1:58.2	criticism for comments about mental health. Some criticized speaker, Rebecca Lyons, who, in telling about her daughter's anxiety attacks,
2:06.2	suggested that mental illness could be healed through prayer.
2:09.4	Lyons, for the record, is someone who has frequently spoken about her own journey with mental illness.
	...

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