Brain Cooties

Are we responsible for the illnesses we contract?  I had someone imply this to me this morning about mental illness, that we were somehow responsible for having the disease and getting rid of it.  

 Now I have been fighting this battle for years.  I think I can firmly say that I have never heard such an insulting crock in my life.  If I was not a solid Christian, this response might have driven me from the Lord.  Unfortunately, it is a common response by Christians to those who have a mental illness.  Somehow, they are responsible for the disease, and if they prayed a little harder, they would remove the disease from their life.

 These are such destructive thoughts.  Mental illness is as physically based as a physical illness, like, oh, cancer.  Do we blame those with cancer when their treatments are not successful?  Why, then, should we blame someone with bipolar disease whose doctors have not yet been able to find a way to stabilize them?

 This post will be short. My point is simple and direct. People who think they are qualified to minister to those with mental illness should make sure that they truly are.  That includes a basic class in mental illnesses – what they are and how they affect the body and mind.  We cannot bring our prejudices with us when we visit those afflicted – and OH, we need to visit those afflicted (just like we visit those with cancer.)

 Mental illness is the leprosy of our day.  Let’s do better than the “religious” people of Jesus’ day.