Comments on: iMonk 101: The Christian and Mental Illness (Introductory Questions)

By: Jennet

Jennet — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:39:27 +0000

I’m not sure where the idea came from about Oujia boards being evil, but I remember being a youngster reading about them and seeing friends play with them, thinking that it seemed crazy to be opening your mind up to that much outside influence – especially if you didn’t know what (or who) was answering you. Sure, some of it is just your friends moving the marker…but why risk it? Why open youself up like that? I am a firm believer in spirtual warfare, and I’m sure that my beliefs and experiences reinforce my beliefs on oujia boards being no good.

By: emily

emily — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:54:14 +0000

Actually, my roomate is from China and a non-Christian and while watching a Japanese horror film was very specific about saying not to mess with ‘Oujia’ boards (like one used in the movie), because if you don’t do it right you might become possessed or have a ghost follow you or something.

She isn’t religious, but she does believe in ghosts and evil spirits and such. So I think it would be wrong to say that the idea of ‘Ouija’ boards bringing about possessions automatically has to result from evengalical protestants.

By: corey

corey — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:08:56 +0000

or mental!

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:20:51 +0000

…all those degrees and flash cards and blah blah blah, but you still haven’t figured out how to create paragraphs?

By: Donald Todd

Donald Todd — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:56:28 +0000

I read the thread of this item looking to see if you had contributed anywhere else. If you did, I missed it.

You spelled quija correctly. Thank you. I stand corrected.

You thought that the idea that quija boards could bring about possession went back to the evangelical protestants. Is there a basis for that supposition?

I have heard of exorcisms gone wrong. My impression is that the Catholic practice of involving medical professionals to look for organic causes, then psychiatric professionals to look for psychological causes before any consideration of assigning an exorcist would be a good example of how to determine where the cause of the problem is so that it might be properly addressed.

What would make you think the practices of witch doctors are of equal efficacy? Do you have documentary evidence?

By: Headless Unicorn Guy

Headless Unicorn Guy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:55:21 +0000

So what else is new?

Christians are usually a day late and a dollar short when it comes to any changes in the culture around them. In a repeating example of Really Bad Timing, the Sanitized Christian (TM) knockoffs come out just as the originals jump the shark and fade away. Result: Christians are always trying to “Me Too!” the last fad, always fighting the last war, always just out of phase with current reality.

By: Jeremiah Lawson

Jeremiah Lawson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:33:13 +0000

Jeremiah and Ezekiel were clearly the Up with People people of the prophets.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:59:52 +0000

I totally agree with you that a model of “blame the sufferer” is helpful to no one, and I object to a religious leader telling someone they don’t need meds just as I would if they told the diabetic they don’t need insulin. I do, however, believe that mental illness is far more complicated than physical illness (which is complex enough) and simplistic “is it sin or is it a demon or is it my granny’s genes” is not helpful. Lets treat illnesses that fit a medical paradigm with medical methods, but not be afraid to consider that our modern medical “biochemical” answers may be missing some of the complexity of the picture.

We are uncomfortable with mental illness because it is scary and difficult to understand, so we like to simplify. We also like to avoid the discomfort, so ignore or stigmatise the sufferer. And that is sin. (and maybe even prompted by evil spiritual forces?!)

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:48:38 +0000

Yes, I get the nature of your comment, but I am not convinced that it is unreasonable to think that there may be unfriendly spiritual forces in there in the mix in some cases. You can keep your posessed cabbage patch dolls and D&D figurines, but in a culture were witchcraft is a regular part of people’s experience, I find my old Western sniffy attitude to “surperstitious/medieval ideas” doesn’t always fit the facts on the ground. I don’t hesitate to use antidepressants for patients with depression, but I am not going to rule out the possibility that the jinn may have some objective as well as subjective powers.

So yes, I do think it is “more unreasonable to speculate that medication that treats a physical condition can impact the spiritual forces behind it than it is to speculate that those spiritual forces ARE behind it.” because, as a Western trained medic I can see a mechanism for the latter, but I am not happy that there is any reasonable mechanism by which boosting serotonin levels is going to have an effect on an immaterial being, but maybe… strangely, the medical literature is very quiet on the issue of whether demons might be allergic to serotonin… could be a paper in it? Not sure whether to publish in the medical or theological journals, though…

By: Jenny

Jenny — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:27:42 +0000

The problem is your American demons are a whole different breed, much too media minded and in fact probably mentally ill themselves. Mind you, if I was given the job of infesting a cabbage patch doll I guess i would be pretty pi$$@d off myself…