Yesterday we discussed the simplistic diabetes/depression argument.  Today we will look at the no psychotropic’s argument.  In other words—Christians shouldn’t take medicine. 

Two Types

This particular approach has two variants.  The first type of “no psychotropic’s” rejects not only psychotropic’s but any form of medicine.  Their view is much more involved than I will present it, but for shortness sake, allow me to summarize.  Essentially the belief here is that taking medicine is distrusting God.  Rather than trusting in man (medicine) we should pray and believe that God will heal us.  If he chooses not to heal us then that is His will.  More extreme varieties of this belief will refuse all forms of medicine even to the point of death.  (You’ve maybe seen cases of this in the news).

The second type is really the one that I am concerned with.  This view denies that biology can be the cause of psychological stress.  According to one proponent of this view, “the mentally ill are really people with unsolved personal problems”.  Even things like Schizophrenia are really just camouflage for the underlying issues.  Typically it is unresolved sin. 

Most of my readers probably have ruffled feathers by now.  How can you possibly say that depression, anxiety, schizophrenia is MY fault?  Why would I WANT to be depressed?  Why would somebody WANT to have anxiety or schizophrenia? 

Listen, the guys that hold these views are not stupid.  They are also not mean people that want to destroy people.  They love the Lord, they love the Scriptures, they love people.  And they truly want to see these people healed and experience God’s awesomeness.  So why do they say such things? 

Their Argument

I will try to sum up the view as best as I can but if this really peaks your interest I would suggest reading material by Jay Adams and those influenced by him.  The driving force behind this belief is that God is central and the Bible is sufficient.  It is largely reactionary against the excesses of naturalistic psychology and Christian integrationist. 

Eric Johnson in his book on Soul-Care sums up their passion nicely when he states:

Because modern psychotherapy and counseling discourse make no substantial reference to God and sin, counseling by Christians largely based on that work will not rely on God and the power of Christ’s salvation in its soul-healing, and will unwittingly contribute to the substitution of the Christian religion with another, secular religion.  The very glory of God is at stake here, and the BCM [Biblical Counseling Movement] has seen itself as on a prophetic mission, challenging God’s people to choose God and his salvation for the cure of the soul rather than rely on secular (that is, merely human) counseling strategies.  (Johnson, Foundations of Soul-Care, p.107

If you want to understand this view then you must understand their passion for seeing sin as real and the significant problem with humanity.  You also need to know that they believe Christ and the Scriptures are the singularly sufficient for dealing with this fundamental problem. 

So how would someone from this school of thought answer our question?  Should a depressed Christian take medicine?  First of all they would say that your identity is in Christ not in depression.  You are a Christian that is experiencing symptoms of depression—but your fundamental identity is in Christ.  What will fix your depression is not medicine.  That will only mask the great issues that are going on.  What you need is biblical truth and perhaps repentance.  That is of course putting it coldly—such a thing would be done more warmly and lovingly in a counseling setting.  But at the end of the day this is the position. 

The Problem

William Cowper. 

Not just William Cowper but scores of people like him.  John Newton, who loved Christ and treasured the Scriptures, did not take a rebuke and repent type of method.  He understood that Cowper’s problem was not necessarily unconfessed sin or anything like that. 

Now I know that any strong proponent of this view would argue that the only for sure thing that we have to go by are the Scriptures, not John Newton.  Maybe Newton was wrong and Cowper was not counseled correctly.  Maybe.  But is there a difference between believing in the sufficiency of Scripture and believing that it is Scripture is sufficient in all areas? 

That question just opened an entire debate.  One that would take far too long to discuss here.  So, I’ll take you back to my presuppositions and you can do the research yourself.  I believe that Scripture is totally sufficient and adequate for that which it sets out to do.  But it’s not a sufficient guide for giving us the history of early American colonialism.  Nor is it necessarily a sufficient guide for fully understanding anatomy and physiology. 

You could have given Cowper a million bible verses.  He knew them all.  He understood grace.  He understood justification by faith alone.  He knew Jesus.  But occasionally something would snap in his mind and there would be a radical disconnect between worldview and his personal theology.  He believe the gospel was true for everyone in creation but himself.  Did he need more teaching?  Maybe you could argue that.  But is it possible that Cowper was experiencing something biological? 

At the end of the day I just find this view overly simplistic.  It sounds really good and convincing when it comes to exalting the Scriptures.  But it runs the risk of making the Bible fulfill promises that it never makes.  There are decent arguments from godly people that believe medicine is sometimes necessary. 

So what’s at stake in this discussion?  I’ll try to answer that tomorrow…

Yesterday, I outlined my presuppositions in discussing Depression, Christians, and Medicine.  My presupposition can be explained in this compact sentence: We are whole people, that have been wholly effected by the Fall, but will be totally redeemed, through the gospel (with it’s ripple effects)—which is absolutely sufficient, though God still uses means to make the gospel shine.  If you are new to this discussion and that is confusing perhaps you should read the entire post. 

Today, I promised to explain why the Diabetes/Depression argument is unsatisfactory and overly simplistic.  The argument goes something like this.  We treat diabetes by giving insulin.  We treat an infection with penicillin.  We treat heart problems with beta blockers.  Physical problems are treated with medicine.  So why is a problem with the central nervous system (the brain) any different?  You don’t rebuke someone with Alzheimer’s and pump them full of Scripture so why should you do that with someone that is plagued with depression? 

That is a great point. I’ll show my cards and say that in some particular instances with the right counseling accompanying it, I totally agree.  But is it really that simple?  There are a few things that complicate the issue. 

The Vagueness of Depression

First, depression is such a vague term.  When somebody says, “I feel depressed” it does not necessarily mean they have depression.  It is possible that they are experiencing guilt from sin.  It is even possible that this guilt could be creating biological effects.  It is also possible that this depression has a situational or societal factor.  Of course even these things could have an impact on biology.  Remember, we are whole people. 

Depression can (though not always) be our bodies warning system that something is out of balance.  In this regard it is different than Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s.  Certainly, depression can be an indicator light that something is wrong biologically.  It is possible that it could mean—you need to get some more serotonin dude.  Or it could mean that you need to repent.  Or it may even be a natural response to a societal wound. 

Be Transformed by the Renewing of Your…

Paul does not tell us to be transformed by the renewing of your pancreas.  God tells us in His Word that part of His work of redemption is to transform our minds.  Yes, God will also redeem your pancreas.  But in the here and now there is a special place and function of the mind.  This, at least for me, means that we should pause before accepting the diabetes/depression argument. 

Cautioning a Purely Naturalistic View

As believers we need to be cautious in embracing wholly naturalistic world view.  This does not mean that we cannot learn from the unregenerate, or that we should discard everything “secular”.  But this does mean that we should approach everything with caution that disregards God from the onset. 

A purely naturalistic view gives nothing but bio-psycho-social solutions.  Without acknowledging the sovereign action of God and the spiritual nature of our beings a significant (the most significant) part of our humanity is being neglected.  Therefore, any answer is going to be more simplistic than reality.  But so is any view that neglects any aspect of our humanity.

These views alone should cause us to pause and consider whether it is possible that the answer to this question is more complex than a simple God gave us medicine, depression is biological, use the medicine type of approach. 

Tomorrow we will look at the other overly simplistic view…