Why Do People With Schizophrenia Either Love God Or Hate God?

 

There is a strange phenomenon that I have noticed among those of us on the Schizophrenia spectrum. This phenomenon not only applies to people with Schizophrenia, however, but it applies to all people with mental illness. What is this phenomenon that I am speaking about? It is a phenomenon I'd like to call the "I Love God or Hate God" phenomenon. What do I mean by this? I mean I have noticed that among those of us who fall on the Schizophrenia spectrum, we either passionately love God to the point of obsession with Him or we absolutely despise Him. Rarely do I ever see one of us who is in the middle. This phenomenon is so common that it should cause any of us to wonder why this is. I have thought long and hard about this phenomenon and in this blog I shall discuss some of my thoughts concerning this, However, before I get into my thoughts, I'd like to say that I am fully aware that all people hate God before the Holy Spirit regenerates their hearts. I do not believe that anyone is neutral when it comes to God. I fully believe what Paul says in Romans 3:11 which says, 

"None is righteous, no not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God" 

Based on this text, not a single person seeks after God because, in our natural state, we all hate Him. However, I believe that there is a difference between passive hate for God and active hate for God. Please allow me to elaborate on this. While everyone in their natural state hates God, some people are not consciously aware of their hatred for Him. For example, professing atheists would fall under this category. On the contrary, other people are conscious of their hate for God and will actively oppose Him. I believe that some people on the Schizophrenia spectrum fall under this category. I am not saying that all people with Schizophrenia are characterized by this. Some of us are on the opposite extreme of passionately and obsessively loving God, as I have already pointed out. The question is why are we so polarized on the topic of God? In my experience (as someone who has gone from one extreme to the other), I have found three possible reasons why this is the case. These reasons are the following: 

1) Religious Obsession 

It is a well-known fact that people on the Schizophrenia spectrum deal with a lot of religious obsession. Whether or not we are raised in a religious home, we have a tendency to obsess over religion or even Philosophy. As a matter of fact, a lot of us tend to go into these fields of study when we enter college for that very reason. The reason we tend to obsess over religion or philosophy is partly because our delusions and hallucinations tend to revolve around the religious or philosophical. For some reason, we absolutely cannot stop thinking about religion and philosophy. I believe this is evidence that even among people who are not in touch with reality a lot of the times the imago dei is still stamped on their being. It is for this reason that we cannot stop thinking about God. 

2) Rejection or Acceptance of One's Own Illness 

Whether or not we learn to accept or reject our diagnoses, plays a vital role in how we relate to the Lord. What I mean by this is if we learn to accept our illness, we will then understand that the Lord gave us our illness for a purpose and it will work out for our good to His glory. This realization will cause us to love Him all the more as we deal with our personal mental health symptoms. However, if we learn to reject our diagnoses, then we will ultimately believe that God must hate us for making us this way and thus we will turn our backs on the Almighty. Rejection or acceptance of our illness will ultimately be the deciding factor over whether we love God or hate Him. 

3) Isolation 

Another well-known fact about those of us on the Schizophrenia spectrum is that we tend to isolate ourselves a whole lot. The reason that this plays a role in why we either hate God or love God is because when we isolate ourselves we tend to ruminate on our own thoughts more often than we should. When we do this, our predominate thoughts toward the Lord will prevail causing us to feel a certain way toward Him. In other words, if we are constantly thinking negative thoughts about Him, then our beliefs about Him will be negative. However, if our constant thoughts about Him are positive, then our beliefs about Him will be positive. Unfortunately, for many of us who are on this spectrum and choosing to isolate, we tend to grow to hate God because we are always ruminating on negative thoughts concerning Him. This is why we need to get outside of our homes to socialize with others preferably at church or some kind of church function. When we do that, our thoughts will become more positive toward God naturally as we see His followers reflecting His love toward us. 

I hope that this blog helps you better understand the mindset of those of us on the Schizophrenia spectrum and if you can think of any other reasons for why we either love God or hate Him please let me know in the comments below. Thank you for reading this blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

How Should Christians View Mental Illness?

 

When it comes to the topic of mental illness, there are a plethora of different thoughts and opinions. Some people say that mental illness is fake while others say it is either demonic or the result of individual sin. Christians should always be concerned about what the Bible says about any topic. So, what exactly does the Bible say concerning mental illness, if it says anything at all? As it is, there is not any specific text that refers to mental illness. I know that sounds pretty disappointing to those of you who really want to know how the Scriptures address this very controversial issue. I wish that the Bible did say more on this, but I do believe that we can draw some inferences from Scripture without committing eisegesis. These inferences will help us to better understand how we view mental illness. This blog will attempt to do just that because I have seen a lot of ignorance concerning this topic within the Body of Christ. I do not say this with any animosity but out of love for the brethren. We do need to do better in this because it is pretty sad how the world understands mental illness better than we do. 

The Fall 

To talk about how the Bible wants us to view mental illness, I must take you back all the way to the beginning. In Genesis 1 and 2, we witness the creation of the cosmos and the creation of the first man and woman. Adam was put in the Garden of Eden to work it and cultivate it. He was there on a probationary period as a Prophet, Priest, and King. As a Prophet, he was to dedicate creation to God. As a Priest, he was to consecrate creation for God. And as a King, he was to usher in the New Heaven and New Earth by pronouncing covenant curses on the serpent. However, this is not what happened. If we turn to Genesis 3:1-7, we read the following, 

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, 'Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the Garden?' and the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of any trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die'. But the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.' So when the woman seen that the tree was good for food, and it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths." 

It was at this moment that sin came into the world because Adam chose to seek his own autonomy apart from God. I know you are probably wondering why I keep putting the blame on Adam and not on Eve. But, that is because whom the Scriptures ascribe the blame to. If we turn to Romans 5:12, we read, 

"Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--" 

Adam was our covenant representative and since he sinned, we all sinned in Adam. When he chose to rebel against the authority of God because he wanted to be his own authority, sin, and death spread throughout the whole world. For this very reason, the world and even humanity are subject to decay. Everything and everyone is dying because of Adam's sin. Sin has completely corrupted our entire being: heart, mind, and soul. We are completely messed up. The fact that our bodies are subject to decay is why we experience pain and all manner of suffering. It is not just our bodies, though, but our minds. This is where mental illness comes in because mental illnesses are the result of Adam's sin. Our minds are decaying and that is why we have Bipolar disorder, Schizophrenia, and other such illnesses. But, this does not mean that mental illness is not without its purpose, which leads me to my next point. 

What is the purpose? 

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." -Romans 5:3-5 

As we can see, all of our suffering is building character and endurance in us which ultimately culminates in our hope, which does not disappoint us. I think of a goldsmith who needs to purify his gold. He will set the gold in the dead center of the fire to burn the dross and impurities off the gold. The end result is a clean and purified solid gold rock. In the same way, God holds us to the flame to purify us and conform us to the image of His Son. Sure, it does not seem pleasant for the time being but afterward we can be thankful. This definitely applies to mental illness too. As we go through daily life enduring the symptoms of our illness, God is using that to purify our hearts, minds, and souls. You can think of that next time you are feeling depressed or seeing hallucinations or feeling anxious. God is using all of that for our good (Romans 8:28) It is precisely the reason that God is using it for our good that we can rejoice in His sovereignty over all things, including our mental illnesses. 

I sincerely hope that this blog helps you better understand how we should view mental illness in light of the Scriptures. Mental illness is a real thing and many people do suffer from it. We should never negate the suffering of those who deal with mental illness. It is because we live in a broken and fallen world that mental illness even exists. However, there will come a time when there will be no more mental illness. If we turn to Revelation 21:1-4, we read the following, 

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away" 

I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope this was a blessing to you. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

What's So Bad About Adultery?

The sin of adultery is one of the most glamorized sins in our culture today. Many secular people seem to believe that it is a harmless thing to have an affair these days. These same people may not outright champion adultery, but at the same time, they will not condemn it either. Part of the reason for this travesty is because of how adultery is presented in our media these days. Hollywood is notorious for portraying adultery as an easy way to escape an unbearable or "boring" marriage. At the same time, the idea of marriage is constantly being ridiculed and mocked by our media. For this reason, many people have lost respect for the institution of marriage. No longer do people understand why marriage is so important when we live in a world where everyone is just "shacking up". And not only is there no respect for marriage anymore, but people no longer understand why divorce is so bad either. Many people seem to have forgotten what was said by the prophet Malachi in chapter 2 verse 16, 

"For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts." 

In other words, God sees a man divorcing his wife as the same thing as if he physically assaulted her! This is how serious the topic of divorce is to the Lord. I believe many people do know how wrong divorce is in the Lord's eyes, but they still want out of an undesirable marriage. For this reason, they turn to adultery because they see that it is an "easy" way out. These people think that as long as they are not caught everything will be alright because no one will be hurt. Sometimes, these people will resort to seeking adultery in other ways rather than with someone else. What do I mean by this exactly? I am talking about pornography. Yes, I said it. When you look at porn, it is the same thing as committing adultery. Why do I say this? Well, it is because that is what our Lord says. If you turn to Matthew 5:28, we read the following, 

"But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart" 

Our Lord clearly sees lust and adultery as the same thing. So, whenever you turn on your computer or phone to look up porn, just know that according to God you are being sexually unfaithful to your spouse. By the way, sexual infidelity is the reason Jesus gives for divorce (Matthew 5:32). 

So, why does the Lord see adultery as such a heinous sin exactly? For me to answer that question, I must take you all the way to the beginning. In Genesis chapter 1, we read of how God created the whole world and universe. Then, in Genesis chapter 2, we read of the creation of the first man, Adam. The Lord gave Adam a job to name all the animals in the Garden of Eden, which caused Adam to see that there was no helper suitable for him. Then the Lord did something remarkable. In verses 21 and 22, the Lord put Adam to sleep and pulled a rib out of him. He then created the first woman, Eve, from that rib. This miracle of the Lord was so amazing to Adam that he exclaimed, 

"This is at last bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman because she was taken out of Man" 

Adam was obviously very pleased with the work that the Lord had done for him. The chapter concludes in verses 24 through 25, 

Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and unashamed" 

What does all this have to do with why adultery is so heinous in God's eyes? Well, if we turn to Ephesians 5:25-32, we read the following, 

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. 'Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and his church" 

The Apostle Paul is basically painting us a picture of marriage being the exact representation of Christ's relationship with His church. This is why all believers in the Lord are called the literal Bride of Christ. The reason why adultery is such a heinous sin in God's eyes is because it tarnishes the image of Christ and His bride. The reason that I say this is because Jesus will never be unfaithful to His bride just like He will never divorce His bride either. 

Now, that you have seen why adultery is so bad in the Lord's eyes, I shall discuss the negative impact adultery has on society. I will begin with lust since it is easily the most common way people commit adultery. According to Fight The New Drug, 

"Most kids today are exposed to porn by the age of 13" 

As a result of that fact, 73% of teens today have seen porn. It is because of this, that 53% of boys and 39% of girls think that what they see in pornography are accurate depictions of what sex is really like. This is the reason why most porn consumers report that they are less satisfied with their relationships, less committed to their partner, and more accepting of cheating! This is a travesty of epic proportions! As a result of all of the lustful content we are consuming, people are becoming more accepting of infidelity! If that does not alarm you to the evil of lust, then I do not know what will. 

What about the physical act of adultery? I mean, what is so wrong about committing the actual act as long as no one knows about it right? According to the National Library of Medicine, 

"Infidelity causes grief and relational problems to the individual, the couple, and even their offspring. It was found to be associated with depression, anxiety, and even PTSD, leading to divorce" 

The same article goes on to explain that as a result of an adulterous affair, both parties can experience bouts of suicidality. For the one being injured by adultery, the suicidality will be triggered by feelings of depression and anxiety. For the perpetrator of an adulterous affair, the bout of suicidality will be triggered by anxiety and guilt over being found out. 

I hope that this blog helps you understand why adultery, in whatever form it takes, is completely heinous in God's eyes, both from a Scriptural perspective and from a practical perspective. If you are someone who has been caught committing adultery, please know that there is forgiveness in Christ. He was sent to the cross to die for all of our sins. All you need to do is repent of your adultery and surrender your life to the Lord. When you do this, there will no longer be any condemnation for you (Romans 8:1) because we will finally be at peace with God (Romans 5:1). Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

 

Biblical Hope For The Depressed & Suicidal

 

Depression is a hard thing to deal with in life. It is even more complicated when that depression is coupled with feelings of suicidality. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), roughly about 21 million people have had a major depression episode at least once in their lifetime. Also, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, there are about 132 suicides daily. These are some staggering statistics and they mean that many people in today's society are hurting. When dealing with severe depression, it does them no good to give trite answers or empty platitudes because they will only serve as salt in an open wound. Depressed and suicidal people do not need friends like Job's worthless counselors. What they need is someone to sit with them and make them feel like they are not alone. You do not even need to say anything whatsoever, but your presence is all they need. In this blog, I shall attempt to give some words of encouragement to those who are dealing with depression and suicidal thoughts, but I will avoid trite answers and empty platitudes. As you read this blog, keep in mind that I too am a fellow sufferer of depression and I have actually attempted suicide many times. I have tried hanging myself and overdosing on my medication multiple times. I even resorted to cutting myself too. On one of my attempts, I ended up in the ICU for about four days. I am saying all this because I want you to understand that I know how you are feeling right now. What I am going to say is stuff that I wish people would remind me of when I am feeling depressed and suicidal. While the Scriptures never directly address suicide, they do have a lot to say about the hope we have in Christ. And that hope will never disappoint us. 

The first Scripture I would like to direct your attention to is Romans 5:3-5. This text says, 

"Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" 

Our suffering, no matter what form it takes, is producing our character and hope as we continue to endure. I know that it does not feel pleasant at the current moment, but God calls us to keep moving forward as we keep trusting in Him. The reason we can keep moving forward is because we have His love poured into us by the Holy Spirit. As the Apostle Paul says elsewhere, "The love of Christ compels us..." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). We understand that no matter what we go through in this life, Christ's love for us will get us through it all. This leads me to the next verse I want to share with you. If you turn to Romans 8:37-39, we read, 

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" 

The love of Christ for His people is so powerful that absolutely nothing in all creation can or will ever be able to separate us from Him. This means that no matter what you are currently going through, it cannot separate you from the love of the Father. This should give you something to smile about because your Heavenly Father is always on your side. He loves you with an undying love so much that He sent His only Son to die on the cross for you. I've heard it said that if you were the only person on this earth, Christ would have died just for you. While I do not necessarily think that is a good saying, I do think the truth it is attempting to convey is a good one though. Also, do not think that our Lord cannot sympathize with your plight. If we turn to Hebrews 4:15, we read, 

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin" 

Jesus Christ as a man has been tempted in every single way that we are being tempted, yet our Lord did not sin. This means it is not a sin to be tempted and it also means that Christ can understand what we are going through at all times. It is because of this that we can come to Him boldly with all our struggles and doubts and frustrations. We do not have to feel ashamed about them. Actually, the Lord wants us to "cast all of our anxieties upon Him" (1 Peter 5:6-7). 

The final verse I'd like to bring to your attention is my personal favorite. It is Romans 8:28, which says, 

"And we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose" 

I absolutely love this verse for a couple reasons. For one, it perfectly displays God's sovereignty over all circumstances, which means that no matter what I am facing God is still in control. The second reason I love this verse is that it does not promise that everything I go through will be good, but it does promise that everything I go through will work together for my good. I may not understand at the moment how some tragedy will work out for my good, but I can trust the Lord in His word because He cannot lie. No matter what you are facing, God is much bigger than your troubles and that means you can truly rest in His sovereign care. 

I hope that this blog has really helped lift your spirits if you were feeling depressed and suicidal. Trust me when I say that nothing in this life is worth taking your life over. No matter what is going on in your life, take it to the Lord in prayer for He cares about you and He is always in control. Your troubles are not catching Him by surprise. Thank you for taking the time to read this blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!!

-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Check out the other CCMH Ministry Website

What Is It Like Living With Schizoaffective Disorder?

 

According to NAMI, only about .3% of the population develop Schizoaffective Disorder in their lifetime. This means that this disorder is relatively rare and because of that fact, there are many misconceptions concerning Schizoaffective Disorder. Some people confuse it for Multiple Personality Disorder (DID) or they just assume that it is demonic. In reality, it is neither of these two. Schizoaffective Disorder is a disease of the brain that can be treated with medication and counseling. Many people with this disorder can, and often do, go on living productive lives in society. Despite this fact, there still remains a stigma against those of us with this disorder. The reason for this is because of the gross ignorance surrounding this disorder. In this blog, I shall discuss exactly what it is like living with this disorder so I can clear up some of the stigma. I would like to say that this is based on my own experience but Schizoaffective Disorder, like all mental illnesses, affects each individual person differently. However, I do still think that it is good to talk about my experience with this disorder because it will help the reader understand basically what our experience is like. I will separate this blog into three sections: Mood, Delusions/Hallucinations, and Triggers. There are by far much more signs and symptoms for this disorder but these are the main ones. I would like anyone who suffers from this disorder to please post their experience in the comments below. If we can feel free to openly discuss our experiences, then it will go far in eliminating the stigma. 

Mood: 

One of the biggest signs of Schizoaffective Disorder is extreme mood fluctuations. What I do not mean by this is that the person will go from mere happy to sad. That is a gross oversimplification of what is going on. What I mean by extreme mood fluctuations is that the person will experience a very high mood of ecstasy and then out of nowhere will drop down to a severe depression and then will go back up to feeling very ecstatic. This is why many times people with Schizoaffective Disorder tend to get misdiagnosed as being Bipolar at first. Also, Schizoaffective Disorder is a combination of both Schizophrenia and Bipolar. When I am dealing with this, my mania episodes cause me to engage in high-risk behaviors such as overspending and sexual deviancy, and then afterward I will drop into a depression where all I want to do is isolate and contemplate suicide. 

Delusions/Hallucinations: 

Another common symptom of Schizoaffective Disorder is having delusions and hallucinations. What are delusions and hallucinations exactly? According to the dictionary, a delusion is, 

"a false belief or judgment about external reality, held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, occurring especially in mental conditions" 

The dictionary also defines a hallucination as, 

"An experience involving the apparent perception of something not present" 

I would like to note that not all people with Schizoaffective disorder experience hallucinations, but most of us do experience delusions. Delusions can come in many different forms too.  If you would like to know what these different types of delusions are, please check out my video titled Different Types of Delusions (A Christian Perspective). In the past when I have dealt with delusions, I believed such things as me being the Antichrist, me being prophesied to harm the president, my presence dictating whether or not my favorite sports teams win the game and other such things. Whenever I tend to hallucinate, I will hear voices telling me that I am God or that people are praying to me. I also used to see animals that are not really there. 

Triggers: 

Every person with Schizoaffective disorder does seem to have certain triggers in their daily life. What exactly is a trigger you wonder? According to Healthline, a trigger is, 

"something that affects your emotional state, often significantly, by causing extreme overwhelm or distress" 

There are many different types and ways someone can be triggered into either a mania or depression episode. Triggers can even set someone into a delusion or hallucination too. Every person with Schizoaffective Disorder has different triggers, but the person needs to know what triggers them. Stress is a common trigger among us so it is wise for us to be in low-stress environments. If you would like to know what are my triggers, please read my blog titled What Are Some Of My Triggers?

I hope that this blog gives you some idea of what it is like for those of us with Schizoaffective Disorder daily. Like I said before, as long as we remain on our medication and continue seeing our therapist, then we can live functional and productive lives in society. There is absolutely no shame in this because it is just like a diabetic needing insulin shots to stay alive. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Therapy Is Good, Matt Walsh

 

Recently, I saw a video on YouTube by Conservative Talk Show host Matt Walsh where he spent twenty minutes disparaging the practice of therapy, Normally I would not even bother to respond to something like this, but since Mr. Walsh has such a large influence on people, I decided that I needed to say something. He started the video by saying that "If you are in therapy, you are probably wasting your time." He then talks about how mental health issues have increased, while more and more people are going to therapy. He makes the point by way of analogy that if therapy were indeed helping people, then we should see a decline in mental health issues. Since we do not see this decline, he concludes, therapy must not be very useful. While he does admit that correlation does not always mean causation, his point is invalid because he is operating under the assumption that these people are going to therapists and that their issues can be easily resolved. On the contrary, mental illness is a lifelong disease that can only be treated with medication and therapy. People who have mental illnesses understand that they will have to be on medication and see their therapist for the rest of their lives because it is not going away any time soon. However, the success of medication and therapy appears in the fact that these people can properly function in society. What was his analogy you wonder? He talked about how one year the Baltimore Ravens fired their strength and conditioning coach because they realized that their players were still getting hurt at remarkable rates. He equates this to therapy somehow, but this is a false analogy. A better analogy would be a doctor telling someone that they have lifelong diabetes and so they need to take insulin shots for the rest of their life. Now, the insulin shot is not going to cure this person, but if they properly use it, then they will be able to continue living normally. This is exactly how mental health treatment is. 

He then shows a video of a woman who is twice divorced talking about how therapy has helped her and he further disparages this woman by saying that therapy obviously did her no favors. However, Matt does not know this woman from Adam nor does he know her story. How does he know that she was not in an abusive relationship twice? He does not. How does he know that this woman was not sexually abused by her former husband? He does not. He is merely assuming that she has blame for her divorce and that she is just playing blame avoidance because she does not want to take responsibility for her behavior. But, he offers no reason for us to believe this. All that he has is this woman's video and his own meandering assumptions about her. 

Next, he talks about how therapists are not more insightful and wise but instead are "more confused" than the people they are counseling. His justification for this is the fact that many therapists are gender-affirming. He says this as if he believes that unless a therapist is right about everything they believe they cannot possibly be of any help to anyone. However, I would be willing to bet that he would not require this same standard for police officers. He would not expect a police officer to know everything there is to know about the justice system to be a good police officer. I am sure that even Mr. Walsh would admit that a police officer can be wrong about one aspect of the law and still do his job well. In the same way, a therapist can be wrong in one aspect and still be good at giving wise counsel. Furthermore, he acts as if there is no such thing as Christian conservative therapists who are not gender-affirming. 

He finally concludes the video by saying that people just need to "get over themselves and get a hobby". He says that these people need to stop focusing on themselves because "life is hard and yours probably is not as hard as you think". He also says that the best thing we can do is keep our problems to ourselves with "quiet dignity". This is a gross simplification of mental illness and it is extremely detrimental to anyone who takes his advice. First, I would like to say that for most people in society, sure this kind of advice would actually work. However, for people who have mental illnesses (Which are most likely the people going to therapy), we actually do need someone who can guide us in learning how to manage our symptoms. Otherwise, we would be emotional trainwrecks who would either hurt themselves, hurt others, or commit suicide. Telling us to bottle up our emotions instead of talking it out with a professional is horrible advice. What Matt Walsh is essentially doing is akin to telling a diabetic to just "grow up" and stop taking his insulin shots. 

Before I end this blog, I would like to discuss three benefits I have found from going to therapy. These are not the only three benefits, but they are the three main ones I have found for myself. If you can think of any more benefits, please let me know in the comments below. The three benefits are the following: 

1) It Gives Me A Safe Place To Express My Feelings Without Judgment 

When I say this, I am not referring to "safe space" like the SJWs talk about. What I am referring to is the fact that when I see my therapist, I am free to tell her anything that is on my mind without fearing that she will think any less of me. Instead, she offers me encouragement and gentle guidance when needed too. 

2) It Draws Me Closer To Christ 

I know that this sounds weird to say, but when I am not in therapy, my mind is cluttered with all kinds of intrusive thoughts and it makes it very difficult for me to have any kind of intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Once I leave my therapy session, however, I feel like my mind is cleared up and I can easily focus on drawing nearer to Him. 

3) It Gives Me A Sense Of Belonging 

This one should resonate with people because we all desire to belong somewhere. Whether it is with family, friends, work, or whatever, we all want to feel like we belong somewhere. Well, whenever I am talking to my therapist, I feel that same sense of belonging that we all share in common. I know that I will only be talking to her for an hour, but for that hour I feel like someone genuinely cares about my well-being. And that makes all the difference. 

I hope that this blog helps you understand the process of therapy better and if you are someone who was troubled by Matt Walsh's video, then I hope this was an encouragement to you. Thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! Soli Deo Gloria! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Check out the other CCMH Ministry Website

How Should We Forgive When We Are Sinned Against?

 

Forgiveness is one of the hardest things for anyone to do. When sinned against, it is all too natural for us to harbor animosity toward those who offended us. However, as Christians who call upon the name of the Lord, we must forgive our enemies. When Jesus was asked by one of His disciples about how many times we should forgive, our Lord responded with "not seven times, but seventy-seven times"  (Matthew 18:21-22). Now, Jesus was not saying that we should only forgive literally seventy-seven times and then never forgive again. On the contrary, what He was actually getting at was that we should be willing to always forgive at any time. There is a debate in many Christian circles about whether we should always forgive or only forgive those who ask for our forgiveness. I hold to the former position rather than the latter. The reason that I say this is because if we pay close attention to Matthew 18:21-22, Jesus never once tells us to only forgive when someone asks for our forgiveness. Instead, He tells us to always forgive. Also, according to Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus commands us to love our enemies. How could you seriously say you love your enemies when you are harboring ill feelings toward them? Furthermore, when our Lord was being hung on the cross and His enemies were hurling insults at Him, He prayed to the Father in Luke 23:34, 

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do" 

As you can clearly see, Jesus was willing to forgive when His enemies were not asking for forgiveness. We are called to walk in His steps, thus we are commanded to forgive at all times. Now, I understand that this is easier said than done, and actually, I would argue that this is impossible to do without relying on the power of the Holy Spirit. I know that I personally struggle with forgiving others especially when they intentionally harm me. So, trust me when I say that I am preaching to myself as I write this blog. I will say that although we are called to always forgive, this does not mean we should always reconcile with the person we are forgiving. There are times when it is not appropriate to reconcile with our offender and that is perfectly fine. As one pastor put it, "Forgiveness does not always mean reconciliation". 

Although we may be commanded in Scripture to always forgive, this still seems like a foreign concept to us because it is not natural. What exactly does forgiveness look like anyway? In this blog, I shall talk about a practical method that forgiveness should look like. The book that I am drawing the following information is by a Christian psychologist named Dr. Mark McMinn and his book is titled Sin and Grace in Christian Counseling: An Integrative Paradigm. In the book, he cites the work of someone named Everett Worthington, a leading expert in the psychology of forgiveness. Worthington came up with the model REACH  for forgiving someone who was done wrongly. This helpful acronym stands for: 

Recall the hurt 

Empathize 

Altruistic gift of forgiveness 

Commit publicly to forgive

Hold on to forgiveness 

I will elaborate on each of these points so that you can have a better understanding of what exactly Worthington is getting at. I would like to say the explanation is purely my own interpretation of this acronym as I never spoke with Worthington or Dr. McMinn myself. However, I do believe that my interpretation is a fairly accurate summary. Please let me know what you think about what I am saying in the comments below. 

Recall the hurt 

When we are wronged, it comes naturally for us to ruminate on our pain. We are constantly focused on the hurt that someone put us through. Worthington is saying that it is perfectly fine for us to recall the pain we are feeling. This is important for our healing process. We should not ignore our pain nor should we glamourize our pain either. Our pain is real no matter what form it comes in. However, we must not stay in that pain. We must move forward. This leads to the next point. 

Empathize 

This point may sound counterintuitive because the last thing we want to do is empathize with the person who harmed us. However, when we truly understand the doctrine of Original Sin, we will truly understand that we are just as sinful as the person who sinned against us. We have just as much blame for our sins as the next person. On Judgement Day, the Lord will hold us accountable for what we do just as He will hold the next guy accountable. No one escapes God's judgment. As the scriptures say, 

"...all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" 

Altruistic gift of forgiveness

When we truly understand our own sinfulness, it should not only cause us to be more empathetic towards the one who sinned against us, but it should also cause us to be able to freely forgive the person too. This will not come easy, but as someone famously said, "There but by the grace of God, go I", we should understand that we are just as capable of committing the same heinous sin as the next person. As a result of this knowledge, we should freely extend forgiveness to even our natural-born enemy.

Commit publicly to forgive 

This does not necessarily mean that we should always go to the person and publicly declare that we forgive them. While there are times when this could be good, there are other times when publicly telling the person you forgive them could actually be detrimental. What I take this to mean is that once we have truly chosen to forgive the person who wronged us, we will then choose not to say anything demeaning about them. We will choose instead to see them as a creation of God who reflects His image. Thus, this means that the person has a certain kind of sanctity about them that we should respect and cherish. 

Hold onto forgiveness 


This one is probably the hardest step of them all because once we forgive the person, the enemy will continue to creep into our thoughts and remind us of all the bad they did to us. As a result of this, we may feel our animosity towards the person rising up in us again. This means that we must be all the more diligent in reminding ourselves that we forgive the person. We may even have to forgive the person all over again multiple times a day. It truly is a battle of the mind to remain in forgiveness, but if we succeed in doing so, it will free us from feelings of bitterness and rage. 

I sincerely hope that this blog has helped you better understand what exactly it means to forgive those who wrong you and maybe next time you feel hurt by someone you will think about REACH and decide to implement this tool into your life. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior richly bless you all.

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Check out the other Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

How Does The Sabbath Rest Effect Mental Health?

 

God's Sabbath Rest is an amazing concept. To think that God invites His people into His rest from all our striving and work is just phenomenal. God's Sabbath Rest means that we no longer need to work towards our salvation because He has already done everything on our behalf in Jesus Christ. This fundamental truth should cause us to greatly rejoice. However, many Christians do not properly understand what it means to rest on Christ's Sabbath. In this blog, I shall explain exactly what God's Sabbath Rest is and then I will explain how this truth should have some very profound effects upon our mental health. The purpose of this blog is to give any Christian who is struggling with guilt and shame some encouragement. I must confess that these truths are something that I personally need to remind myself of daily because I am prone to forget them. So, believe me when I tell you that I am preaching to myself as much as I am teaching you. I am in the same exact boat as you are. Too often the enemy creeps in my ear and tells me that I am not good enough for God's grace, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ reminds me that none of us are good enough and that is why Jesus had to come to take our punishment that we deserve upon Himself on the cross. It is because of that sacrificial act that we are made worthy. Christ became sin so that we could have His righteousness! This is an amazing concept for us to grasp. But first, allow me to explain what exactly is God's Sabbath Rest. I must take you back to the beginning in Genesis chapter 2:2. It says the following, 

"And on the seventh day, God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done" 

As you can see from this text, the Sabbath Rest is the seventh day of the creation week where God created the universe. On the seventh day, God rested from all His work. This does not mean that God was tired or grew weary like we do from our own work. No, God is incapable of growing tired and weary and as Jesus says elsewhere, God is always working until today. So, what exactly does this text mean? What this text is doing is giving us a full picture of the completion of God's work and it is telling us what we were meant for from the beginning of time. God created Adam and Eve to participate in the fellowship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and so were their descendants. However, Adam screwed that up when he decided to rebel against God's command to not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil. You see, if Adam would have followed God's command and cast the serpent out, he would have ushered in the New Heaven and New Earth immediately because his stay in the Garden of Eden was only for a probationary period. We were always meant to be in His rest. So, where do I get the idea that we were made for His rest? If we turn to Hebrews 4:9, we read the following, 

"So, then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his" 

In this text, we see that as God rested from his work, there remains a rest for His people. This does not mean that we stop working but that we no longer need to strive for our salvation. This concept does not make any sense to our minds because we are naturally prone to legalism. Legalism is our default setting and because of this, it makes logical sense. We work and earn a paycheck as compensation for our work. However, the Gospel turns this concept completely upside down by saying that we are incapable of working due to our sins, and yet God grants us what we did not earn as a token of His grace. For this reason, Paul can tell us in Romans 8:37-39, 

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor thing present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" 

Isn't this simply awesome? Paul is telling us that absolutely nothing will or can ever separate us from the love of God! In other words, if you are a Christian, God is forever pleased with you. Your sin cannot change the way God feels toward you. Please allow this truth to penetrate your hearts and minds because you really need to understand this completely and I pray that you will. You may even need to reread this blog many times to remind yourself. I fully understand that because like I said earlier, I need to constantly remind myself of this truth too.

So, how does all this relate to our mental health? Well, I see three practical ways that God's Sabbath Rest should affect our mental health. These effects should be: 

1) It Should Humble Us 

2) It Should Cause Us To Have Joy 

3) It Should Lead Us Into Doxology 

I will elaborate on each of these points, but before I do let me say that these are not the only effects that God's Sabbath Rest should have. These are merely the main ones that I can immediately think of. If you can think of more, please feel free to let me know in the comments below. 

It Should Humble Us 

When we understand that we are invited into His rest (aka fellowship with the Triune God) not because of anything we have done, but because of His grace toward us, it should cause us to feel extremely humble. The reason why I say this is because we understand that our own wickedness deserves wrath and condemnation, yet God gives us grace because of what His Son did instead. We should never look down our noses on another sinner because a saved Christian is no more morally superior than a crack addict or prostitute. 

It Should Cause Us To Have Joy 

When we truly understand how God justifies the ungodly because of Christ, it should give us real joy and peace no matter what our circumstance is. The reason why I say this is because no matter our circumstances our standing with God never changes. We are always made righteous in His sight and because of that, we are always pleasing to Him. 

It Should Lead Us Into Doxology 

When we truly understand both that God brings us into fellowship with His Triune nature and that God freely justifies the ungodly, it should cause us to really praise Him. The reason why I say this is because we should be so thankful for what He has done on our behalf in Christ. God literally came to this earth as a man to take the punishment that we deserve on a cross and then bodily rose from the dead to give us a brand new life. We are literally new creations in Him. If this does not give us cause for rejoicing and praise then I am not sure what will. 

I hope that this blog really helps you understand how God's Sabbath Rest is supposed to help your mental health. I thank you very much for taking the time to read my blog and I hope that this helps you when you deal with feelings of guilt and shame. Remember, when our hearts condemn us that God is greater than our hearts. The enemy is a liar and an accuser of the brethren who has come to kill, steal, and destroy. Do not allow him to destroy your joy and peace in the Lord. May the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all! 

-David Lee Chu Sarchet 
Christian Mental Health Advocate 

Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry Website

Check out the other CCMH Ministry Website