Here are 3 short posts I put on Facebook today. In my mind they are variations on a theme, but that may be clearer to me than to you when you read them. They were sparked off by reading a dismissal of the compatibility of Psychiatry and Christianity. Sadly, one often reads of those who claim to believe in the bible and to honour it making claims that deny what the bible actually states and teaches. The thoughts I read seemed to me to be a very disturbing and potentially extremely unhelpful and dangerous should they become planted in people’s minds. The following thoughts seemed to flow in rapid succession to one another..
Thought 1: “One meets incredible thoughts on Facebook at times. Read a comment today that Christianity and Psychiatry can’t coexist. Ah well, it would seem in some folks’ eyes no Psychiatrist can be a Christian and no Christian can be a Psychiatrist. The bible is so inconvenient for such opinions. It contains such a lot of excellent insight and help for the renewal and wellbeing of our minds.”
Thought 2: “It is no dishonour at all to the uniqueness of Christ, no denial of Jesus as the only Name in which salvation can be found, to speak of God’s common grace toward all: the blessings He gives to all mankind for their good, whether a person is a Christian or not. So, for example, I am grateful for medicine, education, harvest, friendship, love, to name just a few of a thousand common grace blessings from God. I am so glad they do not just belong to Christians. I would find that intolerable. I cannot imagine anyone with the love of God in their hearts for the world in its lostness and need could ever find that anything but intolerable. Even other religions according to the bible can be seen as a feeling after God, indeed that is specifically taught in the New Testament. It is Apostolic truth. There is no need to attack everything in order to defend Christ. So often I have felt the anointing of God’s Spirit, His Presence come into the midst, as people who are not believers in Christ have spoken of their profound gratefulness to a God who they make no pretence to truly know as yet. Gratefulness is a good start.”
Thought 3: “God in the New Testament honours the preaching of His Word by interrupting it. Do we want that? Are we praying for that? Satan interrupts the Word as well. We need to learn who is interrupting and what to do when it happens, otherwise we may well reject God’s Spirit from the life of the Church because we think it is the devil at work, or welcome the devil because we think his activity is God at work. Remember when the devil interrupts in the New Testament he is usually declaring the truth of who Christ is. Biblical Orthodoxy, though it is a good thing to pursue, is not a fail-safe guide as to what is happening.”
God bless
Kenny
revkennyblog 
Re your comments on God interrupting the preaching of his word, Peter experienced that twice – once on the Day of Pentecost and, later with Cornelius. In the former, the Spirit so convicted the hearers, that they initiated their own gospel ‘appeal’. The second time, the Holy Spirit thought that Peter was being a bit too long-winded, so he interrupted the preaching by baptising the whole household, accompanied with speaking in tongues. That was proof enough for Peter, who had them all baptised in water. That was his defence when he met the Jewish Christians in Acts 11.
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Thank you for this Kenny. I am a christian, a psychiatric nurse of 30 years and have suffered from clinical depression. So I guess some part me must just not exist in some peoples minds. My faith kept me alive when my illness was telling me that death was a better option. Tragically my own church decided that it was appropriate to present a ‘comedy’ sketch depicting a psychiatrist diagnosing a shepherd with a few fictional mental illnesses as he must be ‘mad’ for having seen visions and heard voices. I not quite sure which part of me was most offended or enraged by it as I sat in the congregation doing everything in my power to not cry, scream stop or just leave. However enlightened people believe themselves to be there is still a deep seated disbelief of anything we don’t understand and I have found this to be very prevalent among church members. I was brought up in the church so it is not new to me and my faith is and always has been an integral part of my life. I was a friend of Gavin Forrest’s and remember you saying so clearly at his funeral service that he had such faith in a cure that he had given no thought to his service. Oh to have such an unshakeable faith. My church is presently Whitburn Brucefield where our ministry is The Revd. Dr. Sandy Roger.
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