Help
Dear Bro. Don,
The editorial on “Help” by Bro. Ken Curry in the April, 2001, issue, was very much needed and was an encouragement for, as he states, “mental and emotional illness are every bit as serious as physical illnesses.” They are life threatening in that there is a high rate of suicide involved. It is true that from the outside, the person looks and seems just fine, but the illness creates havoc in the life of the person and is devastating to the family. Family members are grieving a lost loved one and yet the loved one is still there. He/she is a different person, although sometimes almost as he used to be, which gives the family a roller coaster of emotions (denial, anger, grief, depression, and finally acceptance and understanding).
Whether it be schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, depression, manic-depression, or an eating disorder, these are all mental illnesses that are affecting members of the brotherhood today. Unlike a physical illness, the person oftentimes is in denial and cannot reason that anything is wrong and therefore will not get the help he/she desperately needs from a doctor. It’s not a matter of telling him to “snap out of it.” Unless the person is a danger to himself or others, the family’s hands are tied trying to get medical help. Addictions are also an added problem in some cases. The person will self-medicate with drugs, alcohol, and/or sex. Mental illness is not an excuse to sin, but its behaviors are symptoms of the illness.
Like many brethren and sisters in the Truth, I have had mental illness affect my family. My brother-husband and my sister-daughter suffer from manic-depression. Thanks to God’s mercy, my daughter is under the care of a doctor but, unfortunately, my husband is not and is still in denial. It has been very difficult holding my family together emotionally and physically over the past several years. Having constant prayer for God’s strength and the support of our brethren and sisters and family is what has gotten us through the bad times.
Some have a hard time understanding how someone who looks so “normal” could have a mental illness that causes him/her to do things that are irrational and against the commandments of God. We often forget that as Christ healed many people who were mentally ill, we too see those we love suffer with its effects. It is so important not to judge the ill person but to keep him in our prayers that he will seek medical help. We need to show our love and support for him when he wants to recover.
As Christadelphians it is very difficult to acknowledge or talk about issues of mental illness, drug, alcohol, and sex addictions that are present in the body because it is embarrassing and we should be immune from things that plague the “world.” Many thanks to all the brethren who are addressing the problems that face us in these last days through study days, gatherings, Bible schools, and publications. May we be more understanding of one another and support the families who are motherless and fatherless due to mental and physical illness.
Hannah
Dear Bro. Don,
The superb article on Hannah by the Brinkerhoffs (April, 2001) is scripture exposition at its finest. It has been a wonderfully inspiring strength to Mary and myself in a very dark time. The task of purging the Brotherhood of the heresy of Calvinistic, legalistic sectarianism seems hopelessly impossible at times, but their article has truly given us hope. Now we are sure that there is a Hannah somewhere praying with all her heart.
We did a little Bible study of our own, and this supported the exposition. The text of the Greek Old Testament [the Septuagint] confirms that Hannah’s “affliction” was far deeper than, and additional to, her childlessness and Peninah’s rivalry. With the article beside us, the whole story of a woman of stupendous spirituality and faith lept out of the I Samuel record. She had that faith that Jesus sought — faith that what is impossible with men is possible with God.
A small but significant aspect of Hannah’s character emerges from the scripture record: she was a superb song writer and poet, and must have been a literate and educated woman (this is not minimized by the fact of inspiration). Dark though the days of Eli were — and truly some shocking things went on — the truth was not lost while women like Hannah kept its flame burning. There were many women like her among the Brethren in Christ in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Finally, Hannah was the prophetess who was privileged to first name our Savior by title: in the Greek text of her song is the first occurrence in scripture of the word “Christ.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One