The Importance of Listening
Without listening we are like a mechanic who tries to fix a car based on what it won’t do.
Without listening we are like a doctor who tries to operate without taking x-rays or MRIs
Without listening, even our best efforts at applying the truth of Scripture will be misapplied and misunderstood
161 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng and
lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” — Psalm 42
too. But, depression has a logic of its own. Once it settles in, it can’t
distinguish between a loving embrace, the death of a close friend, and the news that a neighbor’s grass is growing.
Decisions? Impossible. The mind is locked. How can you choose?
Nothing is working; the engine of your mind is barely turning over. And aren’t most decisions emotional preferences? How can you decode when you have noe emotional preferences?
Certainty? The only certainty is that misery will persist. If certainty of any good thing ever existed – and you can’t remember when it did – it is replaced by constant doubt. You doubt that you are loved by anyone. You doubt your spouse’s intentions. You doubt your spouse’s fidelity. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you doubt the presence of Christ. You doubt the very foundation of your faith…
The only thing you know is that you are guilty, shameful, and worthless.
It is not that you have made mistakes in your life, or sinned, or reaped futility.
It is that you are a mistake, you are sin, you are futility….God has turned his back. Why bother going on in such a state? You might as well join God and turn your back on yourself too.” — Ed Welch, Depression
“Across the desk from me sat a young 30-somehting woman who had come to see me because she had lived with depression for five years. She wanted to talk about discontinuing her antidepressant medication. She was afraid that when she stopped the medicine she would not sleep, and she feared she would again descend into depression. Her physician and her friends had warned her not to quit the medication. She did not mind so much how her life was currently ordered, but she was curious about how it could change for the better. Like many who take antidepressant medications daily, she wondered what life might be like without them.
The young woman felt locked into a life that lacked emotional extremes.
Her physician told her that his flatness of feeling was an improvement, but she stated that she often felt she was looking out from between the bars of an emotional prison. She wondered if the lows would be worth the heights that might result from discontinuing the medication. She felt as though she held the key to such an adventure, but she was afraid to use it.” — Charles Hodges,
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hear something. You hear a little voice in your brain that says, “I’m worthless.
You’re only saying you love me because you think you have to.” Somehow, from the mouths of other people to your ear, all words of blessing and encouragement get tumbled upside down and backward and confirm your suspicions about yourself. You are an abject failure. Unloved. Unlovable. And everyone knows it.
There are hundreds of variations. “You look nice today.” Push it through the filter of depression and you get, “Not true. I know I am ugly.” Or, “You seem to be feeling a little better today.” This means, “Oh, you don’t want to talk to me anymore.” This is your brain on depression. And we could add, it is your brain on shame.
If this internal circuitry reversed every word, a loved one could say, “You are really such a jerk,” and you would hear, “I love you.” But it doesn’t work that way. Depression (or shame) corrupts every blessing and leaves the curses in their untouched, pristine form…
That was a warm-up. Now on to something more lethal. God says, “I love you.” You hear, “God loves some people but he could never love me.” Notice that you didn’t hear, “I don’t love you.” That would be your inner filter doing its usual electronic voodoo and reversing any blessing. With this one, you don’t even feel worthy to hear anything personal from the Lord. So what came out the other side was your own voice, not God’s!
Do you think that, maybe, your wiring is completely messed up and you aren’t hearing God accurately? “I love you,” becomes “God could never love me.” If someone else did that you would tell her she was crazy. But, somehow, for you, it makes perfect sense.” — Ed Welch, Depression’s Odd Filter
What could be included in the category “Depressed Mood”?
“We must be impressed by the fact that the forms which this particular condition may take seem to be almost endless. It comes in such different forms and guises that some people stumble at that very fact. They are amazed that there can be so many symptoms or manifestations of this one disease this spiritual condition; and, of course, their ignorance of the problem in and of itself may lead to the very condition we are considering.” — D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, 51
What are the similarities between different peoples’ “depressed moods”?
What are the similarities between one person’s different bouts of “depressed moods”?
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The Normalcy of Depression
“Even though antidepressant use has skyrocketed in recent years, the rate of depression in the United States hasn’t declined: It’s increased. According to the latest research, about one in four Americans – over seventy million people – will meet the criteria for major depression at some point in their lives. Ominously, the rate of depression has been on the rise for decades.” — Stephen Ilardi, The Depression Cure
The Mystery of Depression
Theory of Chemical Imbalance
The reigning cultural theory regarding the cause and incidence of depression is that it is caused by a chemical imbalance within the brain. This theory pervades popular culture as well as the church, and is a fairly accepted “fact” in American culture.
genetic disorder that results in chemical (neurotransmitter) imbalances in the human brain. Medical caregivers often consider these chemical
imbalances to be beyond the control of afflicted individuals, but they believe that they can be remedied by the use of antidepressants.” — Charles Hodges, Spiritual Depression
This cultural theory is demonstrated by the prolific way in which anti-depressant medications are being prescribed.
“The percentage of the US population using at least 1 psychotropic
medication increased from 5.9% in 1996 to 8.1% in 2001 . . . . Between 1996 and 2005, the overall annual rate of anti-depressant treatment among persons 6 years and older increased from 5.84 to 10.12 per 100 persons.” — Olfson and Marcus, “National Patterns in Antidepressant Treatment”
“Rarely has a class of drugs transformed a field as dramatically as the SSRIs have transformed clinical psychopharmacology. Introduced in the late 1980s, most are now off patent, but not before becoming so widely prescribed within psychiatry, mental health, and primary care that up to six prescriptions per second, around the clock and around the year are said to be written for these agents.” — Stephen Stahl, Essential Psychopharmachology
However, the current research in neuroscience and psychopharmacology suggests that there is great complexity in the human brain, and that even the best research cannot simplify its processes. In fact, current research not only brings into doubt the possibility of a simple “chemical imbalance” theory, but rejects it.
“Unfortunately, little progress has been made yet in defining the biological causes of mental illnesses by using these approaches [PET, CT, MRI, etc.]. No single reproducible abnormality in any neurotransmitter or in any of it enzymes or receptors has been shown to cause any common
psychiatric disorder. Indeed, it is no longer considered likely that one will be found, given the complexity of psychiatric diagnosis and the profound
interaction of environmental factors with genetics in psychiatric disorders.” — Stephen Stahl, Essential Psychopharmachology
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serotonergic lesion in any mental disorder, and has in fact provided
significant counterevidence to the explanation of a simple neurotransmitter deficiency. Modern neuroscience has instead shown that the brain is vastly complex and poorly understood. While neuroscience is a rapidly advancing field, to propose that researchers can objectively identify a “chemical
imbalance” at the molecular level is not compatible with the extant science.
In fact, there is no scientifically established ideal “chemical balance” of serotonin, let alone an identifiable pathological imbalance. To equate the impressive recent achievements of neuroscience with support for the serotonin hypothesis is a mistake.” — Lacasse and Leo, “Serotonin and Depression”
“With direct proof of serotonin deficiency in any mental disorder lacking, the claimed efficacy of SSRIs is often cited as indirect support for the
serotonin hypothesis. Yet, this ex juvantibus line of reasoning (i.e., reasoning
“backwards” to make assumptions about disease causation based on the response of the disease to a treatment) is logically problematic—the fact that aspirin cures headaches does not prove that headaches are due to low levels of aspirin in the brain.” — Lacasse and Leo, “Serotonin and Depression”
However, pharmaceutical companies (online or in their many advertisements) do not acknowledge this same complexity, and continue to promote antiquated theories that current science cannot support, continually widening the gap between the science of antidepressants and the cultural understanding of them.
From the Zoloft Website:
“Zoloft is a prescription medicine that treats depression and anxiety. It belongs to a class of drugs known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors). Zoloft works to correct a chemical imbalance in the brain that may be related to symptoms of depression or anxiety. It has been prescribed to millions of people for more than 15 years.” — www.zoloft.com
From the Cymbalta Website:
“Although t h e exact way that Cymbalta works in people is unknown, it is believed to be related to an increase in the activity of serotonin and
norepinephrine, which are two naturally occurring substances in the brain and spinal cord.” — www.cymbalta.com
There are also some unique cultural experiences when it comes to suffering depression as a Christian who is a part of the church. Many Christians respond to depression differently, and oftentimes a cursory knowledge of Scripture can be more dangerous than helpful.
Is Your Depression Because of Your Sin?
Eliphaz
As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number . . . Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. (Job 5:8-9, 17)
Bildad
If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. . . . Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers. (Job 8:5-6, 20)
Zophar
If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. (Job 11:13-16)
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CHRISTIANS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE “HAPPY”
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (Galatians 5:22)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, (James 1:2)
CHRISTIANS AREN’T SUPPOSED TO “DESPAIR”
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
CHRISTIANS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO “ALL THINGS”
I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)
Other Responses You Have Experienced
APPENDIX 3 WEEK 6 CLASS NOTES:
BIBLICAL NATURE OF SEXUAL ISSUES
The following is a sample of the class notes used during the research project.
These notes are provided as a reference for anyone who would desire to duplicate a similarly structured equipping class. This sample provides an example of how the discussion of the biblical nature of a specific issue was undertaken. This involved identifying the contributing forms of suffering and sin to the specific problem, and then demonstrated the power and specific application of the person and work of Christ to both the suffering and sin involved. The application of the gospel is rooted in Scriptural passages so as to ground both one’s counsel and one’s theology deeply in the Word of God.
171 Equipping Series
Common Spiritual Issues
The Gospel and Our Problems
WEEK 6