As the Insanity Increases

From faith in God to faith in psychology

Mental illness is a very serious problem that affects hundreds of millions of folks throughout the world. For many centuries, those who possessed a Judeo-Christian worldview trusted God to help them overcome their emotional problems brought on by mental illness.

But since the 19th century, more and more people have been turning to other sources to help them cope and ultimately deliver them from emotional afflictions and stresses. Not coincidentally, the Christian church began to lose its influence in the world about the same time because it abandoned the Bible in favor of empty, humanistic ideologies.

One of those ideologies was humanistic psychology that grew from the ashes of the decaying church. With God's word deemed archaic and irrelevant, the world needed a new source of spiritual nourishment to define the human existence and deliver folks from the misery of emotional anguish.

While the Bible clearly identified sin as the root cause of all our emotional problems, psychology denied that and placed the blame for mankind's emotional woes on neuroses and psychoses caused by painful memories that were suppressed and stored in the so-called unconscious section of the mind.

According to the worldview of humanistic psychology, you are today what you experienced earlier in life, going all the way back to your mother's womb. And so, those who grow up to become violent adults must have been beaten by a violent parent or parents in their childhood who destroyed their self-esteem. Those who become pedophiles in adulthood must have been sexually abused as children by adults. And so it goes.

Certainly, there's a correlation between dysfunctional families and people who come from those families. However, many people overcome bad parents or childhood bullying and lead successful lives. While mass-murderer John Gacy's evil was attributed to his father who was a violent drunk, Gacy had a sister who didn't become a sadistic murderer when she became an adult.

Though Ted Bundy was a sadistic mass-murderer, he refused to blame his parents for his behavior and took full responsibility for his actions. Jeffrey Dahmer was yet another sadistic murderer who had siblings who didn't turn out like him. Thus, evil is the choice of the individual rather than the consequence of a bad childhood. If psychology's theories are correct, then everyone who comes from a dysfunctional family should have serious emotional problems. But many folks overcome.

However, it's becoming harder to overcome emotional problems these days when many people are told to place their hope and trust in psychotropic drugs rather than in God through His Son Jesus Christ who overcame the world 2,000 years ago on the cross. Andreas Lubitz, the pilot who purposely crashed a Germanwings jetliner into the French Alps, killing himself and 150 people on the plane, was reportedly taking psychotropics for depression and a psychosomatic illness.

Lubitz was obviously a brilliant but troubled young man who either didn't believe in God or didn't believe that God had the power to deliver him from his problems. And so, he turned to a psychiatrist who in turn placed him on mood-altering drugs.

The problems with psychotropics have been well-documented. While they provide relief to some people, they not only don't help others, but they can cause dangerous mood swings that can lead to erratic, violent behavior including murder and suicide.

According to his associates, Lubitz complained of vision problems that he feared could end his flying career. It's not known what type of psychotropics Lubitz was taking, but drugs such as Tricyclic antidepressants can cause vision problems. Ironically, Lubitz's associates claim the young pilot was depressed about his vision. If so, then the pilot's vision problem and resulting depression may have been caused by the very medication that was supposed to make him feel better.

Psychology has become a counterfeit faith for millions of people that's replaced true faith in God. Like all false religions, psychology ultimately fails to deliver on its lofty promises to make people emotionally healthy and happy. The true antidote for depression and mental anguish is repentance from sin and a relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.

That comes by faith in God rather than by faith in the failed theories of humanistic psychology, psychiatric therapy or psychotropic drugs. As the apostle Peter stated 2,000 years ago: "Cast all your anxiety on him (Jesus Christ) because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) Amen.