Hi all,
The writers of the Bible didn't use modern terms like 'mental illness' or 'emotional illness'. However, if we define what emotional and mental illness is, then we can look for these symptoms and find numerous examples throughout the Bible.
Good mental and emotional health has 3 main characteristics:
Productive activities like work, school, care giving. Second, healthy relationships, and three, the ability to change and cope with adversity.
Mental or emotional illness involves significant departures from these three, in thinking, emotions, or behavior. I've seen statistics that say about 20% of Americans have some form of emotional or mental illness.
Mental and emotional illness involve a disorganization to one's emotions, personality, or mind which impair normal function in life. It is a disfunction of normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, personal interactions. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Perhaps not surprisingly, some of those symptoms are described as being one of the signs as the time of the Lord nears. We are looking at the link between thoughts and feelings and the demonic.
II Timothy 3:1 says in the last days...
...some of the signs will be emotional and mental illness, while not using those words. Symptoms include: Lovers of self, liars, false accusers, no self-control, violent, despising good and people who are good, sexual perversion, unthankful and purposely unholy.
And in v4, "savage, traitors, violent". Also, "wrapped up in themselves." In v7: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." These are the intellectually dishonest, who when presented with facts refuse to admit 'I was wrong', as a way of life. Usually their friends are on social media as this unbalance leaves them unable to be a success in close interpersonal relationships like in marriage or real, in person friends.
I want to interject this
The Greek word 'wrapped up in themselves' is 'tuphoo' where we get 'typhoon', which is what hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean are called. The Greek word means to 'wrap oneself in smoke', meaning this person presents a smoke screen swirling around them, a persona, and they blow in and blow out like a storm. That describes pride and narcissism, life is all about them.
The word in v4 translated as 'traitors' in some versions, or 'savage' is 'prodotai', which means to drive someone to the point of surrender. Some Bible versions translate it as 'treacherous', trying to bring out the meaning these people won't give up until you surrender, as a part of their betrayal.
In I Timothy 4:1-3 Paul writes that in the last days 'seducing spirits and teachings from demons' will cause some to depart from the faith. He says they will speak lies while being hypocrites for their conscience is seared.
The Greek word for 'seducing spirits'
It is 'planois' and means a 'roving deceiver', thus seducer, which means a process of seduction. It is a gradual seduction until the person may wake up after having been used and wonder, 'How did I let this happen?' They were spiritually seduced as part of a process of deception and unhealthy teaching, emotions, and thoughts.
He says their conscience is 'seared', which is exactly what the Greek states - they are past feeling, unable to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit any longer for they have departed from Truth and the balance the Spirit of Truth brings into one's life.
Starting down the path of imbalance
In II Corinthians 1:8-11 Paul shares how he came to the depths of complete hopelessness, in deep despair of life, and how he came out of his depression and state of mind.
The first thing he says in v8 is: "I don't want you to be uninformed of the troubles we experienced in Asia (modern south-central Turkey)."
This is often overlooked, that Paul wants people to know what they went through. He states this in the opening verses of his letter, meaning that informing them of what they had just been through was very important to him.
Letting people know what we are going through...
Or have been through, is a key to restoring mental and emotional health. Depression tends to turn a person inward, keeping things to themselves. When a person commits suicide, their loved ones are often shocked to discover that person had been thinking of taking their life for quite some time, often with well planned steps to bring them to that point.
The question arises: "Why didn't they let someone know they were thinking this way?" is common. Here, we see a healthy attribute - Paul wants them to know, and in great detail as we shall soon see, what he was going through.
Most translations will write this part of v8: "troubles we experienced" or "affliction we went through". The Greek word for 'trouble' is 'thlipsis', and means 'great pressure'. In Paul's day it was used to describe the sense of being surrounded, with no escape, a narrowing of life around a person to the point they saw no way out. Confined, constricted, leading to hopelessness.
Paul continues: "...how we were utterly and excessively weighed down beyond our power so that we despaired of life."
The term Paul uses to describe his emotions and thoughts, of being 'weighed down' and 'beyond our power' is that of olives being crushed by a great weight so their oil, their life juices were being squeezed out of them. This describes a person in the depths of despair, without hope, and feeling all alone.
The word 'power' is correct, a form of 'dunamis', where we get dynamite - power. Paul had no power to get out of the situation. It isn't conveying a lack of personal strength as much as a lack of power to change the circumstance. He was trapped with no ability to change his life.
In fact when he says 'excessively beyond our power', the word 'excessively' is hyperbolen, meaning he felt like no one else had ever been through what he was going through. It literally means 'a throwing beyond others'.
Today we use the word 'hyperbole' which is the same word, but used differently in our day. Today it means excessive and is dismissed. We say a person is 'hyper' meaning super active or excited beyond what they need to be or should be. A politician may use exaggerated expressions to make a point, that are so extreme it is called hyperbole, and are dismissed as exaggerations.
In Paul's day it meant he was suffering a pressure that no one could understand, so far beyond others that he alone could understand - that was his state of mind at the time. Right or wrong is immaterial, he is writing transparently of the way he felt at the time: That what he was going through was greater than anyone could understand - that is unhealthy thought and emotions.
His life juices were being squeezed out of him. He felt surrounded by circumstance. He saw death as the only way out. There isn't any indication a demon was involved, this was just what Paul felt and thought at the time. Thankfully he continues to write and tell them how he came out of it.
Next week I'll share how he recovered, living another 10 years during which he wrote the bulk of the New Testament. We will also look at where the demonic enters into one's thoughts and feelings. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
The writers of the Bible didn't use modern terms like 'mental illness' or 'emotional illness'. However, if we define what emotional and mental illness is, then we can look for these symptoms and find numerous examples throughout the Bible.
Good mental and emotional health has 3 main characteristics:
Productive activities like work, school, care giving. Second, healthy relationships, and three, the ability to change and cope with adversity.
Mental or emotional illness involves significant departures from these three, in thinking, emotions, or behavior. I've seen statistics that say about 20% of Americans have some form of emotional or mental illness.
Mental and emotional illness involve a disorganization to one's emotions, personality, or mind which impair normal function in life. It is a disfunction of normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, personal interactions. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
Perhaps not surprisingly, some of those symptoms are described as being one of the signs as the time of the Lord nears. We are looking at the link between thoughts and feelings and the demonic.
II Timothy 3:1 says in the last days...
...some of the signs will be emotional and mental illness, while not using those words. Symptoms include: Lovers of self, liars, false accusers, no self-control, violent, despising good and people who are good, sexual perversion, unthankful and purposely unholy.
And in v4, "savage, traitors, violent". Also, "wrapped up in themselves." In v7: "Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." These are the intellectually dishonest, who when presented with facts refuse to admit 'I was wrong', as a way of life. Usually their friends are on social media as this unbalance leaves them unable to be a success in close interpersonal relationships like in marriage or real, in person friends.
I want to interject this
The Greek word 'wrapped up in themselves' is 'tuphoo' where we get 'typhoon', which is what hurricanes in the Pacific Ocean are called. The Greek word means to 'wrap oneself in smoke', meaning this person presents a smoke screen swirling around them, a persona, and they blow in and blow out like a storm. That describes pride and narcissism, life is all about them.
The word in v4 translated as 'traitors' in some versions, or 'savage' is 'prodotai', which means to drive someone to the point of surrender. Some Bible versions translate it as 'treacherous', trying to bring out the meaning these people won't give up until you surrender, as a part of their betrayal.
In I Timothy 4:1-3 Paul writes that in the last days 'seducing spirits and teachings from demons' will cause some to depart from the faith. He says they will speak lies while being hypocrites for their conscience is seared.
The Greek word for 'seducing spirits'
It is 'planois' and means a 'roving deceiver', thus seducer, which means a process of seduction. It is a gradual seduction until the person may wake up after having been used and wonder, 'How did I let this happen?' They were spiritually seduced as part of a process of deception and unhealthy teaching, emotions, and thoughts.
He says their conscience is 'seared', which is exactly what the Greek states - they are past feeling, unable to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit any longer for they have departed from Truth and the balance the Spirit of Truth brings into one's life.
Starting down the path of imbalance
In II Corinthians 1:8-11 Paul shares how he came to the depths of complete hopelessness, in deep despair of life, and how he came out of his depression and state of mind.
The first thing he says in v8 is: "I don't want you to be uninformed of the troubles we experienced in Asia (modern south-central Turkey)."
This is often overlooked, that Paul wants people to know what they went through. He states this in the opening verses of his letter, meaning that informing them of what they had just been through was very important to him.
Letting people know what we are going through...
Or have been through, is a key to restoring mental and emotional health. Depression tends to turn a person inward, keeping things to themselves. When a person commits suicide, their loved ones are often shocked to discover that person had been thinking of taking their life for quite some time, often with well planned steps to bring them to that point.
The question arises: "Why didn't they let someone know they were thinking this way?" is common. Here, we see a healthy attribute - Paul wants them to know, and in great detail as we shall soon see, what he was going through.
Most translations will write this part of v8: "troubles we experienced" or "affliction we went through". The Greek word for 'trouble' is 'thlipsis', and means 'great pressure'. In Paul's day it was used to describe the sense of being surrounded, with no escape, a narrowing of life around a person to the point they saw no way out. Confined, constricted, leading to hopelessness.
Paul continues: "...how we were utterly and excessively weighed down beyond our power so that we despaired of life."
The term Paul uses to describe his emotions and thoughts, of being 'weighed down' and 'beyond our power' is that of olives being crushed by a great weight so their oil, their life juices were being squeezed out of them. This describes a person in the depths of despair, without hope, and feeling all alone.
The word 'power' is correct, a form of 'dunamis', where we get dynamite - power. Paul had no power to get out of the situation. It isn't conveying a lack of personal strength as much as a lack of power to change the circumstance. He was trapped with no ability to change his life.
In fact when he says 'excessively beyond our power', the word 'excessively' is hyperbolen, meaning he felt like no one else had ever been through what he was going through. It literally means 'a throwing beyond others'.
Today we use the word 'hyperbole' which is the same word, but used differently in our day. Today it means excessive and is dismissed. We say a person is 'hyper' meaning super active or excited beyond what they need to be or should be. A politician may use exaggerated expressions to make a point, that are so extreme it is called hyperbole, and are dismissed as exaggerations.
In Paul's day it meant he was suffering a pressure that no one could understand, so far beyond others that he alone could understand - that was his state of mind at the time. Right or wrong is immaterial, he is writing transparently of the way he felt at the time: That what he was going through was greater than anyone could understand - that is unhealthy thought and emotions.
His life juices were being squeezed out of him. He felt surrounded by circumstance. He saw death as the only way out. There isn't any indication a demon was involved, this was just what Paul felt and thought at the time. Thankfully he continues to write and tell them how he came out of it.
Next week I'll share how he recovered, living another 10 years during which he wrote the bulk of the New Testament. We will also look at where the demonic enters into one's thoughts and feelings. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
http://www.cwowi.org and email me at [email protected]
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