Treating mental illness

[puddleglum]

While Jesus was on earth he encountered a lot of people who were demon possessed. In every case he commanded the demon to leave the person and it obeyed. Today many people don’t believe in the existence of demons and claim that those “demon possessed” people were actually mentally ill. If they are right, then the Bible reveals a new method for treating mental illness.

Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.)

Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.

Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. (Luke 8:26-33)

Many methods of treating mental illness have been tried. Today the most common methods are having the ill person spend time talking with a professional to work out the reason for his problems, using drugs, or a combination of the two. As far as I know no one has ever thought of transferring the illness to an animal.

If we could figure out how to treat mental illness this way it would be a great blessing for the human race but is would also mean we would have a lot of mentally ill animals to deal with. The account above suggests that such animals become suicidal. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to transfer the illnesses to animals that are about to be slaughtered for food. The animals would kill themselves and save us the trouble. I am assuming that mental illness wouldn’t affect the quality of their meat and it would still be fit for human consumption.

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

 

[glenlogie]

While Jesus was on earth he encountered a lot of people who were demon possessed. In every case he commanded the demon to leave the person and it obeyed. Today many people don’t believe in the existence of demons and claim that those “demon possessed” people were actually mentally ill. If they are right, then the Bible reveals a new method for treating mental illness.



Many methods of treating mental illness have been tried. Today the most common methods are having the ill person spend time talking with a professional to work out the reason for his problems, using drugs, or a combination of the two. As far as I know no one has ever thought of transferring the illness to an animal.

If we could figure out how to treat mental illness this way it would be a great blessing for the human race but is would also mean we would have a lot of mentally ill animals to deal with. The account above suggests that such animals become suicidal. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to transfer the illnesses to animals that are about to be slaughtered for food. The animals would kill themselves and save us the trouble. I am assuming that mental illness wouldn’t affect the quality of their meat and it would still be fit for human consumption.

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

You are confusing demon possession with mental illness. They are not the same.

 

[RiJoRi]

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

Oh. For a minute I thought you were planning on dealing with the activists by sending the demons into them! Oops!?

--Rich

 

[puddleglum]

Oh. For a minute I thought you were planning on dealing with the activists by sending the demons into them! Oops!?

I suspect that some of them are already demon possessed.

 

[shnarkle]

While Jesus was on earth he encountered a lot of people who were demon possessed. In every case he commanded the demon to leave the person and it obeyed. Today many people don’t believe in the existence of demons and claim that those “demon possessed” people were actually mentally ill. If they are right, then the Bible reveals a new method for treating mental illness.

Demon possession and mental illness are effectively synonymous. Psychologists have noted that mental illness is essentially being possessed by an idea.

Many methods of treating mental illness have been tried. Today the most common methods are having the ill person spend time talking with a professional to work out the reason for his problems, using drugs, or a combination of the two. As far as I know no one has ever thought of transferring the illness to an animal.

Working out these ideas that have possessed people may not be as quick as simply casting them out, but it does seem to work for some people, and the drugs are almost as effective at relieving them of the immediate effects.

The account above suggests that such animals become suicidal.

This seems like a fairly effective way to show how those who don't have any other way to deal with this problem are left with no other option than suicide. Note also that the good shepherd never casts demons into sheep.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to transfer the illnesses to animals that are about to be slaughtered for food. The animals would kill themselves and save us the trouble. I am assuming that mental illness wouldn’t affect the quality of their meat and it would still be fit for human consumption.

They've done a number of studies which point out that when adrenaline is released into the meat, it pollutes the meat. Livestock that are agitated as they are being led to slaughter can also be easily injured. A cow possessed by a demon would very likely be injured as well.

There is a greater point that needs to be considered, i.e. humane treatment of animals. The Mosaic law is full of examples of why this is necessary. Don't yoke an ox with a jackass. Why? Because the ox is doing most of the work, and the jackass has to watch the ox chew its cud while he gets nothing to eat.

Don't cook a kid in its mother's milk. A shepherd is out in the middle of nowhere, and needs some water to boil a kid he has just slaughtered. He has no water so he opts to milk the kid's mother. He is using what God intended to sustain the kid as his way to cook it. It's ruthless.

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

I'm not an animal rights activist, but I don't fault them for their concern for the inhumane experiments that have been conducted on animals. This type of behavior eventually leads to the same mentality being applied to human beings as well. Today, ethical considerations have gone by the wayside as science justifies experimenting on the general population, the environment, etc. without any consideration for the possible unintended consequences.

Knowledge increases at such an alarming rate that it can't be comprehended in time to deal with these unintended consequences. The results are inevitable, e.g. pandemics, famines, pollution, worldwide conflict etc.

Scientists become possessed by ideas that spread and infect everyone around them.

 

[squirrelyguy]

You are confusing demon possession with mental illness. They are not the same.

Maybe; but I think that if our modern medical profession had existed in the first century, the Gadarene demoniac would have been diagnosed as schizophrenic and Jesus would have been labeled a fanatic for treating him as if he's demon-possessed. How many people today have been given a medical diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, etc. when actually they need to have demons cast out?

 

[glenlogie]

Maybe; but I think that if our modern medical profession had existed in the first century, the Gadarene demoniac would have been diagnosed as schizophrenic and Jesus would have been labeled a fanatic for treating him as if he's demon-possessed. How many people today have been given a medical diagnosis of schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, etc. when actually they need to have demons cast out?

Speculation is not really worth very much.

 

[squirrelyguy]

While Jesus was on earth he encountered a lot of people who were demon possessed. In every case he commanded the demon to leave the person and it obeyed. Today many people don’t believe in the existence of demons and claim that those “demon possessed” people were actually mentally ill. If they are right, then the Bible reveals a new method for treating mental illness.



Many methods of treating mental illness have been tried. Today the most common methods are having the ill person spend time talking with a professional to work out the reason for his problems, using drugs, or a combination of the two. As far as I know no one has ever thought of transferring the illness to an animal.

If we could figure out how to treat mental illness this way it would be a great blessing for the human race but is would also mean we would have a lot of mentally ill animals to deal with. The account above suggests that such animals become suicidal. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to transfer the illnesses to animals that are about to be slaughtered for food. The animals would kill themselves and save us the trouble. I am assuming that mental illness wouldn’t affect the quality of their meat and it would still be fit for human consumption.

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

My brother died of a prescription drug overdose in 2019. I'm convinced that he wasn't trying to die, but to quiet his mind; so he took almost a month's supply of Adderall at once. A couple of years before he died, he came to live with me for a few months when he had a mental breakdown and had to go into a psychiatric hospital. During that time he told me things that I doubt he had ever told anyone; and I think the reason he confided in me is because he knew that I believed in the reality of demon possession and that I wouldn't just write him off as crazy.

I'm convinced that many, if not most people in mental hospitals wish they had someone to talk to who would take them seriously when they talk about hearing voices, seeing apparitions, etc. But the harsh reality is that most people, even Christians, do not believe that demon possession is a thing. If they do, then they probably assume it only happened in the New Testament. If a demonized person were to confide in someone that they are hearing voices, even most Christians would write them off as having nothing more than an undiagnosed mental illness. This is an unspeakable tragedy in light of what we Christians know to be true from the Bible; we should be the people who are most receptive to those who are struggling with various torments, not people who simply regard medical science as the authority and pass them off!

 

[shnarkle]

My brother died of a prescription drug overdose in 2019. I'm convinced that he wasn't trying to die, but to quiet his mind; so he took almost a month's supply of Adderall at once. A couple of years before he died, he came to live with me for a few months when he had a mental breakdown and had to go into a psychiatric hospital. During that time he told me things that I doubt he had ever told anyone; and I think the reason he confided in me is because he knew that I believed in the reality of demon possession and that I wouldn't just write him off as crazy.

I'm convinced that many, if not most people in mental hospitals wish they had someone to talk to who would take them seriously when they talk about hearing voices, seeing apparitions, etc. But the harsh reality is that most people, even Christians, do not believe that demon possession is a thing. If they do, then they probably assume it only happened in the New Testament. If a demonized person were to confide in someone that they are hearing voices, even most Christians would write them off as having nothing more than an undiagnosed mental illness. This is an unspeakable tragedy in light of what we Christians know to be true from the Bible; we should be the people who are most receptive to those who are struggling with various torments, not people who simply regard medical science as the authority and pass them off!

The kid in the link below attacked three people only one recovered. This isn't in the article below, but when law enforcement arrived, they kicked this kid, they tazed him, and they sent a dog in repeatedly to restrain him, but the dog only managed to tear into this kid's arm and remove flesh which didn't phase him in the slightest. This kid was literally pleading for the law enforcement officers to kill him because he knew he was possessed.

College Student Accused Of Killing 2, Eating Victim’s Face

Police said the suspect was "grunting and growling" as he tried to eat his victim.

www.huffpost.com

 

[squirrelyguy]

The kid in the link below attacked three people only one recovered. This isn't in the article below, but when law enforcement arrived, they kicked this kid, they tazed him, and they sent a dog in repeatedly to restrain him, but the dog only managed to tear into this kid's arm and remove flesh which didn't phase him in the slightest. This kid was literally pleading for the law enforcement officers to kill him because he knew he was possessed.

College Student Accused Of Killing 2, Eating Victim’s Face

Police said the suspect was "grunting and growling" as he tried to eat his victim.

www.huffpost.com

Here’s a video of the bond hearing for a man accused of killing a cop near my hometown.

 

[shnarkle]

Here’s a video of the bond hearing for a man accused of killing a cop near my hometown.

He doesn't look like he cares if he lives or dies; probably would prefer to be dead.

 

[SeventhDay]

While Jesus was on earth he encountered a lot of people who were demon possessed. In every case he commanded the demon to leave the person and it obeyed. Today many people don’t believe in the existence of demons and claim that those “demon possessed” people were actually mentally ill. If they are right, then the Bible reveals a new method for treating mental illness.



Many methods of treating mental illness have been tried. Today the most common methods are having the ill person spend time talking with a professional to work out the reason for his problems, using drugs, or a combination of the two. As far as I know no one has ever thought of transferring the illness to an animal.

If we could figure out how to treat mental illness this way it would be a great blessing for the human race but is would also mean we would have a lot of mentally ill animals to deal with. The account above suggests that such animals become suicidal. Perhaps the best thing to do would be to transfer the illnesses to animals that are about to be slaughtered for food. The animals would kill themselves and save us the trouble. I am assuming that mental illness wouldn’t affect the quality of their meat and it would still be fit for human consumption.

Animal rights activists would certainly protest our using animals in this way but this method might provide a way to deal with them. Their behavior often seems crazy to me. If we applied this technique to them perhaps they would become sane enough to stop their unreasonable protests.

Let the Spirit deal with our infirmity and let God deliver those out of prison. Jesus atonement if for new spiritual creations so let the old dead man be buried with Christ in his death and walk as a new spiritual man as Christ raises us out of the grave. God bless you.