Don't forget how God doesn't prevent tsunamis from killing thousands of children to teach us how to keep the faith no matter what He allows to happen.
So God allows mental illness to exist to help people? (Please read)
by Joliette 12 Replies latest jw friends
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dgp
Joliette: Still Thinking posted very well what I meant to say.
If you collect information on how many people carry "deleterious" genes, then the conclusion would be that perhaps only a few people would be "allowed" to have children. If anyone were, that is.
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Band on the Run
There is a striking genetic component for bipolar disorder and even more so for schizophrenia. American states used forced sterilizations to prevent further illness. I do believe it is a component, some link but other factors come into play. I suggest you meet for a consultation with a psychiatrist or psychologist to answer specific questions. People do become ill with no family history. Psychiatry and neurology confused me. Both are brain disorders. Scans show actual changes in the brain. Psychiatric illnesses, though, are affected by life circumstances, and neurologic ones are not.
Most people with a sibling with schizophrenia choose not to have children. There is no guarantee. Schizoprhenics usually think it is no big deal.
Many of the illness you fear are not brain disorders but caused by social problems. One person described the effect that if you take people out of incredibly poor circumstances, treat them nicely for a while, and then return them to incredibly poor circumstances, they do not prosper.
Only a prof'l can gauge your family history and whether your fears are justified.
My family was very dysfunctional but I doubt there was actual mental illness. Adult Children of Alcoholics and Dysfunctional Families has a Laundry List of traits that characterize victims of abuse. I see myself in the traits but my life is full. Education plays an important role. For decades, I thought there was something weird about me. When I read the Laundry List, I realized that I adapted to choas in predictable ways. Ways that can be ameliorated if you know the impact. When I first attended meetings, I expected losers. The group was very normal, even talented.
I suffered physical pain that was very severe. The suicide rate is greater than 95%. Doctors had me read classics about suffering, which helped. Job faced similar problems. Every once in a while, though, I would meet a fundie Christian tell me to be glad that God was causing my pain to do great works. Perhaps keeping my mouth shut would have been prudent. I attacked. If this is your God, I will spit on his face. My God does need pain to advance a cause. Your God is puny and resembles Satan. I was very up front about my feelings. In my view, they deserved it for saying such a tactless thing. Often, they had no idea of scripture. A law school roommate told another roommate that her sister was mentally ill b/c evil was present in the family. All hell broke lose.
The people in Colorado did not need to meet up with a deranged mentally ill person to understand humanity. Please, give some credit to the Holy Spirit.
I read a lot of the classic suffering books and still have no resolution. Carl Jung adopted my attitude in The Problem of Job, Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning. C.S. Lewis of Narnia fame thought pain was a groovy thing in The Problem of Pain. When I finished reading the book, I telephoned a priest to ask if he were still alive b/c I wanted to go to London or Oxford to spit on his face. The man died. Before he died, his wife died a sad death from cancer. In A Grief Observed, Lewis no longer found pain so healing.
I refuse to worship such a God.