Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by RickD »

Continuing with my last post, here's a link with a list of careers that use science. I'm going out on a limb here, when I say that there are probably Christians in many of these career fields:sciencecareers
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Jac3510 »

Brad,

First just a bit about me so you know where I'm coming from. I'm a hospital chaplain so see a lot of "behind the scenes stuff" myself. I also teach courses in philosophy and theology at a local seminary and have been a committed Christian for well over twenty years. So let me address two issues your post raises for me:

1. Terms like "manic-depressive" are clinical terms. I would strongly advise you to stay away from them or anything that sounds like them, particularly when "self-diagnosing," because they have very specific meanings. It isn't just short-hand for "really happy then really sad" as the media often portrays it. So you know, as someone who has quite a bit of formal education in this area (mental health), I don't use them in my own ministry. When charting for patients, for instance, I don't ever use words like "depressed," as common as that term is. Why? For the same reasons I am saying to you. Unless I have recently had a consult with a psychiatrist, I use more objective (non-diagnostic) terms like "appears sad" or "frequently feels down and upset."

2. There is much in the field of modern psychology I deeply disagree with. Much, however, does not mean "all." Better to go to a psychiatrist than a general doctor, because psychiatrists can literally do blood tests and measure the amount of various chemicals in your blood. The body is a very balanced organism designed by God to work a certain way. When things get imbalanced, things go wrong. Sometimes those wrongs are strictly physical (severe cases like cancer; minor cases like a cold). Sometimes, though, they have mental impacts. There is no doubt that the body and the soul are closely related, and what you do to one affects the other. The Bible wants you to protect your body for that very reason. That is why certain drugs can truly change your state of mind. Your mind may be a spiritual thing, but it is also heavily influenced by the physical. So if there is something physical going on, you are in no less need of medical help than if you had a cold or cancer. Can God heal such physical problems? Of course! But most of the time, He uses medicine to get that.

All that is to say, don't hesitate going to get professional help. I know very well the stigma that has, especially among Christians. It shouldn't be there, though. The claim that Christians don't need professional mental help (on spiritual grounds) is no more credible than the claims of some pseudo-Christian sects that claim that we have no need of medical doctors. If you do have a physical problem, they can help. If you don't, they can't.

I would also suggest going and talking to a pastoral counselor at the same time, both for your peace of mind and just to keep a second opinion on hand. Your sin issue, for instance, is something a pastoral with good training can help with. Prayers help, but there are positive steps they can help you take--steps you need to take. You don't grow in Christ just by praying. You can pray ten hours day, but if you don't spend time loving your neighbor, being in Christian fellowship, studying your Bible, etc. you'll never grow. You'll just be talking to God about growing. In my experience, God blesses our efforts. He doesn't live our lives for us. Just so, you can ask God to deliver you from your particular sin, and that's fine. He will. But He expects you to use the resources He has provided you to do that. It'd be nice if He would just snap His divine fingers and fix your problems for you, but that's just not the way He works (most of the time!).

God bless
Proinsias wrote:I don't think you are hearing me. Preference for ice cream is a moral issue
And that, brothers and sisters, is the kind of foolishness you get people who insist on denying biblical theism. A good illustration of any as the length people will go to avoid acknowledging basic truths.
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

1over137 wrote:
Byblos wrote:Please do not discount the possibility that manic depression could be caused by a chemical imbalance and do seek professional help.
I've been through chemical imbalance (depression) myself and had to take medicine. Now it is much better. Slowly I am taking lesser and lesser doses.
Satan is just trying to get a stronger hold on you by letting up a little (Matthew 12:43-45)...

Be not deceived, you're not getting better...

--- IN CHRIST ---

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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

Ivellious wrote:Might I ask what makes you skeptical about doctors?
I'm not at liberty to mention it here... Disclosing certain things could get me and family in big trouble.. You would be surprise where I'm positioned as far as the healthcare system.

This is why I use a nickname or my alias here...

--- IN CHRIST ---

bradford
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by PaulSacramento »

A word on doctors:
It is a profession and like any other you have good ones and bad ones, great one and horrific ones.
I've noticed that people put more time into finding an accountant or a mechanic than they do finding a good doc.
I also notice that people will stay with one they don't even like !
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

1over137 wrote:
Bradigans wrote: Thanks for the prayers... And help me pray for the leading and guidance of THE HOLY SPIRIT for a possibility of me seeking professional help.. As a worker in healthcare and seeing what go's on behind the scenes, I'm very skeptical when it comes to doctors.
I'll pray that you find the right doctor.
To the scepticism: Doctors get more money from insurance companies when they prescribe more medicine. Some doctors then prescribe medicine which people do not really need. In the worst case scenario, it can even harm the patient. I've been also through this myself. When I started to have depression again I went to a wrong doctor. I was sent to the hospital where I met another wrong doctors. They just feeded me with various medicine. I felt like a laboratory mouse. When some medicine did not help me they tried another, then another and another. It was not really a fun. I remember that as a side effect I could not sit calmly. I had to walk and walk. Fortunately, my family took me out of that horrible place. My story continues, but I only wanted to tell the part concerning meeting bad doctors. By the way, I am not the only patient having bad experience with those bunch of doctors in the hospital, eps. the prime doctor. Once someone (it was not me) sent the follwing letter to her boss-director and also to various goverment offices:

"Dear director, I officialy am giving my dismissal from the posision of the prime doctor from the reason that I myself am not longer able to recognize who is sick, and who is normal. I am very stressed and I have already enough of these psychopats."

There was also second letter sent to goverment offices. It was in the name of the prime doctor and it reads:

"Dear Mr./Mrs. In the months of November and December I am doing througout the whole country an examination. Please call me on the below mentioned telephone number. I will examine whether your are healthy or not and if not I will hospitalize you on our clinic for 8 months. It's only for your good and satisfaction of your surrounding. Do not hesitate and prepare yourself for the examination and the treatment. If you do not come voluntarily, I have experiences that patients are brought by the police, since their surrounding was complaining to the police. Best regards."

So, that was a revenge someone took.

Be careful who treats you.
I have the right doctor already.. His name is Doctor Jesus (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31-32). Alleluia!!!

When you get a chance read Mark 5:26 in regard to your secular idealist doctors... Where I work, I see this everyday.. Like a car shop, they got to keep you coming back. It's good for economics.

Some of you don't have to be their victims...

--- IN CHRIST ---

bradford
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Canuckster1127 »

Bradigan,

A few things to add to some of the other counsel you've received, much of which is good I believe.

Going back to your original post, you appear to believe that any symptoms you might have with regard to depression are the result of struggling with sexual temptation. You might be right. I don't know and so I have no better insight to go on than what you offer. Generalized anxiety and living in a sense of shame and guilt are enough to stress a person's emotional system and their conscience to where they can be miserable and in the midst of that type of exhaustion what results may well be similar to what those who experience depression from similar or chemical sources.

That said, let me suggest a few things. If you are a child of God with your faith in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit, living in sustained sin is going to impact many areas in your life. Add to that, if you believe that your relationship and value to God are based upon your performance then you're going to be a very miserable and unhappy person, because just as none of us can merit God's grace and favor, none of us can live a Christian life in our own power and strength. Further, God's love for you is secured and God's love for you is not conditional on your behavior. God hurts for us and with us I believe when we fail to embrace all that we are in Him and all that He's given but God's relationship with you is not one where He is watching you, waiting for you to slip up so He can pounce on you. God's desire is for your good. God doesn't punish His children for the sake of punishment. God doesn't punish us as His children at all. God disciplines us as a loving Father to children. That discipline may not be pleasant at times, but we can be assured that whatever He does with us in those situations is designed to restore us and grow us, not just take us to the woodshed to whip us because of what rotten sons and daughters we are.

This may seem very rudimentary, but it's revolutionary when we begin to understand who we are, who God is and what that relationship really means.

Being tempted is not sin, even if in the past we've given into temptation. Addictive behavior (and sexual sin can have an element of addiction to it) thrives when it is kept secret. Making this disclosure in this context although I know you're still anonymous tells me that you realize bring sin and improper sexual desire out into the open does something. It takes away the secret and robs that sinful and addictive cycle of much of its power. Knowing that others struggle with things and knowing that there are others we can reach out to when we need the support of brothers in Christ is a powerful tool. I'd encourage you to take the next step and ask God to lead you to other borthers in Christ with whom you can develop a relationship that allows you to drop the mask as you've started to do here and allow other to minister to you even as you support them too (there are few men, if any, who aren't tempted in some manner in this arena.)

As far as your description of "manic" depression and your view of the medical profession, let me offer this. There are doctors who are profiteers and there are others who are basically honest and seek to do the best with their knowledge for people. I don't doubt your experience in some medical contexts where you've seen less than honest or noble motives at work for the purpose of making money. That is out there. Characterizing the entire profession on the basis of your limited experience and suspicion that human nature can be less than noble is a form of stereotyping that may leave you throwing out the baby with the proverbial bathwater. If this is a concern for you, and if in addressing this situation in your life even as you begin to experience the strength that comes from being able to drop the mask before God and trustworthy brothers you still have issues then it might be that a medical exam would be a good thing. There are indeed elements of depression that can have a chemical imbalance in the body as a source. Being in a state of general anxiety and agitation can itself overload our systems and create such an imbalance. We don't always know with certaintly what creates the physical states we are in, but there's nothing wrong with utilizing the tools available to assist us when we have a goal and moving toward it. Statistitically the most effective approach to addressing depression and anxiety is not just conselling or not just medication, but there's a very significantly higher success rate when they're combined. If your current theory is not borne out in your addressing this issue in your life, don't rule out other approaches or options. If you need to network to find a doctor whom you can trust more than you do the medical profession in general, make that investment in time and effort to find one and ask for help if you need it.

If I can help more, feel free to post here, or pm me. I can offer more specific help in confidence if that would help you. Others here I'm sure can do the same.

In any event I'm pausing to pray for you as I close this that you'll find peace and strength sufficient to trust in God's love for you and draw from sources other than just your own effort that will lead you to better success in life.

bart
Dogmatism is the comfortable intellectual framework of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is more decadent than the worst sexual sin. ~ Dan Allender
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by 1over137 »

Bradigans wrote: Satan is just trying to get a stronger hold on you by letting up a little (Matthew 12:43-45)...
Be not deceived, you're not getting better...
Interesting verses. So, you predict that I am going to be worse, that other seven more wicked spirits will come into me? How can you know that? It does not have to be true at all. Btw, do you think that this also can happen to you? And do you think that everybody who was down and then got little bit better will be even worse?
Bradigans wrote: I have the right doctor already.. His name is Doctor Jesus (Matthew 9:12, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:31-32). Alleluia!!!

When you get a chance read Mark 5:26 in regard to your secular idealist doctors... Where I work, I see this everyday.. Like a car shop, they got to keep you coming back. It's good for economics.

Some of you don't have to be their victims...
The wrong doctors I was speaking about and who harmed me were religious fanatics, not secular doctors. Fortunately, then I have found good doctors. The doctor I have now is also a believer. And I do not feel like a victim. She is happy I am getting better and that soon I will not have to visit her at all.

I'd like to ask you: Do you visit doctors at all? When you have a flue or so? I remember that my grandmother was rejecting treatment. Then she died and my father became strong atheist. Now tell me, was not she decieved?
But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
-- 1 Thessalonians 5:21

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
-- Philippians 1:6

#foreverinmyheart
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by PaulSacramento »

There is an old story of a guy that was a survior of a flood but was stranded on the roof of his house, he was a devote man and believed that God would help him and he prayed to God for help.
A man came in a boat and offered to help but the man refused and said that God would save him.
Another man came by in another boat and offered to help but again the man refused because "God would help him".
A group of people in a bigger boat came by and offered to help and still the man refused because "God would help him".
The waters started to rise and another boat came by with offer to help and still he refused because God would help him because His Faith was strong !
The waters rose and washed him away and he died.
Upon meeting God he asked: Why didn't you help me? why didn't you save me?
God replied: I sent you boat after boat after boat, what else did you want me to do?
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by StMonicaGuideMe »

Love that story, Paul. Hardest part in life is discerning whether or not the "boats" come from God or if they're just other opportunities.
To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, “I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge".
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by PaulSacramento »

StMonicaGuideMe wrote:Love that story, Paul. Hardest part in life is discerning whether or not the "boats" come from God or if they're just other opportunities.
True but if one is to believe that God's hand is there for us then every opportunity that we have that helps us is "god given".
The point is that to believe that God only helps us in a "divine miraculous" way is kind of an a front to God because God works through US as much as He works WITH US.
To deny that which God has given us ( medical science that saves so many for example) is to say to God, "yeah, thanks for giving us intelligence beyond all other animals, but no thanks, I'll just wait for you to do it MY way".
Know what I mean?
We do NOT decide HOW God helps us.
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

1over137 wrote:
Bradigans wrote: Thanks for the prayers... And help me pray for the leading and guidance of THE HOLY SPIRIT for a possibility of me seeking professional help.. As a worker in healthcare and seeing what go's on behind the scenes, I'm very skeptical when it comes to doctors.
I'll pray that you find the right doctor.
To the scepticism: Doctors get more money from insurance companies when they prescribe more medicine. Some doctors then prescribe medicine which people do not really need. In the worst case scenario, it can even harm the patient. I've been also through this myself. When I started to have depression again I went to a wrong doctor. I was sent to the hospital where I met another wrong doctors. They just feeded me with various medicine. I felt like a laboratory mouse. When some medicine did not help me they tried another, then another and another. It was not really a fun. I remember that as a side effect I could not sit calmly. I had to walk and walk. Fortunately, my family took me out of that horrible place. My story continues, but I only wanted to tell the part concerning meeting bad doctors. By the way, I am not the only patient having bad experience with those bunch of doctors in the hospital, eps. the prime doctor. Once someone (it was not me) sent the follwing letter to her boss-director and also to various goverment offices:

"Dear director, I officialy am giving my dismissal from the posision of the prime doctor from the reason that I myself am not longer able to recognize who is sick, and who is normal. I am very stressed and I have already enough of these psychopats."

There was also second letter sent to goverment offices. It was in the name of the prime doctor and it reads:

"Dear Mr./Mrs. In the months of November and December I am doing througout the whole country an examination. Please call me on the below mentioned telephone number. I will examine whether your are healthy or not and if not I will hospitalize you on our clinic for 8 months. It's only for your good and satisfaction of your surrounding. Do not hesitate and prepare yourself for the examination and the treatment. If you do not come voluntarily, I have experiences that patients are brought by the police, since their surrounding was complaining to the police. Best regards."

So, that was a revenge someone took.

Be careful who treats you.
There's nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The fraud is still the same as in Christ's day...

- Mark 5:25-27 - And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.

Some of us need to be leaving the doctors office to try and touch the hem of HIS garment (Matthew 9:20).

--- IN CHRIST ---

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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

RickD wrote:
I underlined your statement above in regard of "rejecting science is not christian..." I don't mean to be offensive, but what would you know, you're not christian.. What does God's WORD THE BIBLE say about "so called" science?

- 1 Timothy 6:20-21 - O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with thee. Amen.

As far as the absolute christians that you say are studying the sciences. It's simple, they're not christians. There are a lot of professors professing one thing or another today.. Why? Because it looks good on their resume.
Do you realize what inventions science has given us? I suggest you stop using your computer immediately, and repent of your sinful use of a scientific invention, you apostate!
Do you see how ridiculous this sounds? Doctors study medical sciences. They can't be Christians? Detectives study forensic science. They can't be Christian? Science teachers in schools and universities(including Christian schools), study science. They can't be Christian? Should I continue?

And, as for your comment about Ivellious not being able to know that Christians don't reject science isn't possible because he's not a Christian? I suggest you rethink that.
Science (from Latin scientia, meaning "knowledge") is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Anybody can study science. And there's certainly nothing un-Christian about it!
Didn't mean to offend (Matthew 18:7).. But offenses must come..

--- IN CHRIST ---

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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

Danieltwotwenty wrote:
Ivellious wrote:Thanks, Rick. Took the words out of my mouth.
Must have been while you were kissing him :harp: 8-}2 :lol:
Hilarious... :lol:
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Re: Confessing/confiding a fault (James 5:16, Galations 6:1)

Post by Bradigans »

Danieltwotwenty wrote:
Ivellious wrote:Thanks, Rick. Took the words out of my mouth.
Must have been while you were kissing him :harp: 8-}2 :lol:
You've got to keep a sense of humor when dealing with this world (John 15:19)...
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