We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum. A.W. Tozer
Therefore let God-inspired Scripture decide between us; and on whichever side be found doctrines in harmony with the word of God, in favor of that side will be cast the vote of truth. --Basil of Caesarea
Once you learn to discern, there's no going back. You will begin to spot the lie everywhere it appears.

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. 1 Timothy 1:12

Saturday, April 11, 2015

When Sin is Called Sickness


Sin is the core issue on which the Church is commissioned to speak.   We can no more have a gospel without sin that we can have a gospel without Jesus Christ.  To evade sin and responsibility is not new, but it is dangerous.  By suggesting there is another explanation for troubles and difficulties, the devil deludes us and sabotages the gospel.

The medical model of sin is dangerous because it damns people.  It undercuts social morality.  In a day of high crime and antisocial behavior, calling sin sickness undermines the individual's responsibility to control his behavior.  The disease model actually inflames behaviors.  It legitimizes, reinforces and excuses sinful behaviors and attitudes in believers and unbelievers alike.


David Tyler & Kurt Grady, Deceptive Diagnosis: When SIN is called SICKNESS, p.57

8 comments:

hymns that preach said...

My wife (and most of my friends) gets irritated with me when I refuse to acknowledge clinical and psychological excuses (like ADHD or ADD...) for bad behavior.

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

Tell me about it. Almost everyone I know has some family member suffering from ADD or ADHD. No one wants to admit they can control their behavior.

Ron Livesay said...

Student to principal: "But I couldn't help it. I forgot to take my medication this morning." I heard something like that far too many times.

I remember Dr. Henry Brandt saying, "I keep hearing about ADD and ADHD. Whatever happened to B-R-A-T?

Anonymous said...

It's definitely a slick ploy by the enemy. It's hard to confess and repent of a "medical condition". Legitimizing sin has always been a problem, since the very beginning... "and you will be as God"...

-Carolyn

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

For almost two decades I have witnessed a dark -- I'll be so bold as to term it evil -- trend in psychology and psychiatry. I have watched, often incredulous, as members of these two respected professions mass-marketed two non-existent diseases, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), to the American public. The success of this propaganda effort has resulted in the victimization of millions of parents and children.

Psychologist John K. Rosemond, Forward to "Unraveling the ADD/ADHD Fiasco," by David B. Stein. Cited by David M. Tyler, Ph.D and Kurt P. Grady, Pharm.D in ADHD: Deceptive Diagnosis, p. 10

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

When the National Institute of Health held a special conference concerning the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD in 1998, they issued a summary statement of their findings. They concluded there is no independent, valid test to diagnose ADHD. This means there is no objective measurement for diagnosing ADHD. You cannot draw blood and find it. You can not perform a CT scan and see it. There is nothing you can objectively find to prove a diagnosis of ADHD. Nothing has changed. There is still [2008] no proof of disease.

David M. Tyler, Ph.D and Kurt P. Grady, Pharm.D, ADHD: Deceptive Diagnosis, p. 13

Glenn E. Chatfield said...

ADHD, as it is now commonly known, was determined to be a mental illness by a vote of the American Psychiatric Association members at their annual meeting in 1987, and the new definition was then added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Children (and increasingly adults) who exhibit behaviors such as inattention, distractibility, trouble in following directions, a tendency to lose things, and difficulty awaiting their turn to speak or participate in activities are now seen as victims of ADHD. In the past, these behaviors were labeled as achievement-ability discrepancies, poor impulse control, or perhaps simply unruly classroom behavior, but they are now redefined as a type of mental illness requiring treatment rather than self-control.

Relieved to find that their children’s behavioral problems are the result of a neurobiological disorder rather than a failure of discipline, large numbers of parents have willingly allowed their children to be diagnosed and medicated — with no scientific confirmation of the origins of ADHD, and even less information about the side effects of the medication. A report by the National Institute of Mental Health in 1998 admits that “after years of clinical research and experience with ADHD, our knowledge about the cause or causes of ADHD remain largely speculative.” Even the NIMH cautions that “further research is necessary to establish ADHD as a brain disorder.”

Yet despite the lack of compelling scientific evidence about ADHD, there continues to be a significant increase in the diagnosis of children as suffering from this “mental illness.


Anne Hendershott, The Politics of Deviance, p. 50-51

Anonymous said...

In diagnosing ADD and ADHD as a new mental illness, the drug companies have made enormous amounts of money from this new and improved method of psychological control and manipulation. Children and elderly alike have been issued these medications to "modify" their behavior in making them more compliant, thus zombie-like, in conforming to the herd mentality.

In our public school systems, the teachers become the main tool of "referral" in having children evaluated by the psychological evaluator or social worker. Mind control medication is usually the final outcome of these evaluations with the schools receiving "kick-backs" in the form of government funding for more "disabled" children. How do I know this? One of our children was struggling with sin and a "teacher" suggested we put this child on a mind control drug, to our horror.

After much prayer, conviction, and extensive research, we knew drugs/pharmakeia were not an option for our child.

Is it possible that more and more drugs are used as a replacement for conviction of sin, admission of sin, repentance and prayer for our sins, and turning to the only One Who Heals; Jesus as our Great Physician?