Merry Christmas 2011

Arise, shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover he earth and deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you, and his glory will appear upon you. And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:1-3 (NASB)

“And that, Charlie Brown, is what Christmas is all about.” – Linus

Cutting

I’ve got a friend that I love who cuts. Two years ago I’d never heard of such a thing. If you share my ignorance, people in lots of emotional pain sometimes find some sort of relief in cutting themselves and the behavior becomes addictive. When their lives are out of control, the act of injuring themselves gives them a measure of control. People with a background with neglect and abuse are among the most likely to cut. If you want to know more, Focus on the Family has some good content. Google “cutting” or “self-injury” along with “focus.” (I can’t seem to insert the link this morning.)

Like most men, I’m a “fixer” and I just want to be able to fix my friend’s life, but I find that all I can really do at the moment is pray. I think people can provide help and support and therapy and appropriate medication, but only God can heal a heart and mind. One question I do have is how the psychological and the spiritual worlds relate to one another. When I think about verses in the Bible that talk about people that cut themselves, they were a man that Jesus healed of demon-possession and pagan priests in a frenzy attempting to get the attention of a demonic god. So would what the Bible describes as “demon possessed” also include conditions like personality disorders, bi-polar depression and physchotic breaks? Are they interelated and how? I don’t know. I think maybe, perhaps in spiritual battle that the wounded, or those that have decided to open themselves up to what they know to be evil, are the first prey of the enemy.

Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones. Mark 5:5 (NIV)

So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “O Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 1 Kings 18:26-28 (NIV)