I was a little sick when I read the headline and the story. I find the pastor of Saddleback Church to be an incredibly inspirational Christian speaker and writer. He exudes Christ's love. He doesn't shy from making moral judgements, but the message of Christ's love always rings louder than the message of God's judement when he speaks, just as it did when Jesus spoke. I didn't post this on West Mall because I didn't want a bunch of mean-spirited political sniping. People who think perfunctory prayer in school will cure society's ills can see from this and other stories that exposure to holiness is not a cure-all. Obviously we can't judge God's justice by earthly standards and our own goodness and faith are no innoculation from the troubles of this world. God bless Pastor Rick and his family.
I've had depression before; in fact, I still battle it from time to time. The one positive that came out of it was that my despair is what drove me to my knees (literally) in prayer to ask God's forgiveness for my many (and in some instances, horrible) sins and for Jesus to save me. That, plus the intercessory prayers of Christian friends, advice and counseling from friends and professionals, and medications helped get me out of the rut. Perhaps with "mild" depression one can pull himself up by his bootstraps, but with moderate (which I guess is what I had) and severe depression some form of outside help is necessary. The emotional pain I was going through was bad enough...having been there, I can imagine how horribly intense the pain and despair must be in severe cases, and why someone in the throes of the severest depression might consider suicide. I know next to nothing about Rick Warren; though I'm sure he and his wife are soldiering on and that they have the assurance they will be united with their son in Heaven someday, no doubt they are still hurting badly and will continue to do so for a long, long time. Indeed, mental illness sucks.
I sometimes despise the way the term mental illness is tossed around, like there is some clear dividing line between those of us who are "clinically crazy" and rest of us who to one extent or another do plenty of reality evasion. Almost everyone can improve his or her mental health. I like the concept of "mental fitness." We can all deal better with reality. .
Reality is negotiable. I wonder if mental illness is really a very broad spectrum between lesser and greater severity, and we all land somewhere on there with varying degrees of success in managing things. I imagine that our brains have evolved to discard much of what we perceive just so we can function.
It's not stated that explicitly in the book "The Road Less Traveled" but the "mental fitness" idea is kinda my own personal shorthand summary of a very insightful publication.
