That may just be my jaundiced experience talking though.

I agree with your friend Tim’s comments–do you think they are at odds with Pierre’s? It doesn’t appear that way to me.

In response to your statement: “I have never heard any Christian ever suggest that psychiatric medication be used as an agent against sin, nor for the bringing forth of obedience through faith, nor for bringing about the Kingdom.”–I don’t think Pierre was saying that a Christian who’s counseling a brother or sister would suggest that medication would do these things, but he was bringing to light that some people might take them with this intention (namely to fight against or ignore sin). As someone who takes anti-depressants, I believe that there are people out there who take medicine to numb themselves to their guilt, sin, or a natural grieving process, BUT there are just as many people whose “steering ” needs fixing, and God has allowed physicians to create medication to help their fallen bodies in this fallen world. The problem is that many Christians (in leadership roles especially) believe that the former reason is the only reason people take medication.

So, I guess I’m confused. I was overjoyed in response to Pierre’s article, as it (to me) signaled the church is slowly making progress in this area, but I guess you came away with a completely different take on it?

I have. I was in a Sunday School class, and the discussion was about assurance of salvation, and the interim pastor of our church at the time suggested that those who unduly struggle with the accepting the assurance of their salvation would benefit from psych meds. This seemed to me a bizarre means for dealing with a sin of unbelief.

On the Cripplegate blog here http://thecripplegate.com/depression-and-serotonin/, in the comments section on an article on Depression and serotonin some pastors shared stories of counseling members. One wrote, that he was told while “once counseling a young woman, “Prozac doesn’t take away my sin—it just makes it easier to live with.” Don’t alarm bells go off when you hear stuff like that?

I am not immune to the sufferings of mental illness. I have suffered both as a child of a Schizo-effective mother, and I am a woman who suffered post-partum, and has children given various diagnoses. I know the issue is complex, and I don’t believe in easy answers. But Christians have the Great Physician. We have the Gospel, and we have the ‘one-anothers’ that this benighted industry completely lacks.

I wrote more about it here: http://thenface2face.wordpress.com/2011/10/09/bad-physic-or-the-great-physcian-a-dialogue-on-christians-and-anti-depressives/

It seems to me that we have to keep trying to help people really separate the concepts of mental ill health and sin. If mental ill health is a malfunction of the physical brain, then why not regard it as no different from a more physically visible sign of ill health or disability? Would this author make a connection between learning difficulties and sin? I do hope not!