Over the last couple of years I’ve read a number of books on or about depression in different ways. When I could concentrate enough to read. Two books I read early on I’ve mean to write about for some time:Speaking of Sadness
By David A. Karp

Karp is a sociology professor at Boston College. He is not a Christian. However, Dr. Karp’s book is profound. He has suffered from depression himself, and so the book is part auto-biographical, part sociology, and part explanation of what is happening to you and how others around you are reacting to it.

Some of the topics he discusses are disconnection, illness as identity, medication, coping, family, and depression’s impact on our society. It was probably the sections on disconnection and illness as identity that were the most useful to me. Depression forces one to withdraw into yourself. You shrink, so that you feel like you are in a deep dark hole and can only barely see out at all. Friends fall by the wayside, family even. Many a divorce has had depression as one of the chief causes. So to understand how and why this disconnection is happening is quite important.

Perhaps equally important is the concept of illness as identity. I remember having a conversation with my wife’s brother once. He said that he hated being called a diabetic. He had diabetes. In his mind, the illness did not define him, and so he wanted to create separation between himself and the illness. That can be done with physical diseases and illnesses to some degree. No one says “I am a flu-er”, you say you have the flu. Even this has it’s limits. Paraplegic. Diabetic. These are but a couple examples of where the illness is incorporated socially into the identity of a person.

But with mental illness it is different. Because depression and mental illness are so invasive, because we can’t seem to separate our minds from ourselves, depression quickly gloms itself on to the identity. You are marked as unclean or not quite right in the head. There is a social stigma that goes along with depression. Are you trustworthy, or will you just crash? Jobs, family, church, all of these areas an more can make depression become a part of you. I am surprised that no one has coined a term like “I am a depressionic” or something to that effect. Karp addresses this phenomenon with a great deal of insight.

Now where is the Gospel in a secular book like this? There isn’t any, directly. He goes through the journey down into the valley and back up again. It is descriptive, with many helpful insights along the way. I would highly recommend this book, for example, to anyone suffering from depression and especially to their family. It is very good for understanding this. What he doesn’t do (and I have yet to find) is a real treatment of the relationship between mental illness and faith. How is it that I can cry, “I trust when dark my road” and yet mentally not believe there is a future for me? Is the mind the sole place for faith, so that if my mind isn’t right, it must mean my faith isn’t right?

God forbid. Faith is a gift, not an achievement. It is a gift that God continues to give, no matter how difficult the circumstances. In fact, the harder it is, the sweeter God’s gift will become. Even if you don’t feel it. Even if you can’t see past the next fifteen minutes. That doesn’t mean God abandons you. It means that he is hidden for a time so that He may reveal Himself more fully to us at the proper time. There is hope. There is a future. There is a Messiah who comes.

-DMR

PS come see my blog at I Trust When Dark My Road

Has anyone seen this new game show, “Moment of Truth,” yet? Its twisted and not-so-secret reality entertainment on Fox, has people at home asking themselves, “Could I bare my most private secrets (sins) to the public to win money?” Hooked to a lie detector, the host asks very personal questions to the contestant. If the participant lies, they lose. If they tell the truth, they get to go on to win more money for a shot at the Grand Prize of $500,000. And if they do not want to answer a question after completing a certain level, they can walk away with the money that they earned. Sounds simple right? Well, on top of that, their closest family and friends are sitting right in front of them, where the questions many times involves them, as the participant keeps advancing to higher levels. I watched just a little bit of it last night, and I have to tell you, one can either feel the tension or relief when a participant answers truthfully…and when they do, the emotions can turn uglier with anger or disbelief from their closest kin and the audience.

It is interesting how money can motivate telling the truth; or is it sad? I guess from a Christian standpoint, as soon as we see a speck in our neighbor’s eye, we do well to be careful not to miss the log in our own. However, it is seemingly detrimental that a participant is willing to risk their relationships in front of a national audience (and anti-biblical) not just to possibly lose them, but to not have any immediate reconciliation. Unless the participant and kin are very well aware of the rules and possibilities, I don’t understand how much public confessions like those are worth it to them. But then again, money has an allure…and is a 1st Commandment issue.

The fact of the matter is that our current earthly reality IS drenched in sin. We make a public confession of this fact every week, if not more. Furthermore, there are means by which sins that are heavy on our hearts are can go, namely to Private Confession and Absolution. Also, Matthew 18 directs us to resolve conflicts one with another, and not drag other people into it unless the other party is unwilling to listen. Pastors and deaconesses are trained not to be surprised by sins brought to them, because we understand the realities of our fallen world and flesh. Which ought to make it easier to face them when needed, and then ultimately be absolved by a Pastor through Holy Absolution; in essence, by Christ.

I wonder if there will ever be a program called, “Ask for Forgiveness.” It could be hosted by an ordained LCMS pastor, and after a participant’s confession of faith, they and viewers can listen to the Words of Absolution over and over again. Would that be marketable? Probably not, but who would like to wager that some people would be off of their anxiety medication and leaving their therapists? Jesus Christ is the source of Forgiveness, and in His Crucifixion and Resurrection, the ‘Moments of Truth’ that mattered, we were atoned for.

At the moment of this writing, the television news is reporting the sorrowful death of 28-year-old Oscar nominated actor, Heath Ledger. The speculation is that it may have been suicide or possibly an accidental drug overdose. While the circumstances are unclear at this point, what is clear is that he is dead. Many would say that Ledger had a charmed life. Glamorous good looks, youth, growing success, fortune, sex appeal and the adoration of many. All people are living on a time limit and the most envied status and possessions cannot stave off the final enemy which is death. I have no knowledge of Heath Ledger’s spiritual wellbeing. But the Christian Church confesses that all men, women and children are lost and helpless, alienated from our Creator by our rebellious hearts. We likewise confess that there is One man, Jesus Christ, eternally begotten of the Father, God-in-the-flesh, who has made right again all that was wrong. He has become the scapegoat for all people so that those who are baptized into His name, believing His promises, will inherit abundant everlasting life.

I am sorry to hear about Ledger’s death. I suppose I was a fan. I am certainly sympathetic for those he leaves behind. Yet this is a motivation and reminder for all who know the truth to be vessels of salvation for the world. Jesus said, As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. (John 9:4)

Eastern Promises is the latest film directed by David Cronenberg and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Armin Mueller-Stahl.

Cronenberg has a bizarre repertoire of films with a flair for the grotesque. Not only are his movies often graphically violent, but they serve as veritable meditations on the effects of violence, both emotionally and bodily. And in that sense, I hate to say, I think he may have a spark of genius.

Personally, I do not have a high opinion of most of his work. His most recent two films, Eastern Promises and A History of Violence, however, do deserve a bit of attention. It would surprise me very much, in fact, if Eastern Promises does not earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Viggo Mortensen does a truly brilliant job portraying the ultimate thug as part of the Russia mafia in London. He captures the accent, look and mannerisms masterfully.

Director Cronenberg began his career making low-budget horror films specializing in yuck. E.P. is not a horror film by strict definitions, but is very similar thematically. And there is no shortage of yuck. Two fundamental themes for the horror genre are transformation and identity. Many literary forms ask the question “who am I?” but horror asks “what am I?” and “what am I becoming?”, with typically unhappy answers.

The definition of a monster is a being who should not exist but does, or a being that cannot be classified. For instance, Frankenstein’s monster is a being who should not exist but does. He is the fabrication of a scientist who plays God and attempts to manufacture new life out of old body parts. And Darth Vader is also a monster because we don’t know what he is. He’s hard to classify. Is he man or machine?

So horror asks, “what is it?” Dead or alive? Man or machine? Male or female? Plant or animal? Earthly or extraterrestrial? Sane or insane? Healthy or sick? Clean or unlcean? Think of the horror monsters you’ve seen and you’ll find that these are the questions most often at play. The significant thing is that they urge us to ponder what it means to be a human. When does a being cross the line of being non-human to human or vice-versa? Etc. With today’s bio-ethical dilemmas and the advances of research in genetics, artificial intelligence, robotics, cloning, chimeras, etc., you will see more and more, I predict, horror stories asking such questions.

In what sense does Eastern Promises handle these basic horror themes?  It’s not a horror movie, per se.  But it does chillingly illustrate the dehumanizing effects of violence.  Though I can’t say that I recommend it, here is what I value in this film. It assumes and teaches that violence changes human character. Not being the object of violence, necessarily, but the subject.

My pastor, Rev. David Petersen, posed a fascinating question in Bible class last Sunday, a question that he found in the work of Peter Kreeft, I believe. Suppose your child were a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Now suppose, your child were approached by the sadist Dr. Josef Mengele who proposes to spare your son or daughter if he or she will assist him in his experiments. So the choice is this: Assist Mengele in torturing others or be tortured by him. Now how would you want your child to choose?

Many would say that since they don’t want their child to be harmed, they’d prefer him to assist the doctor and be spared the torture themselves. But what is truly more damaging, to be tortured or to torture?  I agree with Pastor Petersen’s point that to do violence to another person damages the doer in more deep and lasting ways.

In his own way, I think Cronenberg makes this point. The monsters in this world are not those who’ve been damaged externally but those who do the damaging. They became spiritual freaks, if you will, disfigured on the inside.

How do atheists celebrate Christmas? The ever articulate, never boring, Dinesh D’Souza asks this question here.

My other question is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?

The new atheists like Sam Harris, Philip Pullman and Christopher Hitchens like to claim that religion, and Christianity in particular, is responsible for the bulk of the world’s woes. If I believed that to be the case, I would find it disingenuous to participate in any fashion in the global commemoration of the birth of Jesus.

But then again, people who try to seriously argue that religion, and Christianity in particular, are a blight on human history are not especially clear thinkers. Have Christians or others done horrid things supposedly in the name of Christ or His Church? Yes, sadly. But the burning of witches and heretics is not all there is to say about Church history, surprising as that may be for some.

If you affirm the value of clear balanced argument, then I commend a book to you by Dr. Alvin Schmidt called How Christianity Changed the World. You will find that everywhere the Church has exerted cultural and social influence, that society became more humane, more compassionate, more peaceful, and generally more prosperous. I liked the original title of his book, Under the Influence, but I guess the connotations were distracting.