Psychiatry or the Gospel, which one brings mental health?

The debate never ends.

You know the questions: Hasn't psychiatry replaced religion? How can the Bible, written so long ago, be relevant for today?

After years of medical practice an American psychiatrist named J. T. Fisher offered his opinion.

"If you were to take the sum total of all authoritative articles ever written by the most qualified of psychologists and psychiatrists on the subject of mental hygiene, if you were to combine them and refine them and cleave out the excess verbiage, if you were to take the whole of the meat and none of the parsley, and if you were to have these unadulterated bits of pure scientific knowledge concisely expressed by the most capable of living poets, you would have an awkward and an incomplete summary of the Sermon on the Mount. And it would suffer immeasurably through comparison.

"For nearly two thousand years the Christian world has been holding in its hands the complete answer to its restless and fruitless yearning. Here rests the blueprint for successful human life, with optimum mental health and contentment."

— A Few Buttons Missing: The Case Book of a Psychiatrist, by J.T. Fisher, M. D., and L.S. Hawley

Obviously, Dr. Fisher liked long sentences.

True, but he didn't waffle and spoke in definite terms. (Kind of refreshing, don't you think?)

He referred to Jesus' words in Matthew 5:1 to 7:29, commonly known as the Sermon on the Mount. Exactly where Jesus spoke these words remains uncertain. Many scholars think the crowds listening to him sat on the gently sloping hillside at the northwest corner of the Sea of Galilee.

Read through these verses and you'll find much that's familiar like the Lord's Prayer. Phrases often used by believers and non-believers are here, too, like "salt of the earth" and "let your light shine."

Suppose we could consult Dr. Fisher 

We might ask for a prescription to stay sane in the midst of the craziness all around us.

Based on his writings it's likely he might answer:

• "Read a few verses from the Sermon on the Mount every day.
• "Spend some time thinking about what you just read, then live it out.
• "Do this every day and your mental and emotional health will improve greatly."

Any of us can fill this prescription and take this medicine–with or without medical insurance. You see, there is no co-pay. It' has been paid in full, in advance, for every human being, for all time.

Let the debate rage on–and it will

Let it swirl around you, but don't let it color your outlook on life. Counter it with verses like these:

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? … Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? … Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."           Matthew 6:25, 27, 34

I know from experience that if we focus our minds on Bible truth it's an effective way to stay calm.

What matters most of all is that we know Jesus, the One who spoke those words and offers us peace-in-the-midst.

Or as Dr. Fisher put it, the One who holds out the answer to all our restless and fruitless yearning: Himself.

He knew an old truth that's still true now, even with all the advances in knowledge and technology: It matters what we allow into our minds. 

In a time when our choices are dizzying, here's to filling our minds with the Good Stuff!

Still learning,

Lenore