Book Review: Blame It on the Brain?
September 24, 2007
Who needs a book that informs and equips people to minister biblically to people dealing with issues such as depression, dementia, alcoholism, Alzheimer’s disease, ADHD, and homosexuality? A better question is: Who doesn’t need such a book? We are blessed that such a book has been written: Blame It on the Brain? Distinguishing Chemical Imbalances, Brain Disorders, and Disobedience (P&R, 1998) by Dr. Edward T. Welch of Westminster Theological Seminary. Blame It on the Brain is part of the Resources for Changing Lives Series, published in cooperation with the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation of Glenside, Pennsylvania.
Welch’s book consists of two parts. In Part 1 he lays a biblical foundation for understanding brain-related problems. He begins by reaffirming the teaching of Scripture that we are a unity of material and immaterial substance–body and soul. In this discussion he also interacts briefly but helpfully with some of the history of Christian thought in this area. Welch sees four important emerging from his mind-body discussion: (1) The brain cannot make a person sin or keep a person from following Jesus in faith and obedience; (2) Each person’s abilities, including brain strengths and weaknesses, are unique and worthy of careful study; (3) Brain problems can expose heart problems; and (4) Sinful hearts can lead to physical illness, and upright hearts can lead to health.
In Part 2 Welch applies the aforementioned principles to common brain problems, such as diseases or damages which affect behavior, psychiatric problems, and behaviors that once were called sin but now are considered either sickness or normal. In these applications he seeks to provide the reader with a template for sympathetic counsel that distinguishes physical weaknesses from issues of the heart. He subdivides Part 2 into three sections: The Brain Did It, in which he examines dementia from Alzheimer’s disease and head injury, Maybe the Brain Did It, in which he explains principles relevant to psychiatric diagnoses such as depression and attention deficit disorder (ADD or ADHD), and The Brain Didn’t Do It, in which he focuses on homosexuality and alcoholism as behaviors that have long been considered sinful but recently have been reclassified as either normal (homosexuality) or the result of disease (alcoholism and many other addictions).
Welch provides a great deal of helpful information regarding the science of brain injury, as well as the still murky science of depression and psychiatric disorders. In cases of the latter, Welch argues that “it is neither sinful nor a sign of spiritual weakness to take medication [to treat depressive symptoms]“[126]. He points out, however, that there is no evidence that such medications treat specific chemical deficiencies that cause depression in people. Further, counsel fed and led by Scripture will help a person to distinguish between physical and spiritual symptoms and then address heart issues and personal suffering in light of the Gospel.
The Sweet Dropper considers this book essential reading for pastors and elders.
As a bonus here are the lyrics to the 1989 hit by the rightly-despised lip-synching duo Milli Vanilli, Blame It on the Rain (I know many of you have already been humming the tune while reading my review):
You said you didn’t need her
You told her good-bye (good-bye)
You sacrificed a good love
To satisfy your pride
Now you wished
That you should have her (have her)
And you feel like such a fool
You let her walk away
Now it just don’t feel the same
Gotta blame it on something
Gotta blame it on something
Blame it on the rain (rain)
Blame it on the stars (stars)
Whatever you do don’t put the blame on you
Blame it on the rain yeah yeah
You can blame it on the rain
Get
Ooh, ooh (ooh)
I can’t, I can’t. I can’t, can’t stand the rain
I can’t, I can’t. I can’t, can’t stand the rain
Yeah, yeah
Should’ve told her you were sorry (sorry) huh
Could have said you were wrong
But no you couldn’t do that. No, no
You had to prove you were strong ooh
If you hadn’t been so blinded (blinded)
She might still be there with you
You want her back again
But she just don’t feel the same
Gotta blame it on something
Gotta blame it on something
Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling
Blame it on the stars that did shine at night
Whatever you do don’t put the blame on you
Blame it on the rain yeah yeah
You can blame it on the rain
Cos the rain don’t mind
And the rain don’t care
You got to blame it on something
(Blame it on the rain)
(Blame it on the stars)
Whatever you do don’t put the blame on you
Blame it on the rain yeah, yeah
You can blame it on the rain
Girl
Book Review: Mighty Men
September 18, 2007
The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 16:13-14: Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. John Crotts, pastor of Faith Bible Church in Sharpsburg, Georgia, has written a booklet aimed at spurring men on in that direction called Mighty Men: The Starter’s Guide to Leading Your Family [Sand Springs, OK: Grace & Truth Books, 2004].
In Mighty Men Crotts hopes to give men something of a kick in the pants, but also give them a set of basic tools to set about the work of demonstrating Christ-like love and solid spiritual leadership at home. He correctly identifies the idolatry of laziness and passivity that grips so many men for what it is–idolatry! He also groups with it the laziness of what he calls ‘the Dictator Dad’–the ‘me Tarzan, you Jane’ approach to headship, which some numbskulls (pardon my use of technical theological terms) confuse with biblical headship. Crotts also addresses with warmth and compassion what I call the intimidation factor of Christian leadership. He writes, “My assumption is that men are so overwhelmed by inflated expectations of spiritual leadership, they don’t even try to take responsibility for the spiritual well-being of their homes” [37]. Crotts encourages men to think of themselves as managers of their home, working under the sovereignty of the owner. He goes on to apply this in some very practical ways.
The strong points of Mighty Men include:
- It is a booklet–only about 40 pages long. In other words, it is short enough that a man might actually read it! Alas, this short attention span is the norm among the majority of our men, and we must pray and labor that God would cure them of this malady! But in the meantime, it’s good to accommodate teaching to the capacities of the hearers.
- He is simple and illustrative in the points he makes.
- He urges healthy Christian growth through the ordinary means of grace as the foundation for the development of Christian character.
- His advice about family worship and prayer/Bible reading with your wife is some of the best, most practical that I have read.
A booklet such as this one might be faulted for what it does not say, but that is not fair. He sets the matter squarely on the table and within reach of any man. Men must go deeper than Mighty Men will take them, but Crotts work is an excellent, succinct resource for men who need to put the shovel into the ground for the first time. It’s time to act like men.
Proverbs: Anger, continued
September 17, 2007
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
~Proverbs 16:32
A little extra something re: the 9/2 sermon on anger in Proverbs. This morning Andra
Mooney, retired English teacher, reminded me of William Blake’s 1794 poem “A Poison Tree” concerning unresolved anger:
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe;
I told it not, my wrath did grow.And I water’d it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with my smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,And into my garden stole
When the night had veil’d the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch’d beneath the tree.
Proverbs: Too much, continued
September 12, 2007
This past Lord’s Day I preached on the wisdom found in Proverbs concerning excess–or as I called it in the sermon, too much. Alas, I had too much material to include in the time allotted for preaching that evening. I wanted to read a paragraph from C.S. Lewis’ Perelandra, in which Ransom is acclimating himself to the new planet, reminiscent of what Adam’s first hours must have been like in Eden (thanks to Grant Carroll for bringing this passage to my attention last week):
Now he had come to a part of the wood where great globes of yellow fruit hung from the tress–clustered as toy-balloons are clustered on the back of the balloon-man and about the same size. He picked one of them and turned it over and over. The rind was smooth and firm and seemed impossible to tear open. Then by accident one of his fingers punctured it and went through into coldness. After a moment’s hesitation he put the little aperture up to his lips. He had meant to extract the smallest, experimental sip, but the first taste put his caution all to flight. It was, of course, a taste, just as his thirst and hunger had been thirst and hunger. But then it was so different from every other taste that it seemed mere pedantry to call it a taste at all. It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant. For one draught of this on earth wars would be fought and nations betrayed. it could not be classified. He could never tell us, when he came back to the world of men, whether it was sharp or sweet, savoury or voluptuous, creamy or piercing. “Not like that” was all he could ever say to such inquiries. As he let the empty gourd fall from his hand and was about to pluck a second one, it came into his head that he was now neither hungry nor thirsty. And yet to repeat a pleasure so intense and almost so spiritual seemed an obvious thing to do. His reason, or what we commonly take to be reason in our own world, was all in favour of tasting this miracle again; the childlike innocence of fruit, the labours he had undergone, the uncertainty of the future, all seemed to commend the action. Yet something seemed opposed to this “reason.” It is difficult to suppose that this opposition came from desire, for what desire would turn from so much deliciousness? But for whatever cause, it appeared to him better not to taste again. Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity–like asking to hear the same symphony twice in a day.”
Did you catch that? Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity. Something in Lewis’ thought here sheds light on our sinful tendency to overindulge and binge. We find something good and pleasurable, and we feel we must have more and more and more. Opposed to us is the teaching of Proverbs 25:16: If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. Paul’s expression their god is their belly comes to mind as well.
When you look at it closely, too much is a lordship problem, a worship disorder. Who is your master, God or your desires? Do you desire God above all else, is he the strength of your heart and your portion forever? Or do you desire something in the creation more than you desire the Creator? At root, drunkards and gluttons and workaholics and exercise-obsessives are worshiping another god. Their worship is actually a form of self-worship. We worship what brings us joy and contentment and rest.
I had the opportunity to feast with dear Christian brethren last night in Fort Collins, Colorado (I’m here for the annual RYM board meeting). My conscience was teased along with the thought: there was plenty of “honey” to eat, but how much better to taste and move on, rather than have my fill and vomit it.
