Teenagers, mental health and the gospel
If you ask any teenager today to summarise in a word what they think of the state of the world, I doubt you would get one positive answer in a thousand.
Recently, in my sixth form PSHCE class, the teacher started the lesson off with that question, and sure enough the answers were immensely depressing. ‘Racist’, ‘Sexist’, ‘Classist’, ‘Empty’, ‘Dying’, ‘Pointless’ – by the end, the teacher seemed slightly taken aback at the dark direction his ‘think about the world’ exercise had taken!
Why John MacArthur is mistaken about mental health
Mary came to see me for ‘a chat about her mental health’. ‘I can’t leave the house, I’m so frightened’ she said. It had gone on for years. Her GP referred her to a psychiatrist who had prescribed some medication and a course of therapy.
Her own pastor told her not to see the therapist, and to throw the medication in the bin. ‘Jesus is all you need’ he said, ‘Not an atheistic therapist’. He reminded her of Philippians 4:6-7.