As a Christian with autism and multiple iterations of mental illness, I am especially thankful for you and the many others giving voice to this issue.
I believe John MacArthur is well-intentioned but nevertheless willfully and belligerently ignorant. I say he is willfully ignorant because sufficient study on this issue of the many Christian writers who are smarter and wiser than he, would be greatly helpful in informing him of reality.
But I find that in my observations of a great many people over a span of several decades, it seems that those who are genetically greatly robust decide that their condition is a commonality in all of humanity, and they seem to judge others according to their own personal experience of life. There is not an understanding, or willingness to see, that those who are more genetically frail will have greater deficiencies in health, both physical and mental. Especially because most mental health issues are rooted in the physical.
Oh boy. Where to start. I’m glad the Substack algorithm thought we should find each other and it was right. This is the first post of yours I read and I felt so many things, especially as a therapist and a follower of Jesus.
My body felt enraged as I was listening to the clip. For so many reasons. There’s so much I could say. What I’ll say for now is I admire how you navigated this essay with such grace and honesty.
I’m so glad you responded to this, and you did it with love and grace! Thank you! I felt a range of emotions at first, but then, like you, I just felt sad. As you know, my wife and I have worked through the challenges of ADHD with our own son. To hear John MacArthur say ADHD doesn’t exist was just shocking.
I don't know you, but as someone who also struggles with ADHD, I appreciate you for acknowledging your son's challenges. It's all too common for parents to be in denial when their child's behavior is affected by something invisible. Best wishes to you and your family!
Thank you! Learning how to deal with this has been a journey that has changed our lives. His current school is asking him to leave, so he is shadowing at another school today. It’s sad to see how he has been treated because he’s different. Not bad different, just different. He has such a magnetic personality and a heart for God, that he draws people to him. I want to do everything I can to nurture the incredible gifts that God has given him, while also teaching him accountability. Thank you for your note—it’s a great encouragement to me!
Thank you for this excellent response to a very sad, and misguided response to those who suffer with mental health and use medication. As someone with a counseling degree, and as a believer, I am very disappointed that Pastor John MacArthur would say these things. You covered this in such a constructive, helpful way. Thank you. I just located your book on Audible and I am listening right now. I recently had surgery and can't sleep due to the pain in the night. So your book is a blessing--thank you. Also I am writing on a related topic. My book is called Tenderly Transformed: Growing and Healing Through Turbulent Times. Life can hold so many forms of turbulence, and mental health struggles are certainly among those. My father suffered from some really tough mental health issues, and generally he wasn't willing to accept medication. We could have been spared so many challenges throughout his lifetime if he hadn't been afraid of medication. He knew the Lord, but unless he was forced to accept medication during hospitalization or while on hospice, he refused. Attitudes like John MacArthur shares in this video do contribute to so much shame and cut people off from the help that could make such a difference in the lives of those who struggle. Denial is such a terrible hindrance to people getting help and support. Again, thank you for writing your book and for this valuable post.
As the wife of a man who was diagnosed with OCD years ago and having to watch him fight every single day against something he did not want or choose our entire marriage... I am so so glad for this well thought out, grace-filled but needed serious response. Truly. Also it's always nice reading something that uses my dad as an example in a nice way 😅
As a fellow believer with OCD, I appreciate so much your comments on common grace. Therapy, science, and medication are gifts of the human brain God designed! I wrote a piece about MacArthur this week, as well, and more than anything I want him, and others like him, to understand what beauty lies in our wrestling with God. It has taken a long time to reconcile my faith with my mental illness, but in the end it turned out to be the very thing that revealed how good and kind Jesus actually is. I might walk with a limp for the rest of my life, but I will never walk alone.
I'm grateful my therapist diagnosed me with PTSD after the loss of my 12 year old son to stage 4 brain cancer. Big Pharma had nothing to do with it as I did not take meds for that nor anything else. But the diagnosis alone gave me the insight I needed to understand why I reacted so painfully to triggers from the trauma we went through. It also gave me the compassion I needed for myself to set boundaries in place to protect my heart and body from the physical reactions to PTSD.
Wow, as a retired nurse and one who has been around alot of people with mental health related to depression, anxiety and other such ailments I am also saddened by Pastor McArthur's comments. It is both or actually like the 3 legged stool. Mind, body, and spirit. The brain to me encompasses all three of these things. You can't have a brain without a brain, you can't have a body without a brain and you can't have a spirit without a brain. Might sound like a riddle but Jesus addressed this in His parables. When they questioned Him, 'who sinned this man or his parents? (you can look up the verses) Even the prophet Jeremiah had clinical depression if you analyze the symptoms. It was a bit deeper than just sadness or grief. Some people need a medication to get their brains in gear for them to deal with the emotional traumas and situations in life. Unfortunately because in our day the enemy has so many ways to infiltrate our minds, our moods, our temperaments and even our DNA, much can be said about this on a scientific level, we are prone to these more common issues of anxiety and depression. There is Hope, there is 'common grace' and I believe we should be using both because the error in my opinion is when we don't and relay solely on one more than the other. This is a spiritual battle, no doubt about it. But as a society we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater and cancel what we don't like to hear or who we don't like to hear. Could this also be what Jesus said about Itchy ears? ( look those verses up too, lol). As someone in the age bracket of McArthur I believe we should be wary of listening more to our own opinions and not what the bible says. Everything in the bible was given for us to scrutinize and use our brains. That's why God gave us a brain and unfortunately the enemy uses it too. Mark 12:30-31. Look that one up too. So much can be said but I'd have to write a book too, lol, God bless!
As someone who was diagnosed with OCD I applaud you. I also was able to heal after three years in meds. I had severe trauma and hormonal imbalances. I’m now free from symptoms yet periodically I feel like they might surface. It’s horrible to think that Christians have to believe that there is shame in seeking help. God suffered. People suffer. But he is still our hope no matter what! Thank you for this today!! 🙏❤️
Thanks Jon. I agree 100% with everything you said. I’ve used some of the same examples like breaking a bone well we’d have that fixed. The Bible says we are to love the Lord with everything and if our minds aren’t clear it’s hard to do that. Thanks for handling this in true Christian love.
Appreciate this commentary! Important conversation on a sensitive topic. I've not (yet) been clinically diagnosed with anything, but I'm fairly certain I would be diagnosed anxiety, OCD, and depression... at a minimum. I've been praying about whether or not I should seek a full psychiatric assessment. I'm leaning towards yes... but the thought of ever being on medication scares me, especially as someone who has struggled with drug abuse in the past, and someone who believes big pharma's motives are predominantly driven by greed. How/when did you go about getting your diagnosis? And how has your diagnosis benefitted you?
Hey Miguel, thanks for posting. I go into depth on my book on all this, so I think it would be helpful. I only say that because there’s no way I could detail it all here. It’s too long. But I’ll say this: medication for your brain is not addictive. Also, we do this weird thing with mental health where we see it as less than. If you suspected you might have cancer, wouldn’t you immediately go to the doctor to get it diagnosed and treated? And that’s even knowing that cancer meds have much worse side effects! At minimum, go get checked out. Take it from there.
Thanks for the response, Jonathan. I will heed your advice — I think it’s probably long overdue. I will also definitely check out your book. It’s the “Finding Rest” one, yes?
I appreciate you bringing to light the issue of mental health. It is something that has truly affected my marriage for the past four years. This has been the cause of why I had to leave a toxic church community a couple of years ago, where every mental health problem was seen as a demonic entity. John McArthur is on the other extreme where it doesn’t exist at all, and it grieves my heart that there are people who believe this. Aside from my experience, I see there are others in the comments who have experienced issues with mental health and it’s saddening that some circles will shame them for feeling a certain way. I enjoyed this very much! Thank you again!
I hope he nor any of his loved ones ever have to suffer for him to understand the reality of mental illness. It is amazing that any other organ can be treated with meds and /or therapies but not our brains.
Remember when we couldn’t say cancer for fear of the stigma? The stigma held over mental health needs to end.
I love John MacArthur, but I have 2 grown daughters who are bipolar schizoaffected, so I do strongly disagree with him on this issue and it grieves me that he believes it. They were both very sweet till their mid twenties and changed drastically. Mac says there is no evidence for chemical imbalance. Excuse me? All our hormones are chemicals the body makes and there are so many endocrine disruptors that we are all exposed to.
Thanks Jonathan.
As a Christian with autism and multiple iterations of mental illness, I am especially thankful for you and the many others giving voice to this issue.
I believe John MacArthur is well-intentioned but nevertheless willfully and belligerently ignorant. I say he is willfully ignorant because sufficient study on this issue of the many Christian writers who are smarter and wiser than he, would be greatly helpful in informing him of reality.
But I find that in my observations of a great many people over a span of several decades, it seems that those who are genetically greatly robust decide that their condition is a commonality in all of humanity, and they seem to judge others according to their own personal experience of life. There is not an understanding, or willingness to see, that those who are more genetically frail will have greater deficiencies in health, both physical and mental. Especially because most mental health issues are rooted in the physical.
Oh boy. Where to start. I’m glad the Substack algorithm thought we should find each other and it was right. This is the first post of yours I read and I felt so many things, especially as a therapist and a follower of Jesus.
My body felt enraged as I was listening to the clip. For so many reasons. There’s so much I could say. What I’ll say for now is I admire how you navigated this essay with such grace and honesty.
I agree on so many levels, Blake! Thank you for reading and for reaching out.
I’m so glad you responded to this, and you did it with love and grace! Thank you! I felt a range of emotions at first, but then, like you, I just felt sad. As you know, my wife and I have worked through the challenges of ADHD with our own son. To hear John MacArthur say ADHD doesn’t exist was just shocking.
Thanks, Jim. Means a lot coming from you.
I don't know you, but as someone who also struggles with ADHD, I appreciate you for acknowledging your son's challenges. It's all too common for parents to be in denial when their child's behavior is affected by something invisible. Best wishes to you and your family!
Thank you! Learning how to deal with this has been a journey that has changed our lives. His current school is asking him to leave, so he is shadowing at another school today. It’s sad to see how he has been treated because he’s different. Not bad different, just different. He has such a magnetic personality and a heart for God, that he draws people to him. I want to do everything I can to nurture the incredible gifts that God has given him, while also teaching him accountability. Thank you for your note—it’s a great encouragement to me!
Thank you for this excellent response to a very sad, and misguided response to those who suffer with mental health and use medication. As someone with a counseling degree, and as a believer, I am very disappointed that Pastor John MacArthur would say these things. You covered this in such a constructive, helpful way. Thank you. I just located your book on Audible and I am listening right now. I recently had surgery and can't sleep due to the pain in the night. So your book is a blessing--thank you. Also I am writing on a related topic. My book is called Tenderly Transformed: Growing and Healing Through Turbulent Times. Life can hold so many forms of turbulence, and mental health struggles are certainly among those. My father suffered from some really tough mental health issues, and generally he wasn't willing to accept medication. We could have been spared so many challenges throughout his lifetime if he hadn't been afraid of medication. He knew the Lord, but unless he was forced to accept medication during hospitalization or while on hospice, he refused. Attitudes like John MacArthur shares in this video do contribute to so much shame and cut people off from the help that could make such a difference in the lives of those who struggle. Denial is such a terrible hindrance to people getting help and support. Again, thank you for writing your book and for this valuable post.
As the wife of a man who was diagnosed with OCD years ago and having to watch him fight every single day against something he did not want or choose our entire marriage... I am so so glad for this well thought out, grace-filled but needed serious response. Truly. Also it's always nice reading something that uses my dad as an example in a nice way 😅
Wow, thank you for that Talitha. I’m humbled by your words. Your dad is such an inspiration. Praying for you and your husband.
As a fellow believer with OCD, I appreciate so much your comments on common grace. Therapy, science, and medication are gifts of the human brain God designed! I wrote a piece about MacArthur this week, as well, and more than anything I want him, and others like him, to understand what beauty lies in our wrestling with God. It has taken a long time to reconcile my faith with my mental illness, but in the end it turned out to be the very thing that revealed how good and kind Jesus actually is. I might walk with a limp for the rest of my life, but I will never walk alone.
I love this line: "what beauty lies in our wrestling with God." Yes! The Psalms are David wrestling with God, and they are beautiful!
I'm grateful my therapist diagnosed me with PTSD after the loss of my 12 year old son to stage 4 brain cancer. Big Pharma had nothing to do with it as I did not take meds for that nor anything else. But the diagnosis alone gave me the insight I needed to understand why I reacted so painfully to triggers from the trauma we went through. It also gave me the compassion I needed for myself to set boundaries in place to protect my heart and body from the physical reactions to PTSD.
Oof.
Thank you for sharing this and for advocating the importance of leaning into proper help when dealing with mental illness.
I am continually shocked at the amount of leaders who stand with radical opinions on matters they have never experienced themselves.
Pure ignorance, in my opinion. We must do better.
🙏
Wow, as a retired nurse and one who has been around alot of people with mental health related to depression, anxiety and other such ailments I am also saddened by Pastor McArthur's comments. It is both or actually like the 3 legged stool. Mind, body, and spirit. The brain to me encompasses all three of these things. You can't have a brain without a brain, you can't have a body without a brain and you can't have a spirit without a brain. Might sound like a riddle but Jesus addressed this in His parables. When they questioned Him, 'who sinned this man or his parents? (you can look up the verses) Even the prophet Jeremiah had clinical depression if you analyze the symptoms. It was a bit deeper than just sadness or grief. Some people need a medication to get their brains in gear for them to deal with the emotional traumas and situations in life. Unfortunately because in our day the enemy has so many ways to infiltrate our minds, our moods, our temperaments and even our DNA, much can be said about this on a scientific level, we are prone to these more common issues of anxiety and depression. There is Hope, there is 'common grace' and I believe we should be using both because the error in my opinion is when we don't and relay solely on one more than the other. This is a spiritual battle, no doubt about it. But as a society we tend to throw the baby out with the bathwater and cancel what we don't like to hear or who we don't like to hear. Could this also be what Jesus said about Itchy ears? ( look those verses up too, lol). As someone in the age bracket of McArthur I believe we should be wary of listening more to our own opinions and not what the bible says. Everything in the bible was given for us to scrutinize and use our brains. That's why God gave us a brain and unfortunately the enemy uses it too. Mark 12:30-31. Look that one up too. So much can be said but I'd have to write a book too, lol, God bless!
As someone who was diagnosed with OCD I applaud you. I also was able to heal after three years in meds. I had severe trauma and hormonal imbalances. I’m now free from symptoms yet periodically I feel like they might surface. It’s horrible to think that Christians have to believe that there is shame in seeking help. God suffered. People suffer. But he is still our hope no matter what! Thank you for this today!! 🙏❤️
Amen!
Thanks Jon. I agree 100% with everything you said. I’ve used some of the same examples like breaking a bone well we’d have that fixed. The Bible says we are to love the Lord with everything and if our minds aren’t clear it’s hard to do that. Thanks for handling this in true Christian love.
Thanks for reading! Would love if you shared it if you think it’s worth it.
Appreciate this commentary! Important conversation on a sensitive topic. I've not (yet) been clinically diagnosed with anything, but I'm fairly certain I would be diagnosed anxiety, OCD, and depression... at a minimum. I've been praying about whether or not I should seek a full psychiatric assessment. I'm leaning towards yes... but the thought of ever being on medication scares me, especially as someone who has struggled with drug abuse in the past, and someone who believes big pharma's motives are predominantly driven by greed. How/when did you go about getting your diagnosis? And how has your diagnosis benefitted you?
Hey Miguel, thanks for posting. I go into depth on my book on all this, so I think it would be helpful. I only say that because there’s no way I could detail it all here. It’s too long. But I’ll say this: medication for your brain is not addictive. Also, we do this weird thing with mental health where we see it as less than. If you suspected you might have cancer, wouldn’t you immediately go to the doctor to get it diagnosed and treated? And that’s even knowing that cancer meds have much worse side effects! At minimum, go get checked out. Take it from there.
Thanks for the response, Jonathan. I will heed your advice — I think it’s probably long overdue. I will also definitely check out your book. It’s the “Finding Rest” one, yes?
Thank you for writing this!!
👊🏻
I appreciate you bringing to light the issue of mental health. It is something that has truly affected my marriage for the past four years. This has been the cause of why I had to leave a toxic church community a couple of years ago, where every mental health problem was seen as a demonic entity. John McArthur is on the other extreme where it doesn’t exist at all, and it grieves my heart that there are people who believe this. Aside from my experience, I see there are others in the comments who have experienced issues with mental health and it’s saddening that some circles will shame them for feeling a certain way. I enjoyed this very much! Thank you again!
I hope he nor any of his loved ones ever have to suffer for him to understand the reality of mental illness. It is amazing that any other organ can be treated with meds and /or therapies but not our brains.
Remember when we couldn’t say cancer for fear of the stigma? The stigma held over mental health needs to end.
I love John MacArthur, but I have 2 grown daughters who are bipolar schizoaffected, so I do strongly disagree with him on this issue and it grieves me that he believes it. They were both very sweet till their mid twenties and changed drastically. Mac says there is no evidence for chemical imbalance. Excuse me? All our hormones are chemicals the body makes and there are so many endocrine disruptors that we are all exposed to.
So sorry to hear that, Lori. Praying for your daughters. Great point on the hormones.