Comments on: Review: Faithful Heart by Al Lacy

By: Amy @ My Friend Amy

Amy @ My Friend Amy — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:22:21 +0000

I think Al Lacy is pretty much the worst Christian fiction has to offer.

There is some good Christian fiction, but this is not it.

And regarding mental illness…well, pretty much the worst thing in the world to me is insisting someone get over something via only prayer and the Bible. I’m not sure that’s what you’re saying, but it borders on a form of spiritual abuse in my opinion. I very much believe God has allowed us to make progress in understanding our minds, and have medicines, etc for a reason. I agree that immediately turning to medication might not be the answer, but there should be no shame for a Christian in seeking professional help when they have a problem.

By: Christy

Christy — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:50:50 +0000

leaving the whole mental illness thing aside, although I am a Christian, I finally told my mom to stop buying Christian romantic fiction for me because I despise it with every fiber of my being. As a very extremely single woman, I hate that these books ALWAYS end in marriage. They follow the same basic plot 99% of the time and are generally so saccharinely sweet that I want to fling it across the room and activate the super shredder.

To put it mildly.

=) I won’t even get into the mental illness, except to say that I agree with the first three commenters, sometimes therapy and medication is necessary.

By: Ronnica

Ronnica — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:42:45 +0000

I didn’t mean for this to turn to a discussion about Christianity and mental disorders, but I think that’s a good thing to talk about. If I get my act together, I might put a post together on it.

To be clear on the mental disorder in this book, it’s not presented as a chemical imbalance (which would have been even more out of place in the 1870s!) but dementia praecox. Now that I look it up, this term wasn’t used until 1791 (anachronism…ack!). Basically, he was suffering from shell shock from his experience in the Civil War (though they use the term “shell shock,” the term’s from the WWI…the more I research, the more this book bugs me).

Anyway, my point is that his combat stress reaction problems seem to primarily extend not from a chemical imbalance (which even today is not proven to be the cause of mental illness), but his experiences, the sin done to him, and his own sin. Any treatment of mental illness that ignores/disputes the sinfulness of man is severely lacking.

In this case, I’d agree that he needed to be removed from his family (since he was a threat to them) but not that he necessarily needed psychiatric treatment. I don’t mean that he could he get “better” on his own, just that he needed someone to work through his experiences and his reactions to them with an open Bible, allowing him to recognize his own sin and more importantly the God who is sovereign, wise, and good even in this. He’d likely struggle with this his whole life, but with God’s help he can manage until God ultimately rescues him from it.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:11:10 +0000

I agree with Carrie and Liz about mental disorders. There are many of them that require assistance in the medical capacity because they are chemical imbalances, or even hereditary.

I also agree with Carrie–this sounds good for discussion! I’ve never been able to swallow Christian Fiction very well, for many of the reasons you described above. Well-written!

By: Carrie, Reading to Know

Carrie, Reading to Know — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:20:37 +0000

I’m with Liz on the issue of mental illness.

No, I don’t agree with the statements you made but I do think the book sounds very interesting from an argument perspective which you caught on to and pointed out and I think that is fascinating. It sounds good for discussion!

By: Liz

Liz — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:20:13 +0000

While I have not read the book, I’d like to comment on the view of mental illness you spoke about. I agree that we tend to fall more on medications, psychiatry and the like before we fall upon God with these issues. And I agree that we should definitely fall upon the Lord first and devote time to trusting Him. However, there are people who’s mental illness is an actual chemical imbalance. Bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and multiple personality disorder are all related to a malfunction in the brain. God is sovereign. He allows or doesn’t allow certain things. We have psychiatrists and the different medications because God allowed them to be created by man and for proper and good use.

I definitely agree that churchy language is a turn off…especially to new and non believers. I am a believer and I am turned off by this sort of language mostly because it sets us as Christians too far apart from the world. We should be approachable by non believers, and I feel like overly church language definitely hinders that.