as i travel thru ThisPilgrimLand

One Problem With Mood Enhancers

We live in a medicated society.  There seems to be a pill to help us live with everything but nothing that really cures anything.  I think this is great personally.  The fact that God has blessed men with the knowledge to make human life longer and less painful should be celebrated as one of His greatest gifts to us. 

One argument that I often hear about is over anti-depressents or other mood stabilizers that people take.  In the Christian realm, people ask if these pills should or should not be taken by Christians.  I am not the judge on this issue and would never condemn a person who is prescribed and takes mood altering medications. 

One interesting question does arise on this matter in my mind though.   This question deals with a certain section of society and in my opinion needs to be addressed.  Without a doubt, studies show that more women suffer from depression, the most common illness for which anti-depressants are prescribed, than men.  While it is shown that depression in women is less common in post-menopausal women, I believe that many of us in churches today have heard regarding elderly women’s behavior’s “well, just excuse her, she’s crazy or depressed.” 

This leads me to one question:  If one of the signs of the Holy Spirit working in Christian men and women is that they are temperate or self-controlled (Gal. 5:22), yet there are Christians among us who must take medication in order to be or appear temperate, can we say with any certainty that the Holy Spirit is truly dwelling within that person? 

Perhaps we have become so medicated that Christians can no longer recognize one another until the true evidence of no Holy Spirit dwelling is revealed.  To me, this boils down to a law and gospel discussion in that by taking medication, one can make them self temperate and make the passage in Gal. 5 a law-based passage.

  I welcome discussion on this topic and hope that you will do so.