Carly in 1940 it was the happy privilege L of the writer to be able to attend an early morning Seminary class on "The Teachings of Jesus." Among the many benefits of the course was its daily inspiration of gems of thought which could be brought afresh to my psychiatric patients. One morning a middle-aged woman who was found reading The Desire of Ages volunteered her thoughts. "I can understand Christ and about His love, but how could God His Father be so cruel as to let His Son go through such suffering?" That morning the teacher had asked the question in class, "Who suffered the most, the Father or the Son?" As I repeated this to the patient she said, "Oh, I see." Shortly thereafter she requested Bible studies and eventually became a Sabbathkeeper, to her a sign of fundamentalism, giving glory to her Maker as well as Redeemer.
To the Christian psychiatrist the above question brings a deeper insight into the realities of true religion. The mutual suffering of the Father and the Son furnished the very core of the subject of the atonement. It was not purely a matter of appeasement except for principle, and this is not readily understood by some. Dr. Mowrer, for example, shows little understanding of this subject in his otherwise insightful book The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion.' It became a matter of bringing the human and the divine family into one. "A t-one-ment" means just that. Of all Christian workers the psychiatrist needs a clarity of perception in these thoughts which should transcend common thinking, placing the trifles of daily life in continuous subjection to these high thoughts, balancing the more material values. "A new horizon of understanding will result from vicissitudes of varied sorts in one's life experience. It becomes a joy to have a share in the sufferings of the Father and the Son, for it falls upon one's conscious that all innocent suffering is inseparably linked with the same mystery of God's suffering and all suffering can thus become definitely contributory to a stronger, saner mind if viewed in the light of the Atonement."
"Written Meditation"
The psychiatrist whose rounded-out life experiences include a genuine conversion, identifying with the humility and compassion of the Saviour of the world, condescending to stoop down to the needy and suffering, will not be likely to hesitate to accept the challenge of any type of personality problem. The mood may be usually complicated and a thorough understanding may require much study and research on the part of the therapist. This should be the motivation for continued study and could be a guiding principle for pastors and ancillary mental health workers, each fitting into his or her place according to the capacity for service. It should not be merely a matter of intellectual curiosity. Dr. Tournier has witnessed to a continued practice of "written meditation," as that attentive listening to what God is saying to us in order to conduct our personal lives in accordance with His purpose. "This attitude of being open to divine inspiration and of practical obedience belongs, of course, to the whole Christian tradition. Illuminated by the Bible, it is within the reach of every man, and consequently of every doctor desirous of experiencing it in his personal life and in his work. This means that unlike psychosomatic medicine, the medicine of the person is not a specialty. It does not require so much emphasis in scientific psychological training which many doctors cannot acquire as a certain inner maturity in the doctor himself, as the result of laying himself open to the action of grace. That is why Dr. Paul Plattner wrote that the medicine of a person concerns first of all the person of the doctor himself. It is, therefore, a matter of a spirit which can animate any doctor, a deeper relationship which he establishes with each one of his patients and so far as he becomes himself more fully a person, and insofar as his patients become also more fully persons through coming into contact with him."
A Gethsemane Experience
Admittedly, only through the grace of our Lord and Saviour can we as fellow laborers with Him keep our vision clear and our goals undimmed by the many attractions, if not the many temptations, everywhere about us. If a Gethsemane experience should come, it is not that a heavenly Father has been rejecting, but that we can ultimately perhaps better harmonize with the Trinity. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit a new aspect is acquired which can end any negative experiences. In this more curative aspect, despair turns to joy, would-be consternation to peace and confidence. With Christ we can look upon the person, from the human standpoint a hopeless individual, as a potential candidate for the kingdom. Yet only through an active faith can this be done, and we can thus acclaim Christ's power to heal much as the crowd did in His day on earth when they exclaimed, "He hath done all things well."
The enabling experiences through the knowledge and indwelling of these redemptive forces thus render the psychiatric worker competent to develop capacities particularly needed to meet the frustrations of his work or practice as well as of his own admitted shortcomings. He can better deal with the defrauding or disdaining sociopath, the parsimonious compulsive, or the leechlike demands of the hysteric. He is prepared to handle the varied abuses or insults of the psychotic, the critical attitudes of the uninformed, and innumerable other interpersonal problems of a knotty nature. He can say freely, meaningfully, "They know not what they do." Almost superhuman wisdom may be required in order to be reasonably impersonal without lacking Christian sympathy. Becoming "all things to all men," as the apostle Paul phrased it, becomes workable without compromise or yielding of principle. However, being "all things to all men" calls for a consistency such as Paul exemplified. He contended with the apostle Peter on the subject and could tell his followers to follow him as he had followed Christ. We read in Selected Messages: "While we cannot claim perfection of the flesh, we may have Christian perfection of the soul. . . . The conscience can be freed from condemnation." '
There is nothing in the attitudes or the suggestions of the Christian therapist, therefore, that should make light of goals toward perfection. These give the main reason for the counsel given us years ago:
Healing the Mind
"The work of the Christian physician does not end with healing the maladies of the body; his efforts should extend to the diseases of the mind, to the saving of the soul. It may not be his duty, unless asked, to present any theoretical points of truth; but he may point his patients to Christ. The lessons of the divine Teacher are ever appropriate. . . .
"Perhaps some living home trouble is, like a canker, eating to the very soul and weakening the life forces. Remorse for sin sometimes undermines the constitution, and unbalances the mind. There are erroneous doctrines also, as that of an eternally burning hell and the endless torment of the wicked, that, by giving exaggerated and distorted views of the character of God, have produced the same result upon sensitive minds. Infidels have made the most of these unfortunate cases, attributing insanity to religion; but this is a gross libel, and one which they will not be pleased to meet by and by. The religion of Christ, so far from being the cause of insanity, is one of its most effectual remedies; for it is a potent soother of the nerves.
"The physician needs more than human wisdom and power that he may know how to minister to the many perplexing cases of disease of the mind and heart with which he is called to deal. If he is ignorant of the power of divine grace, he cannot help the afflicted one, but will aggravate the difficulty; but if he has a firm hold upon God, he will be able to help the diseased, distracted mind. He will be able to point his patients to Christ, and teach them to carry all their cares and perplexities to the great Burden Bearer."
It was in the humility of profound experience that Paul expressed his "pleasure in infirmities, and reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." Thus he was able to declare after a keen disappointment: "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." He ended this letter to the Corinthians, to whom he gave the above, with the thought, "For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection."'
The apostle Jude made an even stronger point of the enabling power of Christ when in his benediction at the close of his Epistle, he prayed: "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever."
A Christian psychiatrist, while comprehending the deep yearnings of the heart, himself embracing the same goal, will ever be tolerant of the faults of others, yet like Christ he will not encourage the wrongdoer. "Neither do I condemn you. Go, sin no more." This does not give countenance to the degree of permissiveness so prevalent in modern psychiatric practice. The weight of influence on the side of wrong has to be counterbalanced by a wise and consistent course possible only through the grace of a redeeming and all-powerful Saviour.
Notes:
1 Mowrer, 0. Hobart, Ph.D., The Crisis in Psychiatry and Religion, Princeton, N.J.: Van Nostrand, 1961, pp. 188, 189.
2 Andren, H. E., M.D., "The Atonement in the Practical Life," The Seminarian, Vol. III, No. 7, July, 1940, Washington, D.C.
3 Tournier, Paul, M.D., The Healing of Persons, New York: Harper & Row, 1965, p. xiv.
4 Mark 7:37.
5 Book 2, p, 32.
6 Counsels on Health, pp. 323-323.
7 2 Cor. 12:10, 7-9; 13:9.
8 Jude 24, 25.
