Some Clarification on Adams’ Assertion That the Mind Cannot be Sick
I have received some significant pushback for posting the following quote by Jay Adams:
Correction: The quotation is from Donn Arms, an associate of Jay Adams at the Institute for Nouthetic Studies (INS).
Folks let’s get this straight. The mind is not a physical organ. It cannot have a disease or illness except in a metaphorical sense as in a sick economy or a sick joke.
Typhoid fever — disease
Spring fever — not a disease
Scarlet fever — disease
Bieber fever — not a disease
Most of the pushback pertains to a rejection of the idea that the brain is not an organ, but Adams isn’t saying that the brain isn’t an organ; he is saying that the mind isn’t an organ.
I haven’t done a lot of study in this area, but I have done enough to know that some solid conclusions can be drawn from such a study because the Bible, as well as medical professionals make a distinction between the mind and the brain.
Everyone agrees that the mind, unlike the brain, is not observable; hence, the field of Psychology. This is a whole different matter than brain malfunctions that are physical. The fact that there are at least 200 different Psychology theories should speak to the fact that this enters into the realm of theory. One may also note that the most popular theory, Freudian Depth Psychology, perceives the human conscience in a very negative way. And that is very dangerous.
Here we have yet another area of wisdom where Christians are far too ignorant. It is also another fusion debate; in this case, the fusion of medical science and psychology. In other words, the fusion of science and theory. Psychology is mostly theory; psychologists barely agree on anything.
I am not going to preach out of school here, but Christians need to think carefully in regard to the idea that the mind can be sick. Certainly, the mind can be hindered by the brain, but is the mind susceptible to sickness like physical organs? Can the mind catch a cold? The reason we need to think carefully about this is because the Bible explains the mind as that part of the Christian that is redeemed.
Not only is this an area that is biblically defined with many dots that can be connected, it is a paramount consideration with vast implications for the Christian. Another huge elephant in the sanctuary is whether or not the Christian mind is actually redeemed. Our Protestant fathers said, “no.” 90% of all biblical counseling in our day is predicated on the idea that the mind cannot be renewed. Therefore, actions that please God cannot flow from the inner self to outward action.* Many pastors, while not understanding these trends and issues, attempt to counsel parishioners from a contrary mindset. The pastor speaks, and the parishioner hears something totally different because of indoctrination by parachurch organizations like NANC and CCEF with secular psychology as science to boot. Any pastor who doesn’t deem these issues worthy of focus and understanding is functioning in ineptness.
The Bible in fact states that the “mind” of the Christian is regenerated and is the engine behind new creaturehood. Christians are promised that with proper cooperation with the Holy Spirit, the mind can be “renewed.” This is not only a biblical promise; we are commanded to renew our minds with the study and application of Scripture. If the medical model regarding the mind is true, all bets are off—every vestige of spiritual growth is now ambiguous. And look at the contemporary church if you want to see the results of biblical ambiguity.
Christians error woefully by letting the theories of “experts” inform their lives on this issue. And the church owes Adams an immense debt of gratitude for bringing this issue to the forefront.
paul
*The fundamental thesis is that faith can only look outward to goodness outside of us, resulting in experiencing the obedience of Christ imputed to us while not being a participant in goodness that pleases God. This formula enables the Christian to live by faith alone—the same faith that saved us. So, faith is like an eye, it can only look outward to what isn’t inside of us. Any inward look is the dreaded, “existentialism” that is the unpardonable sin in our day.
And the results? Consider the following quote by “Pastor” James MacDonald:
“Why spend your life doing something neither required by the Lord, nor welcomed by others? Frankly, I gave up the job a while back, but felt constrained to make my decision known to all who read this blog. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t see me at my post, I am really done this time. Yes, for me it’s over. No more fixing people—I resign ” (James MacDonald: My Resignation; April 30, 2013, The Vertical Church blog. Online source, http://jamesmacdonald.com/blog/my-resignation/).
MacDonald then goes on to explain, in essence, that it is his job to primarily show forth more Jesus, and as folks gaze on that, Christ will either change them or not change them according to His sovereign will. Like the vast majority of pastors in our day, MacDonald has merely returned to Luther’s radical construct that often brought the charge of antinomianism from his contemporaries (Martin Luther wrote down the following disturbing sentence in one of his letters to Melancthon in 1521: “Be a sinner and sin boldly, but believe and rejoice in Christ more strongly, who triumphed over sin, death, and the world; as long as we live here, we must sin.”).
Paul's Passing Thoughts 
Reblogged this on Clearcreek Chapel Watch.
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Lots of psychological schools of thought? How many schools of thought exist in Christianity? How many “orthodox doctrines”? How many interpretations of scripture? How many centuries passed before the “inerrant canon” was decided upon by errant men?
Their is only one “truth” by which all ideas can be knowns as true: man’s life. Any attempt to define man as a dualistic self-like separating brain from the mind-is ultimately irreconcilable and irresponsible. The brain IS the mind. The mind is a metaphor for the choices we make. It isn’t a “thing” in a literal sense. I agree with Adams on this.
And I do not trust my health, psychological ir otherwise, to men, apostles or not, who lived in a time where medicine killed more than it cured. The Christian knee jerk reaction to “secular counselors and psychology” is in service to its own hypocritical conspiracies and lust for control, I submit.
“The bible says it, so it’s true” is a recipe for disaster. There can be no verifiable truth in that statement. All truth is vetted through human life. This is an axiom that does not require your acceptance to be true.
My daughter is on a form of Ritalin. She has had none of the side effects you quoted in your last post. Look at the list of side effects possible for ANY routine medication. The list is as long as your arm. Look at the possible side effects for some herbal teas, for crying out loud.
Whoever that Christian Doctor is, she went to the University of Fear Mongering.
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Argo,
If you want to say spirit is not a separate entity than the body, well, it’s a fee country, but I disagree.
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Paul, this was my blog entry, not Jay’s.
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Donn,
Well, there you go, brilliant minds think alike, but thanks for the clarification. I even looked for an author and somehow missed it, so I assumed it was Jay. Is this going to get you in trouble?
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Donn,
What is your official title at INS? I could use that in my correction statement.
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Donn,
Got it, will make the correction.
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Paul,
By what agency are you aware of the spirit?
Yeah, your brain.
Without your brain, there is no spirit. You know truth by your body. Any other notion cannot be rationally explained. You can idolized the bible. It’s a free country. But I prefer God.
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Argo,
Likewise, you are free to interpret what God has to say by any means you wish, but since when is one’s epistemology an idol?
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Paul, what makes the Bible true? The bible itself? No…you’d say “Because God inspired it; it’s God-breathed” and so forth. I would say, “Okay…but how can we know that what is “God-breathed” is true? Where do you validate it’s truth? How do you validate it’s truth?
Well, of courae its truth is revealed in the context of physical PEOPLE. Of bodies. Because that is the context of God’s truth for man. Therefore, any truth which denies the only frame of reference people have to know truth AS true (efficacious), body and brain, cannot be known as true.
Paul, without man FIRST, there is no “Word of God”. Shouldn’t that inform your epistemology at least a little?
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Argo,
Sure, I would not eliminate anthropology in the discussion for one second.
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Frankly, The bible does not help much here in some respects. I remember being astounded to learn that in the 1st Century, they believed that all thinking, decision making, etc came from the heart. The “head” was for providing for the body as in breathing, eating, hearing, etc. They had no concept that the brain controlled the body. It was about a hundred years after Paul that Galen discovered very crudely that the brain controlled the limbs through experiments with animals.
As to a sickness of the mind, what do we do with Alzheimer’s and such? Would not that be both physical and mental?
This has a lot of implications for how we interpret scripture. Those “heart” verses could read “mind” and those “head” verses really refer to source. Unless they are talking about a literal head on your shoulders.
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Lydia,
Whatever the “heart” is (I think it is the mind), layman Brain Johnson did a very convincing study that it is the redeemed part of a Christian and is never said to be sinful or wicked. I might post it.
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I was going to comment by I changed my brain.
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I will now support an unpopular view. Many mental disorders are caused by demonic possession,or oppression. Yes, the Bible makes that clear. Note that I did not say all. Just many. Start up the firing squad, ye supposedly “open minded” folk.
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Anon,
I have tied you to the post, would you like a blindfold? I am interested to see response on this, I will reply later.
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No blindfold. I want to look in their eyes as they shoot.
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That’s commendable.
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Argo– Don’t you see any dualism in the bible–any whatsoever? I mean, the thief on the cross was with Jesus in paradise while his physical body still hung lifelessly on the cross. Does it not follow then that the thief himsrlf–that is, the man himself–is distinct from his physical body? And didn’t Paul liken his body to a tent he would soon be leaving?
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