Do we know for certain that the apostle John wrote the Gospel of John? If sinners are already condemned, why will there be a judgment day? Is ADHD a spiritual issue, a physical issue, a mental issue, or something else? Listen live here 2-4 pm EST, and call into the show at (866) 348 7884 with your questions and comments.
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Let us really be students of the Word, let us apply ourselves to understand, and treasures and riches will open up to us!
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: We often get caught up debating peripheral secondary issues; let’s use that same energy to major on the majors.
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For the caller who mentioned his discussions with his friend who didn’t believe Jesus existed and that He was a concept borrowed from earlier pagan religions, you may want to review this documentary refuting the earlier documentary called Zeitgeist, “Zeitgeist Refuted Final Cut”. It tackles the claims that Jesus was a myth, etc.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdSFEwywV20
“Here is the synopsis of the presentation:
Zeitgeist Refuted is a documentary film in response to the bold claims made in Peter Joseph’s Zeitgeist the movie concerning the Christian faith. This film examines the similarities and differences of pagan religions according to history and scholarly opinion. Additionally, it explores the historicity of Jesus. Also discussed are the Jesus Myth Theory and Astrotheology. The viewer will also see a critique of the works of Zeitgeist sources cited in the Zeitgeist bibliography such as Acharya S, Gerald Massey and Jordan Maxwell. This documentary exposes the Freemasonry, Theosophy and New Age influence on Zeitgeist and the Zeitgeist Movement.”
Directed by Elliott Nesch, 2010
Hope this helps.
Re legalization of cannabis you do need to do a radio program/book on this subject. What I am finding living here in Colorado is that a number of Christians are actually talking/and taking the edibles (especially woman) and not knowing what is wrong about that. It is a difficult argument not knowing what directly is in the bible against this. The conservative voter in this region in the country is still for this amendment. The church is very slow to address this, and your program has barley touched this subject which is ready to go and legalize this nationally.
Benjamin,
Thanks for the link. Very in-depth refutation to keep in my favorite videos for future reference.
On another note, I hope to come back to the ADHD question. I’ve really got to buckle down and answer someone on another blog. I’ve been mentally preparing my answer for weeks now. Need to get it down in writing.
We have reached the point where no rational person believes Jesus really existed. There is no way to verify the existence of Jesus, Paul or any other apostles using sources independent of the Bible. And no person of sense believes in angels, demons, heaven, hell, Satan or any of the other Christian delusions. I mean Satan takes Jesus to a mountain top where all the nations can be seen. This is positive proof that the Bible is a flat earth book. Good luck selling that nonsense in the 21rst Century. It should be obvious that young people just ain’t buyin the junk you’re sellin.
“We have reached the point where no rational person believes Jesus really existed.”- Van
That is patently the most absurd thing I’ve heard from any non-believer wrt Jesus of Nazareth. No proof or even coherent discussion points offered- just tossing out this as “fact”.
I guess it depends on who Van means by “we”.
Recant, or be proven as unqualified from further rational discussion.
Sheila,
I think there are many reasons for mental handicaps and disabilities. There’s the spiritual, and physical. Regarding the physical, the brain or grey matter, it is not our mind. Our mind is our eternal self (soul/spirit). Our mind instructs the brain. Or put another way, the brain is a computer that our Mind operates.
Now there are a lot of physical ailments that can interfere with the communication between mind and brain. If the physical body/brain is damaged, either with injury or chemical imbalance, etc., then the physical brain can receive faulty information or corrupted information, in which it gives the mind faulty information if things are not firing properly. The Mind then interprets this faulty information and we make a decision, send commands to the brain, and its then very likely again that the brain will misfire or corrupt our commands again and our bodies then carry out bad commands and information. The Mind is healthy, but the information it can receive and send back can get corrupted due to physical mental ailments.
Kind of like you are sitting at your computer, which has been infected by a virus, the programs you are accessing have been corrupted by the virus, so the programs are not displaying properly so you can make mistakes in interpreting what you are seeing, then when you save the changes you made to the programs you were working on, they get attacked by the virus again and the computer doesn’t know what to make of your changes, or the program can even get deleted due to the corruption of the virus.
This was just focusing on the physical aspects of mental disorders. There’s also the other side of things, spiritual attacks and ailments.
Van, are you born again?
Ray, you can’t be serious?
Hi Benjamin,
I understand what you’re saying. It’s a complicated web of information being processed between our ears. 🙂 I read a bit about it some years ago and I think it more or less went something like this, which is vastly oversimplified. Our brains are networked in complex, although usually predictable ways and they communicate between the different areas by way of various electrochemicals constantly in flux which stimulate neurons to fire sending out signals along the neural pathways to various parts of the brain which then processes the information and formulates a response. Something close to that. Only it all happens in milliseconds. It’s obviously a highly orchestrated part of our human anatomy that sometimes gets fouled up by different means.
We now better understand the functions of the different areas of the brain partly by observing the effects of traumatic brain injuries and stroke victims. We also have the technology to view what’s going on where. Of course there are various diseases and birth defects too that effect our brains and sometimes our central nervous system. I think most of those diseases now have names. Where I believe we’re lagging way far behind is in understanding mental disorders which aren’t always as obvious as other diseases and they don’t readily show up on an MRI or EEG. There are, however, certain sets of symptoms which can be categorized and used to define the various types of mental disorders. Maybe that’s the first part of where we’re going wrong. The other maladies are defined as “diseases” whereas those mental conditions are said to be “illnesses.” It makes it sound less serious, like you have the sniffles or something. I think until we recognize that the larger majority of mental disorders are biologically, and likely, genetically based we’re never going to effectively treat people for them and we’ll certainly not remove the shame that’s associated with them. It seems, as a society, we allow for all other diseases except those which could be interpreted as stemming from a moral or spiritual defect. That’s really wrong thinking in my mind. The sad repercussions of not treating mental disorders is that those suffering from them sometimes do end up making a horrible moral choice in the end.
Look at it this way, supposing you or a relative are battling cancer. We don’t for one minute think that it’s spiritual in nature. Neither do we see it as a moral failing on their part, as if they must have done something wrong. Well, rational people wouldn’t think that and neither would Job. If we allow that we’ll have sickness and disease until the regeneration of all things I think we should take a serious look at how and why we stigmatize those with mental disorders (the word I prefer).
There’s an entire array of various mental disorders but since we’re discussing ADHD let’s go with that one. When left untreated the symptoms often become debilitating and it’s not unusual that the person seeks out self treatment by way of alcohol or drugs and the long term prognosis for those suffering with it are not good at all. The statistics for premature death are the most troubling. Not only do they lack impulse control they’re usually the ones engaged in risky behavior. They’re often the adrenaline junkies, maybe you know one? Not to say that all risk takers have ADHD just that it’s a very common trait in one of the sub-types. Put that combination behind the wheel of a car and you’re looking at serious car wrecks and too often even deaths. Put a gun in their hand and they’re much more likely to use it. Of those with mental disorders who threaten suicide, those with ADHD usually succeed. Consider too, that close to two-thirds of those diagnosed with ADHD will have one or more comorbid disorders as well. In adolescents through eighteen years, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder and/or suicidal ideation and behavior are the most common. Depression and anxiety are often present but they’re more prevalent in those who go untreated and especially in adults who weren’t diagnosed until later in life. Bipolar Disorder occurs comorbidly in roughly one quarter of those with ADHD. We’re talking about otherwise kind, generous and intelligent children and adults with a chemical imbalance in their brains and that imbalance produces a very real, qualitative disorder with it’s own unique set of symptoms and problems.
This disorder is not new regardless of what’s out there on the web. It was documented and successfully treated in 1902 and there’s literature from doctors which seems to be describing the exact same symptoms even before that. I’m aware of the various theories about what causes it and how it should be treated. I have one theory of my own as to why it mushroomed in the 70’s. Is it over treated in some cases? — yes. And there are reasons of nurture, especially where children are exposed to violence, neglect or abuse which can mimic symptoms similar to ADHD and that’s why there’s standardized, in depth testing available to doctors now, all they need to do is acquire it and use it as part of their diagnosis. There’s evidence that children who are exposed to in vitro alcohol, cigarette and drug use are much more likely to present with ADHD as the developing brain is damaged in the womb. There’s also strong evidence that it’s genetic. There’s so many cases of the child being diagnosed and the parent then realizes they’ve struggled with the same symptoms their entire lives and they reluctantly admit to it. There’s so much stigma involved in admitting to any mental disorders at all that people end up suffering in silence until they’re dead, often prematurely. It needs to stop.
One of the biggest drawbacks to the stigma and proper treatment of ADHD is the medication used to successfully control it. For some reason people have developed an anathema towards stimulant medication. It’s unreasonable to single out one class of drugs that are a lifeline to those who truly need them. I’m aware that college students (and others) obtain it illegally. That’s a problem and it’s been a problem with a half dozen others too since the drug revolution of the 60’s. Don’t you wonder, though, why the ones who truly need the medication aren’t staying up all night cramming for exams? Instead they’re probably in their beds sleeping like babies. They don’t have an excess of dopamine and norepenephrine because they were deficient in it to begin with. With the stimulant medication they now have just enough of it–you know–like “normal” people have. The college student gets a buzz because of the “excess” of those chemicals. I liken it to diabetes. People take insulin because their bodies aren’t producing enough of it. That should be the end of the story.
Take any other disease, just pick one, and tell me if you’d deny someone treatment for it? Other than Jehovah’s Witnesses, rational people wouldn’t dream of it. I don’t know why mental disorders aren’t classified as diseases because those who have them have no control over having acquired them. It’s not something they choose, like, “I think I’ll try that ADHD today and maybe Borderline Personality Disorder on Friday,” and until we get over it that segment of our population will remain forever stigmatized and will be less likely to seek treatment for any mental disorder at all. We only talk about it for a little while after someone goes off the deep end and we have mass murders which shock the entire nation. And we call ourselves civilized, that’s pitiful!
Ray Where have you been? The Van is still stuck in the mud!
Stuck in the mud, yes…out of gas, no…plenty of noxious fumes still belching forth 🙂 Forever spinning and going nowhere. Making whirring, screeching sounds and flinging filth all over himself and anyone that gets close enough.
Bo’s Back! 🙂
The only way to get on the highway is to become born again.
Sheila,
Couple that with the fairy tale of evolution,stripping all value away from life and it gets even worse. My post coincided with yours in that if treatment restores more accurate connections between body/brain and Mind, then your mind (the person controlling the computer=brain) receives more accurate information upon which you are able to better react to the information you are receiving, and your brain and body receive purer instructions (uncorrupted) from you, the mind. I think I was digging more into the connection between physical and non-physical, whereas you were digging more into the physical side.
Medications have definite helpful purposes for those truly in need, indeed. Though it appears a vast number of people are needlessly on these medications who do not need it, as you stated a couple examples above. I speak from first-hand knowledge. I was diagnosed with ADD my junior year in high school by a neurologist. He prescribed for me Ritalin. I took it for most of my junior year. But it was all a scam, on my part. I faked it. I didn’t like high school and I was getting bad grades in Math, so I came up with an excuse and said I could not concentrate or remember what was being taught. My parents took me to see a neurologist and he diagnosed me with ADD. I didn’t actually have ADD, I just didn’t like school. I ended up using the Ritalin to remember my dreams. I would pop one before bed and try to get to sleep as fast as I could and if I fell asleep, I would typically remember my dreams. But if I didn’t fall asleep quickly, then I was up all night, with a racing mind. I eventually just stopped taking it prior to my senior year in High School. It also disqualified me from joining the armed forces since they don’t take people who have taken a mind altering drug in the last year (at least back then, everyone is on drugs now days so they may have done away with the qualification). After High school oddly enough I gained a love for learning and did just fine without Ritalin in College.
I guess with the above I just wanted to say that it’s easy to get misdiagnosed. Specially since drug companies give kickbacks to doctors for the prescriptions they prescribe. But there are genuine folks who find real benefit from certain medications, and many times, with proper nutrition, these ailments can be overcome since our bodies are magnificently designed to repair themselves just by the foods that God gave for us to eat. Not all things, but many.
It’s a very interesting subject your dealing with on that blog.