So I'll have a free evening.

Scott's church is having Bible School this week, and they have an adult class that is taught by this very bright man (a guest evangelist) - he's teaching on the events of The Great Tribulation and end times stuff, which is very interesting (albeit scary - not for myself personally, but because I have family and friends who haven't accepted Christ and I don't want them to go through that time period.) I've gone every evening except one, but last night, something was said that offended me (and I'm not one to be easily offended.)

I don't even remember what our teacher was talking about at the time, but he said, "Anybody who would go to a 'shrink' needs their head examined." That hurt immediately because of my long battle with anxiety, which I can't seem to stop talking about lately (sorry.) And after I got home last night, the more I thought about what was said about psychiatry/psychology, the more upset I got. I'm not going to be one of those people who gets offended by something and never goes back again - but it's just kind of a fresh wound for me. Besides, it's not that he said something Biblical that "stepped on my toes", as they say - he must just be one of those people who thinks there's no such thing as mental illness, or that someone with psychological problems can just talk themselves out of it. How I wish that were so! I think that God works through psychiatrists and psychologists just as He works through other health professionals.

It's just a stigma that really gets under my skin - I'll bet he wouldn't say, "Anybody who goes to a cardiologist/gastroenterologist/neurologist/oncologist" needs their head examined." The mind is part of the body, too. I guess it upset me so much because I've suffered so much, for so long, with my anxiety and depression (and dealt with more than a few people who don't understand that suffering and think that it's somehow my fault or that it's not even real) and to hear someone make light of it like that and then have others in the congregation laugh - I don't know. It just really hurt me. I don't think I'll go back tonight, because my wound is still fresh - but I do love that church, though. They are as devout and faithful as they come.