Truth Unites - John MacArthur on Mental Illness: Why I Disagree

Episode Date: May 2, 2024

In this video Gavin Ortlund responds to John MacArthur's recent comments that there is no such thing as mental illness. Truth Unites exists to promote gospel assurance through theological depth. Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville. SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://truthunites.org/donate/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/truthunites FOLLOW: Twitter: https://twitter.com/gavinortlund Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TruthUnitesPage/ Website: https://truthunites.org/

John MacArthur stirred up controversy recently by denying the reality of mental illness. He was answering a question, a really good question that was put to him about parenting, basically. How do we parent right now in the current culture? His book, The War on Children came up. He was talking about how our culture targets children, and then he went on to say this. Psychiatry and psychology is finally admitting the noble lies that they've been telling for the last 100 years, and the major noble lie is there such a thing as mental illness. Now this isn't new.

You have Thomas Saz back in the 1950s writing a book who is a psychiatrist on the myth of mental illness. There's no such thing as PTSD. There's no such thing as OCD. There's no such thing as ADHD. Those are noble lies. to basically give the excuse to, in the end of the day, to medicate people. I wanted to respond to this for three reasons.

Number one is mental health denial, which I'm just going to use that phrase to describe the view that he just espoused. Deeply, deeply, deeply, deeply damages people. I've seen that. I'm going to talk about that. Number two, mental health denial is sadly very common in conservative. evangelical circles. This is really common. And number three, as I get to know Gen Z especially, younger people in our culture are experiencing mental health crises of various kinds,

extremely commonly. A lot of us older people are too, actually, and it's not going to go away anytime soon. So John MacArthur's comments give us an occasion to talk about a broader issue in the church that's so important. It's going to be a quick video. I just want to make say two things after a lot of talking with my wife about this. The first is I want to explain why that ideology that John MacArthur espoused is so destructive and why it damages people so much. And then the second is an encouragement for how we can maybe do better as the church, where we've failed in this area. First, though, let me supplement that clip with another statement from MacArthur to show this wasn't just an isolated comment or a misspeak. This is where he was asked a

question several years ago about whether a Christian can struggle with depression. Well, yeah, Christians can suffer with anything. Depression is simply, it's simply a morbid and consistent focus on things that are negative. And that's why the Bible, Philippians 4-8, why don't you just think on things that are good and right? And a faithful church will help you do that because they'll keep lifting you back up to that level. We don't do a lot of depression counseling around here because there's not a lot of time to escape from the glories of the Word of God that are constantly coming down into your life from the teaching of Scripture. Depression is not, it's related to unfulfilled expectations, okay? It's related to unfulfilled expectations.

So keep your expectations of what you deserve low and you'll be less likely to be depressed. and just realize that everything you have is a gift of grace and mercy and live in Thanksgiving. And there are two reasons why this mental health denial is so damaging to people. The first is it prevents people from getting help when they need it. I've seen this so many times. That's why I'm so burdened to talk about this. We've got to do better at this. We have to do better as the church on these issues.

If there's no such thing as mental illness, if there's no such thing as post-traumatic stress disorder, for example, then there's really no need to get professional help or to take medication or anything like that. And indeed, MacArthur's comments give the impression that it's basically just up to you. You know, be a part of a healthy church that can pull you up, keep your expectations low, focus on Philippians 4-8, and so forth. And in the other clip, he talks about, he's basically saying PTSD is simply grief, you know. And he says things like if you give medication to your children, you're potentially turning them into a criminal. And he's saying so many things that basically make it all about you and your decisions.

And this kind of teaching just has to stop. We have to stop doing this because it causes terrible harm in the church. Here's the simple way to make this appeal. The brain, the human brain, is a physical organ. Like every other physical organ in our body, in a fallen world, it can be afflicted. It can get sick. And when that happens, medication can often help, just like you go to the doctor for other issues you might have. Yes, there can be over-reliance on medication. We see that. That's a big problem. And there can be an overly therapeutic approach to behavior change. Granted, but there's an old Latin phrase, I'll put it up here, abuses non-tolet-usum, abuse does not take away proper use. When you deny the reality of mental illness in this world, you are robbing people

of the ability who may have a legitimate sickness from getting legitimate help. And I could just tell story after story of seeing this, where you see people who have some kind of severe mental illness and they need medication, but they function in a conservative evangelical context that either teaches or implies that using medication is wrong or it's worldly or it's failing to trust the Lord or something like this, and there's simply no words that can express how damaging that can be for people. My brother-in-law, Dan, one of the nicest people I've ever met in my life. Wonderful believer in the Lord. He is in heaven now. He had severe mental illness, and he couldn't function without medication. Even with medication, life was extremely hard. But when he was in his

20s, all of a sudden, he started hearing voices and having psychotic episodes and so forth. It wasn't that he was doing something wrong or wasn't a part of a good church. The brain can be afflicted. And I just can't even imagine if he was in a context where medication and professional help was discouraged or, in the worst case, you know, shamed. This mental health denial damages people. In the worst cases, it's like, it really is like this. It's like telling somebody who has a broken leg, just think positive and keep running.

Not only does that damage people, but here's the second problem is it shames people and guilt people. It actually puts a false guilt upon them. Because, you know, you heard his words, I'll play him again, just realize that everything you have is a gift of grace and mercy and live in Thanksgiving. And just realize that everything you have is a gift of grace and mercy and live in Thanksgiving. So if you're depressed, you know, just be great for you. and I have to say I'm not against, I've actually practiced intentional gratitude and amidst other things, it does help. It helped me immensely fight against depression and help me in so many areas of life. So, I mean, I'm for, I'm in favor of gratitude and actually intentional gratitude is something I've talked about a lot.

It's a wonderful thing, wonderful resource. But to act like that's all you need to do if someone is severely depressed or something like that. You know, it reinforces this way of thinking that if I'm still depressed or if I'm still having these OCD tendencies or I still have ADD or something like that, then it must be my fault. I'm not trusting in the Lord enough. I'm not at a good enough church. I need to focus more on Philippians 4-8. It puts all the burden on you. And this actually has a kind of resemblance to the health and wealth gospel, except it's

applying it to our emotional and our psychological life, because the expectation, here is that if you simply do your part, you walk with the Lord, then the good result will follow. And that simply isn't how life works in a fallen world. Sometimes you can be doing everything that you're supposed to do, and yet you're still just scraping by. And when that happens, mental health denial ends up just putting an extra burden upon people. It's not only like telling somebody who has a broken leg, think positive, and keep running. It's like that. Plus, then you say, you're a wimp if you're not able to do it well. It's your fault, you know, and you're not actually treating the broken leg. And as I say, yes, there are abuses and extremes, but the simple fact is

the brain can get broken in various ways. Okay. And so as the church, we got to do better on these issues. How can we do that? Well, I just have one quick thought to share in this video. Obviously, this is a much longer conversation. But I would like to basically propose that, especially American evangelicals. I can't really speak as much to other places that I don't know as well, but among American evangelicals, we have to rehabilitate the doctrine of common grace. This is a part of our heritage that we've kind of fallen away from. We often have a kind of underdeveloped or sort of malnourished doctrine of common grace. I'll put up John Murray's definition of this. This is basically just the grace that God gives to all people, not just those who are in a saving relationship with him. And I think the

the fruits of that neglect of this doctrine are manifest in many ways. I think it's often probably related to the fact that evangelicals often don't produce good culture and art as much as you'd hope for and expect. Often we have an underdeveloped doctrine of vocation. We don't understand the sacredness of all different callings in this world. I think one simple way you see it play out is just sometimes there's a struggle to simply enjoy life and enjoy the simple things of life, whether it be throwing a frisbee or enjoying a novel, you know, those things can be a spiritual activity that done unto the glory of God. But sometimes we have this like, this lack of common grace almost makes us try to like super spiritualize everything and it's not healthy. One example of this,

I would say, would be the sense that there's something wrong with learning from non-Christians. There's so much that comes to us from common grace. The technology that enables me to record this video and you to watch it is the fruit of common grace. The clothing that I'm wearing was stitched together by common grace. The room that I'm sitting in was built by the knowledge of common grace. And medication and professional help is available to people who struggle with mental illness, and it is valid because of common grace. This is a part of our heritage we need to reclaim. I want to read this John Calvin quote, and then I'll give a few pieces of pastoral advice, because I know a lot of people in the younger generation,

the kind of people who tend to watch my videos, younger, younger people, oh man, we have so many struggles with mental health, and I can get it. I'm there with a lot of people on those things. It's hard right now. Here's what John Calvin had to say. This is from the institutes. In reading profane authors, he loved that he calls them profane, right?

In reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its originally, integrity is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insult to him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears in despising the gifts we insult the giver. How then can we deny that truth must have beamed on those ancient lawgivers who arranged

civil order and discipline with so much equity? shall we say that the philosophers in their exquisite researches and skillful description of nature were blind? Shall we deny the possession of intellect to those who drew up rules for discourse and taught us to speak in accordance with reason? Shall we say that those who by the cultivation of the medical art expended their industry in our behalf were only raving? What shall we say of the mathematical sciences? Shall we deem them to be the dreams of madmen? Nay, we cannot read the writings of the ancients on these subjects without the highest admiration and admiration which their excellence will not allow us to withhold,

but shall we deem anything to be noble and praiseworthy without tracing it to the hand of God, far from us be such ingratitude. And he's going on, he's basically saying over and over, you see that, hopefully you can see the point. I hope reading a John Calvin, a long John Calvin quote in an older translation, may not be the best strategy to keep your interest. Hopefully you haven't clicked off. But you see the point.

He's saying, look, look at these wise, you know, civil authorities in the ancient world. the philosophers, the mathematicians, the medical doctors, etc., are we going to despise the contributions that they have given to us? Far be it from us to do that. When we do that, we despise gifts that God has given to the world. And I submit that this kind of humility is desperately needed in the church and the way we think about something like mental health. So to conclude, what do you do? Here's some pastoral advice. Honestly, this is not an exhaustive list or professional. This kind of comes out of my own life and then pastoral ministry, the advice I've given to others. What do you do when you're wondering whether or not I should, you know, go get professional help with something I'm struggling

with? I would say three things maybe just amidst others you might think of. Number one is to recognize that professional help is a supplement to normal healthy rhythms and patterns, not a replacement for other things. So this is going to come alongside already doing the basic things. Exercise sleep and diet. I've just found in my own life those things. It makes such a difference. You know, I started reading books about nutrition, and I was amazed when you start eating healthy, your body just starts repairing itself in all these kinds of ways. When you get enough sleep at night, do some study about what happens when you sleep enough. It's amazing. Sometimes we neglect these things. We think, well, I need a counselor, but we're not doing the basics. The biggest one is loneliness.

So many young people are afflicted by what I call the silent killer. Loneliness. We don't have friends. someone to share your heart with, to tell someone what's really going on deep inside you. What are your deepest fears right now? What are your dreams? Spend the last time on a screen and talk to people, you know? And then of course, in all of that, if we could make a cultural change for the younger people just to come together more, talk, you know, support each other more. We spend too much time on our phones, but also just walking with the Lord, you know, having a clean, There's no, it's so wonderful to have a clean conscience, to walk in open fellowship with God, walking in the light. A clean conscience does you well. So I'm just saying, don't neglect the basic

things and then think professional help is going to be a substitute for those things. It supplements them. They're not enough. Sometimes you need professional help as well, but don't neglect those things. The second thing I'd say is just the importance of getting counsel from someone. A lot of times if you go to a trusted friend or a mentor, and I've done this before, you just say, hey, help. me see what I can't see. You know, I'm struggling with this. What do you think I should do to address this? It's amazing how much other people can see that we can't see about us. I mean, I've had time someone will say, you're way too busy. And I'm like, oh, you're right. Or something like this. Allow other people to speak into it. Find those trusted people who can help you get the

perspective you need. Such an important, you shouldn't make a decision like that alone. The third thing I'd say is don't feel any shame if you do need help in some area of your life. If you need professional help, if you need medication, if we could get to a point where there was no stigma attached to this, that would really be a good thing in the church. One last thing I will say, I don't know how this relates to everything else, but it's just a happy thought. In heaven, there will be no mental illness. Sometimes medication and professional help doesn't work. Sometimes it's like, you know, that actually happens a lot, or it's very limited, or there's side effects that are not good. Earthly solutions are always very imperfect, but here's a happy thought.

In heaven, no depression. No fear. You won't be able to be afraid in heaven. Whatever else you might struggle with, whatever else you might be afflicted with. I know that's, I don't know how that really relates to everything else I'm saying in this video. It's just a happy thing to remember. If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, if you're reconciled to the, the Creator God. That's what you have to look forward to. And so, I don't know, just a little thing that

helps to know, however bad you might. Because there are times where, honestly, it's, what I've struggled with the most is depression. And there, I have a healthy respect for how that can just, it can take everything. It can take all the color out of life. It's terrible. But whatever you're facing, it's only in this life and there's an ocean of heaven awaiting you. And I don't know, that's just a small thing that might encourage somebody out there. So hopefully we can keep talking about these issues in the church and do better. All right, let me know what you think. Let me know. What do you think? In the comments, I mean, that's very partial, incomplete advice. There's a lot more we've got to say about this topic, but we certainly got to talk about this more because the

mental health struggles of the younger generation, and frankly, of some of us who are older as well, these are not going away. So we've got to be able to talk about this issue. All right, thanks for watching everybody. By the way, I always forget to ask people, if you're willing to support Truth Unites, You can go to truth unites.org. What I always say, though, is only if it's a source of joy for you, not if it's a burden. And then liking the videos, sharing them, all that always helps. Sorry to just throw that in there, but I always forget to say it. All right, thanks for watching, everybody.