A critical look at how Loving God with All Your Mind mishandles depression, promotes spiritual bypassing, dismisses women’s intuition, and reinforces harmful messaging common in high-control churches.
I attended a Bible study with a group of women who learned about a local man they knew who had committed suicide. They all agreed that if only he had known Jesus, he wouldn’t have been depressed. This is completely at odds with the reality of our brain chemistry and our lived experiences. I can’t imagine how faith-destroying it would be to suffer from depression and then be told the depression is your own fault because of your lack of faith.
It seems many of these books are written with good intent but have truly bad advice. I know you don't control your book group but in keeping with honoring your gut, I say honor your gut. You're already getting bad vibes a few chapters in, and you've got logic and experiential support for your stance.
If you're comfortable with it, I'd encourage you to share your deep concerns with the book group next time you meet. High ratings or not, you're already uncomfortable with the ideas this book presents. It's better to stop early instead of soldiering on, possibly ingesting harmful ideas that do more mental and spiritual harm than good.
Thanks for your review and your thoughts, Alissa. It's great to be reminded that our thoughts and feelings are not inherently bad and we don't need to suppress or push them down when we feel them. Like you mention, God made us complete with thoughts and feelings and He will meet us there when we sit with them and make space for them. Praise God.
Many traumatic experiences create serious (permanent ?) damage to our "red flag detectors" - healing from trauma can help to re-establish an accurate "red flag detector." You are right in your observations about the ideas presented in this book (which I have not read).
I attended a Bible study with a group of women who learned about a local man they knew who had committed suicide. They all agreed that if only he had known Jesus, he wouldn’t have been depressed. This is completely at odds with the reality of our brain chemistry and our lived experiences. I can’t imagine how faith-destroying it would be to suffer from depression and then be told the depression is your own fault because of your lack of faith.
That's terrible. :(
It seems many of these books are written with good intent but have truly bad advice. I know you don't control your book group but in keeping with honoring your gut, I say honor your gut. You're already getting bad vibes a few chapters in, and you've got logic and experiential support for your stance.
If you're comfortable with it, I'd encourage you to share your deep concerns with the book group next time you meet. High ratings or not, you're already uncomfortable with the ideas this book presents. It's better to stop early instead of soldiering on, possibly ingesting harmful ideas that do more mental and spiritual harm than good.
Thanks for your review and your thoughts, Alissa. It's great to be reminded that our thoughts and feelings are not inherently bad and we don't need to suppress or push them down when we feel them. Like you mention, God made us complete with thoughts and feelings and He will meet us there when we sit with them and make space for them. Praise God.
Many traumatic experiences create serious (permanent ?) damage to our "red flag detectors" - healing from trauma can help to re-establish an accurate "red flag detector." You are right in your observations about the ideas presented in this book (which I have not read).