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Monday, December 16, 2013

How to use the bible to stay mentally healthy

Conflict in the mind happens because two people

disagree. But the real reason is more basic than

that. The LORD is a person and he demands reverence

despite our fleshly driven imperfect reality. We live

once and we die once. In between conception and death

we face the truth of the LORD knocking on us to choose

his ways and to choose life everlasting.

Why do people disagree? Because they have a different

perspective on how and why something should be done.

Why does this cuase conflict? Why is it hard to

accept that God is in authority in all cases.

Because the foundation is this:

We want people to do things our way and we want God to

do things our way.

Why?

1. It's more convenient for our own glory.
2. It's the way we've always done things.
3. It violates our sense of right and wrong.


Convenience


Let's think about different scenarios for a minute. A

doctor wants a patient to eat a certain diet so that

the patient doesn't have to come back for visits as

this patient is known to require much time and

attention. If the doctor is uptight when this patient

arrives he or she is giving over to mental

instability. The only reason the doctor gets upset is

because he or she thinks he doesn't deserve to be

inconvenienced. However if the doctor takes on the

form of a servant for God who knows all time and human

energy and understands that God is in control of time

he or she will take time to listen to the patient.

You can overcome the convenience attitude by learning

the principles of good character outlined in the

bible. Principles of forgiveness, respect, reverence

and more.

Habit

Just because a couple have been living together and

day after day the wife says to the husband, "what

should I make for dinner." doesn't give mental

stability. Rather a reverent attitude that the spouse

is more important that the nearest family member that

comes to visit or even more important than the

president coming to vist can help relieve the mental

blockage that gets developed due to habit forming

responses.

You can overcome the habbit attitude by using

creativity with borrowing of words from scripture and

ideas from scripture to change your day into something

better and something new.

Belief System

You may have been taught by parents, teachers, govt'

leaders, members of a religion or other classes of

belief.

In real life, every individual decides for themselves

what they are going to accept as right or wrong.

Although you can really only choose your own belief

system you cannot force others to believe as you do.

Your spouse and children cannot follow your belief

system unless they would choose to do so respectfully.

The actions that are always wrong, no matter what your

belief system happens to be:

1. It's wrong to pysically hurt someone (from

conception to aged person)
2. or their property

We can only leave it up to God to judge that person to

judge for their lack of reverence to Christ. He has

full rights to destroy the body and human property.

Man may never do this to others for any reason unless

a stronger man or woman is hurting a younger innocent

person.

Everything else will fall into a matter of opinion.

It is someone's opinion that only good people attend

church and read the bible while all the bad people go

to the taverns. Or vice versa. Those are opinions.

When you persecute others for not choosing to make the

same decisions as you and disrespect them, you are

setting yourself up for mental blockages and anger. It

becomes arrogant to think in this way. It is ok to be

wrong as we are not God that knows all things. If we

notice that others are making wrong decisions in life

it is ok to let them solve their own problems in life.

"Judge not lest ye be judged." When you judge others

you build up mental blockages.

You can aquire the knowledge that Christ had here on

earth only by studying his word more closely. He

never encouraged arrogancy but rather reverence and

acceptance of sinners. Infact he gave several "beware

of....." statements. The more you know these things,

the more you will understand why he died to overcome

all human failure in reugards to failed belief

systems.

Lets take an example:

you take your child to church and he does not sit with

you. This angers you.

1. You have unrealistic expectations
2. Deep down you feel you are entitled to sit right

next to your child or he or she won't be following God

properly
3. You believe your child is wrong and you are right.

Lets look at the situation more carefully. A parent

who shows that he doesn't appreciate being a listener

when the child gets hurt by someone else wouldn't be a

very comfortable person to sit next to. A parent who

contantly forces the child to wake up and "go to

school" or even make it to "church on time" wouldn't

be a good parent that the child would want to sit near

in church.

Why would a child want to listen to government

authority who expect them to behave when an adult

doesn't want a govt' to tell him or her to "work at

this place of employment" or to "worship this form of

religious entity"

How can a parent overcome this burden of belief system

difference
1. Develop realistic expectations. Develop a

listening ear.
2. Create an envirnment where it is easier to learn

about God in comfort of their own home and loving

atmosphere. Even introduce God in wilderness enviornments.
3. Present truth to your child as much as possible in

the form of information from scripture or logical

evidence of truth rather than focing them to succum to

a belief system.

Expect that your children will not behave as you would

like them to behave. Expect that your children will

get bored more sooner than you. Expect that children

have logical desire to learn just as much and treated

just as well as an adult and should be treated as such

rather than an unwanted obstacle.

So why should we change our behaviors and not others? Because you can only control you! Even if you are right, you can not violently force others to understand that or to change their minds in one day. Why spend your life trying to make people agree with you. Only God is 100% right as he created life and wants everyone to choose life with Christ. It is not our place to force others in this regard.

In summary a summary of what truly happens in different mental calamities that people face:

Depression - Unrealistic expectations of how others should treat me. Unrealistic expectations of how God should treat me. (Yes you may have to suffer persecution for following Christ alone and no belief system!) ---> Overcome by prayer for enemies who are wrong in a written list on daily basis. Study scripture to study what is true and test your self. Recognize that Christ is there to save us from our fleshly desire for death and this battle will continue until death from earth.

Anxiety - Fear about what will happen if things don't go right or God's way. --->Overcome by developing more creative skills. Use the bible to give you ideas on new ways to live life. Use scripture to create something new. Practice acceptance of God's plans for life.

Mood Disorders - People take their own control of the extraordinarily horrible circumstances they have had to face. Anything from abusive remarks or neglect in relationship from others, to sadness at facing the elements in the environment. A combination of unrealistic expectations plus dis-empowerment plus strong training that things must be done to "perfection." --->Allow Christ to be the counselor. Study scripture to get a better perspective of reality. Avoid religious "musts" and "oughts" Allow God to judge reality. Pray for Christ to give you strength to forgive those who have offended you in life. Prayer for enemies and those who are wrong in a hand written list on daily basis. Develop a schedule to help develop more freedom. Accept that enemies and bullies will always be present in life. Just have joy in front of them.

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