Adventist Review Jan 15

[onebeecee]

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yearwithoutgod/2015/02/17/when-criticism-becomes-harmful/

 

All that being said, there is another kind of criticism (if I can even call it that) that is libelous and damaging to others. On January 1, the flagship magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Adventist Review, published an article about my experience under the painfully condescending title, “Concern, Compassion, and Hope for Ex-Adventist Pastor Who Left God.” The article is badly conceived, poorly written, and lacking in basic logic, but what concerns me more than anything is the potential harm that the author and others like him can do to other unsuspecting individuals who might trust themselves to his care. It recently came to my attention again because apparently the editors of Adventist Review deemed the article worth of putting in the print edition of the magazine.

In the piece, Don Mackintosh says he’s concerned for me because my “journey, while couched in religious jargon, shows all the signs and symptoms of a person struggling with major depression. ‘If God exists,’ say those who are depressed, ‘where is He? Why doesn’t He reveal Himself?’” We who have left our faith get this a lot. We’re told that we’re just mad at God for not coming through for us or we’re depressed and blame God for our lot in life. But that’s not even what bothers me. Mr. Mackintosh, whose byline says he is a “spiritual counselor at the Nedley Depression Program and director of NEWSTART Global at Weimar College (where I graduated with my BA in Pastoral Ministry, interestingly enough), has never met me. We’ve never spoken by phone or corresponded in any fashion.

So this is rather remarkable. Without ever meeting or speaking with me he diagnoses me with “major depression” simply on the basis that I questioned the existence of God. Major depression, in case you’re not familiar, is a clinical diagnosis. According to WebMD, symptoms include,

• Fatigue or loss of energy almost every day
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt almost every day
• Impaired concentration, indecisiveness
• Insomnia or hypersomnia (excessive sleeping) almost every day
• Markedly diminished interest or pleasure in almost all activities nearly every day (called anhedonia, this symptom can be indicated by reports from significant others)
• Restlessness or feeling slowed down
• Recurring thoughts of death or suicide
• Significant weight loss or gain (a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month)

The first and most important thing to say about Mr. Mackintosh’s diagnosis is that this is a serious mental health challenged faced by millions of people.

Major depression affects about 6.7% of the U.S. population over age 18, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. Overall, between 20% and 25% of adults may suffer an episode of major depression at some point during their lifetime. [

WebMD

]

Frivolous diagnoses like this make light of the seriousness of this disease which claims the lives of tens of thousands of people every year.

Secondly, I’ve looked high and low for any indication that “questioning the existence of God” is indicative of major (or even mild) depression and I have not found it. If you know more about this, please point me to this information in the comments below.

Finally, Mr. Mackintosh, and others like him who have pretend qualifications and claim to treat serious medical conditions, are endangering the public and should be stopped. I’m personally nonplussed by his illogical and passive aggressive attack on me, even though it’s ironic that a person posing as a mental health professional would publicly expose another person allegedly suffering from depression. But whatever. My concern is much greater. Who else is he “diagnosing?” The Nedley Depression Program may indeed be remarkable, but if Mr. Mackintosh’s article is any indication of how he thinks or how he treats other “patients,” he is a danger to those under his care and should be stopped before he seriously hurts someone.

 

What is the danger is here, is the lack of thinking allowed by the SDA church!  And the lack of qualified councelors when issues like this come up.  Count me out, and please remove my account from this forum, as I this is more evidence that the church has not changed.  It is nothing but the cult I thought it was and will continue to think it is.  There is no God in this none at all, just more accusations for those of us who have a brain and use it!  Give me the theories of Buhhdism any day over those of the SDA/Christian churches.  They at least show kindness!

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

onebeecee, maybe you didn't see the C/A thread regarding that editorial... 

 

I do not believe that the Review's editorial reflects the majority opinion of C/A.  It certainly does not reflect mine.