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Emotion
Depression
A
depressive is driving down a country road and has a flat tire. He looks in his
trunk for a jack. Not finding one
he spots a farmhouse about a quarter-mile
away with a truck in the front yard and says to himself
“I’ll go borrow the
farmer’s jack.” As the stranded motorist approaches the house
he is feeling
bad—one
for failing to have a jack; two
for having to depend on someone else
for help. As he gets nearer the farmhouse
he begins to expect rejection and to
get angry over that expectation. As he becomes more and more angry at his unmet
dependency needs in the past
he projects to the farmer the anger he feels
toward himself for needing the jack and toward others for disappointing him. By
the time he knocks on the door and the farmer opens it
the depressive yells
“Keep your jack!” This will most likely guarantee that he doesn’t get the jack
so the motorist walks back
re-convinced that you can’t depend on people.
Very often our outlook and
expectations determine the results.
Depression
A
man and his wife who were on a long trip stopped at a full-service gas station.
After the station attendant had washed their car’s windshield
the man in the
car said to the station attendant
“It’s still dirty. Wash it again.”
So the station attendant
complied. After washing it again
the man in the car angrily said
“It’s still
dirty. Don’t you know how to wash a windshield?”
Just then the man’s wife
reached over
removed her husband’s glasses from his face
and cleaned them
with a tissue. Then he put them back on and behold—the windshield was clean!
Our mental attitude has a
great deal to do with how we look at things. The whole world can appear pretty
bleak if we have a depressed mental attitude. Yet how bright the world can
appear if we have a joyful attitude of hope.
Depression
Karl
Menninger
a famous psychiatrist
once gave a lecture on mental health and was
answering questions from the audience. “What would you advise a person to do
”
asked one
“if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?”
Most people expected
Menninger to reply: “Consult a psychiatrist.” To their astonishment
he
replied
“Lock up your house
go across the railway tracks
find someone in
need
and then do something to help that person.”
Emotions
The human personality is
said to consist of roughly four-fifths emotions and one-fifth intellect. This
means that our decisions are arrived at on the basis of 80 percent emotion and
only 20 percent intellect. To engage in a confrontation
or even a discussion
without taking emotions into account is to be only 20 percent effective in your
dealings with people.
Man’s
Anger
Thomas Jefferson said "When angry
count to 10; when
very angry count to 100." Mark
Twain changed it and said
"When angry
count to 4; when very angry
swear."
One of England's
finest preachers was C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892). Frequently during his ministry
he was plunged into severe depression
due in part to gout but also for other
reasons. In a biography of the "prince of preachers"
Arnold
Dallimore wrote
"What he suffered in those times of darkness we may not
know...even his desperate calling on God brought no relief. 'There are
dungeons'
he said
'beneath the castles of despair.'" ── Arnold Dallimore.
Many years ago a
young Midwestern lawyer suffered from such deep depression that his friends
thought it best to keep all knives and razors out of his reach. He questioned
his life's calling and the prudence of even attempting to follow it through.
During this time he wrote
"I am now the most miserable man living.
Whether I shall ever be better
I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall
not." But somehow
from somewhere
Abraham Lincoln received the
encouragement he needed
and the achievements of his life thoroughly vindicated
his bout with discouragement. ── Today in the Word
MBI
December
1989
p. 20
Swindoll
You and Your Problems
Transformed by Thorns
p. 58.
In 1835 a man
visited a doctor in Florence
Italy. He was filled with anxiety and exhausted
from lack of sleep. He couldn't eat
and he avoided his friends. The doctor
examined him and found that he was in prime physical condition. Concluding that
his patient needed to have a good time
the physician told him about a circus
in town and its star performer
a clown named Grimaldi. Night after night he
had the people rolling in the aisles. "You must go and see him
" the
doctor advised. "Grimaldi is the world's funniest clown. He'll make you
laugh and cure your sadness." "No
" replied the despairing man
"he can't help me. you see
I am Grimaldi!" ── Source Unknown.
Half of Americans in
a recent poll said they or their family members have suffered from depression
46% considered it a health problem
and 43% saw it as a "sign of personal
or emotional weakness
" according to the National Mental Health
Association. Other topics measured included alcoholism (seen as a personal
weakness by 58% and a health problem by 34%) and obesity (38% deemed it a
weakness
48% a health problem). Where to go for help? Three choices were allowed.
45% suggested a medical doctor
60% a mental health professional
but only 20%
suggested a church
minister
rabbi
or priest
and just 14% suggested a
spouse
relative
or friend. ──
National and International
Religion Report
Jan 1
1992.
Today's young women
are more likely to become depressed than their mothers were and at a younger
age. Reasons: increased economic pressure to contribute to family
income...changing role in society...inability to meet their own
expectations...a sense of having lost control. ── Dr. Gerald Klerwan
in Homemade
December. 1986.
Depression strikes
about 10 million Americans within any six- month period. Human therapists can
now treat only a fraction of that number. But a study shows that by using
computers
more of these persons might be helped. In the American Journal of Psychiatry
researcher John Greist presented a study showing that depressed people treated
by computerized questions and answers improved just as much as those consulted
under a human therapist.── Resource
Mar/Apr
1990.
I am spellbound by
the intensity of Jesus' emotions: Not a twinge of pity
but heartbroken
compassion; not a passing irritation
but terrifying anger; not a silent tear
but groans of anguish; not a weak smile
but ecstatic celebration. Jesus'
emotions are like a mountain river cascading with clear water. My emotions are
more like a muddy foam or a feeble trickle. ── G.
Walter Hansenin
Christianity Today.
A group of
motion-picture engineers classified the following as the ten most dramatic
sounds in the movies: a baby's first cry; the blast of a siren; the thunder of
breakers on rocks; the roar of a forest fire; a foghorn; the slow drip of
water; the galloping of horses; the sound of a distant train whistle; the howl
of a dog; the wedding march. And one of these sounds causes more emotional
response and upheaval than any other
has the power to bring forth almost every
human emotion: sadness
envy
regret
sorrow
tears
as well as supreme joy. It
is the wedding march. ── James S.
Flora in Pulpit Digest.
Oliver Cromwell
who
took the British throne away from Charles I and established the Commonwealth
said to a friend
"Do not trust to the cheering
for those persons would
shout as much if you and I were going to be hanged." ── Warren Wiersbe in Be Satisfied.
Persons who have
uneven temperaments appear to have a much greater chance of developing serious
illness and of dying young than do those with other temperaments. ── Drs. Barbara J. Betz and Caroline B. Thomas
report in the Johns Hopkins Medical
Journal.
In 1948
Betz and
Thomas classified 45 Johns Hopkins medical students in three personality groups
on the basis of psychological tests and questionnaires. The students were
listed either as "alphas
" described as cautious
reserved
quiet and
undemanding; "betas
" spontaneous
active and outgoing; or
"gammas
" moody
emotional and either over- or under-demanding.
Thirty years later
Betz and Thomas looked at the health records of the former
students. They found that 77.3 percent of the gamma group suffered from major
disorders
including cancer
high blood pressure
heart disease and emotional
disturbances. The incidence of disorders was only 25 percent in the alpha group
and 26.7 percent in the betas. The doctors repeated the study on another group
of 127 male students from the classes of 1949 through 1964 with similar
results. "Too often
gamma people get lost in their own emotions
"
says Betz. "While a person's temperament cannot be changed
more support
from outside sources--such as more human contacts--might help lessen a gamma's
risk of disease." ── Quoted
in Reader's Digest
November
1979.
"EMOTION VS. EMOTIONALISM"
INTRODUCTION
1. To emote or not to emote
that is the question... a. Many decry the lack of emotion in the worship and lives of others b. Others warn against emotionalism as they look down on any display of emotion 2. Can we have emotion without succumbing to emotionalism? I believe we must! a. Emotions have a scriptural role in the life of the Christian b. Yet when emotions become emotionalism
there is a grave danger [How can we have emotion without emotionalism? Let's first considerthat there are...] I. TWO EXTREMES TO AVOID
A. EMOTIONALISM... 1. That "better felt than told" sort of religion a. Where people depend more on what they feel in their heart b. Rather than on what they read in their Bible 2. Where worship is characterized by unrestrained outbreaks of emotion a. E.g.
rolling in the aisles b. E.g.
bursting out in unintelligible words 3. Such emotionalism... a. Disobeys the scriptural admonition for worship in a decent and orderly fashion - cf. 1 Co 14:40 b. Overlooks the warning: "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool..." - Pro 28:26 B. FORMALISM... 1. In which there is a complete lack of emotion in worship and service a. Perhaps in reacting against emotionalism b. Resulting in a "dead pan" attitude c. Where songs are sung and sermons preached with little reaction by those engaged 2. Such lack of "heartfelt" religion is contrary to what Jesus taught a. Condemning a religion in which one's heart is far removed from Him - Mt 15:7-8 b. Commending a love for God that involves the whole heart - Mt22:37-38
[The tendency is to go from one extreme to another. Formalism can beavoided by remembering...]