Diagnostics: Completed

So sorry; me been gone for rong time. Wow. I must say, this has been a very good and enlightening discussion. Thank you to all who took time to comment and post about this topic. I feel compelled to make a few last remarks before closing this topic. To Alana: thank you for your comments especially. What you stated seems to capture exactly what I’m thinking about this whole thing. It was never my intent to come off as accusing and un-compassionate. I merely think that the world as a whole gives in much more frequently to their emotions than is truly Good, and then wind up in the pit of despair (said in a Princess Bride voice) and society, rather than turn to God and Church, prefers to medicate rather than seek the truth. In many cases, the truth may be that an individual’s brain has an imbalance of chemicals, and therefore needs medication to help a soul in distress. This should never be seen as a bad or evil thing. I am thankful for medical science being able to help those that truly need help. Besides the main purpose of this post (to seek out truth and other opinions) my driving point/opinion in all of this has been that I believe our world is caught up in the sin of running from pain. We live in a pleasure driven culture that seeks all selfishness and despises sacrifice and asceticism. The key to being free from painful thoughts and feelings, guilt and shame, is to simply “take something” or “drink something” that will pacify what feels wrong. We all know about that big empty hole in our hearts that aches to be filled. Unfortunately, modern opinion would be to fill it with everything but Christ, which in the end is no new lie. “Nothing new under the sun…” As fallen human beings, we often operate on the “pain/pleasure principle.” I spoke to the campers about this at St. John’s camp this year. With Believers, this has to stop. Jesus did not operate on this principle. He never stayed where he was wanted, and he never hurried away from where he wasn’t wanted. He did what the Father asked of Him in all things, and I believe that we are called to do the same. We go neither towards pleasure or away from pain. Besides, many times what I perceive to be pleasure, and then go for it, turns out to be gold covered dirt anyway. As Solomon says, it’s like chasing the wind; all is vanity. May God give us the grace to follow His commandments and not our own selfishness!