Do the mentally ill go to hell?

I had a christian tell me last week that according to christian belief, those afflicted with mental illness go to hell. I felt this was seriously out of line and informed the christian of a mental health clinic not far away that would accept his insurance. Of course he won't go because that would almost certainly damn his soul for all eternity.  Is this really in their bible?

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Permalink Reply by John Eisenhauer on March 13, 2012 at 2:34pm

While Bible does not explicitly mention "mental illness" - frankly that concept was foreign to the authors - a fundamental premise of Christianity is that belief is required to be saved.

John3:3-5 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

If the above means that acceptance of Christ's divinity is needed to be saved, what happens to a schizophrenic who believes he's Vishnu (thus rejecting Christ)?  Or, what if he believes in Christ because of delusion?  Is such a person freely accepting Christ ("born of the Spirit")? Or, what if he is so retarded as to preclude understanding the concept Christ?

John 3:18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

3:18 and many other passages are absolute, you believe or burn.

This single point invalidates Christianity.

Permalink Reply by Doug Reardon on March 13, 2012 at 2:55pm

You forget that mental illnesses are really demonic possession!

Permalink Reply by Pope Beanie on March 13, 2012 at 7:48pm

I was going to mention something like this. It's a common problem among idealists (of various kinds, including religionists) that there is such a thing as perfection that can be reached if only one knows how to put one's mind to it. Scientology teaches this.

So even mental illness is something they feel can and should be overcome with just faith in the dogma and mind power. This is also how Scientology is able to ban and demonize all psychotropic drug treatments, and the entire psychiatric profession. (Recall Tom Cruise's rant against psychiatry.)

Permalink Reply by Ron Handlon on March 13, 2012 at 8:52pm
I looked this up and found that 'the Bible does not specifically say whether or not mentally ill people go to heaven. However, there is some biblical evidence that anyone who is not able to make a decision for salvation is covered by Christ’s death. This is similar to how it is commonly believed that children are automatically taken to heaven when they die until they reach the point in which they are able to make a decision for or against Christ.'
This was on a christian site - otherwise, it does sound reasonable... So you can tell your mentally ill christian friend that he can stop worrying... ;>}
Permalink Reply by Kathleen on March 13, 2012 at 9:30pm

The times I heard that preached the justification they gave for this belief is mental illness is a manifestation of sin in one's life and that a) they don't want to let go of that sin and/or b) don't have enough faith do so. It isn't in the bible, so they took fractions of verses here and there (because they couldn't find whole verses), out of context of the rest of the sentences and used it to justify the point. You can justify anything and everything with the bible by doing that. But you could justify any atrocity or asshole move with a Brothers Grim fairy tale book.

Permalink Reply by Gary Mueller on March 13, 2012 at 10:43pm

 

The bible does not acknowledge mental illness, only demon possession and the cure for that of course is to burn the witch

Permalink Reply by Tom Sarbeck on March 14, 2012 at 4:36am

The mentally ill first join a church, where they learn about hell and start fearing they will go there. Soon, unable to bear that fear by themselves, they project it on others.

Permalink Reply by IEatDinosaurMeat on March 14, 2012 at 7:17am

Well, we all know that demon possession is the cause of mental illness.

Permalink Reply by Ward Cressin on March 17, 2012 at 3:40am

That is why I rent my demons.     :)

archaeopteryxPermalink Reply by archaeopteryx on March 14, 2012 at 8:31am

RE: "Of course he won't go because that would almost certainly damn his soul for all eternity." Much better to grab an AK-47 and go postal, thereby guaranteeing his reservation in ye olde hotspot.

I recall nothing in the Bible that says anything to that effect. In fact, Hell is a late invention - there is nothing about an afterlife in the early parts of the Old Testament. But I'd be willing to bet that some priest sat down and thought to himself, "Where's the incentive to live by our rules, if everyone dies anyway? Hey, here's an idea! What if there was an afterlife and sinners got punished forever?! Yeah, that'd do it!"

pax vobiscum,
archaeopteryx
www.in-His-own-image.com

Permalink Reply by chiz on March 14, 2012 at 10:32am

I don't remember anything about mental people going to hell in the bible... back then, they probably thought crazies where possessed by demons. Meh, I think mental people are safe for now. Until I die, hell is closed for renovations.

Permalink Reply by Natalie on March 14, 2012 at 2:01pm

My old pastor did a short sermon on that. He basically said that god would look at those with mental illness as being unable to understand rights and wrongs clearly. So they would be like children and all children can be easily misguided. So, children are always welcome in heaven.

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