Are You Ever Stricken With Spiritual Schizophrenia?

Mike Hosey, Elder

Schizophrenia is a medical and mental disorder that is marked primarily by an inability to discern reality.  In fact, the word simply means, “split mind.”  A schizophrenic mind, therefore, is a mind that is split between what is real and what isn’t.

Two of the most prominent symptoms of schizophrenia are hallucinations and delusions.  Hallucinations are sensory experiences that do not correspond to reality.  For instance, because of a problem in brain chemistry, people diagnosed with schizophrenia, see, hear, feel, or smell things that aren’t real. Delusions, on the other hand, are fixed beliefs that don’t correspond to reality.  For instance, schizophrenics often believe things that simply are not true. Sometimes these beliefs are bizarre.  An example might be, “alien overlords have placed microchips in my dental fillings to keep track of everything I eat and say.” Sometimes these delusions have the feel of reasonableness. For instance, “everyone thinks I’m a loser, and they’re trying to ostracize me to keep me out of their club.”

How the World Feels like with Schizophrenia,
by Craig Finn (Plos Medicine)

Most of the people that I’ve dealt with who have a diagnosis of schizophrenia hear voices. Those voices laugh at them, or call them names.  They are almost always derogatory in nature. And to the person experiencing them they are very, very real, even though in actuality they are completely non-existent, and are caused by nothing more than the dysregulation of a handful of brain chemicals.  As you might expect, delusions and hallucinations reinforce each other in a vicious cycle.

Sometimes we Christians are like spiritual schizophrenics. Satan, with demonic intent and spiritual influence, gets in our heads and dysregulates our spiritual chemistry. He tells us that we are losers, or that God can’t forgive our sins, or that we are not good enough for the task God has called us to complete. He tries to split our mind from reality (James 1:8). He tries to blind the minds of unbelievers (and I would argue believers as well) from the gospel of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:4).

But Jesus tells us that if we abide in him we will know the truth and it will set us free (John 8:32). Jesus saves. Even from spiritual schizophrenia!