Does Mental Illness Cause Us To Sin?

Here is a note I wrote the other day. As I study Biblical counseling, I am learning more and more on how unclear the general public understands the heart of man. No one knows where to place sin. It is hard to know, unless you understand what God says about the human heart. In this note, I give two examples, which were stories that really happened. Even more amazing of how bad we can be, is the way the court system thinks people should be charged. Instead of charging the person who did the crime with the correct charge, these two people were acquitted because it wasn't their fault. They had a disease. In one case, the disease was PMS. PMS caused the woman to kick and scream at the cop who was giving her a ticket. The other disease was called, 'Male Chauvinism' which caused a man to kill several people. As you read this, see what you think. Do people sin because they have a disease? Or could there be a better explanation for their sinful behavior?

  I have been studying the subject of mental illness and the relationship people make with mental illness and sin. Today, I was listening to the news and there was a report of of man who went on a shooting spree and killed a few people. Then, as the course usually follows, he killed himself. A psychiatrist who analyzed him decided that he had the disease of Male Chauvinism. This man was extremely angry with women because he was continually rejected by them. So, his disease was Male Chauvinism and he would have probably gotten off the hook for his crime of murder because of his 'disease'. What do you think?

   A woman gets caught by the police for wreckless driving and gets a ticket. She kicks the police and gets violent. She has to go to court, but when she does, she gets dismissed for she has a physical condition that caused her to react violently to the police, called PMS. 

   Are PMS and Male Chauvinism diseases which cause people to sin? Where does sin come from and what is it's real cause?

  Take an example of a man who is blind. He cannot see women to lust after them. But could lust still be in his heart? Give him eyes that can see, and what would he do with them? The problem is not blindness, but the heart. Sure, being blind could be an asset that could hinder him from having the ability to lust after women, but, the problem is still in the heart. If he had eyes that could see, chances are good that he would be lusting after women (unless he chooses not to).

   PMS and Male Chauvinism are not the cause of sin, although they help sin to be fulfilled in our lives. In a court system, they are sometimes used as an alibi or an excuse for wrongdoing. Just because there is a reason for something, the reason is not an excuse for wrongdoing. Reasons do not make wrong things right. They make them plausible though, and can help us to better look at our heart motives. Human court systems do not go back to the heart, but God's court system does.