I wrote a comment for the last post about depression. I’ve decided to expand on it for a full post.

First, let me say right off the top that there are certain medical causes for chronic depression for which one needs a physician’s help and possibly certain medication. Sometimes a person needs a combination of medication and therapy. I would like it clearly understood that I am not writing here about this kind of chronic depression. I am writing about what we call the “blues.” Virtually everyone gets the blues once in a while. We all get down, down, du-be, do, down.

Another contributing factor for depression is spiritual oppression. We should not overlook the impact of Satan and his minions. After many years in the pastoral ministry, I realize that sin and other factors can open up a person (even a believer) to the work of the Devil. Here I am not talking about demonic possession but oppression. Be that as it may, this post is not about this sort of spiritual oppression. The subject here is what used to be called sadness or melancholy.

●Thomas Aquinas wrote the following about sadness:

“On the other hand, avoidance of good on account of an attendant evil occurs in two ways. For this happens either in respect of one's own good, and thus we have "sloth," which is sadness about one's spiritual good, on account of the attendant bodily labor: or else it happens in respect of another's good, and this, if it be without recrimination, belongs to "envy," which is sadness about another's good as being a hindrance to one's own excellence, while if it be with recrimination with a view to vengeance, it is "anger." Again, these same vices seek the contrary evils.”

●In my humble opinion, I think what good ol’ Tom has written here is brilliant. He is saying the following:

1) Fear is the passion aroused within us causing us to want to avoid a foreseen evil.

2) When something is seen as good but it also has an “attendant evil” (i.e. taking a medicine that is disgusting) we might avoid the good. This is the basic principle that leads toward sadness.

3) Avoiding a good that produces a spiritual blessing in our lives because it will be hard (i.e. attending church) is called sloth. This is considered a deadly vice because God purposefully causes those things that create spiritual growth to be mixed with hard things so that we become virtuous. Sloth is a great sin. It is, by the way, the great sin of affluent Christians. Sloth eventually produces a “sadness” about our spiritual condition.

4) Avoiding doing hard things that produce personal excellence (i.e. studying hard, practicing a musical instrument, etc.) eventually will foster the sin of “envy” because I will be sad about the fact that someone else is excellent at academics or is a great musician. This is the sadness of envy. The Bible says that “envy rots the bones” which means that it makes me a very sad, sad man. It is my view that most of the low-grade depression in America is centered in envy.

5) Avoiding doing hard things that produce personal excellence can also foster anger toward those who excel. Therefore, we become spiteful and sad in a way that produces vengeance. In other words, we may strike out at the person and do something hurtful either directly or indirectly (also known as being “passive aggressive”). This is a very evil form of sadness.

The antidote for the sloth, envy and anger that lead to sadness is to recognize that good things come in difficult-to-open packages. This is particularly true in regard to spiritual growth and moral excellence. God has designed the world in such a way that you cannot microwave your way to Christian maturity.

Ever wonder about anxiety and worry? I mean, what are they? Well, anxiety and worry are low-grade forms of fear. Anxiety is a somewhat more generalized fear, whereas worry is usually focused on some specific thing in the future that we are concerned about. Both are types of fear. Fear is simply our emotional repugnant response to a future evil. We visualize something that may happen to us (i.e. failing a college test) which is repugnant to our wills (we would not choose to have it happen to us) and we have a fear response. Worry and anxiety are low-grade forms of fear. Instead of going into a full-blown fight or flight response to something we dread, we get distracted mentally during the day and toss and turn at night worrying about failing the test.

Fear can make you act involuntarily. If the object of the fear is so great (i.e. someone suddenly breaking into your home) you will likely act without much thinking and either run or fight for your life. Later you will think about it. Consequently, to a certain extent, when you act out of fear your actions are somewhat involuntary—depending on the situation. However, the person who acts from fear still retains repugnance for what he does. If you run from your own home to escape an intruder, you will later regret and dislike the fact that you had to abandon your own home. You would not normally choose to do so. If, out of anxiety and worry, you can’t sleep at night thinking about your college test, you will likely bitterly dislike the whole situation but you will probably proceed to take the test.

On the other hand, delighting in pleasure destroys one’s practical judgment. The human will is inclined to desire pleasurable things. This is natural, just like fear is natural. However, when we fail to control our desire for pleasure it begins to break down our resistance and our good judgment. Fear is motivated by the possibility of an evil thing happening to us, but pleasure-seeking is motivated by something we think is good. When a person acts habitually out of the desire for pleasure he eventually begins to do things he may have formerly rejected and thought morally repugnant. Over the course of time his will is changed so that he desires what he previously rejected. Whereas the person who acts out of fear does so, to some extent involuntarily, the pleasure-seeker voluntarily puts himself in moral bondage that destroys his judgment. He willingly becomes morally dumb.

When people do things involuntarily out of fear, they deserve our mercy and our indulgence; because what they do they do with regret. The person who kills and intruder will probably later regret taking a human life and will need friends to comfort and counsel him. However the person who willingly binds himself in pleasure-seeking does not need our mercy and indulgence. He needs a little moral shock therapy.

Hand-written instructions for how to incinerate 2,900 law abiding citizens

“Purify your soul from all unclean things. Completely forget something called 'this world' [or 'this life']. The time for play is over and the serious time is upon us. How much time have we wasted in our lives? Shouldn't we take advantage of these last hours to offer good deeds and obedience?...You should feel complete tranquility, because the time between you and your marriage [in heaven] is very short. Afterwards begins the happy life, where God is satisfied with you, and eternal bliss 'in the company of the prophets,…When the confrontation begins, strike like champions who do not want to go back to this world. Shout, 'Allahu Akbar,' because this strikes fear in the hearts of the non-believers. God said: 'Strike above the neck, and strike at all of their extremities.' Know that the gardens of paradise are waiting for you in all their beauty, and the women of paradise are waiting, calling out, 'Come hither, friend of God.' They have dressed in their most beautiful clothing…If God decrees that any of you are to slaughter, dedicate the slaughter to your fathers and [unclear], because you have obligations toward them. Do not disagree, and obey…Either end your life while praying, seconds before the target, or make your last words: 'There is no God but God, Muhammad is His messenger'.” (Mohamed Atta)

Response by the first counter-terrorist citizen resisters

“Let’s roll.” (Todd Beamer)

Insights

● We insist that we are not in a religious conflict. But we are. We are because those who attack us believe themselves to be so. For us this is classified as delusional thinking.
2 Thess. 2:10-11 They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie.
● The power of Christ is greater than all the armies of the world.
Luke 10: 18-19 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.

I am in favor of retribution. Retribution is one of those words that now makes the top-ten list for “Not Approved for Modern Culture.” In our hyper-sentimental, hyper-self-deceiving era, we do not like to hear or use words with a hard edge. Retribution is one of those words. But, what does it mean? The Latin original is “retribuere” which means to pay back, from re- + tribuere; or to pay tribute back. Now here is the surprise. It is a neutral word, meaning that which is paid back can be either a reward or punishment. We only think of it as punishing someone, and, after all, we should never want someone punished because we are enlightened people akin to the crew of Star Trek Next Generation.

So, here is the low-down on retribution. If you believe in justice and think that you should be paid back for the good that you have done, then you per se believe in retribution. However, if you do not think that you should be paid a fair wage for a day’s work then find something better to do than read this post.

Retribution is rendered in a just way to a man for his having done something for another person that is for the other person’s advantage or hurt. This is the person-to-person level and explains why your employer should pay your wages. However, it should be observed that every individual member of society is a part of the whole society. Consequently, any good or ill done to an individual member of a society redounds to the whole society. In other words, what hurts the hand hurts the man. Because of this, when anyone does good or evil to another individual, there is a twofold impact in his action: first, there is retribution owed to him by the individual to whom he has done good or harm; secondly, in respect to the retribution owed to him by the whole society.

Okay, so here are some implications. One implication is that we usually understand that when a person hurts another individual, the one causing the injury should be punished. We may not like this idea, but we understand it. This is why we need governments, police, courts and jails. However, what we don’t understand nearly as well is that when a person does good to another, that good not only benefits another individual but also society. Society, in a real way, owes retribution to the individual for his good actions. However, don’t hold your breath waiting for society to repay you for your good. A second implication is that a man’s good or evil actions, though not directed at another individual, are nevertheless ordained to the good or evil of the larger community. For instance, a DUI who hits a tree stimulates the rising costs of medical and auto insurance. Likewise, a person who picks up litter makes the community a better place to live.

Finally, when a person does good or evil to himself by his actions, it redounds to the community. In other words, there are no truly “private” sins or virtues. By becoming a better person, the individual makes the community better. On the other hand, when a person hurts himself or commits suicide, he harms the community. Consequently, the virtuous person who is good to himself and to others receives the retribution of a better community in which to live. Nice, huh?

Isaiah 3:10-11 “Tell the innocent how fortunate they are, for they shall eat the fruit of their labors. [11] Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are, for what heir hands have done shall be done to them.”

If you strip everything down to its bare essentials, there are three kinds of choices that a person can make in life. One type of choice is when a person is forced to make a decision against one’s will by the threat of violence. There are, of course, some places in the world where people live under the ongoing threat of political violence, therefore, the populations in these countries cannot be considered politically free. A second type of freedom is voluntary but it is where one has to choose something against one’s will to avoid something worse. This might be termed a “mixed” form of volunteer freedom or enslavement (either way would work as the proper term). When I get up in the morning sometimes I would like to head for the coast but I realize I had better go to work if I want to support my family. The third type of choice is completely voluntary because one chooses something because one thinks it is the good thing to have or do. Hopefully, when people get married they are making a fully voluntary decision.

From a moral perspective, even though people desire to choose wisely and make good decisions, often they turn away from things that are truly good because they are overcome by their passions or by their bad habits. When this happens, people may think they are free but they are really acting like slaves because they are diverted from that which is good by some thing that has a powerful pull on their lives. However, people engage in a mixed freedom (or enslavement) when they would actually like to do or have something that is bad for them but they refrain from the evil out of fear of the civic or moral law. A lot of religion is at this level. It is actually a mixed form of enslavement and freedom. It is my personal opinion that Islam is primarily a mixed freedom/enslavement that (at least in some countries) is politically enforced with severe punishments so it becomes a full-on enslavement of the will.

In Christianity, the work of the Holy Spirit is to pour God’s love into the heart of the believer. By doing so, the Holy Spirit inclines the believer’s will toward God and His law. The Holy Spirit removes the slavery by which one’s passions, which are infected and colored by sin, control one’s will and, consequently, one’s life. Amazingly, the Holy Spirit also removes—over the course of time—the believer’s fear of punishment and of the Divine Law so that he/she acts out of friendship for God—willingly obeying God out of love. This is true freedom. The Apostle Paul said it beautifully:

Romans 8:15-16 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry “Abba! Father!” [16] it is that very Spirit hearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,