Tomes wrote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by UntoHim
Often brothers and sisters, discouraged perhaps by personal health, job or relationship issues, were simply charged to “turn to your spirit”42 as the solution for every difficulty, the panacea for all ills.
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I happened to pull out
Jane Anderson's book last night and was flipping through it. In the section where she discusses the late 1980s and her family's imminent departure from the movement, she talks about a LC woman who dropped her kids off at babysitting then went home and hung herself.
Jane reports that the woman clearly had mental problems, but that no one tried to help her with anything other than platitudes about calling on the Lord and turning to her spirit. Jane says that the sad, ironic thing about this woman is she was always going around saying "O Lord Jesus."
I saw several incidents of mental issues in the Recovery and in each case the extreme subjectivity of "experiencing the sense of life" aggravated the problem. One young brother got so confused trying to discern what his spirit was telling him that it affected the motor control of his body. When I saw him for the last time he moved in jerky, hesitant moves. You could tell he was trying so hard to discern what his inner sense was telling him that he was even trying to know whether to move his arm forward or backward.
Of course, these people are rare. But I know I went through this kind of overwrought subjectivity. How short should my hair be? Should I wear this shirt? What about this tie? Where should I work? Should I quit school? If you'd honestly set your mind on your spirit, you'd know, brother!
Now I realize God mostly says to me, "Do what you like. I'll tell you when I don't like it."