Something most Christians don’t understand:
There are people who have emotional and psychological problems, and they are nothing like you. They are vastly different. For instance, I read an article several years ago that said people with PTSD are more in tune with reality than the average person. And the reason for this is they are more in tune with their inner being than the average person. They see and feel more deeply than the average person, thus are more in tune with actual reality. When something mean or unkind is said to an average person, he can usually shrug it off. But a person with PTSD will be ripped apart by it, because he senses and feels things deeper than the average person.
Did you know the brain of a PTSD victim will change its shape? Also, a child who is raised in an abusive environment grows up with a brain shaped drastically different from a normal brain. PTSD is not just an emotional response to troubling events; it’s the expression of a persistent deregulation of body and brain chemistry. The brain is assaulted by neurotransmitters — brain chemistry can be altered for decades. Trauma creates chaos in the brain. This is why we, as Christians, must always think and speak of good things around all people, for we really do never know what another has gone through.
Because of things I endured in childhood, and things I endured in the Army, I have PTSD. And I say unequivocally, and without reservation, that I have been hurt more deeply, and more devastatingly, by Christians, than by my childhood and the Army combined.
Am I whining? No, I am not; nor am I hinting for special treatment. The things I’ve gone through have all worked together for good, even to the point of giving me a deeper understanding of the things of God. I just don’t want others to suffer through years of torment because of people sitting in judgment of them, making them feel like outcasts. I don’t want another person to bang his, or her, head on the wall, or on the floor, because he, or she, can’t measure up to some unachievable standard others have set.
Dear friends, there are many more like me out there, and you will never know which one is, or is not, like me. And you do those like me a grave disservice when you sit in judgment of them. You can harm fragile souls when you jump to judgment. It goes beyond hurt feelings; it could easily end up stealing their relationship with God.
We are supposed to work together with God, not against Him. Let us do so; let us work together with Him; let us think and speak of good things at all times. I believe this would please our heavenly Father; I believe it would please Him very much.
In Jesus,
Jon David Banks, God’s most unworthy servant
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