I am sure that by now everyone has heard of the arrest of astronaut Lisa Nowak on charges stemming from her cross country trip, allegedly for the purpose of harming a romantic rival.
I talked to a friend, this morning, who is closely involved in the shuttle program and has close contact with the astronauts. He, like everyone close to the case, expressed his shock and surprise at the actions of this young woman saying, " Something must have happened. She must have had a mental crash or something." He went on to tell of the remarkable work that she had done while on her earlier shuttle mission. This, I think, was meant as added evidence that some sort of break down must have occurred that caused her to act in the way she did.
I said,"My response, of course, is from a theological perspective. No matter how well educated and how well trained one is, or how much good one has done for humanity, according to the Bible, we are all sinners by nature." That includes all of us, not just the ones who have acted out publicly. We do bad things because we are bad.
Don't get me wrong. Miss Nowak might really need some psychological help. However, the fact that the possibility of committing unthinkable acts lies within the nature of everyone of us, should not be ignored. The cure for that is not psychological, but spiritual.
It seems that every time the media reports a moral failure in some celebrity or some spiritual or political leader, they report, almost in the same breath, that that person has entered counseling or rehab. This, very often, is nothing more than an attempt to shift the blame from one's moral character to either mental break down or chemical dependency. This is not only blame shifting, but it camouflages the real problem, which is sin.
You can counsel sin. You can suppress sin. You can try to control sin. You can even re-define sin as mental illness, or blame it on some dependency. But the only way to finally and forever deal with sin is to repent of it.
No one asked me for it, but I would give this advice to Miss Nowak or to anyone who has come face-to-face with the reality of their own depravity:
1) Seek Jesus through the the witness of those who know Him or through His Word.
2) Confess her actions as sin and herself a sinner.
3) Repent first of all privately before God, then publicly.
4)Surrender to the Lordship of Christ, trusting Him alone for salvation.
5) Identify herself with a body of faithful followers of Christ where she can be nurtured in the faith.
It is quite possible that, if she did that, she would find little or possibly no need for psychological help.
10 comments:
Saying that this lady did good work or was very smart has very little to do with her heart, as you so clearly point out. I tire of those who would like us to believe that being a good worker is somehow a testimony to someone's virtue. Just because she is an astronaut, and likely very smart, does not ensure that she will behave in a righteous way.
The wisdom of the world is folly.
You are correct. Sin does not indicate abnormality.
I agree with you Garry, Kim, and David...
The whole world of depravity resides in every human heart...
Mankind will never educate itself into morality...
Man can never climb his way out of the depraved depths of his heart...
That's exactly what I was thinking as I watched an interview with a one of her childhood friends.
Everyone is tryng to make excuses for htis lady, and this morning on Today they were going to try to see if NASA's evaluations were stringent enough.
I hadn't heard about her, but I agree sinners are not sinners because they didn't have a nice childhood, have a chemical problem, or had a psychological break down.
You squeeze the lemon, and the juice comes out.
Sinner. Period.
There is no doubt that she joins the rest of us in total depravity.
Many of us, however, do not express our depravity in a way that gets us into trouble with the law, unless, of course, we get caught.
Of course, we always "get caught" by God, who is not fooled by our slick outer shell.
Does she need counseling, most probably. Will it help? That depends on the kind of counseling she gets, and her response.
If she is counseled to repent, turn in faith to trust in, and only in, the finished work of Christ at Calvary, and His resurrection, the counseling will be eternally useful.
Otherwise.....
Great perspective on this situation, Bro. Garry.
This is a topic that always hits close to home, as the sibling of a young lady who is in trouble with the law, yet who supposedly is mentally ill as well. Even if my sister were to start taking medication, pay whatever restitution she owes to the law, her refusal to accept sin as the basis for her poor choices would cause her behavior to persist. Perhaps I'm not wise enough to see what is best in these situations, but I don't see how excusing behavior that believers are supposed to recognize as sin is beneficial to those who are caught in its grip.
But we are ALWAYS to pray for those who are lost.
Good point, Bro. Garry. You have handles it very well from God's point of view. It is, after all, the only one that matters. It was good to see and hear you in Astatula. God Bless,
I agree in the main with this post and these views. However, this case was such an over the top loss of rational behavior, I was wondering if maybe sin had an accomplice in this escapade? The training that pilots and astronauts go through requires rational behavior and good decisions and I am puzzled at the loss of these things in this case.
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