We Have This Hope as An Anchor for The Soul
By Pastor Phillip Rutledge
In Reply to an article from the Windsor Star on 11 Jun 2018
HEADLINE: The suicide deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain, celebrities with seemingly everything in the world to live for, have some asking, ‘what hope is there for the rest of us?’
As soon as I read the headline I thought to myself, “I have the answer!”. It’s the tagline or motto for our christian ministry – We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. – Hebrews 6:19
The Life Application Study Bible notes has this to say about Hebrews 6:19 – Our hope is secure and immovable, anchored in God, just as a ship’s anchor holds firmly to the seabed. … This truth should give you encouragement, assurance, and confidence.
It truly concerns me that our world has jettisoned the soul and has reduced human life to just the mind and body. Is this true? Has science eliminated the soul because it cannot be proven using scientific parameters for existence? Or has the soul simply been reduced to a DNA sequence which could be replicated if science were to so choose?
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. – Hebrews 6:19
Most people would say that I am not qualified to even raise such a question. Perhaps they’re right but doesn’t it seem ironic that the Government of Canada supports both the development of a national suicide prevention service and medical assistance in dying services? As suicide rates continue to climb and our hospitals continue to swell with mental health patients, it scares me to think the day may come when prevention fails, assisted suicide will become the recommended alternative.
Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst in the 20th century said, “If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia.” Here lies the soul of our medical community.
Over the last month I have been visiting my friend Roland at the Mental Health Unit at the Ouellette Campus in Windsor. Many of you in Belle River will know of whom I speak. I have visited with other patients on the floor, too. I’m sure it breaks God’s heart to see these poor souls in the condition they are in.
I wonder if the time has come to readdress the mind, body AND SOUL when treating mental illness.