I was listening to a sermon a little while ago and the preacher highlighted a young man named William Borden. The preacher spoke in glowing terms about Mr. Borden's life -- how he was utterly sold out for Christ and the gospel, how he shunned the family business and gave away his inheritance and riches. The preacher spoke about this young man's tremendous obedience to God that manifested in a life of service to God. Ultimately, Mr. Borden died of spinal meningitis at the age of 25, as he embarked upon evangelism of Muslims in Egypt.
Now, as I was listening to the details of this young man's life and the sacrifice(s) he made, I couldn't help but think about religious fanaticism and/or religious mania. I think these are genuine psychological conditions that affect certain individual's. I have read various anecdotes in relation to the correlation between hyper religiosity and mental illness, but much work still needs to be done in this area. Naturally, younger individual's seem especially vulnerable. I personally treat claims of "being led by God" and "following the promptings of the Spirit" with a high degree of skepticism. My questions, therefore, are as follows:
1) Is it possible that Mr. Borden was manifesting symptoms of religious fanaticism that had a mental illness as it's driving force as opposed to the "activity of God"?
2) What criteria do we utilize in order to differentiate between religious fanaticism/mania and the "Spirit's fire"?
Now, as I was listening to the details of this young man's life and the sacrifice(s) he made, I couldn't help but think about religious fanaticism and/or religious mania. I think these are genuine psychological conditions that affect certain individual's. I have read various anecdotes in relation to the correlation between hyper religiosity and mental illness, but much work still needs to be done in this area. Naturally, younger individual's seem especially vulnerable. I personally treat claims of "being led by God" and "following the promptings of the Spirit" with a high degree of skepticism. My questions, therefore, are as follows:
1) Is it possible that Mr. Borden was manifesting symptoms of religious fanaticism that had a mental illness as it's driving force as opposed to the "activity of God"?
2) What criteria do we utilize in order to differentiate between religious fanaticism/mania and the "Spirit's fire"?
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