"Mental and emotional depression are the new maladies of modern man. They are diseases as surely as cancer or diabetes. To dismiss them with a thoughtless statement like 'there's sin in your life,' or 'it's a demon,' is a display of ignorance that reveals a lack of compassion and trivializes the suffering of others." - Ron Dunn

"As an evangelical theologian, I think the teaching about disease and healing in the Modern Faith movement is both heretical and often cruel. This approach largely follows the idea that sickness - depression and other emotional problems - is always caused by unbelief and sin. The claim is that God has done all he is going to do to provide perfect healing in Christ's spiritual atonement in hell, not his physical death on the cross. If a believer fails to appropriate this perfect healing it is because of unbelief or sin. The Apostle Paul's illness and need of a personal physician is enough to cast serious doubt upon Faith teachers' claims that a believer can and should always manifest perfect health." - Dr. Ken Hemphill

Depression

"We have proved beyond any doubt that He means what He says - His grace is sufficient, nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We pray that if any, anywhere, are fearing that the cost of discipleship is too great, that they may be given to glimpse that treasure in heaven promised to all who forsake. - Elisabeth Elliot, on behalf of the five widows of slain missionaries to Ecuador one year after their deaths"

"Jesus promised his disciples three things: that they would be entirely fearless, absurdly happy, and that they would get into trouble." - W. Russell Maltby

"Mieczyslaw Malinski writes: 'It's easiest to see the cross on Jesus' shoulders. It's a bit harder with our neighbor's cross. Most difficult of all is seeing our own cross.' And sometimes even more difficult is to see it on the shoulders of a congregation, especially our own congregation. Yet crossbearing is for the body of Christ, as well as the individual." - Katie Funk Wiebe in the Christian Leader (Feb. 1995)

"It is not up to you to complete the work, nor are you at liberty to give it up." - from the Pirke Avoth (2:18)

"The dogs of doubt never sleep long. Our peace is forever stalked by two predators. The first is our culture of convenience. We are the well-fed, the secure. We are lovers of the large plate and the broad sofa. Material abundance keeps us from seeking any other kind…Our love of convenience trains us to believe that we can have as much as we want, of whatever we want, whenever we want it…No matter what life gives us, we always want more…We are walking wanton. The second predator that stalks our peace is narcissism. Narcissists worship themselves. This self-love produces only those inner values that we ourselves can create…When our self-contrived image begins to crumble, we always crave a more solid foundation; for 'the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: 'The Lord knows those who are His'" (2 Tim. 2:19). - Calvin Miller in The Unchained Soul

Discipleship