Dear reader,
On September 13, 1848, a worker by the name of Phineas Gage was working to build a railroad near Cavendish, Vermont. His job was to prepare the rock for a dynamite blast. While working with a three and a half foot long tamping iron in a bored hole, the charge ignited prematurely sending the metal tamping iron through his left cheek, into his brain and out of the top of his head. What makes this case particularly interesting is the fact that Mr. Gage survived this violent accident, but also that he had a marked personality change. Here is the description of the incident by his physician, Dr. John Martyn Harlow:
The equilibrium or balance, so to speak, between his intellectual faculties and animal propensities, seems to have been destroyed. He is fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operations, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. A child in his intellectual capacity and manifestations, he has the animal passions of a strong man. Previous to his injury, although untrained in the schools, he possessed a well-balanced mind, and was looked upon by those who knew him as a shrewd, smart businessman, very energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of operation. In this regard his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was "no longer Gage."
Perhaps we haven't experienced anything quite as dramatic as this in our own lives, but I am sure many of us have seen something similar. Maybe we have seen a person's personality change after a stroke or the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Perhaps we know a soldier who has come back with a brain injury and has difficulty adjusting to civilian life as a result. As a rule, we do not hold people responsible for their behavior (at least to the same extent) if they have a severe head injury or a brain altering disease. For example, if someone is born with mental retardation, we tend to "grade on the curve" for them. It is the same difference between the Olympics and the Special Olympics. We have high expectations for Olympians but are thrilled that the Special Olympians simply try.
So here, in a nutshell, is our dilemma. We impugn no (or little) moral culpability to those who suffer horrific accidents or have brain diseases. We do not dismiss their actions and may do things to prevent them from causing harm to themselves or others, but we do not grade them on the same curve as someone without those disabilities. It is easy to make such a determination when we naively divide the world into the mentally healthy and the mentally unhealthy, but aren't we all at least a little bit mentally unhealthy. My friend Ken Roth told me once, "We are all mentally ill, it is just a matter of degree."
Let's use an example to illustrate this problem. My father is extremely claustrophobic. If you tried, as a joke, to stuff him into a box and close the lid, I don't doubt that he might very well hurt you. He wouldn't mean to. As a believer in Jesus and a confirmed conscientious objector, he is not a violent person. Yet, in his panic, I am sure he would do anything he could do not to be put in that box and that might include hitting, kicking or biting. At 81 years old, he would probably not only hurt you, but himself. His claustrophobia is a mild form of being mentally unhealthy. We all are scared of something to varying degrees - snakes, bugs, heights, etc. Those who are extremely fearful sometimes act irrationally when confronted with their fear.
Lest anyone start plotting my course in this series already, my point is not to say that we have no moral culpability nor is it to say that there is no right or wrong. My purpose here initially is to paint a picture of the issue and make us think about it. We are not finished with portraying the issue. After we have an idea of the issues involved, we hope to look at some Biblical principles to help us put a framework around this. None of what we will suggest will nullify the truth of Scripture. We might not answer all of our questions satisfactorily, but hopefully we will have a greater appreciation of these topics and will be able to discuss them intelligently from a Biblical perspective.
Have a great week,
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