Spent much of Saturday at the PTC, at a seminar on Depression and Addiction run by Ed Welch. I spoke briefly with Ed during one of the breaks: he works for both CCEF and WTS, and has written a number of books on Christianity and depression.
The majority of the time was spent looking at what the bible has to say about the problem of addiction (the main addiction that is discussed at length in the Old Testament is alcoholism, under the heading of "drunkenness" – Proverbs 23:20-35 is probably a good place to start), and of depression (depression is a complicated-sounding ailment that seems best left to the experts, but if you consider it under the topic of "suffering", then there’s a lot more that the bible brings to the discussion). Very much a worthwhile day, although there’s certainly a lot more to learn on both topics.
I attended a seminar this weekend at parkside church. Ed Welch said that AA is incomplete and that all the addict needs is the church body to get help. He said mental health professionals are not needed either. It was a crock and I think there is something wrong with HIM, he is hiding something.
He would not answer questions directly and his nervous tick (softly speaking “OK” between phrases) was distracting and made me uncomfortable about him.
I never read his books, but maybe as he has aged his perspective has changed. He takes liberty to make up his own version of “what we should all do…according to scripture”.