Theological view of addiction, "rage," insanity

The news is reporting the murder by a pro wrestler of his wife and 7 year old son, and his subsequent suicide. There are reports he put a bible next to the bodies of his wife and son. This reminds me of how much discussion there was around the Yates murder, when a mother killed all of her children, and whether she was liable or not due to insanity. This post is not about legal liability. But I feel I need to correct a seriously wrong assumption that has crept into common thought about liability to God and how God will judge such cases.

Suppose your family was eating a food, let's say a whole wheat bread, that later was found to have contaminants that caused psychotic episodes, resulting in a crime or a death. Because your family had no way of knowing that the food was contaminated and would have that effect, God would certainly not judge the buyer or consumer of the bread to be guilty unless the following occurred. If an adult started to have unexplained symptoms, such as violent thoughts, the adult has an obligation to report those violent thoughts to a medical authority while the adult is still able to have clear thoughts. If the onset is sudden and there is no chance, for example the person literally goes crazy through no fault of their own through ingestion of a contaminated legal food and is psychotic before even being able to report feeling ill or deranged in their thoughts, then the person is not in fault, in God's eyes. But if the person is still lucid and knows that he or she is having unexplainable violent thoughts they have a moral obligation to seek help while they are still able to request it. Once the person is insane, and harms someone, being "out of control" or "not guilty by reason of insanity" may be legal judgments, but they will not reflect God's view, who will judge the person based on what they did during their last lucid moments when they could have asked for help.

How much worse is this when a person is knowingly ingesting and abusing an illegal substance that is known to have a danger of mind altering affects, and then harms someone. It does not matter if the person thinks they "can't stop themselves" and has, for example, a "roid rage." What matters is that we are not unsophisticated rubes with no TV, education or media to know these are illegal drugs that are subject to abuse, and that there are deviant side effects. There are many times that an addict can state to someone, "I have a problem," "I am losing control," and "I am having violent thoughts." God will judge what the addict does when they are truly finally out of control and genuinely cannot stop themselves by what they did during the span of time when they could have reported the problem to a medical professional.

If an addict goes to a bona fide medical professional and reports his or her addiction and/or violent thoughts, receives treatment, and makes every effort to recover, then God will judge that as a medical condition that the person is in good faith seeking to heal. But someone who is able to take care of all other aspects of their life (they can give interviews, they can write checks, they can accept rewards, they can manage their daily affairs) but does not state to a medical professional that they need help, and then pursue it, is guilty in God's eyes of any subsequent sin or violence, unmitigated and in total. This does not mean that God cannot forgive even the unforgivable, but remember, to forgive there must be repentance, sincere conversion, and penance. By killing one's self one eliminates one's own opportunity for being forgiven. I'm not trying to add to the pain of anyone, especially not in the families around the world who are in this situation with a loved one. But it is essential to point out to people that if you are in an addicted situation now, and if you are having violent thoughts, that perhaps not in the legal system but definitely before God's final judgment, you must report the situation and in good faith seek treatment to be saved. It was different when years ago there was no place to go for addiction treatment. Those were truly wounded souls who lived in a society that could not cure them, as there was little psychiatric resource and knowledge. But nowadays there are people who literally beg addicts to come in for treatment. I know because I'm one of those who treated addicts and begged them to be rehabilitated before it's too late and they ruin their own lives along with the others around them and who do care.

Prayers for strength and discernment to seek rehabilitation for all who abuse substances, including alcohol, and for their families, friends, and colleagues who have to cope with this most difficult of life's challenges.