Jan 4th, 2023: Spiritual Dementia

I have encountered many people who have family members with dementia. Dementia has a severe impact on both patients and their loved ones. A friend told me it is like watching someone we love slowly disappear from us mentally. Guilt, anger, and helplessness are some of the emotions many feel in dealing with this illness.

Sometimes I wonder if we as a society have suffered from spiritual dementia. We don't seem to remember where we come from. We have no memory of who we are. We are losing our identities by believing that we can have more than one. We have no ability to relate to God and to one another. We cannot see the world because we can hardly understand ourselves. Distrust, anger, and indifference seem to rule the day.

More than ever before, our nations are in great need of a spiritual awakening. We have embarked on a journey of a spiritual abyss. We claim that we can be gods. We talk about justice and mercy while we have become far more divided. We talk about human rights while advocating for deaths. We talk about progress when we can hardly see any reason to believe that we are better off.

No one would really know what dementia patients experience when facing death. However, we have some ideas of what we would experience in dying with spiritual dementia. We have damaged our core values as God's cherished and loved creation. We will lose our touch with God, our knowledge of who we are, and our connection with one another.

Psalm 111: 5

"He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever."

2 Peter 3: 9

"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."