I am laughably speechless.
Today, I received a packet in my mailbox at work and at the top of
the packet, in big letters, it said OPPOSITIONAL DEFIANT DISORDER (ODD). I'm not sure if this is a "new" diagnosis for individuals (particularly people from the ages of 8 t0 18 years of age) but the characteristics sound eerily familiar to me. Here they are:
- Often loses temper
- Often argues with adults
- Often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults' requests or rules
- Often blames others for his or her misbehavior or mistakes
- Is often touchy or easily annoyed by others
- Is often angry and resentful
- Is often spiteful and vindictive
Wow! Those are some really terrible symptoms! They sound terribly familiar though--very close to home. Do I have ODD?
This is evidence for how far we've come in the world of modern medicine and social sciences. We've gone backwards to the point of giving the following, a medical diagnosis:
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written:
"None is righteous, not one;no one understands;no one seeks for God.All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one.""Their throast is an open grave;they use their tongues to devieve.""The venom of asps is under their lips.""Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."Their feet are swift to shed blood;in their paths are ruin and misery,and the way of peace they have not known.""There is no fear of God before their eyes."Romans 3:9b-18
Sin has now been diagnosed as a psychological disorder. Please understand, I know this is nothing new and that people have been doing things like this for the last twenty to forty years but ODD is a new one for me. Probably the most baffling moment in my reading of the packet was under the heading, WHERE DOES ODD COME FROM? In my head I'm thinking, "I can't wait to hear this one." So where does it come from? The article answered, "No single cause for ODD has been determined." Another article says, "It is not clear what causes Oppositional Deviant Disorder"
This sounds like a firm cause for the ODD:
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned--for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.Romans 5:12-14
So just how does a child or teenager get rid of or treat something ODD? The article told me that 'because there are many factors, often interrelated, there are a variety of treatments that are used to address the problem. Most of them were just parenting tips for any child, absent of "the rod" (Prov 13:24).
I won't want to ramble anymore than I have to, but I'm relieved to know that I do have ODD! So does my wife, so do my brothers and sisters, and my dad, and my mother, my aunts, uncles, and so does everyone else. The only reason I'm relieved is because my "ODD" has been paid for, at the cross, by Jesus and because it has been paid for, and death has been defeated in Christ's resurrection, I am growing in my hatred for my ODD and my love for holiness. God is sanctifying me, from ODD to righteousness!
Kids are sinners, adults are sinners and without the redemption that comes through Christ, we're all damned to hell and the judgement of God, ODD and all.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgement following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.Romans 5:15-18
