Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
What are the criteria of insanity?	tonyrey	11/14/06
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Answered By		Answered On
Dark_Crow		11/16/06
Mental derangement, either insanity or a condition of extreme rage or great folly. Various Hebrew and Greek words are employed in the Scriptures to denote such disorders of the mind, whether lasting or temporary. Some of these words seem to be associated with or derived from the weird and sometimes violent or sorrowful cries of persons afflicted with madness. Madness befell boastful Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. In fulfillment of a prophetic dream explained by Daniel, this monarch was stricken with madness at a time of boasting. For seven years he was insane, “and vegetation he began to eat just like bulls.” (Da 4:33) His reason gone, Nebuchadnezzar may have imagined that he was a beast, perhaps a bull. Regarding his mental derangement, a French medical dictionary states: “LYCANTHROPY . . . from [ly´kos], lupus, wolf; [an´thro•pos], homo, man. This name was given to the sickness of people who believe themselves to be changed into an animal, and who imitate the voice or cries, the shapes or manners of that animal. These individuals usually imagine themselves transformed into a wolf, a dog or a cat; sometimes also into a bull, as in the case of Nebuchadnezzar.” While not all persons afflicted with madness or insanity are possessed by the demons, logically persons possessed by the demons may be expected to manifest an unbalanced mental state. In the country of the Gerasenes, Jesus encountered a madman who was demon possessed. His haunt was among the tombs, and though he had often been bound with fetters and chains, “the chains were snapped apart by him and the fetters were actually smashed; and nobody had the strength to subdue him.” Further, “continually, night and day, he was crying out in the tombs and in the mountains and slashing himself with stones.” After Jesus cast out the demons, the man had a “sound mind.” (Mr 5:1-17; Lu 8:26-39) However, Christians are kept safe from demon invasion that produces madness if they put on and keep on “the complete suit of armor from God.”—Eph 6:10-17.

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