Temporary Insanity

I followed the trial of Eddie Ray Routh, the man who murdered "American Sniper" Chris Kyle and his friend, Chad Littlefield.  His defense was that at the time of the murder, he did not know that what he was doing was wrong, that at the moment, he did not know real from fantasy, that he was temporarily insane.

At the time, he was also in Texas, where they don't cotton to murderers and the insanity defense has about a 2% success rate.  He was almost certainly mentally ill, but not legally insane.  He demonstrated his knowledge of right and wrong by fleeing from the scene of the murder and by telling an officer that he knew what he did was wrong.  He may receive forgiveness but not from the state of Texas.

I am fully aware that legal insanity is a very specific thing and very difficult to prove.  However, temporarily not knowing the difference between right and wrong is a factual state of being that most husbands will cop to and most wives have to agree was so.  How often have you asked your husband, "Have you lost your mind?"  And, in fairness, a good number of wives have crossed over that line and done something that completely mystifies their husbands, who also are wondering if common sense took a holiday.

The simple truth is that we all do things that are indefensible and irrational.  We wonder of ourselves, "What was I thinking?"  We truly do things sometimes that we think are OK at the time but in more rational  moments know were completely "ding-dong" (clinical term meaning "nuts").  This being true means that in order to maintain a long-term relationship with anyone, we will have to overlook or forgive temporary moments of insanity.

Our spouse or friend or family member may not be legally or clinically insane, but there will be times when they do something absolutely crazy that they thought at the moment made perfect sense.  We may never understand it (who understands crazy?) but we must learn to forgive it for two reasons: 1) God calls us to forgive, "Bear with one another...and forgive as the Lord forgave you" (Col 3:13), and 2) loving someone demands it, "love keeps no record of wrongs" (1 Cor 13:5b).

I'm not saying that we shouldn't let anything our loved ones do upset us or that we should never get angry or hurt by what they do. Emotional responses are not something we can decide to have or not, they just are.  Also, it is fair to challenge crazy and demand change.  However, it is necessary to the life of the relationship to forgive those moments of temporary insanity.  A long and happy life together depends on your ability to get past crazy. Jus' Say'n.