I’m not feeling particularly depressed at the moment, but it’s something my personality tends towards in general, and I was just talking to someone about it by email.\u00a0 I thought I’d collect some thoughts here.<\/p>\n
A lot of people are deceived by what I call the “emotional prosperity gospel”, that Christians should expect be happy all the time.\u00a0 Many of these people would never be deceived for a minute by the financial version of the prosperity gospel\u2014that Christians will become rich.\u00a0 But both are based on a superficial reading of the Bible which totally ignores the fact that Christ was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief”.\u00a0 The prophet Isaiah, speaking of the one who was to come, writes this dialogue between God and our Messiah:<\/p>\n
He said to me, \u201cYou are my servant, This is not, of course, the end of the passage.\u00a0 God’s plans do end with joy.\u00a0 But depression is often found in the middle of things, in the difficulty and orneriness of life.<\/p>\n The emotional prosperity “gospel”\u2014which is really no gospel at all\u2014ignores that the Prophets and Apostles often had emotional poverty as well as financial poverty.\u00a0 2 Corinthians makes it clear enough that St. Paul was not always happy, even though he found joy in his sorrows.<\/p>\n We live in a fallen world, and our bodies and minds are broken in various ways.\u00a0 Emotions are physiological, not just spiritual; our bodies affect our minds and vice versa.\u00a0 So depression is partly a medical issue.\u00a0 If the chemical balance in our brain is off, it can cause us to feel sad, or withdrawn, or lazy without being able to help it.\u00a0 This web comic is famous for its accurate depiction of what severe depression can be like:<\/p>\n http:\/\/hyperboleandahalf. Because depression is partly a physiological issue, there are physical changes which can be helpful.\u00a0 Many people find that getting better sleep, exercising more, and\/or making dietary changes can help.\u00a0 I get seasonal depression in the wintertime, and in the evenings, and I have a lightbox which produces bright light, which I occasionally use to feel better.<\/p>\n For severe depression, it can be appropriate to seek medical help, such as drugs or psychotherapy.\u00a0 (For talk therapy, I would recommend that Christians normally try to find a psychologist who is also a Christian, if reasonably possible.\u00a0 If you just want someone to prescribe drugs, this might be less relevant.)<\/p>\n This link says more about what to expect if you go to a doctor: Many people are resistant to doing this because they think if they get help it means they are “crazy”.\u00a0 If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life it’s that we’re all a little bit crazy; people should realize that mental issues are normal and common, and not look down on themselves for being born a human being.<\/p>\n If someone can’t walk because they have a broken leg, we wouldn’t just tell them to trust God and snap out of it\u2014we might pray for a miracle, but we should also go to the doctor.\u00a0 It ought to be the same when the organ that’s broken is our brain.\u00a0 Also, we wouldn’t say that a crippled person was “irresponsible” and “immature” for using a physical crutch, if it helps them to function better in their everyday life.\u00a0 So we shouldn’t say this about psychological crutches either.<\/p>\n To be sure, the fruits of the Spirit include joy and peace.\u00a0 I would question the faith of a supposed Christian who never<\/em> found any emotional consolation at all in Christ’s resurrection.\u00a0 Despair, a belief that God can’t make your life better, that is a sin.\u00a0 And we need to spend time in the Scriptures learning about God’s promises about salvation, prayer, and the redemption of the world.\u00a0 But there are many moods in Scripture: it contains Lamentations, Eccelesiastes, and the questioning Psalms, alongside the exhortations to rejoice and be glad.\u00a0 If the Bible had only authorized some kinds of feelings, it would be superficial, unadapted to the world, uninspired<\/em>.\u00a0 Fortunately, God gave us something better than this.\u00a0 Christ was fully human, not just divine.<\/p>\n Emotions come and go.\u00a0 Depression often dampens all emotions, making it seem difficult to feel anything at all.\u00a0 It is commonplace that “love”, the primary fruit of the Spirit, has to be regarded primarily as an act of the will instead of an emotion.\u00a0 I would suggest that “joy” and “peace” are the same way, and that it is possible to be sad or depressed and still have an attitude of rejoicing.\u00a0 And one can’t forget that it’s the “peace that passes understanding”, not the peace that comes from a well-calibrated cocktail of genes and circumstances.<\/p>\n Some Christians have both kinds of peace and are naturally happy and bouncy all the time; that’s okay too as long as neither kind of Christian looks down on the other kind for being different from them.\u00a0 Our emotional “set point” is largely the luck of the draw, it’s what we do with it that matters.\u00a0 Depression can, at times, be a legitimate response to the fallenness of the world.\u00a0 We are pilgrims on a journey, not yet settlers in our final home.\u00a0 Sometimes we have no choice but to feel sad.\u00a0 But we can try to direct our negative emotions towards the things that actually matter in the world.<\/p>\n God can and does rescue many people from depression in this life.\u00a0 But our faith is not primarily about this life, it is primarily about looking forward to the next, which will last forever.\u00a0 Remember, St. Paul opined that Christianity just isn’t worth it, if it only helps us in this life (1 Cor 15:19<\/a>).\u00a0 This is an increasingly unpopular thing to say in an increasingly worldly age.<\/p>\n But paradoxically, looking forward to Heaven makes us better able to deal with Earth.\u00a0 Earthly sorrows are not as big of a deal, if we know that they are going to come to an end.\u00a0 If we suffer with Christ, we will also reign with him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m not feeling particularly depressed at the moment, but it’s something my personality tends towards in general, and I was just talking to someone about it by email.\u00a0 I thought I’d collect some thoughts here. A lot of people are deceived by what I call the “emotional prosperity gospel”, that Christians should expect be happy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-theology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4342,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/4342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wall.org\/~aron\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIsrael, in whom I will display my splendor.\u201d
\nBut I said, \u201cI have labored in vain;
\nI have spent my strength for nothing at all.
\nYet what is due me is in the Lord\u2019s hand,
\nand my reward is with my God.\u201d\u00a0 (Isaiah 49:3-4<\/a>)<\/p>\n
\nhttp:\/\/hyperboleandahalf.
\nhttp:\/\/slatestarcodex.com\/