Depression

Hi!

So I'm back yes, but I doubt I will be on as much as before. Anyway been dealing with sorta a quarter-life crisis/ existential depression/ depression/ nervous breakdown. However you want to call it.

I've seen a psychologist for a bit but I don't find it very helpful other then talk to someone about it...because at the end of the day the healing and recover actually comes from me.

Anyone else been trying to work out the meaning of life/ questioning everything about Christianity/ who you actually are as a person etc?

Just blabbering...hopefully I'll be less angry during this stint on the forums!

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Welcome back.

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Goodness is stronger than evil,
love is stronger than hate,
light is stronger than darkness,
life is stronger than death,
victory is ours through him who loved us.
(++Desmond Tutu)

Hi

I've had a mid-life crisis for the past 2-3 years. I questioned if God existed. I asked for help from God and felt he didn't help me and my crisis got worse and worse. I realised that because I didn't truly believe in God is why I kept going backwards. It was after I made attempts to fix my life up and truly believed in God that Jesus became my friend and helped me. And my life got back on track.

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truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ
1 John 1:3 (NKJV)

Eat healthy foods, refuse to entertain negative thoughts, take a short daily walk in a safe and pleasant park, focus on the things that you like about yourself/things that you're good at.
Have you ever taken a Myers-Briggs personality test? (there are several free one's online) There are books written about what you should do as a career based on your personality type which might be helpful. The Personality Page
Amazon.com: Do What You Love, The Money Will Follow: Discovering Your Right Livelihood: Marsha Sinetar: Books
Having said that, do not define yourself by what you do for a living but know that you are a multi-dimensional human being and your tastes and interests will grow and change over time. Life is an awakening. There are things at 20 that you will not completely understand until you are 30, and likewise, there are things at 30 that you will not understand until you are 40, then 50, etc.

As far as Christianity goes, separate religion/denomination/man-made church from God in your mind/heart and talk to Him. There is a level of relationship with God that can only come from God involving supernatural power that a person will NEVER get from attending church.

PS: The meaning of life and our purpose here is to love one another. Your personal purpose will always be connected to that one truth.

God, his Spirit and Son, do definitely exist. This whole world unfortunately is at a crisis point where everything and anything Christian will be attacked spiritually and more aggressively than ever before.
Time to get back in to the word and prayer.
I had issues with evolution versus creation and it had hindered my walk. They have been resolved completely and are now beautifully and fully in tune with the Bible.
It has been so refreshing and helped me grow more in a few days as a Christian than the whole last ten years. Church prayer group has been another revelation, it has put a fresher desire in my heart. People you associate with, we have found Christians close by who are inspiring.

It was the Kent Hovind DVDs that cemented Genesis as the foundation of scriptual perfection for me

The meaning of life for me is to serve Christ and fulfill the great commission
Tune in to Christ and his spiritual fruit will grow within you

I really wanted to try give you some words of encouragement. Because I've been there. And on some days I'm still there. Its just all about holding onto hope. And surrounding yourself with people who won't let you insult yourself. Patience is also a key thing. You want to make a huge change to your life and get frustrated with the lack of progress... good things take time luv!

Though talking about it helps; realising the problems that are holding back, it doesn't get rid of the problems - that's something that you have to work through yourself. Its a tough road trying to fix your flaws and find your identity. But it can be done.
Trust me, it can.

There's a way for everyone out of the dark hole. Its finding something to hold onto, to keep you going through each day, to convince you that there is actually a point to you being alive, that there is a purpose being planned, even if you can't see it. I think you need to do some soul searching and ask yourself, what do you think God has in mind for me?

You're allowed to question a lot of things about religion. Everyone does.
The important thing is that you seek the answers to your questions, and not just leave it at that. There are so many great misunderstandings about Christianity that people can get which make them quite confused. It was only after I challenged my view of Christianity that I came out stronger on the other end, much more the wiser. I've still got a LONG way to go.
I suggest you find some one/people you can have discussions with about some things that you aren't sure about. Its hard to open up on such personal issues, but it helps.

Another thing that helps so, so much is praying about it. I know... corny answer. haha. It feels silly sometimes; just pouring out what seems like trivial insecurities, but when you tell God what's up, its like you're taking all of your problems out of your hands and offering them up to him, saying, "here's my life, can you help me?". When I do it I feel as if I've done all that I can about the things in my life that I can't control, and it gives me some peace.

Sorry.. am I making sense? I must be just ranting >_<

Welcome back.

I'm been battling depression since about the age of 12. It was caused by abuse in home and peer group abuse/ societal abuse. People in general can be abusive to you, and you don't even know them.

In my opinion there is no victory over it, just survival.

I have found that, taking time away from Media and internet and other people's opinions helps, and that praying to 'the Father' in heaven helps to create a meditative calmness.

Thanks Davin. I'll work on the prayer thing.

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the "self" is an illusion- there isn't "you". when you look in the mirror, consider this the first state. wait a few moments (or months) and look again: what is the same? physically you are 100% different: the chemical composition, cells have died and regenerated, the blood has moved, and so forth. mentally you are different- your thoughts have progressed, and are certainly not still. even your body of memories is different- you have forgotten certain parts of some, and have some new ones (even if they only include looking in the mirror). in fact, the only thing about your "self" that is persistent is that you look at something in the mirror and identify it as "me". hence the illusion of self.

the question of the afterlife is whether or not something that can be reasonably construed as "me" continues after death. there is nothing that can be reasonably construed as "me" before death.

imagine the world before you were/after you die... not in the third (or second or third) person, but just... "being". that is what "is", so to speak.

another contemplation: if i say x = 2, y = 3... then those pronumerals have definite meanings. but if i say x = a + b, y = c + d, then x and y have meanings relevant to other pronumerals.

a dictionary is exactly the same. words defined in terms of other words in a cyclical fashion... "tree" defined in terms of "permanent", "trunk" and so forth, useless to the uninitiated. furthermore, upon envisioning a "tree" nobody envisions an identical picture. the truth is that language is not absolute, but rather built on mutual understanding- it works when we both accept that we understand each other and never otherwise.

imagine the perspective of a dumb animal (one of the ones that can't recognise itself a mirror)... it doesn't have a "hunger", doesn't see an "apple"... but there is a hungering and an eating and so forth. this is the correct way to perceive the world. there are no "trees", "cars" and "selves"- those are just words, and words are just arbitrary lines drawn around things on the fly to break down and digest the one reality.

if you're having a crisis of faith it is because you picked the wrong one, silly =P. the truth is closer to buddhism =)

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and until you have the unenglishable experience of seeing no more things and only processes, the internaly inconsistent nature of what is supposedly "free-will" should preclude you from going back to whatever...

1. either we make decisions with our without stimuli- we can call these stimuli "reasons".
2. to make decisions without stimuli means that they are random. can't be held responsible for those .
3. to make decisions with stimuli we must have stimuli.
4. stimuli must come from somewhere- inside or outside the mind.
5. stimuli that come from outside the mind are beyond our control, and hence we cannot be held responsible for them.
6. stimuli inside our mind must originate somewhere, inside or outside us- this cycle regresses until all stimuli for decisions are found to either come from outside us or before us (i.e. programmed from birth). can't be held responsible for either or those either.
7. therefore the geneses of our decisions- and hence our decisions- are beyond our control, unless...
8. if stimuli are taken to be passed thru a "filter"- ("decision-making process") we must question whence this process came and similarly end up in a regression that eventually points at the outside world or a previous world.

the problem with free-will is that it supposes a contradictary causational mechanic in which different futures can come of an identical set of circumstances and yet these futures are not random. if one does not make the same decision in an identical copy of a scenario, how can they be said to be reacting meaningfully to that scenario in a way that isn't random?

and irrespective of that it is just plainly obvious that we are biological automatons to begin with not to mention that once you realise that there is no persistent self that one can obviously not be held responsible for the actions of the actions of people that ostensibly were "me" in the past.

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