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Jaedan

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I don't know if this is inappropriate to say but. I really think Christianity as a whole has been negatively affecting me in the past few years. I don't really want to be a Christian anymore. However, I don't have the choice not to be one.

Every time I think about Jesus now, I get constant anxiety, heartaches, and overall negative afflictions on my mind/body. Moreover, it is sometimes quite difficult to sleep at night when I do get to thinking about God or etc. I also feel very sad and "trapped" when I try to read the bible or pray. I just don't want to do it anymore (although, at the end of the day, I know I have to).

Asking God to help me understand or get out of this "situation" has not worked for me (for years, since the beginning). At the moment, I have concluded that God can't help me. So I don't really know where else to get help but from here.

So the question is: is this normal to feel these things? How is your relationship with God on a day-to-day basis? What can I do to get "out of this" situation? and lastly, would it be a sin to take a "break" from God so I could at least rest?
 

Devin Hammond

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No, this is not normal. You can’t abandon Christ, Jesus said to pick up your cross daily. He also warned about those who fall away.

I recommend that you start listening to Christian music, especially worship songs. There are a lot of resources online and apps where you can listen to Christian music. I can give you more information on this if you ask. Listening to Christian music will probably help your spirits.

Also, I was wondering if you go to church regularly? Do you worship at church? Maybe you could bring these issues up with your Pastor.

Lastly, there are a lot of sermons available online that could help clear up any confusion that you may be having. I can give you those resources as well if you’d like.
 
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Dave G.

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We are in a time of great deception, the worst thing you can do is take a break from God right now.. You need Him, you need renewed strength and renewed faith. That comes from Him and from His word. You're in a spiritual battle where you need to plug up some holes in your armor. Worse yet, these kinds of things will increase in the end times to where even the saints would be deceived if that were possible and we are told to endure till the end. You need to overcome your enemy, profess Jesus Christ as your savior. This sounds like you're under oppression. Speak Jesus out loud. And Never Give Up.
 
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UnpopularOpinion

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I don't know if this is inappropriate to say but. I really think Christianity as a whole has been negatively affecting me in the past few years. I don't really want to be a Christian anymore. However, I don't have the choice not to be one.

Every time I think about Jesus now, I get constant anxiety, heartaches, and overall negative afflictions on my mind/body. Moreover, it is sometimes quite difficult to sleep at night when I do get to thinking about God or etc. I also feel very sad and "trapped" when I try to read the bible or pray. I just don't want to do it anymore (although, at the end of the day, I know I have to).

Asking God to help me understand or get out of this "situation" has not worked for me (for years, since the beginning). At the moment, I have concluded that God can't help me. So I don't really know where else to get help but from here.

So the question is: is this normal to feel these things? How is your relationship with God on a day-to-day basis? What can I do to get "out of this" situation? and lastly, would it be a sin to take a "break" from God so I could at least rest?
What are you scared of when u think about Jesus , that you disappointed him or more like that you're afraid of him?
 
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Jaedan

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What are you scared of when u think about Jesus , that you disappointed him or more like that you're afraid of him?

I am not scared of him, I'm just upset and afraid that I'm not able to experience, learn, or in other words, "respond" to him as any normal Christian would.

I can't, feel, appreciate, love Jesus like a good Christian should do (no matter how hard I try to pray and read the bible.

I have never felt any love or appreciation for Jesus (even when I asked him in my life,)

I have tried to ask him to help me do/understand these things since the beginning. However, this hasn't worked. So I have been feeling "hurt" in a kind of way (and I know this isn't is his fault, It is because of me)

So every time I think of Him, I just overall feel sad.
 
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ViaCrucis

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I don't know if this is inappropriate to say but. I really think Christianity as a whole has been negatively affecting me in the past few years. I don't really want to be a Christian anymore. However, I don't have the choice not to be one.

Every time I think about Jesus now, I get constant anxiety, heartaches, and overall negative afflictions on my mind/body. Moreover, it is sometimes quite difficult to sleep at night when I do get to thinking about God or etc. I also feel very sad and "trapped" when I try to read the bible or pray. I just don't want to do it anymore (although, at the end of the day, I know I have to).

Asking God to help me understand or get out of this "situation" has not worked for me (for years, since the beginning). At the moment, I have concluded that God can't help me. So I don't really know where else to get help but from here.

So the question is: is this normal to feel these things? How is your relationship with God on a day-to-day basis? What can I do to get "out of this" situation? and lastly, would it be a sin to take a "break" from God so I could at least rest?

What do you believe to be the underlying issue? Are there certain thoughts you're having? Some particular feeling?

-CryptoLutheran
 
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Jaedan

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What do you believe to be the underlying issue? Are there certain thoughts you're having? Some particular feeling?

-CryptoLutheran

I have never been able to find the underlying issue. Every time I try to find out, I fail to do so.

I would say it is a feeling of tiredness and sadness
 
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d taylor

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I also feel very sad and "trapped" when I try to read the bible or pray. I just don't want to do it anymore (although, at the end of the day, I know I have to).

There is at least one of you problems (in bold)

You do not have to, any believer should want to know more about what they believe in but it is not required. The Bible is a very interesting book to study and essential to a believers growth. But It has to be approached in the correct spirit.
 
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Michael Garrett Andrews

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I have been where you are! To where the bible and God become a torture device! To be 100% honest, there is no way to tell if following Jesus gets us a beautiful wife, and house with white picket fence, and hosting cookouts for the youth ministry, and even an office job in a church, sitting in comfortable air-conditioning with computers! Or, everything you do for God seems to blow up in your face, just like Jesus said it would. Such a grey area, on what will happen to you when you believe in God and act on it. If you had any mental or physical issues before you came to God, in most cases they don't magically go away (Example: like what evangelist Todd White claimed what happened to him in his testamony!) you still have to work through them, but God is there, and at the end of the day your belief in God should be a comfort to you, there are many places in the bible where God says, believers in him have nothing to worry about no matter what happens. So find a way to accept the fact it is what it is! There are people who have it worse than you, and some better. for some perspective goto reddit.com and goto the subreddit r/exjw and read about how bad the ex Jehobva's Witness had it after serving God for 20+ years only to have it blow up in their face. Just try to recongnize any pitfalls your mind may be going into and avoid them. I think, since you already believe in God to a fault, that even if you go into an extreme form of questioning God, this will only strengthen your faith. Your core beliefs will not be shaken. You will be the one who has to do the math and decide what actions are best for you. We have all done actions for God that had negative consequences for us. Sometimes we see that we made the correct choice. Other times we see we made a mistake. In other words, Life is like the Outback Steakhouse, "No rules, Just right"! Your experiences will be your best teacher. There will be things that seem paradoxical, and even ironic. No need to fall away from God, just do your best to learn, and sometimes even throw knowledge out the window, and just do what's right. You can still love God and not understand God. And in the meantime love yourself and others by your actions.
 
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DiscipleHeLovesToo

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I am not scared of him, I'm just upset and afraid that I'm not able to experience, learn, or in other words, "respond" to him as any normal Christian would.

I can't, feel, appreciate, love Jesus like a good Christian should do (no matter how hard I try to pray and read the bible.

I have never felt any love or appreciation for Jesus (even when I asked him in my life,)

I have tried to ask him to help me do/understand these things since the beginning. However, this hasn't worked. So I have been feeling "hurt" in a kind of way (and I know this isn't is his fault, It is because of me)

So every time I think of Him, I just overall feel sad.

it sounds like you're suffering from self-condemnation, and perhaps some confusion about how much God loves you - but know this: God isn't condemning you:

(Rom 7:18) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
(Rom 7:19) For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
(Rom 7:20) Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
(Rom 7:21) I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
(Rom 7:22) For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
(Rom 7:23) But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
(Rom 7:24) O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
(Rom 7:25) I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord
. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
(Rom 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

sometimes the best way to hear from God is through someone else - i believe this will help you; it's a free sermon series from Keith Moore called "God's on My Side":

https://moorelife.org/php/mlmMediaC...li&channelID=1&languageID=EN&collectionID=191

listen to the first one before you decide it won't help...
 
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SANTOSO

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Hello Jaedan,

have you heard David says this :
For when I KEPT SILENT, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. -Psalms 32:3
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah ( Pause to reflect ) -Psalms 32:4

When David kept silent or in other words, he didn’t pray, — he felt his life wasted away with groaning all day long ! Don’t we once felt the same way ?

Whose hand was heavy upon David ? It is God’s hand !!

David related his spiritual experience, that is, his strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. In other words, his strength was dried by the heat of God’s wrath.

What did David did then ? What David has done what was right ?

The answer is also in psalms 32.
This is what David has said :

I acknowledged my sin to You, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD," and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah ( Pause to reflect ) Psalms 32:5

Right after, David confessed his transgressions—- David trust that God forgives the iniquity of his sin !

How can David trust like that ?

This is what David heard :
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, BUT steadfast love surrounds the one who TRUSTS in the LORD. -Psalms 32:10

David understand this spiritual truth that the one who trust in the steadfast of the Lord will be surrounded by the steadfast love of the Lord !

That is why it is written:
Therefore let EVERYONE who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of GREAT WATERS, they shall not reach him. -Psalms 32:6

Are you doubting yourself whether you are godly ? please understand the spiritual conditions that David was in when David kept silent or didn’t pray ! Compare that to ourselves! We were just like David when we kept silent and didn’t pray !

David, eventually prayed, so we should pray that prayer, too and believe that God forgives the iniquity of our sins.

Then we remember the promise that is written:
surely in the rush of GREAT WATERS, they shall not reach him. -Psalms 32:6

What are these great waters spoken about ?

When I meditate God’s word, I eventually find the answer in the following verse:

You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from TROUBLE; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah -Psalms 32:7

I understand that surely in the rush of GREAT WATERS OF TROUBLE, THESE TROUBLES shall not reach me. If these troubles shall not reach David and me, so you can, too.

Why and how these troubles can reach ?
Why ? It is because David and I believe that God is a hiding place for us.
How ? God surrounds us with shouts of deliverance or songs of deliverance; in other words, when I am discouraged, I sing praises or song of worship to God for His faithfulness.
Then this promise is fulfilled:

to grant to those who mourn in Zion' to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. -Isaiah 61:3

are you not mourning and want to be in God’s presence ? Therefore, wear the garment of praise to God then the evil spirit of despair will flee from you. Why ? It is because you lift up high His name and His name has power over the enemy.

what God have said to David in this spiritual experience or what God answers:

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you. -Psalms 32:8
Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you. -Psalms 32:9
Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD. -Psalms 32:10
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart! -Psalms 32:11

Are you willing that the Holy Spirit instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go ?
Will you allow Holy Spirit to counsel you with His eye upon you ?

If yes, then trust in the steadfast love of the Lord then His steadfast love will surround you.

Keep this counsel of the Lord always in your mind:

I who trust in the steadfast love of the Lord will be surrounded by His steadfast love. Amen

The Lord, Holy Spirit will teach you in the way to go, that is, to be glad in the Lord and to rejoice as you know how the Lord Jesus Christ redeem you and teach you to gain His strength to shout for joy as you learn how the Holy Spirit gives you an upright heart.
 
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Richard T

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Sorry this is too simplistic for your issues, but I do hope it triggers a response in you if it fits. I agree with the comment that you might be under too much condemnation. Somehow you may not be getting to the rest and peace of God. Could be you set your expectations too high and your works in your estimation are not enough. If that is the case, your never going to be good enough. You have to find God through His grace. Also, have you ever tried to get help from a pastor or anybody serious enough with God that they could pray and stand with you? Also, given the persistence of these issues, you might consider finding someone that does deliverance. I am not saying you need that, but I would not rule it out as an option if your impairment continues.
 
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UnpopularOpinion

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I am not scared of him, I'm just upset and afraid that I'm not able to experience, learn, or in other words, "respond" to him as any normal Christian would.

I can't, feel, appreciate, love Jesus like a good Christian should do (no matter how hard I try to pray and read the bible.

I have never felt any love or appreciation for Jesus (even when I asked him in my life,)

I have tried to ask him to help me do/understand these things since the beginning. However, this hasn't worked. So I have been feeling "hurt" in a kind of way (and I know this isn't is his fault, It is because of me)

So every time I think of Him, I just overall feel sad.
The love you should have towards Jesus is different type than let's say man-woman love in relationship.

15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.


Believers receive different gifts of Spirit , some preachers some teacher ect. That means not everybody will be just that guy who can preach before others and lift their spirit , like I can't do that for example.
There is some gift u have so try use that to help others , every Christian has something.

For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;
To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
 
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ViaCrucis

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I have never been able to find the underlying issue. Every time I try to find out, I fail to do so.

I would say it is a feeling of tiredness and sadness

Have you spoken to your doctor about the possibility of an underlying depression or anxiety?

I have diagnosed anxiety and depression disorders, I have to take medication to keep my brain "normal".

And in my younger days, in part due to the ways the churches I was involved with, I suffered from a kind of scrupulosity--a compulsion toward religious rigor. A combination of bad theology/spirituality and mental illness resulted in mostly pain. I was taught that I should see certain kinds of things happening in my life, such as victory over sin, a steady moral progress, becoming "more spiritual"--when I didn't see these things happen in my life, no matter how much I tried, it fed back into my thoughts in an unhealthy way. It became a kind of feedback loop of trying, failing, despairing, trying, failing, despairing. It led to me struggling with thoughts that maybe God didn't love me, maybe I was irredeemable. That my failures were a sign of my lack of faith, and that therefore I was outside of God's mercy.

For me it really was a two-pronged issue: Theological and mental. It was a combination of my own mental and emotional health issues aggravated by a poor theology. A theology that taught me that I should feel a certain way, experience certain things, and my own failures to feel and experience those things could be interpreted as a sign of my lack of faith, and thus lack of salvation.

I don't know if where you are is like my own situation, but I would still say speak with a qualified medical professional, mental and emotional health is really important. And I don't know what kind of church you are part of, or what kind of theology you are getting, but the most important thing I can think of is just how vital it is to hear the Gospel, and to hear the Gospel often.

The Christian life isn't about certain feelings, or certain experiences. The Christian life is about trusting Jesus, and loving others. If you compare yourself to what ought to be, you'll find that you don't measure up. But nobody does. Not even the greatest of God's saints ever measured up. We are all sinners, sinners that fail, sinners that fail all the time. The Gospel is that God loves us sinners, and Christ came to rescue us sinners. That in spite of our sin, God loves and saves us.

God doesn't find worthy people who are already saints.
God finds the unworthy and calls them saints. He makes them saints by His grace, by proclaiming the unrighteous righteous in Jesus Christ.

It is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. Christ came for the sick, He's the Great Physician.

When you are a patient in a hospital, it's not your job to heal yourself, or to earn the medicine and treatment. As a patient, you are the helpless, bed-ridden, sick man and Christ is the Physician. The Church is the Hospital. Christ's Word and Sacraments are the medicine.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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