LovebirdsFlying
My husband drew this cartoon of me.
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This came up in my feed as a Facebook memory. I thought it would be good to say it here too.
——
As a Christian, I have a concern about how He is presented to people who suffer (and it is truly suffering!) with mental health issues. I have been on both sides of this. I have both given and received unhelpful, well-meaning advice.
I'm thinking specifically of those "Bible 911" verses you often see in memes, pamphlets, or posts. Whatever emotion you're feeling, whatever situation you're dealing with, there is supposed to be a passage in the Bible that addresses it. Which is good in theory, but in practice, it comes out completely invalidating, and even uncaring. Dealing with anxiety? Here's a verse that says "Be anxious for nothing." Depression? "Find joy in the Lord." Panic disorder? "Fear not. Be courageous." Worried about your finances? Job loss? Facing homelessness? "Be rich in faith!" Wanting to end it all? "Thou shalt not kill!" You may think it's comforting, but it's not. It is condemning. It adds up to, "Whatever way you're feeling, there's someplace in the Bible that says you're wrong and bad for feeling that way. Look at you, you're so hopeless you can't even be a Christian right, and Jesus doesn't love you either."
Fellow Christians, is this the message we are trying to send, and want a hurting person (Christian or not) to receive? I somehow doubt it.
Make no mistake, it is not Jesus and the Bible that is failing here. Jesus Himself has been a comfort to me in so many circumstances. His people get it wrong, a lot, and that includes me, but He doesn't get it wrong. It isn't "religion" that has damaged me. It is massively distorted misapplications of Christian principles that has damaged me. My concern is that this kind of flippant "don't worry, be happy" approach when people are suffering will put them off Jesus forever, because now they think He doesn't hold the answer after all. Let's please be careful about presenting Him this way.
——
Added thought: If you get hurt, or hurt someone else, while misusing a tool, it isn’t necessarily that the tool is bad, dangerous, and worthless, and should be wiped off the face of the earth. Know how to use tools properly, and use them only for their intended purposes.
——
As a Christian, I have a concern about how He is presented to people who suffer (and it is truly suffering!) with mental health issues. I have been on both sides of this. I have both given and received unhelpful, well-meaning advice.
I'm thinking specifically of those "Bible 911" verses you often see in memes, pamphlets, or posts. Whatever emotion you're feeling, whatever situation you're dealing with, there is supposed to be a passage in the Bible that addresses it. Which is good in theory, but in practice, it comes out completely invalidating, and even uncaring. Dealing with anxiety? Here's a verse that says "Be anxious for nothing." Depression? "Find joy in the Lord." Panic disorder? "Fear not. Be courageous." Worried about your finances? Job loss? Facing homelessness? "Be rich in faith!" Wanting to end it all? "Thou shalt not kill!" You may think it's comforting, but it's not. It is condemning. It adds up to, "Whatever way you're feeling, there's someplace in the Bible that says you're wrong and bad for feeling that way. Look at you, you're so hopeless you can't even be a Christian right, and Jesus doesn't love you either."
Fellow Christians, is this the message we are trying to send, and want a hurting person (Christian or not) to receive? I somehow doubt it.
Make no mistake, it is not Jesus and the Bible that is failing here. Jesus Himself has been a comfort to me in so many circumstances. His people get it wrong, a lot, and that includes me, but He doesn't get it wrong. It isn't "religion" that has damaged me. It is massively distorted misapplications of Christian principles that has damaged me. My concern is that this kind of flippant "don't worry, be happy" approach when people are suffering will put them off Jesus forever, because now they think He doesn't hold the answer after all. Let's please be careful about presenting Him this way.
——
Added thought: If you get hurt, or hurt someone else, while misusing a tool, it isn’t necessarily that the tool is bad, dangerous, and worthless, and should be wiped off the face of the earth. Know how to use tools properly, and use them only for their intended purposes.
