Is religion just for the depressed?

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Righteousone

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OK people, another character to contend with now. This guy came in to our coffee club yesterday and we were discussing God. This guy says that religion is only for the depressed. That people look for it when they are sad and down, that people forget about God when things go right. I know there is some truth to this, not saying that religion is for depressed people only, because then there are millions of depressed people out there and the drug companies are doing quite well as it is. But there is some truth to the fact that when things do go right, people tend to forget about God.
 
Righteousone said:
OK people, another character to contend with now. This guy came in to our coffee club yesterday and we were discussing God. This guy says that religion is only for the depressed. That people look for it when they are sad and down, that people forget about God when things go right. I know there is some truth to this, not saying that religion is for depressed people only, because then there are millions of depressed people out there and the drug companies are doing quite well as it is. But there is some truth to the fact that when things do go right, people tend to forget about God.
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That’s because people forget that GOD is the source of our happiness. I find that people who learn to truly appreciate GOD and have HIM in their hearts don’t forget about HIM in either good or bad times. When people who don’t have GOD in their hearts get hit with hard times it’s easy for them to shout out for GOD. Then when they feel bailed out they forget. That’s a dead faith plain and simple and is the difference between saying you have Faith vs. actually living it.

PEACE
 
Righteousone said:
But there is some truth to the fact that when things do go right, people tend to forget about God.
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It’s kinda a circular argument - those who only get into religion because they are depressed will indeed forget about God when that depression lifts. But there are plenty of us who get into religion because we genuinely believe in God, and who at least try to remember God at all times, good and bad.

Not to mention plenty who do the opposite too - who tend to blame or abandon God when they feel that things are going wrong, or BECAUSE they are depressed and don’t see any point to religion as a result.
 
I don’t agree that religion is only for depressed people! True, some depressed people may use religion as a crutch, but I worship, praise and thank God when good things happen, and also when bad things happen!

I know that whenever anything happens, it is for a good reason, and God will always make things work for His ultimate purpose.

My cousin (who is both a rabbi and a mohel) told me this story after I lost 4 stillborn babies in a row.

He said that life is like a tapestry…that much of the time, we only see the underside, with all the ties and knots…but that God sees the finished side, what he called “the Big Picture”.

When things go bad, we need to remember that God always has a reason for everything that happens!
 
Righteousone said:
OK people, another character to contend with now. This guy came in to our coffee club yesterday and we were discussing God. This guy says that religion is only for the depressed. That people look for it when they are sad and down, that people forget about God when things go right. I know there is some truth to this, not saying that religion is for depressed people only, because then there are millions of depressed people out there and the drug companies are doing quite well as it is. But there is some truth to the fact that when things do go right, people tend to forget about God.
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My views:-

There is some truth in it; in sufferings, we do find God but usually, after a bad patch, and having found God , we tend to keep Him in our hearts and soul…even during happy times. We learn to thank and praise God more so it is not necessarily true that when times are Good, we forget God…

MarieLee
marieleespiritual.blogspot.com
 
I personally believe that atheism is a crutch for the lazy, selfish, and immoral.
 
Many people no doubt turn to religion for emotional consolation in times of sadness and grief, as well as a sense of hope that can act as a means of dealing with existential despair. Some have bitterly criticised this aspect of religion, but I think it is unrealistic to expect everyone can adopt a purely secular attitude to life, or that people who are religious will not include their emotions in their religious experience.

I personally don’t think religion is necessarily a cure or remedy for a serious mental illness such as depression, and there is no clear evidence to suggest religion helps cure mental illness any more than it cures cancer or broken limbs. Even so, it may well help some people to better cope psychologically with serious mental illnesses such as depression, as it may do so with other diseases.
 
One could also ask; is alcohol only for the depressed to drown their sorrows?

If strictly speaking from a psychological viewpoint, any object or concept can be comfort tools for the depressed. Do i think religion is just for the depressed? I guess that would depend on how sad i really am - i simply clasp my hands together and pray for mercy and deliverance. In this case, my hands will be the security blanket and the All Knowing Creator, my invincible companion.

If you cannot comprehend what i just said, that’s okay too. I will pray for your distressed mind. :D;)
 
HashemEchad said:
I don’t agree that religion is only for depressed people! True, some depressed people may use religion as a crutch, but I worship, praise and thank God when good things happen, and also when bad things happen!

I know that whenever anything happens, it is for a good reason, and God will always make things work for His ultimate purpose.

My cousin (who is both a rabbi and a mohel) told me this story after I lost 4 stillborn babies in a row.

He said that life is like a tapestry…that much of the time, we only see the underside, with all the ties and knots…but that God sees the finished side, what he called “the Big Picture”.

When things go bad, we need to remember that God always has a reason for everything that happens!
Click to expand...
AMEN!!! 👍
 
Righteousone said:
OK people, another character to contend with now. This guy came in to our coffee club yesterday and we were discussing God. This guy says that religion is only for the depressed. That people look for it when they are sad and down, that people forget about God when things go right. I know there is some truth to this, not saying that religion is for depressed people only, because then there are millions of depressed people out there and the drug companies are doing quite well as it is. But there is some truth to the fact that when things do go right, people tend to forget about God.
Click to expand...
I think that we need to look at it a grander sense…. The Church is not a home for Saints, but a hospital for sinners.
 
He said that life is like a tapestry…that much of the time, we only see the underside, with all the ties and knots…but that God sees the finished side, what he called “the Big Picture”.

Corrie ten Boom (THE HIDING PLACE) said the same thing.
 
The Polish poet Czeslaw Milosz, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1980, has an interesting point to make here. Having found himself intellectually bullied and politically silenced, first under Nazism and then under Stalinism, Milosz had no doubt as to the ultimate source of despair and tyranny in the twentieth century. In a remarkable esay entitled “The Discreet Charm of Nihilism,” he pointed out that it was not religion, but its denial–above all, the denial of accountability in the sight of God–that lay at the root of the century’s oppressive totalitarianisms. Here are some wise words from that article:

‘Religion, opium for the people! To those suffering pain, humiliation, illness, and serdom, it promised a reward in afterlife. And now we are witnessing a transformation. A true opium of the people is a belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace of thinking that for our betrayals, greed, cowardice, murders we are not goin to be judged. The Marxist creed has now been inverted. The true opium of modernity is the belief that there is no God, so that humans are free to precisely as they please.’
 
Certain religions attract people with mental health/substance abuse problems. Those people tend to attend when they’re fresh out of therapy/rehab. Though they say that God saved them from their problems, their interest in organized religion lessens the longer they’re feeling better.

So I see the guy’s point.

But if it works for people, it can’t be a bad thing.
 
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