As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Gen Z’s priorities are clear: Being happy tops the list (65%), followed by financial stability (53%) and having good mental and emotional health (49%)….Nearly one in three (28%) reports always feeling lonely ….Two in five Gen Z (39%) say they frequently feel anxiety” - RNS
“The study found that 87% of evangelical clergy said they would encourage their congregants to seek help from a mental health professional when suffering from depression. (85% of Black Protestants, 97% of mainline Protestants and 99% of Catholics agreed.)” - RNS
“According to a recent article in Psychology Today, those who describe themselves as ‘spiritual but not religious,’ which is over one in five Americans, are at higher risk of mental illness compared to the religious and the non-religious.” - Breakpoint
“it is not only pastors like MacArthur who embrace the medical-moral divide. Advocates and clinicians in the mental health world do also. Sometimes…advocates will state that mental illness has nothing to do with character, weakness of will, or anything else that sounds moral” - Mere Orthodoxy
“far better people than I have experienced far worse depression, including Martin Luther, John Owen, and William Cowper, to name a few. I studied the life of Charles Spurgeon who battled depression, and found comfort in the fact that godly men and women had walked the same path I was walking.” - Randy Alcorn
Problems in our behavior can be both mental health problems and “sin problems.” Part of the confusion on the topic of mental health among conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists is the assumption that a life problem has to be one or the other.
Consider a physical health analogy: Suppose I lose a leg in an accident. Because it’s a lot harder to walk now, I lay on the couch excessively, experience a lot of unhealthy weight gain, and neglect important duties.
“Overall, 31% of U.S. adults say they would feel extremely or very comfortable talking about this with a spiritual or religious leader…. much higher among adults who report attending religious services at least once a week: 58% of regular attenders would be comfortable…” - Pew
“It’s easy to confuse brokenness or weakness with sinfulness….. Bad grades, tantrums, disorganization, inappropriate comments, relational conflict, and irresponsibility may all be because of willful sin, but they may also be due to human limitation or fallenness.” - TGC
“Pessimistic language is a growing feature of popular culture…. ‘doomslang,’ a category that includes terms like ‘doomscrolling,’ ‘bed rotting,’ and ‘dumpster fire.’ Montell argues the casual adoption of apocalyptically negative language is affecting mental health.” - TGC
“Decades of data gathered in a single study released last fall shows that a relationship with God improves mental health and well-being, the study’s creators said Wednesday during the fourth annual International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, D.C.” - Deseret News
Discussion