Is God Mad at Me If I Feel Anxious or Depressed? | Dr. Vince Vitale
Summary
TLDRThe speaker addresses the mental health crisis, acknowledging the pervasive feelings of anxiety and depression. They critique a commercial's shallow response to life's brevity, suggesting that Christianity offers a more profound understanding. It validates the chasm between current reality and the ideal, and Jesus as a counselor who empathizes with human suffering. The speaker emphasizes Jesus' identification with our pain, his scars as a testament to shared suffering, and the hope that our own scars may one day reflect his glory.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The speaker commends the courage of openly discussing mental health issues like anxiety and depression, recognizing the current mental health crisis.
- 🎮 The speaker critiques a commercial's message that life is short and suggests using distractions like Xbox as a coping mechanism, instead advocating for a deeper understanding of life's purpose.
- 🔍 Christianity is presented as a worldview that acknowledges the gap between the current state of the world and the ideal, providing a framework for understanding feelings of anxiety and depression.
- 📖 C.S. Lewis is referenced to illustrate how people may settle for less than the best life has to offer because they can't imagine a better alternative.
- 🏡 The concept of 'exile' from the Bible is used to explain feelings of not belonging or separation anxiety, suggesting that Christians understand their true home is in heaven.
- 🤔 The speaker challenges the notion that anxiety is always irrational, arguing that sometimes fears are grounded in the harsh realities of life.
- 🙏 Jesus is described as the ultimate counselor who understands human suffering because he has experienced it, offering a source of comfort and hope.
- 🤲 The speaker recounts a story of a therapist being asked to touch a patient's scars as a sign of genuine care, highlighting the importance of empathy and connection in healing.
- ✝️ The incarnation of God is presented as an act of descending into human suffering, with Jesus' scars serving as a tangible symbol of his identification with human pain.
- 🌈 The speaker concludes with a message of hope that, through faith in Jesus, the scars of life can bear the glory of the one who was scarred for us.
Q & A
What is the speaker's view on the mental health crisis and the role of a worldview in addressing it?
-The speaker believes that the country is in a mental health crisis and that a worldview must address the issues of anxiety and depression. They argue that Christianity offers a different perspective that acknowledges the gap between the current state of the world and how it should be, providing comfort and hope.
How does the speaker interpret the commercial with the baby growing old and dying?
-The speaker finds the commercial's message 'Life is short, play more Xbox' both funny and devastating. They critique it for suggesting that distraction is the best response to life's hardships, rather than addressing the deeper issues.
What does the speaker say about Christianity's response to anxiety and depression?
-The speaker asserts that Christianity acknowledges the feelings of anxiety and depression by recognizing the disparity between the current reality and the ideal state of the world. It provides a narrative that explains these feelings and offers hope through the promise of a better future.
How does the speaker relate the concept of 'exile' in Christianity to feelings of separation anxiety?
-The speaker explains that Christianity teaches that believers are in exile, not truly at home on earth, which can explain feelings of separation anxiety. It also indicates a natural state of separation from God, which can be a source of anxiety.
What does the speaker suggest about the nature of fears in the context of cognitive behavioral therapy?
-The speaker acknowledges that cognitive behavioral therapy can be helpful in addressing irrational fears. However, they also argue that in a broken world, some fears are grounded in reality and are not overestimated but very real.
How does the speaker describe Jesus' role as a counselor in the context of mental health?
-The speaker portrays Jesus as the ultimate counselor who has experienced human suffering and can empathize with those struggling with anxiety and depression. Jesus is presented as someone who understands the depth of human emotions and offers help.
What does the speaker say about the promise of a future without pain, mourning, or death in Christianity?
-The speaker refers to the Christian belief in a future where there will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain for those who trust in Jesus. This promise provides hope and a different perspective on life's hardships.
How does the speaker interpret the act of touching scars in a therapeutic context?
-The speaker sees the request to touch scars as a metaphor for being willing to engage with someone's pain and brokenness. They relate this to God's incarnation, where God descends to touch human scars and identifies with human suffering.
What does the speaker suggest about the significance of scars in a Christian perspective?
-The speaker suggests that in Christianity, scars are not just reminders of pain but can bear the glory of the one who was scarred for us. They indicate a hope that one's scars will reflect the grace and sacrifice of Jesus.
How does the speaker use the story of Doubting Thomas to illustrate trust in Jesus?
-The speaker uses the story of Doubting Thomas to show that Jesus invites trust by allowing Thomas to touch his scars, demonstrating that Jesus understands the need for tangible evidence and is willing to be trusted with our deepest doubts and fears.
Outlines
😔 Mental Health and the Christian Perspective
The speaker begins by commending the bravery of addressing mental health issues like anxiety and depression, acknowledging the current mental health crisis. They critique a commercial that trivializes life's brevity and the human condition by suggesting distraction as a solution. The speaker contrasts this with Christianity, which recognizes the gap between reality and the ideal state of existence. Christianity affirms the feelings of distress as valid due to this disconnection, referencing C.S. Lewis's analogy of preferring mud play over an imagined beach holiday. The speaker discusses how Christianity provides a framework to understand and cope with separation anxiety, as believers see themselves as exiles from their true home in heaven, which helps contextualize feelings of not belonging or being separated from God. The paragraph ends by suggesting that while cognitive behavioral therapy might address irrational fears, it falls short when it comes to the very real fears rooted in the brokenness of the world.
🙏 Jesus as the Ultimate Counselor
In the second paragraph, the speaker recounts a conversation with a friend experiencing a mental breakdown due to anxiety, emphasizing the need for a counselor who understands the depth of the struggle. The speaker introduces Jesus as the perfect counselor who has experienced human suffering firsthand, providing a unique understanding and empathy. The narrative includes Jesus's experiences of betrayal, abandonment, and emotional torment, highlighting his ability to relate to human pain. The speaker also shares a story of a therapist who was asked to touch a patient's scars as a testament to genuine care, drawing a parallel to God's incarnation and willingness to be physically present with humanity's pain. The paragraph concludes with the idea that Jesus not only understands and touches our scars but also invites us to touch his, symbolizing a mutual trust and identification with our suffering. The speaker encourages trusting Jesus with our scars, as he has shown his trust by bearing his own for us, offering hope that our scars can reflect his glory.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Anxiety
💡Depression
💡Worldview
💡Separation Anxiety
💡Broken World
💡Jesus as Counselor
💡Fear
💡Incarnation
💡Scars
💡Hope
Highlights
The speaker applauds the courage of discussing anxiety and depression, acknowledging the mental health crisis.
A worldview should address the reality of anxiety and depression.
A commercial's depiction of life's brevity is critiqued for its superficial message.
Christianity offers a different perspective on life's struggles compared to secular views.
C.S. Lewis's quote about mud and the beach illustrates the longing for a better life.
Christianity acknowledges the gap between current reality and the ideal.
The Bible helps make sense of feelings of exile and separation from God.
Anxiety can be a rational response to the brokenness of the world.
Cognitive behavioral therapy's approach to anxiety is discussed.
Jesus as the ultimate counselor who understands human suffering.
The importance of acknowledging real fears rather than dismissing them as overestimated.
Jesus's understanding of betrayal and isolation as depicted in the Bible.
The invitation to come to Jesus with burdens and find rest.
The promise of a future without pain, death, or tears in the Christian faith.
A story about a therapist and a client discussing the importance of touching scars as a metaphor for empathy.
God's incarnation as an act of descending to touch our scars and identify with our brokenness.
Doubting Thomas's story as an example of Jesus inviting us to touch His scars.
The hope that our scars will one day bear the glory of the one who was scarred for us.
Transcripts
[Music]
i really applaud the courage of of just
asking
this question and being open about
anxiety and depression i mean we are in
a mental health crisis in this
country and i do believe that any world
view that you're going to commit to has
to speak to that and i don't think that
everyone does i i remember seeing a
commercial a while back and um the
commercial depicted a baby being born
and then over the next 30 seconds sort
of an odd commercial but over the next
30 seconds this this child flew through
the air and went through all the
different stages of life so this kind of
infant became a toddler became an
adolescent and an adult and then started
to become elderly and then kind of
became more hunched over and gray as
this person now descended out of the sky
and crashed into a grave dead
and then the screen went black
and words appeared across the screen and
said life is short
play more xbox
and i reacted just like that you know
like i sort of like i sort of like
instinctively left i'm like that's funny
and then i was like
but that's also devastating
like really
is that the best we've got life is short
and it's full of anxiety and depression
and loss and betrayal and relational
conflict and but there's nothing we can
do about it anyway so you know just try
to distract yourself just you know spend
more time on social media and just play
more xbox like is that really
the best that we've got and
i believe that christianity says
something very different and it says
something that affirms in one sense
those feelings of anxiety and depression
because it says that there is a large
chasm between the way things are right
now and the way things are supposed to
be and christians feel that deeply too
it was cs lewis who said
that we're content to play in the mud
because we can't imagine a holiday at
the beach we can't imagine the goodness
of actually living life with god and the
community he desires and how good that
would be eternally so we're content
sometimes in in the mud but but
sometimes it also goes the other way too
like once we
get a glimpse as a christian
of the goodness of living with god
it can then be very difficult to kind of
come back and
live in the mud
of this broken world so i think that
this the anxiety the depression this is
something which is felt across the board
whether you're a non-christian
or whether you're a christian we need a
worldview that says something to it we
need a worldview that answers the
question why do i feel this way
and we need a worldview that answers the
question who can help
and i find that the christian faith says
a lot about why we feel that way right
first in a general sense there's this
chasm between where we are and where
things are supposed to be but let's even
get more specific how about one form of
anxiety take separation anxiety one type
of anxiety
okay anxiety caused
by a sense of not having a home
or being separated from
people
who are supposed to be significant in
your life
the bible tells me
that i'm in exile
that i'm
a foreigner
that my real citizenship is in heaven it
tells me that there's a significant
sense in which i'm not home it helps to
make sense of some of those emotions and
it also tells me that my natural state
on this earth is separation from the
person that i'm supposed to be in
closest relationship with with god
himself
so it makes sense of some of what we
experience
and oftentimes in the context of anxiety
we're told
that what has happened is that we've
overestimated
our fears
that we have fears that are out of
proportion with the reality of the
circumstances that are causing them
a lot of cognitive behavioral therapy
that's one of the thrusts
now sometimes that's right okay
sometimes that's good like if you have
an irrational fear of spiders in a place
where there are no spiders
then great like let's let's talk about
that let's fact check that let's get
some new neural pathways going like you
know let's let's deal with that
but
what about when the fears are grounded
very firmly in the reality of this
broken world
now what about when the fears are that
the relationships that mean the most to
you might not last what about when the
fears are of betrayal what about when
the fears are the hopes that you have
for life are going to go unfulfilled
what about when the fear is death what
about when the fears are not
overestimated
but
they they are very real
in this broken world then what are we
supposed to do
and maybe it's not so much that we've
overestimated our fears but we've
underestimated who can do something
about it
and i remember when
my best friend had a mental breakdown
caused by anxiety and i remember him
saying to me
only a counselor who has been through
what i am going through can help
and i thought that was such a
significant statement from him and i was
able to talk to him about jesus being
our wonderful counselor
being the counselor who actually has
been through it who has
suffered with us and not in just some
general sense right he sweat blood
in the garden
right does he understand the experience
of the walls
closing in
okay
when he was arrested everyone deserted
him and fled i've always thought it's
one of the most devastating lines in all
of the bible but he understands that
sense of being betrayed he understands
that sense of isolation on the cross as
joe said him crying why have you
forsaken me he understands an emotion so
deep and visceral as forsaken-ness is
jesus mad at us for these emotions that
that we have no i think he's mad with us
i think he's mad with us because he
really understands in a very specific
way
and the world is not the way it's
supposed to be and he's enacted a plan
for eventually the world to be very
different
both right now where he says you can
come to me
come to me all of you who are weary and
burdened and i will give you rest you
will find rest for your souls for my
yoke is easy and my burden is light
you don't have to convince yourselves
that your fears are overestimated
you can acknowledge that they're real
but you can hand them over to me right
now and then eventually one day there's
going to come a time where there can be
no more death or mourning or crying or
pain
if you put your trust in me and i will
be the one who wipes away
every tear
jesus understands and jesus can do
something about it i remember a friend
a clinical therapist a good friend of
mine
and he told me that
there was a woman who came to him and
she had a long history of cutting
herself and they had their first
session together and then at the end of
the first session she said there's just
one more
question before i decide whether we can
work together or not
and then she said will you touch my
scars
and he asked her why that was important
to her
and she said well that's the only way
i'll know if you really care about me if
you're willing to cross a divide to
actually reach out and touch my scars
and my wounds and what my friend said to
me was he said what she was saying
was are you willing to viscerally
descend into the darkness with me are
you willing to be identified with my
brokenness
are you willing to actually touch my
being
with with yours
and through the process of
their counseling he had the opportunity
to share with him that that is exactly
what god has done in the incarnation
god literally descends
to touch our scars he literally puts his
being into our being and reaches out and
is identified
with
our wounds
and
through that she
gave her life to christ
and he was able to also share with her
that even beyond that jesus not only
reaches out and touches your scars but
he was scarred for you
even invites you to touch his scars to
think of doubting thomas right he says
i can't put my trust in you unless i
actually see the scars and can reach out
and touch them and jesus appeared and
said peace be with you and
he said reach your hand and put it here
reach out your hand
and put it into my side we can we can
trust jesus with our scars because he
was scarred for us and then beyond that
he literally invited us to reach out and
touch his scars he trusted us with his
scars so we can trust him
with our scars
and through this this woman was able to
see that jesus was the one that she
could put her trust in and she
eventually said this beautiful stunning
word she said i know now that my scars
likely will not disappear
she said but i have hope that one day
they will bear the glory of the one who
was scarred for me
every one of us will have scars in this
life they will often have a lot to do
with anxiety and depression
but can we turn to the one who gives us
hope that one day they will bear the
glory of the one who was scarred for us
تصفح المزيد من مقاطع الفيديو ذات الصلة
(FIXED AUDIO) Kevin Breel: Confessions of a Depressed Comic at TEDxKids@Ambleside
John Piper: Don't Waste Your Life
New Testament Studies: Mark (9): Chapter 8 v27 to 9 v13 -- David Pawson
Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
Science and spirituality: Jeff Lieberman at TEDxCambridge 2011
Paul Gilding: The Earth is full
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