So as some of you know, I am going to EADs this summer which is a mission trip to Mexico. And recently at one of our trainings, each of our team members were asked to be genuinely honest about how they are doing and what they were feeling. Personally, I don’t really have these conversations with people too often because it’s always a little awkward to talk to someone about what they’re going through or the difficulties they’re facing. So I was interested to see how everyone was doing. I understand life can be hard at times, but for me personally, my natural state has always tended to be happy and positive. I go through my fair share of stresses and hardships as well, but I would say that like 95% of the time, I am pretty much doing okay and most problems are nothing I can’t handle.

School’s hard? Of course it is, you’re at Princeton. Got a bad grade on an exam? Not the end of the world. Feeling burnt out? Take a nap and then go back to work. Lonely? Then go talk to people. Relationship issues? Well.. these are one of the hardest types of problems to get over and honestly nothing but time can really make it hurt less. But go hit the gym, eat healthy, become the best friggin version of yourself possible. Like for most difficulties I’ve faced, there is a pretty obvious and simple solution. And I’m really grateful to God for not giving me hardships in my life that would be too much to handle. But still the majority of the time, I’m not facing serious issues and so I am really happy with living life 🙂 

And I guessed I assumed that everyone else would be okay most of the time too right? But going around in a circle, not a single person said anything positive about how they were doing. Like I was the only person who said “I’m doing fine” because I genuinely was doing fine; but everyone else basically explained how they’ve been struggling, stressed, fearful, etc. And after talking with a lot of other brothers and sisters in my Christian community, I started to realize that if I asked any of them to be completely honest about their emotions at any given time, it was never going to be positive… So I’ve recently been questioning why that is? Like is that not… depressing? The fact that Christians are supposed to be joyful, vibrant and happy because of the gift we find in the Lord; but when we ask them how they are feeling, you only hear about their weaknesses and anxieties. Even though God calls us to find peace and satisfaction in him, from what it seems to me, Christians are just stressed, lonely, depressed, and hurting if they’re honest about how they’re doing. And I get that to be Christian is to embrace one’s weaknesses, admit we are prideful and in need of saving, and to be vulnerable with one another to help us overcome our struggles. But shouldn’t hardships be an occasional thing, and the majority of our attitude should be one full of joy? Seriously, do we always have to be that depressed all the time? Forgive me for sounding harsh, but honestly I’ve gotta speak my mind about that. Of course there are certainly some real struggles that would cause one to feel lonely/stressed/sad, and in those times, get the help you need and your emotions are valid. 

But in general, Christians should be in states of joy, love, peace, and happiness, right? We have a hope that only Jesus can give, so why is it that the majority of the time we seem to always be hopeless? Why does Christianity seem to push depression and anxiety so much? I’m a little confused by that… you know, thinking back on it, there hasn’t been a single retreat/revival/praise night I’ve been to where the pastor hasn’t said something along the lines of  “If you are depressed, pray to Jesus. If you are lonely, turn to Jesus. If you are hurting and sad and hopeless, then go to Jesus.” 

But like… what do I do if I’m not depressed and hopeless… Am I missing something here? Why does Christianity normalize these negative emotions so much? Like in 6th grade when I went on my first retreat, the pastor was preaching about how Jesus can meet the depressed and broken hearted. But I didn’t even know what depression meant at the time. It’s kinda like they were feeding off of people’s desperations, and so only the people going through these issues would be the ones breaking down sobbing at the altar call. But what about the people who aren’t depressed? What am I praying for during the altar call then?

And I feel like this attitude of normalizing these negative emotions has played a role in shaping today’s Christians. Like if someone were to ask a Christian “how are you actually doing,” they feel somewhat obligated to reply that they’re struggling with something. But that’s such a twisted and horrible way of viewing that question. 

I guess the point I’m trying to make is if Christians are always struggling with loneliness/anxieties/fear/depression/sadness/stress, then it makes complete sense for them to turn to God as they need saving. But say an atheist who is happy, joyful, strong, successful and overall doing pretty well comes along; why the heck would this atheist want to turn to Christianity when he sees all these Christians are just struggling and weak? If he is to be incentivized to turn to Jesus at all, then when he looks at Christians, we need to have a joy that far surpasses any joy that he’s ever experienced from the world. We need to be set apart from the world. 

Feel free to message or talk to me to explain if I’m wrong, I’m always open to having these challenging conversations and discussing viewpoints. Also I’m open to changing my opinions.