Research shows that people who are more religious or spiritual have better mental health and adapt more quickly to health problems compared to those who are less religious or spiritual. That’s good news! It’s good to know science backs having faith, especially in today’s climate. However, I’ve wondered if the opposite can be true, too. Are there ways that religion can have a negative impact on mental health as well? I want to specifically discuss Christianity and how the faith impacts our mental health.
After coming into this online space in 2020, I quickly realized a few things:
- Mental health experts and those in the mental health sphere DO NOT want to talk about God or Jesus
- Black people DO NOT want to talk about mental health (although this is changing)
- Christians DO NOT want to talk about black people (and our struggles) or mental health
I came into this space wanting to talk about three main topics: faith, mental health and black women’s struggle in this world. Because these three topics are so polarizing in and of themselves, it’s hard to get a sense of community, because somewhere down the line someone is bound to get offended. So, it makes sense that I have so few followers and a smaller engagement circle then many creators. However, the discussions on these topics need to ensue.
So, let’s talk about it.
The purpose of this article
The topic of mental health can be far-reaching, but I want to narrow it down to ways Christianity can have such a polarizing impact on mental health. There will be a part one and part two. Part one (this article) will discuss how confusion, inaccurate teaching and a lack of love impacts mental health on a large scale. Part two will discuss other ways being a Christian can affect mental health. These ways include matters such as spiritual warfare, spiritual vertigo and medical/chemical imbalances.
Types of mental illness referred to in this article
For this article, I am specifically referring to mental health issues that are common in the general population. These illnesses include depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder at varying levels and severity.
Mental illnesses such as bipolarism or schizophrenia are not typically illness that would come about through doctrinal beliefs of Christianity; those illnesses have more to do with chemical imbalances or medical conditions.
Let’s define Christianity
Let’s first define what biblical Christianity is because today anyone can claim to be a Christian. I recently heard of a pastor in Canada who came out as an atheist to her congregation, yet she was still allowed to keep her position and ministerial title. It baffles me that a pastor who doesn’t believe in God wants to preach about a God she does not believe it. Go figure. Surprisingly, there are many people like this in the church today, and many of them are hiding behind a pulpit.
Christianity is not about Easter. Christianity is not about Christmas. Christianity is not about [insert noble holiday here].
Christianity is not about feeling good all the time. It’s not about getting everything you want in life. In fact, it might be more of the opposite of all these things.
Being a Christian is being a Christ-follower; a person who follows Christ in sincerity.
John 14:21 (KJV) says,
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”
If you sincerely love Christ then you will obey Him, and that is what being a Christian is all about.
Generalized Christianity today
There are many Christians who see Christ in many ways and so they live their lives in many ways, but only God can judge. Our job as Christ-followers is to have discernment.
1 John 4:1
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
Not every person who says they are a Christian is a Christ-follower, and not everyone who sins is a child of the devil. If you disagree with the latter, please read King David’s story in the Old Testament.
We all sin, but are we all truly repentant? That is the question!
How does Christianity affect mental health?
There are so many experiences of God that people have in the faith. Some Christians are very legalistic and some are religious (there is a difference between the two).
I can only give you my opinion and my experience, what studies say and what the Bible says.
So, what is my opinion?
My opinion is that … Christianity can have a negative impact on mental health.
There I said it.
However, there are some qualifiers.
Christianity can have a negative affect mentally if a believer:
- is ill-taught in the scriptures (lack of knowledge)
- does not understand God’s love adequately
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, it’s the majority of sources that report significant relationships between religion and spirituality and better health. For those who experience in the faith is particularly polarizing, it’s my opinion that it is based on a lack of knowledge and a lack of love.
A lack of wisdom and knowledge of scripture
Hosea 4:6
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…”
There are certain so-called Christian sects that are more like cults than a church. These cults tend to have men first and God second. They also tend to subject the women and children to harsh standards that are not at all biblical. Christians who find the truth and come out of these cults can be subject to mental health disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or depression.
A less severe example could be individualized misunderstandings of the scripture. For example, many Christians know that God forgives sin; however, there is one sin in particular that is unforgivable. There are many sincere Christians who believe that they have committed the unforgivable sin and live in state of perpetual panic. (You wouldn’t believe how common this is.) The anxiety is a response to something specific to the Christian faith.
Another example of a misunderstanding at the core of faith is the perception of “goodness”. I believe this is where mental health experts and Christianity collide.
Are we all good people?
Mark 10:18
“And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.”
Well, this may be less of a misunderstanding and more of pique for many people.
Most mental health experts will suggest actions for a person to take if they are facing some type of trouble or mental health concern. Whether it’s positive affirmations, meditation or addressing the “inner child”, most believe that we as people can become better and good by doing something. Christianity says the opposite: it says we must be better in order to do better.
To be or not to be, that is the question
To understand the God of the Bible, you have to understand that He is holy. Yahweh’s holiness and righteous is directly tied to His goodness. This is why when people think of goodness they generally think of pureness, helping and compassion. Holiness is depicted as moral and spiritual excellence. Holiness is actioned by first being good and then doing good to all mankind, not the other way around.
This is the premise of Christianity, that we are not perfect and holy and therefore we are not good.
But is this totally true?
Genesis 1:27
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Ecclesiastes 7:29
“Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
As the story goes in Genesis 1, God did make us good. In fact, He made us in His own image, good and righteous, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)
But we fell into sin. And that changed everything.
God is good, not you
Most people can admit they are good by their own standards, but most cannot say they are holy. Isaiah 6:1-13 says God’s holiness is declared in heaven all day long. The old testament describes a space in the temple called the Holy of Holies. One person, the high priest, would enter the room once a year on the Day of Atonement. Holiness requires a separation from ALL that is considered bad.
And let’s be honest, most people don’t want to be good good, they want to be good and be a little bad too. Be honest! No one is really all the way good. It’s impossible.
So, if God is holy and therefore the only real Good One, how can you also be good? How can you be good without God? As the Bible says, “…apart from [Jesus] you can do nothing (of eternal value).” (John 15:5)
So, it is very easy to believe you are not good enough by trying to live up to a perfect standard whether you are a believer or not. Mentally, this can be polarizing.
The whole principle of Christianity is God sending His son to die for you and I because we are not good enough to make it to heaven on our own, and it is true. We are not good enough.
Ouch, did that hurt?
Yes, it’s true that we are not good enough to make it to heaven on our own merits based on God’s standards due to original sin.
There is something innate warring in us (which is called the flesh in Galatians 5:17) that allows our desires to steer us as people in the wrong direction. There has never been a man who didn’t sin, except one person who is called the second or last Adam (Jesus Christ). We were made perfectly, but because of original sin (Adam’s fall) we all suffer being his descendant. So, no we are not good enough. I’m sure that makes mental health experts want to stone me, but it is what it is.
Lack of understanding God’s love
The second part to this truth is that even though Adam fell, God sent another Adam to get us back right. So, we then become accepted in the one in whom God sent, who is Jesus Christ. (Please reference 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 15:45 and Romans 5:12-21)
Many people are not humble enough to receive this truth of the Christian faith. There are many people caught in pride who believe they are good enough, but according to God’s holiness they are not.
I’ve stolen things. I’ve told lies. I have thought dirty thoughts – all sins that disqualify me according to God’s standards. But I am renewed in the second Adam and therefore through Him I am good enough.
There are many Christians who take scriptures and run with them. For instance, the scripture Matthew 5:48 (KJV) “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Is it possible to really be perfect? No, this is why Jesus Christ came.
In context, God was telling us as Christ-followers to love people who do not love us. Now, you and I both know that we need the power of God to love people who get own our last nerve! God is not telling us to do everything perfectly, He is telling us to love everyday to the best of our ability in Christ and do not willfully do wrong.
We cannot be perfect, and God knows this; but He does hold us accountable for what He reveals to us.
Any counselor will tell you that a “perfectionist” will have their own mental health battles, because nothing is ever good enough. Such thinking can negatively influence mental health, which includes depression and anxiety.
Christ’s sacrifice actually matters
In the light of this truth, God is telling us to live uprightly to be the best of our ability and as we learn better, we do better because we are better through salvation in Christ.
And don’t forget about grace and mercy!
Now that we found out that we are not good enough and we have to accept that to be a Christian, let’s get to the root of the common mental handicaps that might come in response to this principle.
Humility VS Humiliation
In order to accept Christ, you have to be humble enough to receive Him.
Matthew 18:3
“And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
The problem comes when humility is replaced by humiliation. Humiliation or true humility in response to Christ’s offer can be revealed in three ways I like to call:
- The Humiliated Sinner
- The Humiliated Saint
- The Humble Christ-follower
The Humiliated Sinner
A person can believe accepting Christ is foolish, and humiliating. This can be true for anyone rich or poor, but it’s seems especially true for those who have everything they want in life. This is partly why Christ said that it is hard for rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:23-24). If a rich person has all s/he wants in life, then why does s/he need God? Rich people have everything they want, and they’ve done it in their own terms. Why do they need to submit to someone named Jesus? People with a lot of money don’t feel they need God because they (seemingly) have everything they could want in this life, that is until they start looking for something less material. This is pride and it is one response a person can have when encountering Jesus.
The average Joe may also be humiliated by the concept of “not being good enough” to go to heaven; his/her good enough is good enough by their own standards, and so they do not want to accept Christ. This is also pride.
The humiliated sinner wants to be a god to him/herself.
The Humiliated Saint
The other response is when a person accepts Christ, but they are humiliated to the point where they do not feel worthy of anything. They are the pushovers – the one doing everything for everyone else but who neglect themselves. They are always serving, always trying, always doing and never being. They cannot seem to get anything ‘perfect’. They try and try but they fail by their own standards – because they don’t feel like they are good enough. They do not love enough, serve enough, pray enough or praise good enough.
These are the people who feel bad for getting sick the week of a church conference, so they serve anyway at their own risk. These are the people who feel bad saying no to a request, so they will usually say yes.
This is the person who neglects themselves because they feel they have no value.
Spiritual wolves prey on the humiliated saint
The humiliated saint usually gravitates towards preachers who are cult-like or who are prideful themselves. You know, the kind of preacher who scream from the pulpit, “If you do not like it here then you can leave!”
As if any preacher can really kick a child of God out of his/her own home! If shepherds were REALLY called, then they would know that it is out of order to kick someone out of the church just because they want to or because they are not getting what they want. The church does not belong to them! They are shepherd in GOD’s house.
Spiritual wolves’ prey on people who feel they are not enough or who are naïve and will use them as “merchandise”.
2 Peter 2:1-3 (KJV)
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”
The humiliated saint wants to be a God to everyone else by always doing for others and not for themselves.
A note about silly women…
There are people who are humiliated because they lack wisdom. False prophets in the church take advantage of these people as noted in 2 Timothy:
2 Timothy 3:6-7
“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
These “silly” or gullible women, in my opinion, are not truly saved, because the scriptures point out in verse seven that they have not come into the knowledge of the truth. However, someone could argue that these women are carnal Christians that are led away due to their lack of knowledge of the scriptures. There are many women who are seduced by wolves in sheep’s clothing; these are women who truly want to know the truth but may be unsuspecting. The scriptures have a lot to say about men leading and women submitting, so these women submit even to their own detriment (because they do not know the truth of the scriptures). The women are manipulated into seeing themselves as only useful to men and so they don’t believe they have much value outside of men.
Unfortunately, a false prophet or preacher can manipulate demeaned and foolish people into feeling bad enough to make them do anything the prophet or preacher wants. That is why the false prophet or preacher’s main task is to manipulate – and unfortunately, there are plenty of silly women laden with sins in the church.
I can identify will being a humiliated Christian in many respects. I will be the first to admit that I’ve perceived God as more of a God then as a Father or Husband (Isaiah 54:5). I always felt like my connection with God was transactional because preachers preached to me about a transactional God.
But, the more I learned about God the more I started become less of a humiliated saint and more of a humble Christ-follower.
Humble Christ-follower
This person is not a combination of the other two examples.
The humble Christ-follower is listening to God, is well taught of the Holy Spirit and, most importantly, know they are loved.
Love is the key here.
For the previous two illustrations, neither the humiliated saint or sinner has accepted God’s love properly. The humiliated saint or the sinner could each read a scripture and either decide they are too good (sinner), or they are not good enough (saint).
The humble Christ-follower knows that if they are chastised, they should receive it as from a Father not just from a God (Hebrews 12:6-11). The humble Christ-follower can serve at a homeless shelter and afterward go get a pedicure – and thank God for the ability to go!
A humble Christ-follower will serve like Martha but know when to receive like Mary. The humble Christ-follower can hear God tell them to go the extra mile for someone (Matthew 5:41), and also hear God say to come away and rest for a while (Mark 6:31).
The humble Christ-follower can put others first (Philippians 2:3-4) and also be led by still waters to restore the soul (Psalm 23).
Remembering to rest
The humble Christ-follower remembers the Sabbath day is a day of rest, not to work or serve! If God “needed” a day of rest after forming the entire universe (Exodus 20:8), then why do we think we do not need to rest? The word sabbath comes from a Hebrew word meaning to rest from labor. Sure, you can do good on the Sabbath, as Christ did, but this day was instituted for a reason.
All in all, humble Christ-followers understand the assignment and understands God’s love.
Ephesians 3:14-19,
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”b
No one is PERFECT. Humble Christ-followers can fall too
A humble Christ-follower can turn into a humiliated saint if s/he is constantly struggling or if s/he has been humiliated in their faith. When hope starts to fade, as the scripture says, it can make a person’s soul sick to the point they begin to underestimate his/her value.
Perhaps a struggling Christ-follower is needing help to fix a broken marriage or help with children who have gone astray. Perhaps a Christ-follower is wanting a family or is facing a financial upset or health concern. A hope deferred can make a heart sick (Proverbs 13:12).
This is why searching the scriptures is so important, because we can find hope in the lives of the people written therein. If you are struggling in any part of your life, find hope in God’s word, do not allow your heart to stay sick (Proverbs 4:23).
I have much more to say about Christianity and mental health, including the ways the two relate regarding spiritual warfare, spiritual vertigo and medical or chemical imbalances. Keep an eye out for part two coming soon!