Depression and Existential Crisis, how to overcome it?

[RickD]

Please don't derail this thread with talk about unbiblical Catholic practices.

Signed,

Your friendly Protestant Moderator

[Storyteller]

Sorry Rick



Blame ACB, it`s his fault!


(Just teasing ACB)

[EssentialSacrifice]

Please don't derail this thread with talk about unbiblical unequivocally biblical Catholic practices.

Signed,

Yourfriendly insane Protestant Moderator

But that's quite all right... we're all just crazy bout that guy !

[RickD]

Please don't derail this thread with talk about unbiblical unequivocally biblical Catholic practices.

Signed,

Yourfriendly insane Protestant Moderator

But that's quite all right... we're all just crazy bout that guy !

I'm surprised you didn't cross out Protestant and put Catholic. With the hopes that maybe I'd come across a bit of sanity, and cross the Tiber.

[Storyteller]

Please don't derail this thread with talk about unbiblical unequivocally biblical Catholic practices.

Signed,

Yourfriendly insane Protestant closet Cathoic Moderator

But that's quite all right... we're all just crazy bout that guy !

I'm surprised you didn't cross out Protestant and put Catholic. With the hopes that maybe I'd come across a bit of sanity, and cross the Tiber.

[B. W.]

Hi leo7alves,

Question:

When your dad passed away when you were ten years old, what went through your mind?

Did your mother remarry?

Did you ever feel like a slow moving cloud-grey gloominess seem to overtake and slowly swirl around you, if so, when?

Again, if so, did you emotionally feel like this inside: Help! arrrg ahhh!

If not, then what is it you really felt inside around the time when it began (you crisis)?
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[abelcainsbrother]

Sorry Rick



Blame ACB, it`s his fault!


(Just teasing ACB)

I'm not saying anything more about it.My lips are sealed for now.I didn't really want to get off my point about a great teaching about atheism from a Catholic priest.

[Kurieuo]

I try to understand why there are so many atheists and Neo-atheists that try to destroy people's faith to feel better

Because they're insecure in their own beliefs; it's the same reason many 'immature' christians mock and belittle non-theistic beliefs. Mockery and belittlement can bring a faint, short-lived, sense of security to a person.

What if you mock and belittle yourself at times?

[leo7alves]

HI guys, I know it's been a month since I created this thread. But I would like to thank you all for the answers, and i apologize for taking all this time to return here and give a reply. But still, you helped me a lot. As English is not my natural language it's a bit difficult to express myself sometimes, and I know it must have some grammatical errors, so just ignore it...

after reading my original post again I would like to add a few things:

When i wrote about my problem with atheists that try to "destroy people's faith", i was not talking about atheists who respect other people's opinion and/or just want to discuss, i was talking about these new atheists/militant atheists that instead of arguing, they just want to offend, mock and insult , Unfortunately it is very common to see this hatred exposed on other forums and facebook, and even on websites that are directed to Christians. I realized that even famous Militant Atheists like Dawkins argue using sarcasm and hate sometimes.
There's two brazilian web sites that i stopped acessing because they often try to attack Christianity. Just an example of the magazines they have:
"How Darwin killed God"
"Jesus, the myth"
"Destroying the Bible"

The magazine don't have much credibility, but still It's annoying seeing such things on the media, they often try to prove that Christianity is wrong, Darwinism is the only truth and humans are just "hairless Monkeys", but luckily i found a blog from an former darwinist who analyzed many lies they talk in their articles

But, again, you guys helped me a lot, not only by this thread, i also found old posts and discussions from some users here that where helpful. I never knew that it's possible to defend faith with reason and logic, things like apologetics are new to me.
I don't say I'm 100% recovered, but I'm better than before, no problems for sleep or eat anymore, But i am still dealing with some anguish sometimes, mostly when thinking about philosophy and when some doubts come to my mind
i have found answers for most of my doubts, although i still have some.

What you think are the best defense to Christianity and the Bible? The Prophecies? Archeology?
I was reading an testimony from a former atheist, he mentioned bible verses talking about the weight of air and earth suspended in nothing, and it made me thinking, how could the prophets know these things so many years ago? I never see christians talking about those verses, but don't you think those are good arguments?

Hi leo7alves,

Question:

When your dad passed away when you were ten years old, what went through your mind?
We never expect the death of our loved ones, especially when we are so young, it was difficult to believe that he passed away, was a hard time but managed to overcome with the help of family and friends.

Did your mother remarry?
No

Did you ever feel like a slow moving cloud-grey gloominess seem to overtake and slowly swirl around you, if so, when?
Again, if so, did you emotionally feel like this inside: Help! arrrg ahhh!
If not, then what is it you really felt inside around the time when it began (you crisis)?

A deep feeling of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization.
I looked the skies thinking: "What's the meaning of Life?", "Are we just monkeys that evolved?", "What's the point of Objective Morals if nothing has a purpose?", "Is death the end?", pretty scary questions when this crisis started, i felt i was out of reality, i tried to see everything about the perspective that Life, Earth and Universe began by a miraculous accident, now, after 2 months since this crisis started, those questions don't bother me anymore. But still i don't understand why "Nothing creating everything" is considered by many people as the "smarter" way to think on the origin of universe.

I tried searching on google to find people who have gone through the same situation, I only found some, one that caught my attention was this thread in another forum: "I think you will be permanently depressed after an existential crisis", this guy couldn't believe in the meaning of life, God and objective morals anymore. But i also found some people that have overcome this situation, so i knew there is some hope.

But, despite having grown up in a Christian family, I became agnostic because I lost the desire to go to church and learn about the bible, my mother always remained Christian, always called me to go to church, but never forced me to. So I ended up being accommodated, i still believed that there could be something greater than us, but i never liked to think about it. Then this existential crisis came, and i had to start thinking.

When I discovered that great scientists like Newton and Galileo believed in God, and it also motivated them in their scientific discoveries. I was more curious to know about the Bible and God's existence. But as I still was not sure where to start looking, I fell in many sites trying to destroy the Bible's veracity, and it created even more doubts, that's why in the initial post asked about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Then I ended finding this forum, and decided to create this thread here.

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[Kurieuo]

What you think are the best defense to Christianity and the Bible? The Prophecies? Archeology?
I was reading an testimony from a former atheist, he mentioned bible verses talking about the weight of air and earth suspended in nothing, and it made me thinking, how could the prophets know these things so many years ago? I never see christians talking about those verses, but don't you think those are good arguments?

In any dialogue with a non-Christian, I find it works best not treating it not as a canonical inerrant Holy Book, but rather like any historical text.

Non-Christians will make the mistake of believing that because they believe it isn't inerrant, that it is therefore ALL false and can be discarded.
BUT, in the least, each book that comprises our Bible (because it is a bunch of books we've canonised) should be treated on its own terms in a historical-critical context. Note, this isn't necessarily pretty for the Christian who just wants to treat Scripture as the inerrant word of God, but it provides a common ground that non-Christians can entertain -- so we're lowering the bar of its acceptance.

Therefore, we can ask questions like "Who was this Jesus" that scribes recorded?" That, is the heart of Christianity.

Re: Prophecies in the OT. Take if from my experience over almost 20 years. The prophecies in the OT will be flatly denied.
Re: Archaeology absence of evidence is proof it didn't happen and any "God" explanation must be wrong because that's supernatural.

BUT, nonetheless we strive to present the reasons why we believe in the best manner we can to those who don't with the hope that they will one day change.

The first step is looking into such matters yourself. Reaching your own positions, becoming solid in them.
Focus on issues that concern you the most. Use Google to research responses until you find ones you feel are adequate.
Don't let your doubts build. There is no reason for it today given responses can be so easily found online. And if you're not satisfied, then post your doubts on this board and I'm sure others will try and help.

Once you are solid yourself, only then you can work out how to best give an answer that might have a hope of being received by non-believers.

[Silvertusk]

HI guys, I know it's been a month since I created this thread. But I would like to thank you all for the answers, and i apologize for taking all this time to return here and give a reply. But still, you helped me a lot. As English is not my natural language it's a bit difficult to express myself sometimes, and I know it must have some grammatical errors, so just ignore it...

after reading my original post again I would like to add a few things:

When i wrote about my problem with atheists that try to "destroy people's faith", i was not talking about atheists who respect other people's opinion and/or just want to discuss, i was talking about these new atheists/militant atheists that instead of arguing, they just want to offend, mock and insult , Unfortunately it is very common to see this hatred exposed on other forums and facebook, and even on websites that are directed to Christians. I realized that even famous Militant Atheists like Dawkins argue using sarcasm and hate sometimes.
There's two brazilian web sites that i stopped acessing because they often try to attack Christianity. Just an example of the magazines they have:
"How Darwin killed God"
"Jesus, the myth"
"Destroying the Bible"

The magazine don't have much credibility, but still It's annoying seeing such things on the media, they often try to prove that Christianity is wrong, Darwinism is the only truth and humans are just "hairless Monkeys", but luckily i found a blog from an former darwinist who analyzed many lies they talk in their articles

But, again, you guys helped me a lot, not only by this thread, i also found old posts and discussions from some users here that where helpful. I never knew that it's possible to defend faith with reason and logic, things like apologetics are new to me.
I don't say I'm 100% recovered, but I'm better than before, no problems for sleep or eat anymore, But i am still dealing with some anguish sometimes, mostly when thinking about philosophy and when some doubts come to my mind
i have found answers for most of my doubts, although i still have some.

What you think are the best defense to Christianity and the Bible? The Prophecies? Archeology?
I was reading an testimony from a former atheist, he mentioned bible verses talking about the weight of air and earth suspended in nothing, and it made me thinking, how could the prophets know these things so many years ago? I never see christians talking about those verses, but don't you think those are good arguments?

Hi leo7alves,

Question:

When your dad passed away when you were ten years old, what went through your mind?
We never expect the death of our loved ones, especially when we are so young, it was difficult to believe that he passed away, was a hard time but managed to overcome with the help of family and friends.

Did your mother remarry?
No

Did you ever feel like a slow moving cloud-grey gloominess seem to overtake and slowly swirl around you, if so, when?
Again, if so, did you emotionally feel like this inside: Help! arrrg ahhh!
If not, then what is it you really felt inside around the time when it began (you crisis)?

A deep feeling of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization.
I looked the skies thinking: "What's the meaning of Life?", "Are we just monkeys that evolved?", "What's the point of Objective Morals if nothing has a purpose?", "Is death the end?", pretty scary questions when this crisis started, i felt i was out of reality, i tried to see everything about the perspective that Life, Earth and Universe began by a miraculous accident, now, after 2 months since this crisis started, those questions don't bother me anymore. But still i don't understand why "Nothing creating everything" is considered by many people as the "smarter" way to think on the origin of universe.

I tried searching on google to find people who have gone through the same situation, I only found some, one that caught my attention was this thread in another forum: "I think you will be permanently depressed after an existential crisis", this guy couldn't believe in the meaning of life, God and objective morals anymore. But i also found some people that have overcome this situation, so i knew there is some hope.

But, despite having grown up in a Christian family, I became agnostic because I lost the desire to go to church and learn about the bible, my mother always remained Christian, always called me to go to church, but never forced me to. So I ended up being accommodated, i still believed that there could be something greater than us, but i never liked to think about it. Then this existential crisis came, and i had to start thinking.

When I discovered that great scientists like Newton and Galileo believed in God, and it also motivated them in their scientific discoveries. I was more curious to know about the Bible and God's existence. But as I still was not sure where to start looking, I fell in many sites trying to destroy the Bible's veracity, and it created even more doubts, that's why in the initial post asked about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Then I ended finding this forum, and decided to create this thread here.

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Hey Leo.

Here are some resources for you to look into - they really helped me.

http://www.reasonablefaith.org - Literally hundreds of podcasts.

http://www.str.org

And just youtube or search for people like - John Lennox, Frank Turek, J Warner Wallace (Cold Case Christianity), JOsh McDowell, Ravi Zacharias to name a few.

Look for books by these people as well - also Lee Strobel is good as well. http://www.reasons.org is another one.

There is plenty out there my friend.

[B. W.]

Hi leo7alves,

Question:

When your dad passed away when you were ten years old, what went through your mind?
We never expect the death of our loved ones, especially when we are so young, it was difficult to believe that he passed away, was a hard time but managed to overcome with the help of family and friends.

Did your mother remarry?

No

Did she convey / project a sense of loss into the family from this?

If so, did it latch onto you? In other words, did your life mirrored her loss and fueled your own? Have you thought of this?

God's love - is that phrase rather foreign to you? If so, can you see why...

Can we pray for you on this?

Did you ever feel like a slow moving cloud-grey gloominess seem to overtake and slowly swirl around you, if so, when?
Again, if so, did you emotionally feel like this inside: Help! arrrg ahhh!
If not, then what is it you really felt inside around the time when it began (you crisis)?

A deep feeling of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization.

I looked the skies thinking: "What's the meaning of Life?", "Are we just monkeys that evolved?", "What's the point of Objective Morals if nothing has a purpose?", "Is death the end?", pretty scary questions when this crisis started, i felt i was out of reality, i tried to see everything about the perspective that Life, Earth and Universe began by a miraculous accident, now, after 2 months since this crisis started, those questions don't bother me anymore. But still i don't understand why "Nothing creating everything" is considered by many people as the "smarter" way to think on the origin of universe.

I tried searching on google to find people who have gone through the same situation, I only found some, one that caught my attention was this thread in another forum: "I think you will be permanently depressed after an existential crisis", this guy couldn't believe in the meaning of life, God and objective morals anymore. But i also found some people that have overcome this situation, so i knew there is some hope.

But, despite having grown up in a Christian family, I became agnostic because I lost the desire to go to church and learn about the bible, my mother always remained Christian, always called me to go to church, but never forced me to. So I ended up being accommodated, i still believed that there could be something greater than us, but i never liked to think about it. Then this existential crisis came, and i had to start thinking.

When I discovered that great scientists like Newton and Galileo believed in God, and it also motivated them in their scientific discoveries. I was more curious to know about the Bible and God's existence. But as I still was not sure where to start looking, I fell in many sites trying to destroy the Bible's veracity, and it created even more doubts, that's why in the initial post asked about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Then I ended finding this forum, and decided to create this thread here.

You mentioned deep feelings of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization. This describes how stark abandonment feels to many. Next, usually comes the phase of trying to figure it out or why did it happen - the abandonment. This often takes on the patterns you described, a time of soul searching for answers. This can be part of what is called a grieving process. One may recognize the loss of a loved one but the loss of love associated with the passing of a loved one is a driving force that breaks the heart, and crushes the life out of a person. Being reminded of the loss, after you were 10 and growing up seeing others and their fathers had an effect on you, correct? How did it make you feel?
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[B. W.]

Hi leo7alves,

Question:

When your dad passed away when you were ten years old, what went through your mind?

We never expect the death of our loved ones, especially when we are so young, it was difficult to believe that he passed away, was a hard time but managed to overcome with the help of family and friends.

Did your mother remarry?

No

Did she convey / project a sense of loss into the family from this?

If so, did it latch onto you? In other words, did your life mirror her loss and fueled your own? Have you thought of this?

God's love - is that phrase rather foreign to you? If so, can you see begin to understand why...

Can we pray for you on this?

Did you ever feel like a slow moving cloud-grey gloominess seem to overtake and slowly swirl around you, if so, when?
Again, if so, did you emotionally feel like this inside: Help! arrrg ahhh!
If not, then what is it you really felt inside around the time when it began (you crisis)?

A deep feeling of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization.

I looked the skies thinking: "What's the meaning of Life?", "Are we just monkeys that evolved?", "What's the point of Objective Morals if nothing has a purpose?", "Is death the end?", pretty scary questions when this crisis started, i felt i was out of reality, i tried to see everything about the perspective that Life, Earth and Universe began by a miraculous accident, now, after 2 months since this crisis started, those questions don't bother me anymore. But still i don't understand why "Nothing creating everything" is considered by many people as the "smarter" way to think on the origin of universe.

I tried searching on google to find people who have gone through the same situation, I only found some, one that caught my attention was this thread in another forum: "I think you will be permanently depressed after an existential crisis", this guy couldn't believe in the meaning of life, God and objective morals anymore. But i also found some people that have overcome this situation, so i knew there is some hope.

But, despite having grown up in a Christian family, I became agnostic because I lost the desire to go to church and learn about the bible, my mother always remained Christian, always called me to go to church, but never forced me to. So I ended up being accommodated, i still believed that there could be something greater than us, but i never liked to think about it. Then this existential crisis came, and i had to start thinking.

When I discovered that great scientists like Newton and Galileo believed in God, and it also motivated them in their scientific discoveries. I was more curious to know about the Bible and God's existence. But as I still was not sure where to start looking, I fell in many sites trying to destroy the Bible's veracity, and it created even more doubts, that's why in the initial post asked about the Epic of Gilgamesh. Then I ended finding this forum, and decided to create this thread here.

You mentioned deep feelings of Anguish, Anxiety and Derealization. This describes how stark abandonment feels to many. Next, usually comes the phase of trying to figure it out or why did it happen - the abandonment. This often takes on the patterns you described, a time of soul searching for answers. This can be part of what is called a grieving process. One may recognize the loss of a loved one but the loss of love associated with the passing of a loved one is a driving force that breaks the heart, and crushes the life out of a person. Being reminded of the loss, after you were 10 and growing up seeing others and their fathers had an effect on you, correct? How did it make you feel?
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[Billthebull]

I'm sorry for bumping this 2 year old thread up. But I'm desperate for help. I'm suffering from the exact same problem as the person who started the thread.

I feel like I'm grieving over myself. I can't get through the day without breaking down into tears. I can't get through any enjoyable activity without feeling like a gargantuan weight is pressing down on me emotionally. My eyes well up, and I tear up. I'm a 24 year old guy, who has tried to keep the faith for what feels like ages. I went to undergrad, and grad school and met many wonderful people from all sorts of walks of life who believe in God, and have appreciation for our scientific findings. And see those scientific findings as a way for us to appreciate the life and world God has given us, and push our knowledge of His Earth further. But at the same time, there were a lot of people who were not believers in God, but who were still kind people. I don't think of them as evil, or in opposition to me. But at the same time it made the faith difficult and caused my existential crisis to grow into some unfathomable void.


Please help friends. I really need it.

[RickD]

I'm sorry for bumping this 2 year old thread up. But I'm desperate for help. I'm suffering from the exact same problem as the person who started the thread.

I feel like I'm grieving over myself. I can't get through the day without breaking down into tears. I can't get through any enjoyable activity without feeling like a gargantuan weight is pressing down on me emotionally. My eyes well up, and I tear up. I'm a 24 year old guy, who has tried to keep the faith for what feels like ages. I went to undergrad, and grad school and met many wonderful people from all sorts of walks of life who believe in God, and have appreciation for our scientific findings. And see those scientific findings as a way for us to appreciate the life and world God has given us, and push our knowledge of His Earth further. But at the same time, there were a lot of people who were not believers in God, but who were still kind people. I don't think of them as evil, or in opposition to me. But at the same time it made the faith difficult and caused my existential crisis to grow into some unfathomable void.


Please help friends. I really need it.

How is your relationship with God? Are you reading scripture and praying on a daily basis?