Kenneth Richard Samples's Blog, page 4

God’s Hope for Depression and Anxiety

As a Christian apologist, I’m grateful that people ask me questions. On occasion, someone will contact me to ask for advice as they face various types of suffering. Some time ago a person shared his heartfelt struggle with me by asking the following question (paraphrased):

Ken, I’m a Christian but I suffer daily from a basically debilitating depression and anxiety. I’m constantly battling doubt and occasionally thoughts of suicide. Why do I have a condition that causes me to doubt God’s existence and consider suicide?

Here was my response (paraphrased):

Greetings, my friend.

I’m so sorry you struggle with depression and anxiety. My heart goes out to you because I have family members who have similar struggles. Therefore, I know something about what you are experiencing.

Let me offer you three points that I hope will be helpful to you.

First, while I am not a mental health professional, I do want to strongly encourage you to seek professional medical and psychological help if you haven’t already—especially since you have suicidal thoughts. In fact, someone at the Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) is available to chat right now (24/7).

Antidepressant medication and psychotherapy can help ease the inner pain and help remove the suicidal ideation. Thus depression and anxiety can be treated and there is genuine hope for you to return to a more stable place of mental health.

Second, there are many Christian mental health professionals who share your worldview and can provide guidance to help both body and soul. You have options for managing and resolving your chronic challenges.

Third, you are not alone in your struggles. Many people battle depression and anxiety. And that includes Christians and non-Christians.

The short answer to your bigger question is that we suffer psychologically and existentially because we live in a fallen world. Original sin has cut us off from God and has led to alienation with others and deep angst within ourselves. Our spiritual condition affects our physical and psychological states, and that is true even of those who have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. So experiencing depression and anxiety can indeed contribute to doubt and worry about our spiritual condition.

Our Hope in Christ
Yet the ultimate cure for our fallen state is found in the gracious gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8–10). Along with seeking professional psychological help, I encourage you to pray and meditate on Jesus’s words—especially in Matthew 11:28: 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

The triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) created you and knows everything about you. He loves you and understands your situation. 

Two voices, one from the present and one from the past, may encourage you. Anglican theologian Stephen Neill said the central emphasis of Jesus’s teaching is: “God can be depended upon in every circumstance of life.”1 Therefore you can rely on the Lord to help you with your suffering.

Also, consider reading St. Augustine’s Confessions as a source of spiritual reflection and support. Augustine writes about his own difficulties in life and how God’s grace met him in his intense existential challenges.

May our Lord grant you in body and soul what St. Augustine called rest and peace.

Takeaway
If you also battle mental health issues then I hope you will consider the points above. Or if you know a person who does, please take the time to offer them encouragement and direction. When you undergo suffering, remember the God of historic Christianity is a “God with wounds,” for Jesus Christ as the God-man has suffered with us in life and for us on the cross.

Reflections: Your Turn 
How have you worked through times of anxiety, doubt, and depression?

Resources

For twelve points and practices for personal spiritual growth and renewal and examples of how to extend hope for the hurting, see Kenneth Richard Samples,  Christianity Cross-Examined  (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2021), 217, 236.For more about Christianity and mental health, I recommend Mark P. Cosgrove and James D. Mallory Jr.’s book Mental Health: A Christian Approach.Although there are many translations of Confessions available, I recommend these:  Confessions , trans. R. S. Pine-Coffin (New York: Penguin, 1961); The Confessions: Saint Augustine of Hippo, ed. David Vincent Meconi, trans. Maria Boulding (San Francisco: Ignatius, 2012);  Confessions , 2nd ed., ed. Michael P. Foley, trans. F. J. Sheed (Indianapolis: Hackett, 2006).

Endnotes

Stephen Neill,  The Supremacy of Jesus  (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1983), 63.

Beware “Bible Onlyism”: A Case for the Value of Other Books

According to historic Christianity, the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. The apostle Paul declares: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

The branch of Christendom known as Protestantism goes further, affirming Scripture as the ultimate authority as opposed to conjoining the Bible with church tradition as does Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. Thus, the watchword of the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century became sola Scriptura, a Latin phrase meaning Scripture is the absolute standard of doctrine and the final court of appeals in all matters of faith and practice for the church and the individual Christian.1 

However, an unfortunate and fairly common misunderstanding of sola Scriptura (literally “Scripture alone”) is that the Bible’s inspiration and authority which is directly supervised by the Holy Spirit serves to effectively devalue the theological writings of uninspired authors. This sentiment, entertained especially among some evangelical laymen, in practice becomes a type of “Bible onlyism.” It’s a position that says, “I only read or consider inspired theological authors. I don’t care what uninspired theologians wrote in creeds, confessions, or even great books of literature.”

I’m not aware of any particular evangelical scholar or denomination that officially teaches this view as doctrine, but I encounter “Bible onlyism” fairly frequently among evangelical Christians who come from noncreedal, nonconfessional, nonliturgical church backgrounds (for example, contemporary non-denominational churches).

Though no doubt well-intentioned, this “Bible onlyism” is a misunderstanding of and a departure from the Reformation view that Scripture, as God’s unique inspired Word, is the final court of appeals in all matters of faith and practice. Secondary or derived sources in theology can have great value, and they can even help us better understand Scripture itself.

Two Examples of “Bible Onlyism”
In one social media exchange, a person told me he would never recite historic Christian creeds such as the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed because these were words of mere men and not the words of inspired Scripture. I informed the man that biblical scholars believe there were a number of creeds, both Jewish and Christian, that were first recited by God’s people in worship but then later included in the Bible (see Deuteronomy 6:4, Romans 10:9, 1 Corinthians 15:3–8, among others). 

I also explained that these two creeds were considered by historic Christendom to faithfully convey the basic message of the Bible. In fact, Christian historian Mark Noll has written that “the ancient creeds became authoritative in the early centuries because they were thoroughly, profoundly, comprehensively, and passionately rooted in Scripture.”2 If understood this way, the ecumenical creeds of Christendom do a great job of summarizing the essential teaching of Scripture even though they are not inspired and carry only derivative authority.

In another theological exchange online, a person told me that he would not read the list of great theological books that I had recommended (Augustine’s Confessions, Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae, John Calvin’s The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Blaise Pascal’s Pensées, etc.) because these books were uninspired texts that offered mere theological opinion. I assured the man that these great Christian authors truly revered and frequently quoted Scripture, and had humbly offered their reasoned understanding of biblical truth. In other words, some of these works helped formulate and shape Christian orthodoxy by skillfully drawing out the doctrinal meaning of Scripture.

The Greatest of the Great Books
I think in a sense all three major branches of historic Christendom (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant) would affirm that sacred Scripture has no peer.3 Yet tradition as a secondary norm in theology carries great value in understanding and applying biblical texts. So, the good news is that you can view Scripture as the greatest (uniquely inspired and inerrant) of the great books but still read and benefit from other books, theological and otherwise. After all, all truth is God’s truth whether it comes from the literal book of Scripture (the Bible) or the figurative book of nature (the world); that is, truth discovered and revealed in various academic and scientific disciplines.4 In fact, many of these great books were influenced by Scripture, and some may even increase a person’s understanding of the Bible and the Christian worldview overall.

So, I invite you to become a lifelong student of the Bible, but I also encourage you to consider reading some of history’s great Christian creeds and books. I think you’ll find that they will, in one way or another, point you back to God’s unique and inspired written Word.

Resources

For an exploration of the theological and worldview dimensions of Scripture, see Kenneth Richard Samples,  A World of Difference  , especially chapter 7.For a discussion of Christian creeds and their relationship to Scripture, see Kenneth Richard Samples,  Christianity Cross-Examined , chapter 10.For a list and introduction to some Christian classics, see Kenneth Richard Samples, “How about Reading Some Christian Classics?“

Reflections: Your Turn

As a Christian, have you ever thought your commitment to Scripture prohibited you from reading great classic books? How so?

Endnotes

For a detailed discussion of the meaning of the Protestant principle of sola Scriptura, see Kenneth Richard Samples, “God’s Written Word—Scripture,” chap. 7 in  A World of Difference  (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2007).Mark A. Noll, Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2011), 2.Scripture has no peer in the sense that church tradition is interpretive rather than inspirationally creative.For a discussion of the “two books” principle within Christian theology, see Kenneth Richard Samples,  Christianity Cross-Examined  (Covina, CA: RTB Press, 2021), 49–52.