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@eden-anderson @evelyn

Finally coming back to answer. XD

Before I dig deep into what I mean, let me ask you a question.

When a person, especially a non-Christian person, has a mental illness, who do they think about the most?

I’ll let you think about that for a moment and move onto analyzing. So. When I say I believe that mental illnesses, in their “base” form are excuses, I mean that. But as I said above they’re a very subjective thing and not everyone experiences them the same way. And while I don’t think things like depression in themselves is a sin, I think the things that depression and other illnesses cause is a sin. Because things like this are so subjective, I can’t nail down a simple explanation, so please prepare for a rant.

Going back to our first question, I can 99.9% guarantee you that someone who’s depressed thinks mostly about themselves, how the world/people affects them, and how their life is terrible and how many problems they have. I’ve been there. I know. I’ve been walking the wire of depression for years, and as the person I am I’m highly self-reflective. I’ve thought for hours over my own depression and if I could legitimately call it something that’s not a sin, or if thinking certain ways is or not. I scrutinized myself because I hold myself to a standard to stand by the truth no matter what, and allowing myself to fall to depression and self-pitying thoughts was allowing me to deceive myself. Anxiety, at least in the way I’ve experienced it, is very similar as it deals with constantly watching out for a threat to you.

Now, before I go on, I’d just like to say that I don’t think that depression or anxiety, or PTSD, etc that is a hereditary thing or a medical issue exactly relates to this. But like I said, while depression itself may not be bad, the basis of the “depressed” mindset is an excuse for most people, and that can lead to bad things. So I guess you could rephrase what I said to read that the presence of depression/etc. is not necessarily bad, but the mindset we gain from that is bad, which leads to us doing bad things.

We’re naturally self-centered and self-obsessed, really. I’m a manipulative person who constantly analyzes situations to fit my wants and needs. Other people use emotions to get what they want, etc. It’s just a fact of life that we’re selfish people, and nothing is going to change that no matter what we try to do. The only one that can change that is God. The mindset of depression tells us that our lives are terrible, and that we need help, and that we need a goal, or that we need to gain something to be happy. The mindset of anxiety tells us that we need to be constantly distrusting of our surroundings and other people, and God. They’re excuses for what we really need–God.

And while I agree that mental illnesses can be caused by medical things, I think the only way to cause a deep-seated depression/etc. is to truly give into the mindset. But that’s just my opinion, so like I said, don’t take that as law.

And please, don’t take what I’m saying as a discrediting of people who struggle with mental illnesses. That’s not what it’s meant to be at all, I know what it’s like to struggle with these things and I really, really don’t mean to discredit or make their problems seem like it’s all their fault. But this is something I firmly stand by and I don’t think I’ll be shaken unless there’s a very good argument otherwise.