GOD is the answer?

[LiQuidDreamer]

Hello everyone

I would like to pose the question, if anyone has considered it.... could God be the answer to most of our worries about mental health?

I have had had some trying times recently and it makes me feel better to believe in God and to tell myself that God is there watching over me and helping me.

But of course I know the major problem is, that not everyone believes in God in the same way, and there are all the different world views and religions in what God is supposed to be like.

So my idea of God may not be someone else's.

But I would like to know how many other people believe in God to help us work things out?

And what do you do if you don't believe in God at all?

Just wondering...

LiQuidDreamer

[nightfalls]

HI LiquidDreamer,

At times I try hard to belive that God is there protecting me and watching over me as you have said and I really do belive in a God. I get distracted by thoughts I've had though about the whole thing. I find it very difficult to keep the positive God thought when bad things happen in my life. I can't help but wonder WHY? why would he want me to have to fight so hard, why does he challenge me, can't he see that I'm about to fall apart, When I am depressed and all the thoughts turn negative I feel like I am fighting my own life and I think and pray "Please help me through this" It is such a struggle, and at times I just can't understand the meanings of the challenges he has put in my life or my familys life. I'm sure there is meaning there that mabe I have not figured out yet. I try to spin the thoughts back to God helping me in some mysterious way such as...on friday I was let down by a situation I had really wanted and worked hard for, it was such a small thing that stopped me and I really can't understand WHY? then when I tryed to fix the small issue I was met with another disappointment, and then another. It seems to me that whatever I did would not work and I really was not meant to do this positive thing. I was SO upset and discouraged wondering why should I ever try? anyways I'm still trying to fight the though and think that mabe God was protecting me in some way, like mabe something bad would have happened and that is why he stopped it? anyways the whole weekend was filled with these little dicouraging things for me to try and overcome without getting upset, I start feeling that I am being challenged, so I am fighting with that thought.

I do belive in God.

[Natalie]

I think a belief in God can be very helpful, particularly if that gives you a place to hang your hat when you start to question why bad things happen and wonder what the "meaning" of it all is.

Research suggests that people who are religious/spiritual are frequently more mentally healthy (less stressed, have better social support, etc.). However, relying solely on a belief in God will not, for most, solve the problem of how to deal with a mental illness. I like to think of a person as possessing a "toolbox"

of skills that they can use to deal with their symptoms and life challenges. You need multiple tools in that toolbox, and religious beliefs are only one.

[Guest h8cruelty]

I do not believe in a god. Belief in a god has caused so much suffering in the world. Too many people believe their god is "The God", and it leads to so much destruction. Just look at Iraq (or the Crusades, or the Inquisition). It seems to me we should concentrate more on caring for the earth and each other, rather than look to a god to solve our problems. Is it so difficult for those with a religious orientation to understand that a person can be an atheist, and yet want to do good in the world, to make the world a better place for all of us? I'm here for anybody who needs a friend.

[hootie]

why is it that you wonder? personally I was raised to believe there is a god but honestly that crap about him looking out for you is nothing more than wishful thinking a dillusion. If it wre true when I was a child and was been beaten with a stick and cut and getting broken bones were was your god then. If there is a god he sure did not have enough time to save me. Actually he must like to see people tortured and killed . No I beleive we are all one big experiment from outer space. The god story that is passed around is just that a story we are told when we are young. God what makes one think that it would intervine to help some poor retched soul come out of the darkness into the light? I have been asking everyone to help me come out of the darkness but all I hear is it will take time. well so much for gods help

[Mark]

After reading some of these posts, I think it makes sense to say that it is easy to believe in a benevolent God when times are good, and much much harder to do so when your world is very stressful as is the case when you are dealing with one or more mental health and life issues.

God can be an incredible support for believers. Quite apart from the possibility of answered prayers, there is the structure and ritual of the religion which can be very supportive, especially so when you are stressed out. and there is the community that many find within their religion. People within a given religious community tend to pull together and treat each other more like kin than most strangers would do for each other. That social support can be tremendous. I had a cousin who died after a decade long struggle with breast cancer, and in the end her marriage fell apart, but the people who came through for her were the members of the church she had joined.

None of this works well for athiests and agnostics, however. As so many have pointed out over in the addictions forum, attempts to try to fit athiest individuals into a faith based structure (there they are talking about AA) sometimes makes everyone unhappy.

There was a Kurt vonnegut book I read years ago - i forget which one - where everyone in the world was issued a new middle name at random, and those who had the same middle name were supposed to treat each other like kin - Vonnegut seemed to be saying that we all need more family members to help us get through tough times, and I can't disagree.

[Guest h8cruelty]

Many atheists, myself included, focus on helping those in need of comfort. We empathize with those who are alone and without friends or hope. Unlike God, who seems obsessed with suffering, we reach out and care for those in need.

[kaudio]

I'm agnostic at most and I usually don't think of God when dealing with the trials and tribulations of daily life. I tried to seek some sort of guidance from the Bible once, but I didn't really read too far into the book.

When I'm struggling or trying to figure things out, I usually refer to a few self-help books like Getting Things Done by David Allen, or Stephen Covey's popular 7 Habits, or Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism. But, honestly, reading these works are not magic bullets so I take things one day at a time. Allen says the more you think of yourself as the captain of your own ship the better off you will be, so I like to imagine myself as Captain Picard or Captain Janeway or something like that.

[Kalima]

I believe in god.

I used to have complete faith. I'm not sure when it waivered. There was a time when I would think to myself 'help me make the right choice for me in the long run', 'help my friend find happiness'. I don't tend to think like that any more.

god to me has always been the answer to the questions we can't answer. Where did the world come from? Ans: the big bang. where did the big bang come from? Ans: gasses in space (or whatever it was). And where did that come from? Ans: I don't know, so I'll call it god.

We've come so far evolutionwise and the world is so organised. Trees make oxygen and need carbondioxide. We make carbondioxide and need oxygen. It's a little too well balanced for me to believe that the world is a fluke.

So I do believe in god, but i'm not sure what that means. I lost my faith in him/her or it.

[xaq141175]

For me, God is ... err ... umm ... He's the tree on the horizon you look at when your ploughing the field. You keep your eye on it and mindful of what your doing, you'll plough a much better line than you would if your attentions on the plough. Still won't be straight though, thats what it is to be who I am, for now.

I don't know if Jesus actually existed or not (I'm starting to believe he did) but I think that there is a hell of a lot of wisdom in the bible.

I've found my faith (pathetic as it is) to be both extremely comforting and disturbing, realising that I sin so much and looking at the ideal in Christ ... what a contrast! But then, that I am loved by Him.

I could go on but I won't.

[Ob1one]

There is a reason God puts us through struggles. He does this because the world needs people who can support others with experience and knowledge. I had an anxiety disorder and it is hard at times to believe but I did believe and I always knew this.

He puts us through trials to make us wise to help people who don't have God watching over them. If your going through the worst time in your life right now it doesn't mean your forsaken but if you don't follow him he'll just wait for you to come to your senses but he'll be waiting.

Life is a hard thing, I know but now because I had a taste of life I'm more wise then before and now I can help others who don't have God.

Don't be discouraged when you think God isn't doing anything for you he's doing a lot more then you know, you just need to open your mind