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Saturday afternoon I was having a discussion with an acquaintance who didn’t know much about autism and wanted to know more. Being an autism advocate, I was happy to share the details of what it is to be autistic and how others, like this person, can accept and include them in their circle of friends and in society as a whole.
This was going well until we got to the part about other things that go along with autism, such as, in my case, severe social anxiety and depression. It was at this point that the entire conversation ground to a halt and took a complete 180 from where we had been.
“You’re suffering from depression because you’ve sinned and need to ask forgiveness and repentance from that sin,” they told me.
Once I picked my jaw up off the floor I explained that like everyone in the world, including them, I have sinned, but that sin was not the cause of depression.
“You might feel depression and guilt because of something you’ve done,” I explained. “But that’s not everyone. In fact, that’s not most people.”
Depression can have many causes. In the past few days, I lost a friend with cerebral palsy who drowned in a car during a flash flood. Her family and friends are depressed, but it’s not due to sin. It’s due to a profound loss in their lives.
My depression is chemically based and, again, is a side effect of my autism. Does everyone with autism who gets depressed have it because they’ve sinned? And taking it a step further, is that to say that everyone on the spectrum is that way because of sin?
Considering autism is something you’re born with, I’m going with a hearty, “No” on this one.
Can you pray that God will help you with the symptoms of your depression? Absolutely. Should you pray that He takes away the sin that causes you to be depressed? Absolutely not.
This is just an example of those Christians who believe that everything in one’s life is caused by sin and by simply praying and working on removing that sin from your life, things will be right as rain.
It would be nice if things were that simple, but they’re not. I can feel the difference when I take my depression medicine and when I don’t. That feeling has nothing to do with sin or a lack thereof. It has everything to do with a chemical imbalance in my brain that I need medication to remedy.
Let me be clear and say that not everyone who attends church believes what my acquaintance does and that this person is NOT speaking for the church as a whole.
After about fifteen minutes of discussing this I said that I supposed we would just have to agree to disagree on this one and was shocked when I was met with the reply that no, we couldn’t agree to disagree. That I was wrong in my beliefs and that they would be praying for my soul.
To me, that was a huge red flag. Anytime someone is that blinded that they refuse to listen to someone else’s opinion, I get nervous about that person and anything they say.
So, what about you? Do you believe depression is caused by sin or are you of the belief that it’s a chemical imbalance or some other kind of medical issue that can and should be treated with something other than or in addition to prayer?
Leave your comments below and let’s start a discussion.
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