We know that countless people are depressed, and millions are addicted to alcohol or drugs, and millions take antidepressants. And I’m not surprised!
Why?
Because honest people—and by that I mean the people not living in denial, the people honest about the human condition—should be depressed! Very depressed.
Consider a truth agreed upon by every agnostic, skeptic, atheist, and Christian: only one thing is going to prevent you from watching every person you know die from murder, accident, or disease and that will be your own death by murder, accident or disease.
That’s absolutely true, right?
But it gets worse. Unless we die young (which most people consider a bad thing) then we will watch ourselves, and those we love, slowly lose physical and mental abilities—in often painful and humiliating ways—until we ultimately watch everyone die from murder, accident or disease.
Bring me another double gin gimlet, STAT!
How do people live with this knowledge? They don’t. At least not very well.
Thus many people rely on drink or drugs, and even then almost everyone denies this grim reality. Of course they will acknowledge the truth of death—but then they try to numb it and push it out of their minds, to ignore it, to pretend like it isn’t so.
That’s the reason I said “honest people” are depressed. Or Christians!1
Ernest Becker, in his Pulitzer Prize winning book The Denial of Death, argued “the idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else; it is the mainspring of human activity—activity designed largely to avoid the fatality of death, to overcome it by denying in some way that it is the final destiny of man.2 To cope with this man tries to “transcend death by participating in something of lasting worth. We achieve ersatz immortality by sacrificing ourselves to conquer an empire, to build a temple, to write a book, to establish a family, to accumulate a fortune, to further progress and prosperity, to create an information society and a global free market.”3 Becker writes that a fellow who may “throw himself on a grenade to save his comrades” must “feel and believe what he is doing is truly heroic, timeless, and supremely meaningful” and says this striving for heroics in “passionate people” is “a screaming for glory as uncritical and reflexive as the howling of a dog.”4 But for most people, for the more “passive masses,” this heroism is “disguised as they humbly and complainingly follow out the roles that society provides for their heroics and try to earn their promotions within the system” which allows them to “stick out, but ever so little and so safely.”5
Becker’s right.
That’s one reason why the godless so often champion political, environmental, and social movements: they need to be a part of something larger than themselves—something meaningful beyond their soon-to-be-eaten-by-worms existence. Although there’s nothing wrong, in itself, with political, environmental, and social movements, or with watching television, listening to music, surfing the net, or reading a book, but most people use them to drown out the bell that tolls for them.
It is fascinating to note that Becker was aware of the way out, but sadly, he didn’t believe it was true (he died of cancer the year his book was published—he was 47). Becker summed up the wonder of the Christian worldview:
When man lived securely under the canopy of the Judeo-Christian world picture he was part of a great whole; to put it in our terms, his cosmic heroism was completely mapped out, it was unmistakable. He came from the invisible world into the visible one by the act of God, did his duty to God by living out his life with dignity and faith… offering his whole life—as Christ had—to the Father. In turn he was justified by the Father and rewarded with eternal life in the invisible dimension. Little did it matter that earth was a vale of tears, of horrid sufferings of incommensurateness, of torturous and humiliating daily pettiness, of sickness and death, a place where man felt he did not belong, “the wrong place,” as Chesterton said…. In a word, man’s cosmic heroism was assured, even if he was as nothing. This was the most remarkable achievement of the Christian world picture: that it could take slaves, cripples, imbeciles, the simple and the mighty, and make them all secure heroes, simply by taking a step back from the world into another dimension of things, the dimension called heaven. Or we might better say that Christianity took creature consciousness—the thing man most wanted to deny—and made it the very condition for his cosmic heroism.6
Even though he missed the truth of it, Becker was right. Christianity does give glorious meaning and purpose to our difficult lives. More than that, Christianity transcends death and promises immortality.
Thus the title of this post, “If you’re honest you’re depressed (or you’re a Christian).” Now I’m not saying that there aren’t other causes of depression—of course there are. Also, I realize that Christians sometimes struggle with depression—this is a hard world after all—but Christians who envelop themselves in the hope of eternal life have much less reason to be depressed. In fact, one reason that some Christians can’t shake depression is that they have a beggarly view of the glory that awaits them forever.
Thankfully, Jesus really was raised from the dead and by believing in Him we can have eternal life!
John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Amen.
- Other religions do provide some solace to the human condition but, of course, I argue that those religions are false. [↩]
- Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (New York, Free Press, 1973), xvii. [↩]
- Sam Keen, “Forward” in Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death (New York, Free Press, 1973), xiii. [↩]
- Ibid., 6. [↩]
- Ibid. [↩]
- Ibid., 159-160. Emphasis his. [↩]
Funny thing how sharing freedom with blind/visually impaired kids ended up leading to the Race Across America bicycle race which just happens to be all about overcoming the “human condition” without money and against all the odds ………. neither one has to do with “heroics” Had plenty of that in a career with the U.S. Coast Guard ……… Faith is a rather powerful thing; sure glad God was in my life as a child and later when reaching the age of accountability (which is different for all of us) I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior so God and the power of His Spirit would still be there :=) Sure is awesome to spend time in the wilderness walking side by side with bears while at times having wild birds land on you ……… God, His Son Jesus Christ, and the power of His Holy Spirit is so Awesome :=)
“SINNER’S PRAYER”
There are those who advance the position that, by saying, the Sinner’s Prayer your sins will be forgiven and you will be added to the Lord’s church. The question remains, can saying a prayer save anyone? Let us investigate that supposition.
The typical sinner’s prayer: “Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I believe that you have died for my sins and arose from the grave. I now turn from my sins and invite You into my heart and life. I receive You as my Lord. Amen.”
The birth of the church of Christ was A.D. 33 the Day of Pentecost. How were they saved?
Acts 2:22-41…..36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified.” 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
The events on the Day of Pentecost that lead to salvation.
1. Peter preached the death, burial , and resurrection of Jesus.(Acts 2:22-35)
2. Peter proclaimed Jesus as both Lord and Christ. (Acts 2:36)
3. Men believed the message and were convicted of their sins and ask what they should do. (Acts 2:37)
4. Peter told them to repent and be baptized (immersed in water) so their sins could be forgiven and they could receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
5. How were they saved? Act2:40-41…”Be saved from this perverse generation” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. (Notice they were not saved until they were baptized).
PETER DID NOT TELL THEM TO SAY THE “SINNER’S PRAYER” IN ORDER TO BE SAVED.
What did they have to do to be saved?
They needed to have faith: John 3:16, Mark 16:16
They needed to repent: Acts 2:38, Acts 3;19 (repentance means to make a commitment to turn from sin and turn toward God).
They needed to confess: Romans 10:9-10, Acts 8:36-37.
They needed to be baptized: Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16, 1 Peter 3:20-21.
The apostles never taught the sinner’s prayer as the terms for pardon.
No one is questioning the sincerity of those who recite the SINNER’S PRAYER, the question is, can the SINNER’S PRAYER SAVE ANYONE?
YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY CHRISTIAN BLOG. Google search>>>steve finnell a christian view
Pingback: Weekly Roundup – 8/9 | Youth Apologetics Network - Train Today, Defend Tomorrow
In Portuguese, the word for “fun” is “divertido”, which literally means “diversion”. I always found that funny. Diversion from what?! I figure the Portuguese language comes right out and says it: we divert ourselves with entertainment in order to avoid the most primal and essential matters of our being. Great post prof!
Thanks Brent! Some have suggested that amuse must mean to stop thinking since muse means to think. I can’t find that in the dictionary however.
“We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”
― Thích Nhất Hạnh
Once you begin to awaken, you can forget all the stories you have been told and realize …no death, no fear. The fact that we think birth and death are true is the cause of suffering.
I deleted your hyperlink to your Buddha book Peaceful Warrior (aka Matt)! Look at a map, Denial isn’t a river in India.
It is not my Buddha book, it is a wonderful writing from Thich Nhat that gives people great comfort and peace in their hearts. I posted it because it has a enlightening perspective on the topics you wrote about and worthy of consideration. I am not sure I follow the river in India bit, but it is troubling that your response to other perspectives in return is not also with peace.
Hi Matt,
My comment was intended to be funny for future readers as I thought you’d be like most people and make a comment and never return. Most readers of my blog will regard the notion that death is in anyway unreal to be no more than the most vicious kind of denial.
Anyway, if you wish to dialog then please tell me what it might mean that death isn’t true.
Actually, I think many of your readers may agree with what it really means to say death is not true. It means to think of your self as a spiritual being having a human experience, not the other way around. The “True” relates to the idea of our true nature. And only when we touch our true nature, can we transend the fear of non-being.
So you do agree that our physcial body will die?