I have no friends and I’m depressed

Question:

I'm 18. I don't have a girlfriend or any friends.

My parents are not religious. Should I tell them about the Bible?

Is it fair that you have a great family who are Christians?

What did I do to deserve this living hell? I'm depressed. How do I solve this issue about an existential crisis? How do I be happy, if I hate existing? Existence can't be a gift from God if there is a risk of being punished forever for a finite crime. For example: eating from a tree which God commanded not to eat.

Can you help me understand your answers, please?

Answer:

Friends

"A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24).

Having not met you, it would be hard for me to conclude why you personally have few friends. What I'll do is answer in general. Typically a lack of friends indicates that a person is pushing people away or not recognizing overtures of friendship from other people. See: Making Friends.

Probably saddest is to come across someone who isolates himself from contact with others. "A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; he rages against all wise judgment" (Proverbs 18:1). For two people to get along with each other, there must be some give in personal desires. Some people refuse to deal with other people just so they don't have to do things they don't want to do.

Teaching

There is rarely any harm in telling people about ways to improve their lives, so long as you do so in a helpful way.

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers" (Ephesians 4:29).

"But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (II Timothy 2:23-26).

The most effective way to teach is to live what you believe. Be an example to others that being a Christian improves lives. "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity" (I Timothy 4:12).

Is Life Fair?

Take a look at I Didn't Ask to Be Born! No one gets to pick their parents or the circumstances that revolve around their lives.

I like to play a card game called Hearts once in a while. In that game, some hands are much better than others; yet, even a person with a poor hand can beat a better hand if he plays his cards well. Thus, it isn't a matter of what cards life deals you, but what you do with the cards you have. I've seen many young people leave Christianity, even though they had Christian parents, because they were complacent about their religion (Deuteronomy 32:15). I've seen many people come to Christ because their difficult lives drove them to realize they needed God's help. Saddest are those who have fairly good lives but rail against God because circumstances don't meet their personal expectations.

Risk of Eternal Punishment?

Your question might have some merit if there was something a person had no choice in. Where anyone ends up is solely based on his one personal deed. "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself" (Ezekiel 18:20). Even afterward, when a person looks back and realizes that his choice wasn't a good one, God still allows him to change.

""Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"" (Ezekiel 18:27-32).

Does a Finite Crime Deserve an Eternal Punishment?

I have a question for you. What should be the sentence of a mass murderer? Should it reflect the length of time it takes for the murders to take place, or should it reflect the severity of the crime committed? While we have a tendency to soften the severity of our own crimes, perhaps we are not seeing how evil we truly are from God's viewpoint. See: What Is Hell Like?

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