Brother Jeffrey,<\/p>\n
I am in my seventies. I keep having this “depression” that I’ve dealt with since High School. (By the way, I think depression is just a result of sin. After all, nobody in the Bible had a mental problem; it was just sin.) When I was young, I obeyed the Gospel, but I got caught up in the wrong crowd. I actually told God I didn’t need Him at one time. I actually said something about the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n
Ever since those days, I have lived in fear of my soul being lost. I would get it off my mind with the general activities of life and making a living, but it’s always been there. I base my fears on Hebrews 10:26-29; Hebrews 12:17; and Hebrews 6:6. Most of the time, the Hebrews 10 verses describe how I feel. To me, it’s like I’m already getting my first taste of Hell. I fear my conscience has been seared. It’s a weary dread.<\/p>\n
My wife and others tell me it’s the Devil trying to convince me that I can’t be saved, but I think it’s God’s word telling me I’m beyond hope. I would think the Devil would be telling me how good I’m doing. I remain faithful in attendance at church. I try to worship, and I have been blessed to live to an old age, but I know I don’t have that much time left. I’m not sure if I can ever receive God’s forgiveness.<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
So, you are telling me that you think Peter lied when he said, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance<\/em>” (II Peter 3:9). See “Are You Unforgivable?<\/a>” You have decided that your sins are so bad that the Creator, who loves you, cannot overlook them, even though you have repented of your sins. I think you don’t understand the extent of God’s love. It might help to study “The Lord Your God is an Awesome God!<\/a>“<\/p>\n It is odd that you think no one in the Bible had depression. Off the top of my head, I can think of Elijah, Job, Judas, David, and Saul. Some verses address depression, such as Proverbs 12:25. Other passages discuss anxiety, as seen in Philippians 4:6.<\/p>\n See:<\/p>\n Thank you.<\/p>\n I’ve just had this problem for many, many years, and it’s very difficult to change one’s thinking after so long. You have given me much to study. I hope, as I read these things over time, that I can find relief. It’s just so difficult.<\/p>\n Please pray for me.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Brother Jeffrey, I am in my seventies. I keep having this “depression” that I’ve dealt with since High School. (By the way, I think depression is just a result of sin. After all, nobody in the Bible had a mental problem; it was just sin.) When I was young, I obeyed the Gospel, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[507,397],"class_list":["post-90913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-anxiety","tag-depression"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18352,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-poor-attendance-actually-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":0},"title":"Is poor attendance actually a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother, I was edified by what I read in this article:\u00a0Telling Members They are Sinning in Deliberately Missing Church. Bob does a good job listing some of the excuses some brethren use to justify missing church assemblies. He shows that those who rely on these excuses reveal carnality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25137,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-know-my-repentance-is-genuine\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":1},"title":"How do I know my repentance is genuine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have doubts about repentance. I suffer from depression. At times I feel really sad, at times I feel really angry, but at times I feel nothing -- not sad, not happy or angry, just, an empty room. So I hope that what I'm going to tell you is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2398,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-point-when-it-is-too-late-to-leave-sin-and-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":2},"title":"Is there a point when it is too late to leave sin and be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I grew up in a church of Christ. I was baptized in middle school. I have struggled with sexual immorality beginning from a young age for a long time, along with other sins including taking plan B. I think as a teenager I did not take sin as seriously\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3101,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-the-almighty-god-accept-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":3},"title":"How could the Almighty God accept me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Jeffrey, I don't admit this to many people, but I have an issue in my thinking when it comes to God. I have a fear that no matter what I do and no matter how I try to be righteous and help others get to heaven, that at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17559,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-fell-back-into-pornography-after-having-left-it-for-years\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":4},"title":"I fell back into pornography after having left it for years","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am very embarrassed to bring this up -- embarrassed and very afraid.\u00a0I am a Christian and have attended the church of Christ my entire life. As a teenager, I finally came forward in repentance and was immersed into Christ. I struggled for a long long time -- over\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53580,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-get-baptized-does-that-mean-i-wasnt-saved-before\/","url_meta":{"origin":90913,"position":5},"title":"If I get baptized, does that mean I wasn’t saved before?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 30, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I am a teenager, and I have a few questions I'd like to ask. I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church. I said the sinner's prayer (or something like it) when I was 6 or 7 years old. I wanted to follow God (I think), but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
Response:<\/h2>\n