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are Christians happier?

Christ_empowered

Christ_empowered

Member
I imagine there's some kinda data out there, but this is really a question for all of you who are in The Christian World. Do you think we--Christians, especially (but not necessarily exclusively) Protestants--are happier than the world?

I'm going to lean towards a qualified "Yes." I won't give it an enthusiastic oh yeah because there's lots of self-professed Christians who aren't all that Christian and who are genuinely miserable. I know this, because I live in The Bible Belt ("1,000 miles wide, 1 inch deep."). But I think it happens in all denominations, at all strata of society. Something about Christianity draws in both the wheat and the tares, the sheep and the wolves in sheep's clothing, etc.

So...happier? Less troubled, more at peace? Not that Christianity is all about stability and peace. I mean, its church, not mindfulness-training. Still, it stands to reason that living the right way should result in...contentment, I suppose. Not necessarily what the world would consider happiness, not always, but joy+contentment.

Rambling. What are your thoughts?
 
I'd say people who rely on God are encouraged and strengthened by their faith. But we don't all rely on God for everything, or even know how to in some cases. As a Christian I've been depressed. As a Christian focused on God (when I focus on God,) I've been joyful and felt His love. But what do we work out on our own and hope God is with us leading us, verses what do we sit back and let God take the reigns and hope He doesn't count us lazy.

The more experienced the Christian in their faith and in seeing God in their lives the better the answer they have. Until then, for better or worse, we all struggle like everyone else. Who can really tell one person's happiness over another's except God?

Right now I'm very happy. But I feel like Job before he lost everything. My life has much to be happy about. A few years ago I was very depressed, and it affected everything from my faith to my ambition to try in any area of life. My hope is that that trying time will be a stable ground for my faith, so if life gets worse I can remember that God brought me through it before, He can do it again. Until I'm tested though who knows my resolve. The same with anyone else too.
 
I'm happy most of the time actually. Then my kids ruin that happiness. Lol.

I've found contentment to be the best place to be. Not that I'm always there, but when I am I am at peace.

I personally think the world is stressed out. I doubt most of them are actually happy.
 
One thing to think of also, is does God want us to be happy?

I think I've heard a preacher ask that question before and then say he couldn't find a yes in the Bible.
 
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Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

Oh we’re so happy when everything is going good in our lives, but what happens when trials come as the result of God’s ongoing work in our lives as He conforms us into the image of Jesus? Is Job a type of us?
Job 3:3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.

As we grow I grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ we learn and actually believe that all things work together for our good that love God. From what I’ve heard and read concerning death of the believer is that there is great peace compared to those of the world. :shrug
 
my best guess is that your average Christian is more content and "happy" in that sense than your average person in and of the world. But...

...have you ever noticed how Christians who fail are judged harshly, both by other Christians and the world at large? A Christian on antidepressants, a Christian going through a divorce, a Christian with a wayward teenager....on and on it goes. What's up with that?

OK. I've enjoyed reading the responses thus so far, btw. :)
 
Something I've been thinking about lately. Post-born again, I am more miserable than I've ever been in my life. Being treated for depression for the first time in my life. Just want it all to end.

Do I blame Jesus? No. Why? Because He is not for improving our lives here on earth. His is a promise of life everlasting, i.e. our immortal soul life. To expect improvement to our secular existence is to make the same dreadful mistake the Apostles initially made (esp. Judas Iscariot). Our "lives more abundant" are on the other side.'

Someone once asked a Zen master how he felt after attaining enlightenment. "More miserable than ever" was his reply.
 
That's interesting. I find that I feel things more intensely than I did before I got saved and Jesus moved mightily in my life, but that's also because of the nature of God's work in my life ("recovery from electroshock"= less emotional flatness, it seems...).

I'm no glutton for punishment. I "get" that Christians suffer, and a lot of solid Christians report what shrinks call depression, sometimes severe. Happens. My friend, Verna, calls it "oppression," and I think that's a valid interpretation, too. Having said that...

...everyone's life involves suffering. That's why we have so many counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, self-help, Westernized Buddhism, on and on it goes...everybody's got problems. If you have problems and a lil bit of $$$, you read self-help from the library and go to a community mental health clinic. If you have problems and a lot of $$$, you go to Deepak Chopra seminars and go to a Jungian analyst. Welcome to the 21st Century.

But Christians are different. These days, when I suffer--and, honestly, I seem to suffer a lot less than I did before I got saved--its "different." I get the sense that my suffering, such as it is, is moving me forward towards who I really am in Christ. Not that such change always requires suffering--I've been blessed and loved into being different, also--but it seems to be part of the process for most of us.

I dunno. "Suffering" and "happiness" are also relative terms. My psychiatrist recently suggested that I move out and get a boyfriend (I'm non-heterosexual, but celibate). To most of the world, choosing to be celibate, especially as the culture is moving towards affirming homosexuality, is a) foolish and b) unnecessary suffering. To them, if one is "really gay," then getting a "life partner" is a big part of "happiness."

But I'm Born Again, so I think that its better to be alone, sometimes lonely, and pursue joy and contentment than an empty shell of fulfillment the world sells as "happiness." See where I'm going with this? Being alone looks to the world like self-inflicted suffering, but I don't perceive it as such, and I also don't think of "happiness" in the same way as most of the world (including, apparently, a lot of more "tolerant" Christians).

That's just a personal example. Jesus didn't say things would be easy, but He did say that whatever we give up to follow Him, we'll get far more on the right side of The Cross ((poor paraphrase, and i don't know the address....)).

OK. I'm finished, for now. :)
 
I'd say keep right there in the place your at, you sound very content actually. :). You've got a good outlook.

I could spend the rest of my life alone to tell you the truth. Like you say, it might not seem popular, but some of us are made that way.

You've got plenty of people to lean on if you ever need it. That's the great part of being in Christ. If you ever need it, just look around, God knows your need and I'm positive He will fill it.
 
Christ_empowered said:
I sometimes wonder if one reason many of us are unhappy is because our culture has lied to us and told us that we're supposed to be happy.
Click to expand...

Or told us how to be happy. Which is almost the same difference. If you have x y and z you should be happy. If you don't have x y and z then gaining it will make you happy. I think there two striving philosophical points in our society that effect our society's motivation. The striving to be successful, and the striving to be happy or content. I don't know what other cultures have in their societies. But maybe in the past it might not have been the main views people find direction from. Like in the days of royalty with kings and dukes and such, the pessants weren't given much change to change their station or their level of happiness and success. (As far as I'm aware anyways.)
 
dirtfarmer here

Many Christians are confused between happy or happiness, with joy. Happiness comes from happenings and only last for about 6 months. When we acquire new "stuff" it makes us happy for about 5 or 6 months, then the reality that payments come every month and then we have to acquire something else to make us happy again.

The fruit of the Spirit is joy, not happiness. When we have joy we can rejoice in midst of trouble and sorrow.
 
Christ_empowered said:
I dunno. "Suffering" and "happiness" are also relative terms. My psychiatrist recently suggested that I move out and get a boyfriend (I'm non-heterosexual, but celibate). To most of the world, choosing to be celibate, especially as the culture is moving towards affirming homosexuality, is a) foolish and b) unnecessary suffering. To them, if one is "really gay," then getting a "life partner" is a big part of "happiness."
Click to expand...

You get that if you're heterosexual and not particularly interested in relationships also. I think if you can't be happy on your own, having a partner isn't going to be a permanent cure, but culture kind of disagrees with me there. And then insists that being "liberated" means sleeping with every guy who smiles at you, so... one step forward, two steps back.

I obviously have no personal experience to answer the question, though even my vague Christian agnosticism has been psychologically helpful. Interestingly, I ran across some statistics that the "spiritual but not religion" crowd was more likely to have mental health issues than traditionally religious people, which really does not surprise me at all. They're kind of playing with fire. Only a convert could say whether Christians are more content than practitioners of other religions, but I can imagine there being something extremely liberating about centering yourself in God instead of in your own existence. Which makes all the "you must die to live" style paradoxes make a great deal of sense.
 
dirtfarmer here

I am not sure that believers are to be "happy". Scripture states that " Godlinesss with contentment is great gain". How can a person be truly happy if they are away from home? As believers our citizenship is in heaven. We are content that one day we will be with our savior and we find contentment in that fact.
 
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