This post is from 2005, and refers specifically to a discussion on another blog which unfortunately is no longer available. Without reference to those earlier posts, my comments here are easily misunderstood, as I was dealing with specific questions they raised. If you want a more thorough and more helpful answer to the question Tim Chester examines “Is depression a sin?” far better than I did here.

This posting has been sparked by two posts on Steve Leher’s blog (1, 2). Specifically, Steve states that depression is a sin, a position on which he is later challenged by a reader (whom he calls ‘Bob’). Bob helpfully summarises the disagreement like this:

The basic point of disagreement we have is whether depression or manic depression are illnesses. Maybe I’m overlooking something but I didn’t notice where you said they were not that you were able to support that Biblically or otherwise to my satisfaction. It’s basically your opinion which you can have but which I can also disagree with.

Unfortunately, this discussion (like so many) boils down to definitions. In his article (PDF link) Steve borrows Robert Smith’s defininition of depression as:

a debilitating mood, feeling, or attitude of hopelessness (despair or joylessness), which becomes a person’s reason for not handling the most important issues of life.

Now it doesn’t take a genius to work out that that is sinful. Simply not handling the “most important issues of life” is (by definition) sinful. It’s also a somewhat pejorative definition. Had it read “which means a person is unable to handle the most important issues” then perhaps Bob would be able to agree with it. As it stands the definition deliberately implies that depression is not a genuine reason, it is only given as a reason.
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The various Christmas events that we’ve been involved in around the village has got me thinking about church and the community. Google on community church, and top of the list come Willowcreek and Saddleback. They’re known as churches with a high regard for community, and I wanted to know what we could learn from them.

I discovered that their idea of community is very different from our own. I don’t know if this is small church vs large church, or UK vs America, or traditional vs contemporary – maybe a combination of those things. I don’t want to be seen as bashing a particular way of ‘doing church’, so let me throw in MacArthur’s Grace Community Church, too.

These churches show a concept of community is very different from our own. Let me give you this quote from Grace:

Community is likewise significant. It suggests both genuine fellowship within our church family and an open door to those around us. As members of one body, we seek to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). As a light in our community, we’re a place of peace for those in chaos, a place of forgiveness for the guilty, and a place of hope for the hopeless.

In fairness to Grace, at least they’re clear what they mean. There’s not such a definitive statement on either Willowcreek or Saddleback. But all three churches emphasise the fact that their church is a community.
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