A few weeks back, I read an article by Al Mohler which commented on a front-page story in the New York Times on a teenage mental health crisis and another article about the loneliness crisis, or the loneliness epidemic. I wanted to highlight it, as I especially appreciated Mohler’s perspective on these issues. In brief, he traces this loneliness epidemic/mental health crisis in part to God’s declaration in the very beginning of creation that it is not good for man to be alone. In particular, to meet that fundamental need for companionship, God created the family, making people male and female, creating marriage. However, marriage and family are under attack. Marriage has been redefined, and is seen as optional; people are having fewer children, and marriages frequently dissolve. Without family as a foundation for our lives and communities, it’s natural we would struggle. Mohler notes that these articles are observing the fallout of the breakdown of the family:

…the very structures of creation that God gave us to keep us from being lonely, the structures that lead to human happiness, human flourishing, … when you break those down, there are consequences, moral consequences. There are also, it turns out, therapeutic, psychological, psychiatric consequences.

He adds that the family was part of God’s answer to our need for companionship and community, but it’s not the whole answer:

this points to the goodness of the family, to the goodness of marriage, to God’s plan in that family being a safe haven, a haven in a heartless world… We come to understand that a biblical theology of family is then extended into a biblical theology of community. And that means neighborhood. It means organic community. It means town. It means having an identity with other families. A city that is made up or a community that is comprised of persons who have mutual obligations, as well as mutual conversations and personal interactions.

In a way, our society has been retreating into an artificial world, where instead of connecting with the people around us who can form a real community – one which differs from us, one which challenges us, and one in which we serve others and are served – we’ve retreated into virtual communities or communities of choice, where we gather virtually with those who are like minded, united in opposing the same things and cheering the same things – but with little real relationship. We’re told to define for ourselves who we are, who we want to be, and who we identify as. But this is not God’s design; he calls us into vital, close relationships with others – others in our family, our community, our neighborhood, and not just others we choose or who are just like us. So as our families, communities, and neighborhoods grow less and less connected and more and more transient, it leaves a huge gaping hole which turns into an observable mental health crisis or loneliness epidemic.

Christianity and pride month

I also just read an article on Pride Month, June. I’ve never given Pride month much thought before, but this article argues we ought to:

For anyone not completely hoodwinked by the erotic obsessions of our day, taking pride in one’s sexual identity—indeed, even considering sexual desire to be an identity—would seem at best pitiful and at worst a deep perversion of what it means to be human.

…[pride month]] is not about what the state allows consenting adults to do in the privacy of their bedrooms. Far from it. Rather, June witnesses as comprehensive an attempt at cultural revolution as one is ever likely to see. …[the rainbow flag] it is the means of telling those of us who dare to dissent that we should have no place in the public square anymore.

Read the whole thing. After this short read, I’m more aware of the significance of having a whole month devoted to this topic.