I have a question for only Christian aspies

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My question is "Does being autistic affect your relationship with Jesus/God?". I'm a Christian in that I believe God loved this world so much that He sent Jesus Christ down to Earth as the perfect sacrifice for all of man's sins. I've seen people who were not Christians do a complete 180 degree turn and become Christians and do God's work. I know Jesus Christ is real, and that He can change people.

However, as for myself, I have fallen away from God. Like a lot of aspies, I'm an introvert, I don't socialize with people much, and I usually keep to myself. I usually just stay home and fill my time with learning trivial things and playing video games. I often get depressed because I know I am empty inside. I have stopped reading my Bible as well. I keep thinking to myself "How can I do God's work (telling others about Jesus) and be a Christian when I'm always alone? I need people, I need social interaction, I can't love God until I have my needs taken care of." I often feel like that if I read the Bible and learned everything about Jesus and what God wants of me, it wouldn't matter, because I will still be alone.

It is also hard for me to emotionally understand God like a Father, as I notice NT Christians view Him emotionally. They see God as their Heavenly father (which He is), and that they live Christian lives to honor Him and bring glory to Him. Whenever I pray to God, I feel like I have no emotion, that I'm talking to hear my own voice. I know God listens to us when we pray to Him, but I feel like I don't understand all this emotional stuff because I am autistic.

What I'd like to know is, do you guys feel the same way? That you have trouble relating to God on an emotional level and that you always feel alone and needing to be with people than with God?

I think you are over estimating the ease at which regular folks practice their faith. NTs struggle emotionally too. No human is without doubt.

I think the religious folks around here will agree with me when I say try is more important than succeed.

i've never understood why god doesn't do his own work.

well There are more ways than just socailing to do God's will...first off, each person has a purpose in life and this purpose is unique to each person. If God thought that having autism would interfere with your purpose in life then he would not have made you this way. God does not cookie cutter stamp out work for people to do. Find your skill and your gifts and what can you use these things to make the lives of other's better. Say you dont like socailizing...well you dont have to socailize to write a book. If you look at what you are given...gifts and difficulties...you can see clearer what path to take. Also dont think that the goal of heaven is the only work that God wants you to do...there is much need in this world that ppl cant see God clearly through the lens of suffering...that must be dealt with first before addressing the afterlife. If God's only goal for us was heaven, he would not put us on earth in the first place. You are on earth....what do you see through your perspective that others dont? What are the needs of those around you? How can you use your gifts to make the world a more livable place?

As far as prayer goes...God does not have to be felt to hear you. Also anouther thing that helps is mental imagery
Imagine God in your mind's eye as you pray...it will alieve some of that doubt. Ppl on the spectrim are better at imagery than N/T's are...so instead of "feeling"...use your mind to see Him. Also if you want to hear God speak to you...be very still and quiet within...and there will be a still voice that comes from your gut...that is Him speaking to you...this takes practice

Personally I'm better at concepts than imagery. Even my imaginary friend didn't actually have an 'image'. haha!

Well when you say I can't love God until I have my needs taken care of - I'd say a statement like that transcends any labels of Aspergers or NT that people could spin on it. It's a rather universal statement of doubt. This is just my personal opinion so take it as you will, but I don't believe that God's purpose is to fill people's needs. The people who are born into an unequal world and struggle and fight the good fight are all the better for it. If you know nothing of despair, how would you know what happiness truly is?

I suspect (and again this is just personal opinion) that what you want is people and social interaction. But deeper than that, that what you subconciously need is the ability to achieve those things yourself. You don't need to be handed it by god, you need to give it to yourself. Asperger's varies in people, no two are alike. And believe me - it can be an everyday battle to find that path - but that's the struggle and the fight. You can do it, there are always places and people that can help you with it. The truth of it is that alot of people go through life and never achieve their subconscious need. Some never both to find what it is. What's worse than that, is that other know what it is and don't even try. Rather than wait for God to define your life's work, you should define it for yourself - and if its good and true - then God's true purpose will be achieved.

Certainly, then the challenge begins: Join with others doing the things read and learned.



I sometimes wonder how many heavenly eyes actually roll when some people pray as they do! We each feel whatever we do, or do not, and that is the end of that. I have yet to see any of the wailers, cryers or laughers pray more effectively than anyone else.



Being with Him and being with "Godly" people are one-and-the-same, and neither is dependent upon emotion. Serve Him by serving others, love Him by loving others, depend upon Him by depending upon others and enjoy Him by enjoying others ... and yes, I do understand that can be difficult for some of us. However, our lack of emotion can at times actually help assure we are rightly leaning on Him rather than on mere emotion!

Be blessed.

First I will say I am atheist, dislike Christianity (and most major religions) mostly due to their human part and believe we don't have free will which talk of God offends.

That said there is many ways to do good. Spreading the religion is a really shallow way. Sorry if this offends but I don't think making more people Christian is the answer to anything, rather helping any person become a better person is a noble goal, whether they be Christian or not. This is what I mean by human element. The focus is too much on making more of a religion rather than making more people better people.

Anyway there is many ways to do good. I take it you have an interest in the bible? I am sure you could quote lots of things and help people with religion in a behind the scenes way. Perhaps you could offer to help at the church. At the least this will give you some social interaction. Churches often have social groups during the week. I am sure even just helping them prepare for something and leaving before the people arrive would be appreciated.

I don't think prayer would be helpful. I don't think just saying things, even with conviction really helps me at all ("I will study and do all the work" I say, I really want to but never do ). I feel I respond better to doing action and nothing feels as good as being told "thanks, you really helped" or "good work", even if it was the most trivial thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareidolia

With memories.

I guess some people don't understand the words, "for only Christian." I'll lend my expertise in translating: "If you're not a Christian, your opinion isn't wanted." I suppose it wouldn't be so bad if one were to at least make an attempt to post something related to the OP's query, but alas, you did not.

Hope that clears things up.



Previously, I was evangelical and now I would describe myself as somewhere between deism and evangelical (if you were to put those two on a sliding scale), leaning more toward deism. That said . . .

"Does being autistic affect your relationship with Jesus/God?"

Personally, I think it could go either way really and really depends on quite a bit. For instance, what church do you attend or acquire your perspective of god from? Different churches place different emphasis on different aspects of worship and devotion--which may or may not pose various problems.

On the other hand, I suspect an Aspie, like NTs, may be able to worship and engage in devotion with relative ease if they chose to engage in an intimate and personal worship style--which could be followed privately (say at home).

In any case, I suspect there are various variables to consider and what it all boils down to is that Aspies may have a few more issues (primarily due to typical church teachings) than NTs, but not necessarily.

The hard part of the Christian walk is that it's about a RELATIONSHIP with God through Christ. Since having AS means we have a natural inability to form productive relationship with others, this translates into difficulty when trying to build a relationship with God.

Just as for NTs, if a man has a dysfunctional relationship with his earthy father, he has problems seeing his spiritual father as loving. We relate to God in terms we can comprehend.

I have difficulty witnessing because (1) I'm not very good with people and (2) I can say that living for God is worth it, but I can't say it's easy or all joy. It's a tough walk, and I feel obligated to inform people of the pros and cons of choosing that walk.

Not exactly.

My problem in relating to God has nothing to do with my difficulty expressing emotions, God already knows how I feel so there is no real need to express them. To me, prayer is more about listening than talking and I agree with Jojobean that it is a skill that takes practice to develop, not only for the reason he mentioned, but also because God's enemies keep running interference trying to confuse me.

I am also alone most of the time, but the problem is not just my inability to socalise; I can be alone in a crowd simply because I am so different from what is normal. It would be nice if someone other than Jesus would accept me for what I am, but I have no control over that.

Telling other people about Jesus is not the whole of God's work, in fact, it is probably not all that important any more now that most people have heard about him. I think the work is to complete the change that he started in you. The world sees faults in other people and tries to change them; a Christian should look for faults in himself and seek to change them.

I guess some people (that means you) dont understand religion. None of the Christian faiths consider baptism reversible. That makes us Christians too, at least in their eyes, and thus yours, as you must cleave to your churches doctrine.

Sure, we are apostates, but the doctrine of your organization give us a free pass to butt in wherever we feel like it.

Further, each of us that gave comment to the original post were supportive and comforting to his plight. It was actually you that dragged things off topic.

Thanks to your 'expertise'.

Last edited by Fuzzy on 11 Jan 2010, 3:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

You're not alone.
I often think about this subject.
When I hear people say "I love God" it makes me feel that I must be wrong because I can't relate to God the same way. However, I'm determined to continue worshiping God no matter how Austictic I am. I'll do the best I can.
I think that you have to accept yourself as you are and see that everybody is different. I don't think that you're empty inside, it seems that you care about your spirituality. I know that is hard when you are an introvert. Remember, God sees what's in your heart and If you do the most you can he'll know, even if is not considered much by others.
Can I ask you what is or was your church?

I do.



Not relevant.



It doesn't (okay, well maybe for some Baptists, who believe in, "once saved, always saved;" whereas quite a number of other churches do not).



I don't.



The OP asked a personal question, not one rooted in doctrine.



Statements such as, "Spreading the religion is a really shallow way" are not supportive; instead, they have the potential to disrupt one avenue of fulfillment from another's life. There are quite a few who derive much personal joy and satisfaction from such actions--specifically as it relates to a personal relationship with whom they see as their creator. In fact, one might even suggest this to be an unofficial tenant of many churches.

Why?

Many feel, as if through personal instruction from their Creator, they have done well in the eyes of said Creator.

Why would they feel this?

Direct communication from God/Christ in these matters and the results are often considered a testament to that communication--read: "acknowledgment and fulfillment of a relationship."



While your sarcasm is duly noted, I still am subject to say, "Your welcome, I do what I can."





Having said that and looking back, I will offer SirLogiC a formal apology. Looking back, I see my words came off much more strong than I intended (story of my life ); additionally, I feel that I could have stated my views in a much more peaceful way without looking like an attack so, I do apologize.

Secondly, I'll take this opportunity to thank Fuzzy for firing back as it forced me to re-evaluate my words and recognize the previous post as being less constructive than I had hoped.

I don't know if my being aspie affects my relationship to Jesus / God as such. Maybe in some of the ways I think about him, or about the ways NTs may think about certain issues in the faith. Some things I tend to view in a more logical way I guess.

It's interesting that you mention the emotional thing, because while I do know the emotional side of the faith, I've also always thought it wasn't crucial.
I haven't got a Christian upbringing, but became a Christian "alone", so to say, by reading books about it, and later I found a Christian teenclub which I enjoyed. I'm still attending a church today.
Since I was not familiar with Christian terminology, I didn't know a term like "feeling God's presence". I've always thought that God is omnipresent, and that's it. Maybe a thought of aspie logic.
I wondered why so many would make it an issue that they didn't feel his presence, even if they knew he was omnipresent. And that they thought it was a big problem, if they hadn't got the feeling.
I do know the feeling they talk about, but due to said thought I've never thought he wasn't there, emotion or not.
I would also wonder why some would say that they felt their prayers only reached the ceiling, and I would think: why should they need to get that far, when God is just beside you and even in your heart? It doesn't say in the Bible you should feel how far your prayers "reach".

The father issue, with problems relating to God as father if their relationship to their earthly father wasn't good, many NTs have too.
As for me, I thought it was logical that the heavenly Father wasn't like the earthly ones. But I admit that others can feel differently.

I don't think you have fallen from God because you don't have a big emotion towards him. As I see it, you can trust and believe (even love) him cognitively, so to speak. It can be the same way for me. You don't need to have an emotion when you pray, because God does listen anyway. It doesn't rely on your emotion, but on God's promise to listen to his beloved children.

Maybe it would help you to have a Bible study group, or if that's too overwhelming, just one person to study with? If you have a congregation, they might be able to help you with that.
It could also be an idea to talk to a pastor or another Christian counsellor about your issues with loneliness.

Hope you could use my 2 cents.

I'll pray for you.

May God bless you.