Humans, Boredom and God - A Christian Perspective on Boredom

 Hello!

Today, I am doing a unique post, about boredom. 

Boredom and the sense of "excitement" or "fun" is so ingrained in our lives we rarely think about it deeply. Yet, just thinking about boredom from a deep perspective quickly lets you come to a fascinating realization: 1) humans are the only one to feel boredom, 2) another unique human trait is they are the Imago Dei 3) God cannot become bored.

First, humans have many unique traits, but one of them is a sense of boredom and excitement. When there is a lack of interesting or exciting things, humans naturally feel bored. Boredom, however is not an independent thing, but the absence of excitement/interest. 

Next, the second point is about how humans are the image of God, and from this trait, they also have many other unique attributes like rationality, curiosity, morality, justice, etc. However, some of the human unique traits also stem from sin, and we will cover that soon,

Third, boredom is certainly not derived from humans being the image of God, because God cannot feel bored, he is a perfect God, and boredom is an imperfection. 

From these three points, we can come to a conclusion that boredom is a byproduct of sin. Imperfections and deficiencies are due to sin, and these imperfections include boredom. Thus, boredom is a result of human sin.

Is boredom a sin? Not all byproducts of sin are sinful. Clothing and attire is a byproduct of sin, made to clothe humans so they do not feel shame, a feeling caused by sin, but it is not a sin. Before we can answer the question, we have to think about what is excitement, or interest, since that is the contrary to boredom, and the lack of excitement is boredom, just like how the lack of light is darkness. 

Excitement is definitely a feeling derived from humans being created in the image of God, but not all excitement is godly, some forms of it, due to the corruption of feelings by sin, can be sinful. All basic feelings are the same, and while boredom is the absence of excitement, which is a generally positive emotion, both  of them can be sinful. When comparing sin to good, good is all-good, but in this example, comparing boredom to excitement  is comparing two  things that can now both be sinful. 

Then what is sinful boredom? Boredom is a natural human feeling, and thus when that natural human feeling leads us to do sin directly, then it is a sin. Boredom can lead us to do many things, some of them good, but some of them sins, especially when the boredom is extreme. So what to do about boredom or think about it in a Christian lens?

1) Boredom is a regular human feeling, though an imperfection (as it is an imperfection, this also implies that there will be no more boredom in the afterlife, and no boredom before humanity sinned) and byproduct of sin.

2) Boredom, like all other feelings, can lead us to do wrong, but can also lead us to do great things, and is not inherently pointing to any direction (good or bad) in general. It is sinful when it motivates us to do wrong, but can even be godly if it motivates us to do what glorifies God