Anxiety (Photo credit: Rima Xaros)
Wow, that’s quite a controversial question. And for the record, no it isn’t. It’s certainly a result of sin in the broadest sense (i.e. we live in a world tainted by sin and that’s why mental illness exists, not that mental illness is punishment for a person’s sin), but it surely isn’t sin itself.
But there are mental illnesses called anxiety, stress, depression and so on which sound like the Bible condemns them. ‘Do not be anxious’ is repeated many times in the Bible in various forms, by Jesus himself and the apostles Paul and Peter. People who suffer with anxiety are clearly anxious, so are they disobeying God’s command?
A guy over here seems to think so, but I’m just not sure . . . I don’t know if it’s just semantics but the following thoughts are buzzing round my head:
- Just because ‘anxiety’ leads to people being ‘anxious’ doesn’t mean that anxiety is a sin.
- I believe that Jesus can, and does, heal today.
- I personally don’t struggle with this so can’t imagine how someone can simultaneously trust God and be anxious, but my ignorance isn’t an excuse for a lack of compassion.
- I don’t think that being ‘born this way’ gives an excuse for sin but rather an opportunity to know God through repentance and faith.
Um . . . in conclusion, I’m more than a bit muddled on this one. Any thoughts?
Related articles
- Mental Illness and the Church (yahwehssong.com)
- ‘Grief and anxiety are not mental illnesses’ (bbc.co.uk)
- 4 Things Not To Say to a Depressed Christian (believersbrain.com)
People suffing from mental illness need our compassion and support, the same as with any other illness. We should pray for them and encourage them to turn to God for help.
Off the top of my head… are the commands to not be anxious related, in context, to engagement with actual situations – i.e. lack of money, the future – rather than illnesses? If you can divide things up that neatly, that is.
“can’t imagine how someone can simultaneously trust God and be anxious”
Like the father in Mark 9:24 I find that faith is rarely present without unbelief also. – Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
Likewise a lack of anxiety doesn’t signify the presence of trust. Quite the opposite, the one who trusts despite anxiety is truely trusting. It is easy to trust when anxiety is not present.
Keep blogging, I’m enjoying getting to know you through your writing.
Mental illness is a huge spectrum of disorders, from becoming overly anxious when in contact with a specific stimuli, to those who have been living with the consequence of schizophrenia for most of their adult life, to those who have dementia. It is difficult to determine whether mental illnesses are psychological (or more simply, problems with thought process) or structural problems with the brains architecture. Most illnesses seem to be have components of both.
People have many different personality traits which are held in tension and make up who we are as a ‘person’. There only proceeds to be a problem where one personality trait hugely outweighs another. For instance some people are naturally have more anxious personalities than others.
Having spent some time in mental health, I find it difficult to suggest that being overly anxious or worrying about certain things is a sin, ultimately punishable by death, following God’s judgement. But this is what the bible seems to suggest. I am not sure exactly where the line is drawn – a tricky one!
Thanks everyone for your thoughts – I’m glad I’m not the only one who can’t seem to come up with a black-and-white answer on this!
Difficult one, I suffered from anxiety for years from messing around with drugs. when i became a christian i stopped taking drugs (not sinning) but still suffered from it (as a result of previous sin) but not because I wasn’t trusting god with anything, i don’t think? It was more like an illness that still needed time to heal, brain chemistry needing to come back to an even level, lack of serotonin due to stress of the illness that sort of thing. People suffer from PTSD for years because of flash back of a previous traumatic experiences but are still trusting
God in the present. I would say that yes Anxiety is a result of Sin, yours or someone else’s sin and yes anxiety from not trusting God is a sin (bible is clear on that) but anxiety in the present due to associations of past experience comes more under spiritual warfare.
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