Anxiety: A sin problem or a medical problem? Or Both?

I'm not so certain that anxiety is a sin problem.
It's a natural condition that Paul had to warn believers about.
It's a problem of misplaced trust.

When I seved as a manager of a secular medical department I had a poster by Chuck Swindoll that was displayed prominently in my office.

ATTITUDE​

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do.
It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a company... a church... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.
We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude...
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”

Rob

 

In my former life I had a similar saying (among others of course) hanging on the wall for all to read:

'Life is 10% how you make it and 90% how you take it.'

 

Unless, of course, you have the medical condition of anxiety.

Sometimes meds we take for other medically treatable conditions do produce anxiety. Those with some breathing disorders may find the dosages of some of their lung meds cause raging anxiety.

When my mom suffered from it due to lung meds, I learned from the docs that any disease or disorder or medicine or supplement that both increases adrenaline and reduces dopamine can cause massive anxiety.

I would suspect that our diets and lifestyles can do the same on a lesser scale.

I'm happy. But I'm not gonna get on my high horse and brag about it and look down my nose at anxious folks.

God just might let me walk a mile in their shoes!

 

Not all anxiety has the same root.

Is it a sin? I don't find that in the Scriptures.

Perhaps the root that manifests itself in anxiety can be sin, but anxiety is not.

There are many characters in the Scriptures that expressed anxiety, and life cannot be lived without a twinge of anxiety.

There wouldn't be anticipation and longing without some measure of anxiety.

I submit that a certain measure of anxiety may not only be helpful but actually Scriptural, if for no other reason than to make the Scriptural statement, "Be anxious for nothing, but in all things..." actually experiential to every believer.

 

Anyone that has ever cared for or loved another person, or anything else, has worried. Period. There has to be some parameters set to 'anxiety' here.

But it is true, the less sin there is in one's life the less stress there will be. And the more joy there is to be derived from one's salvation.

 

Oh well then...if you cannot believe then it must be only as you believe.

Maybe you should do some research on medical depression, anxiety, and bi-polarism. And stop trying to judge people based on your own little event.

 

While in the hospital after being wounded in Iraq I experienced severe anxiety. The first time I was able to leave the hospital in my wheelchair I had a severe anxiety attack and had to have an ambulance come get me.

Was my anxiety sinful? I would like to think that it was not but at the same time I explicitly remember "wigging out" because I wanted to be back at the hospital...my "safe" zone, so I do think that I had some misplaced trust there.

It was a pretty embarrassing experience though.

 

There is a huge difference in WORRY, and being - concerned/antsy/wanting to plan - for whatever.
ANXIETY could be a blanket term for "all of the above", or a medical condition as noted previously, so to really answer this OP there needs to be a clarification of the subject term.