How faith can help you with anxiety

[Prayer for Anxiety]

<<<This thread is not meant to be a place to debate religion. It is meant to offer an option for those that suffer. Thank you.>>>

The words that follow come from things that have helped me in my own healing process.

Prayer has been used for thousands of years as a way of communicating with God and for relieving our fears. Perhaps the only thing that separates humans from animals is our desire to consciously seek and know God.

Anxiety is fed by fear. One of the most repeated phrases from Jesus was, "Fear not!" or in other words, "Have faith!"

What does faith mean to us? Faith means:

TRUST - You trust in God and that he is there to help you. Trusting gives you confidence even in the darkest times.
ACCEPTANCE - The world is the way it is whether we like it or not. Accepting our situation is a key component of mental health. This does not mean that we have to like it, nor does it mean that we can't try to change things. But accepting the things we can't change gives us freedom to think clearly.
FAITHFULNESS - God's faithfulness to us is unbreakable. Are we faithful? To family and friends? To God? Our faithfulness gives us security. Faithfully seeking God and reading his Word provides us with peace of mind and a strong spirit.
VISION - God's kingdom is enormous. When we see things on a bigger scale, our problems fall into perspective. Also, when we see how God sees us - as his daughters and sons - we assume an identity that is indestructible. Nothing can take this from you.
BELIEF - Everything you read or hear about anxiety and depression can help you up to a point. But belief in Jesus as God's son provides you with answers to the questions that have plagued humanity throughout history. If you believe that Jesus died for you, then you can find healing unlike anything that this world can offer.

Think about this. God loves you unconditionally. Jesus could have come down from the cross, choosing a way of power and control. Instead, he choose to show us a higher way of love. Love to the point of giving his life and his innocence for us. Meditate on God's all healing love. Ask him to free you from your anxiety.

For all those that read this post I send you a blessing and a prayer,
Vince

[nf1234]

Awesome! Thank you for this :)

[Cullingford]

Oh yeah and there are Fairy's down the bottom of my garden!

[Dahila]

Oh yeah and there are Fairy's down the bottom of my garden!
Really Cully? Are you stealing my line :)))?

Hey you i had read the post and put your blessing and prayer in your pocket please, I will do without it;)) have a blessed day :))

[Prayer for Anxiety]

Jesus said:

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

John 15:18-19

[Joe.]

Faith in God won't help you - Faith in life will

[petrified]

Where has the anxiety forum gone?

I've been away a short while and my news feed is filled with crap like this!

[needtogetwell]

Don't ask Petrified, it's a long story. Probably best you missed it.

Do you remember what happened with Apple? Well along those lines. In a word, UGLY!

[petrified]

Oh dear I'm pleased I did then :-)

[Ritch]

I don't mean to sound insensitive but if people want to believe in god and practice their faith it would be more help to them to visit a church/mosque etc. it is getting to the point where on the forum it feels like we are having god forced down our throats

[Kuma]

Prayer - I just have one question about something you wrote. You wrote "Jesus could have come down from the cross, choosing a way of power and control." But how could he have come down from the cross? I mean, really, he was nailed (some say tied, but the typical depiction involved nails) to the cross. And those nails did a pretty good job of affixing victims to the wood posts. The Romans were not very nice people, but they were really skilled and crucifixion and other forms of torture. It was sort of their forte. (I guess maybe you will say he had magic powers or whatever -- and certainly you are entitled to believe that -- but I mean just as a practical matter, unless you believe in magic powers and the like, it would seem really hard for someone to come down from a cross, once the Romans have nailed them up there. I am not aware of any case where that happened. So my guess is once the Romans did their thing, Jesus probably did not have much choice. I think he was sort of stuck.

[Ritch]

Kuma lets not question his faith. He is entitled to his beliefs but we are also entitled not to have it forced upon us :)

[needtogetwell]

Agreed Ritch! Point well made, question is .....is anyone listening?

[Kuma]

I completely agree that he is entitled to his beliefs. No question at all. Indeed, I specifically said that in my post. But if someone is asserting "facts" that seem improbable, I think I am entitled to question them.

Just like if someone said "Your anxiety will be immediately cured if you make cow noises," you would be entitled to question that -- perhaps saying: "that does not seem probable; lots of people have made cow noises and it has not helped with their anxiety; there is no evidence that moooing helps cure anxiety, etc."

So if someone says "Jesus could have walked off the cross" -- I think I am entitled to question whether that is credible.

And in any event, why is this gentleman talking -- on an anxiety forum -- about whether Jesus could have walked (or jumped or flown) off the cross?

Despite my slightly tongue-in-cheek tone, I really do believe that religious faith can help some people. I just view it has a private matter and I am suspicious of those who prosthelytize.

[Prayer for Anxiety]

Hi Kuma,

I believe in the divinity of Jesus. Yes, I believe he could have come down from the cross if he wanted to. But the deeper message is this: Instead of power, control and knowledge - why not try love?

This has a lot to do with anxiety. We are anxious many times because we fear losing control. So we drive ourselves nuts trying to at least maintain mental control. What if somehow we gave this up? I'm not saying it is easy, but for some, the example of the cross is liberating.

When my kid's were younger, it made me very anxious to let them venture out into the world. I preferred control. Through my faith, I saw I was making mistakes. "Stay on the cross and take the pain that goes along with parenting," my faith told me. Walk the higher walk of love for your children's sake. (BTW - this is still VERY tough for me).

I know many will say, "It was you. You did it." That's fine for you. But it does not work for me. I need Jesus. With grace I manage. Without it, I'm a wreck.

I prefer not to debate religion (e.g. was Jesus God or not?), so I'm trying to stick to concepts and principles represented by my faith. I hope I can do this.

Thank you,
Vince

[Kuma]

PfA -

Putting aside the issue of whether Jesus did, or did not, have special powers -- which I agree with you is not really worth debating since the answer is totally unknowable -- I think the issue of "giving up control" which you raise is an interesting one.

I have found that sometimes people who have a hard time in this life -- because they are living in poverty (or doing very difficult things to avert poverty), or sick, or otherwise living under seemingly hopeless circumstances -- "turn to God." (That is probably why you tend to see more religion in less developed countries than you do in comparatively wealthy countries). Sometimes it seems like a reaction of "I cannot do anything to help myself -- my condition is so hopeless -- so I will just give up, throw up my hands and hope that a deity will help me." Other times, it seems like "my life on earth is so unpleasant that all I can to, to maintain my sanity, is trust that in an afterlife, things will be better." (In other words, "maybe God won't help me now, but he might after I'm dead").

So religious faith seems like a sort of "coping mechanism," for some. And I know for some people it works.

But there are others who are not willing to throw up their hands and put their fate in the hands of a deity who might or might not even exist. It just seems too speculative/remote. Think about if you were having a very hard time in life, and I suggested that you should just close your eyes, tap your shoes together, and eat a banana-- and then Casper the Friendly Ghost will swoop down and solve all your problems. You might say "sorry, buddy, I am not willing to assume that Casper is going to help me out. My life is too important to trust in fairy tales." Many of us think the same thing about putting our fate in the hands of Jesus. Our lives are too important to us to trust that some "guy in the sky" will help us. And, the notion that things will be better for us in the afterlife also does not give us much solace -- because we regard the afterlife as entirely speculative -- might exist, might not -- and in any event we care now about THIS life, not some later one....

I really am happy for anyone who gets relief from their anxiety, or their poverty or despair, etc., from religion. If it works for you, great. Same for Prozac, meditation, exercise, tai chi, whatever works.

But it just won't work for everyone.

[Prayer for Anxiety]

Hi Kuma - I understand your point, but it's a bit one-sided .... that is, comparing Jesus (even just from a historical perspective) to a cartoon character. There's a whole body of writing and testimony spanning back centuries to support belief in Jesus as God's Son. Christianity may not be for everyone, but it is certainly not shallow.

The vast majority of scientists are probably agnostic or atheist. But consider Francis S. Collins, who is a Christian. Doctor Collins is the director of the NIH and he was the lead scientist in the Human Genome Project. In the eyes of the scientific community, Collins went out on a very thin limb and wrote the book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.

We certainly cannot say that Dr. Collins hasn't thought this through. His area of expertise (DNA research) makes it even more interesting. Do you think the reasons that you outlined in your post (hopelessness, fairy tale belief, etc.) were reasons enough for this man to believe?

[Anne1221]

Kuma, let me just say that there are 2.18 billion Christians in the world. If Casper the ghost or Barney had that many people believing in either of them, I might take a look and see what that's all about. I just don't think all 2.18 billion of us are "fooled." I am familiar with Francis Collins the scientist. I'm also familiar with CS Lewis and Lee Strobel who both set out to prove Christianity was not real, and ended up become believers because they both said, "It would take more faith to not believe Jesus is the son of God than to believe He was." Anyway, there's something about comparing a cartoon character to God that got to me. But, each of us has to navigate our way through this life and our anxiety the best we can.

[Kuma]

I would not compare Jesus to a cartoon character from an historical perspective. Clearly, many people throughout history have articulated a belief in the divinity of Jesus, and the same is not true for, say, Casper the Friendly Ghost.

But I am not sure there is any more evidence of Jesus' divinity than there is of, say, Casper's divinity. There are stories about Jesus having revived Lazarus, curing a man of leprosy, healing an invalid at Bethesda, etc. But I am not aware of any verifiable evidence to support the veracity of those stories. In the absence of verifiable evidence, they are just stories.

And while Dr. Collins, to whom you refer, is a smart guy, in his field of genetics, he likewise has a tendency to make completely unsupported statements when it comes to God. For example, he makes assertions about what was "God's intention in creating the universe" and he states that God made science possible. These statements strike me as bald speculation. (And purporting to know what "God intended" strikes me as a little presumptuous).

I am not saying there is anything wrong with someone believing that Jesus was God, or was the son of God, or was otherwise in some way divine. And I agree with Dr. Collins that this belief is not necessarily inconsistent with science. After all, one can believe that scientific facts are all true, but that Jesus arranged it that way. (It gets a bit dodgy when you come to creationism versus evolution, but even there people can twist and turn a bit in an effort to reconcile the two). But all this is just a belief -- I am not aware of any evidence to support the notion that Jesus is responsible for any particular scientific fact, or for the totality of science.

And that is where the "fairy tale" part comes in. Because for those of us who do not believe that Jesus was in any way divine, the absence of any verifiable evidence of his divinity puts it in the category of a fairy tale.

If I say "pray to Casper the Friendly Ghost, and tap your shoes together, and then your illness will be cured," you might say (understandably) "that is absurd -- you are just making that up."

But is there any more evidence that praying to Jesus or sprinkling holy water will cure an illness? To those of us who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus, it is just another sort of fairy tale.

I do understand that there can be benefits of such faith -- as I said in my prior post, if someone is in dire straits, or fearful, or hopeless, believing that a "great magic power" or a "divine person" will help them get better can be comforting. And if someone feels the need to have an explanation for all of the mysteries in life, saying "Jesus made it all this way" might provide some sort of answer.

But many of us will find no comfort, and no solace, in something that seems totally made up, and without any evidentiary support.

And there is one area (at least) in which belief in a divinity has been materially more destructive than a belief in fairy tales. That is the number of people who have killed others, purportedly in the name of these "divine" beings. Whether it was the Christian crusaders or the Islamic suicide bombers (and of course there are many other examples), people have caused untold damage "in the name of God."

So I conclude that religious faith has some benefits. It can give those who believe comfort. It can provide simple answers to complex questions. But it also has a tendency to cause division, and great destruction. I'm not sure the trade off is a good one. But that is a decision for each person to make, on her own.

[Anne1221]

Kuma,
How do you manage your anxiety? I take medication (a small amount of Lexapro) and vigorous exercise and do yoga exercises.

[Cullingford]

Please don't forget that every day the poor and the sick are being cared for by people of faith..

Very true Anne but some don't need the bible for a moral compass. We should all be helping and caring for each other regardless of any faith

[HockeyRules]

Just wanted to mention......all the New Testament writers died for their faith in Jesus save the apostle John. So tell me .....would all of us die when faced with life on one side or death on the other just for what we believed to be true. That's what sets the bible and it's authors apart. They died martyrs for believing in the only one who could give them eternal life. That is NOT a fairy tale. If any of them would have ....they could have given in.....but the prize of Christ far outweighed any earthly prize. Now sure....men corrupted this belief over the ages for their own gain whether by power, fame or money.......but God is not mocked. What a man sows, he shall reap. Thanks Anne for sharing something that could have eternal rewards if they have eyes to see and ears to hear it.

[Im-Suffering]

.

Very true Anne but some don't need the bible for a moral compass. We should all be helping and caring for each other regardless of any faith

To begin, the reading follows:

Its not ahout a moral compass, everyone has one, it is not a badge to wear, all creatures, every last one has it. Every human has common sense, some use it. Every man has eyes, some forget how to use them, so they are blind. The eye itself sees, but the connection between man and his faculty of sight is severed, thus the man thinks he is blind. And as a man thinketh...

This is a universal dilemma (God). Not human exclusive. Man, being flesh, has made God flesh, for it is inconceivable while in the body, to picture self fully alive without one. Those without the vehicle too suffer the same separation, and longing for their creator.

Those outside the body have learned a lesson that you are unaware of, because your identity is so closely entangled with your flesh. You cannot be killed, and since all emotions come from within the one called love, it makes no sense to hate, for it is not as productive, or constructive. Building bodies native to a reality is an attribute of the soul. It is as natural as a breathe. A mouse will vacate the body, and lay it down in a grand gesture to the cat, for the mouse knows it will build another, and that the cat needs the warm flesh. Blind to the cooporative venture behind creaturehood, you are blind to its secrets.

Should you judge the world from a perspective of sight only, then you only skim the surface of things, and the deeper meanings are hidden from you.

Now from that perspective one would say " I am a good man, I need no belief in God, for I have a moral compass"

My friends, there can be only two ways, and it has nothing to do with anything other than love. For inthe ultimate there is only love. Hate is love, war is love, famine is love, desire is love, creativity is love, death is love.

And so I tell you, you either admit 'I love God", or "I hate that I feel separated from God, why hath you forsaken me so? Where for art thou?"

In the many years of separation and despair one then begins to deny thy fathers very existance, for the sake of the preservation of the psyche. You have pressing engagements, demanding your attention elsewhere.

And so you would say "God hath left me long ago, and I barely remember Him, this must have been my imagination all along"

For those that love God, and are not in denial, than he is everywhere, and through your peers, your brothers, did He not leave you alone. Through your animals love, through your family, your night sky and your sun, the brightest star are you forever bathed in His love.

He is in your heart then, and He speaks there, as I am speaking through the one who calls himself 'im suffering'. Through love will He be attracted to ye heart and mind, and you will hear Him, in His glory shall you weep, as a child in love with his parent. That child heart will be full, swell deep with feelings of joy for he has a secret that only he can feel, it is special to him, his parent in his heart. For love and his feelings are one.

This child needs no conscious attention to a moral compass, for his feelings are his guide, his love leads him, not his head. I suggest you behead yourself then, if that brings you back to pure love.

"I love you so father, where have you gone, in your absence my love has turned to hate, for you have left me alone, why do you not love me in return?" In the icy cold feelings of love lost, separation, is the abyss of hate. But, if followed, the hate leads you back to love, for all emotions are an offshoot.

Lesson : "you hate that which separates you from a loved object" Better to relearn that lesson, and return with creaturehood back to love.

Loving God is profound, this glory stripped away from those in denial like a thief in the night. Left forlorn to their own vice, and without spiritual nourishment so essential to the souls evolution.

Let your beliefs and experience be your own, internally generated from a loving perspective, and not from the temporal illusions of the world and the actions of some humans.

Peace be with you.

End of message

[Prayer for Anxiety]

Hi Kuma - The type of evidence you seek exists - but the debate rages forever (e.g. tell me: Who's right? The Democrats or Republicans?). The Bible is a historical document. How much is fact is debatable. But to simply toss all scripture aside as fantasy cannot be a position of serious discussion. There are also ancient non-Christian sources that refer to Christ such as Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny, etc..
If you Google this stuff you will find tons of info on both sides of the debate... so we end up back where we started: Democrats vs. Republicans.

Here are some things to consider:


Humans are moral creatures (nod to I'm-Suffering:)). Why is this? Why should I do the right thing as my conscience tells me? You might say it is evolution, but there are many who ignore the moral law to the grave.
Perhaps the only thing that separates humans from animals is a conscious effort to seek and know God.
Can you prove love exists? I can't, but there is nothing I am more sure of.


Then there is the issue of sin. Yes, I know this is a touchy subject, but it is a universal reality. We all do bad things sometimes; we are all equal here.

But God does not want to condemn you for your mistakes.
And here is the great confusion about Christianity. It's not about being good. It's about being forgiven and loved.

The profound message of God, sending his Son to die for you has great value - even just as a metaphor. If you take a leap of faith - because that's what it comes down to in the end - then this metaphor transforms your life.

[Fourteen14]

Hi Kuma - The type of evidence you seek exists - but the debate rages forever (e.g. tell me: Who's right? The Democrats or Republicans?). The Bible is a historical document. How much is fact is debatable. But to simply toss all scripture aside as fantasy cannot be a position of serious discussion. There are also ancient non-Christian sources that refer to Christ such as Tacitus, Josephus, Pliny, etc..
If you Google this stuff you will find tons of info on both sides of the debate... so we end up back where we started: Democrats vs. Republicans.

Here are some things to consider:


Humans are moral creatures (nod to I'm-Suffering:)). Why is this? Why should I do the right thing as my conscience tells me? You might say it is evolution, but there are many who ignore the moral law to the grave.
Perhaps the only thing that separates humans from animals is a conscious effort to seek and know God.
Can you prove love exists? I can't, but there is nothing I am more sure of.


Then there is the issue of sin. Yes, I know this is a touchy subject, but it is a universal reality. We all do bad things sometimes; we are all equal here.

But God does not want to condemn you for your mistakes.
And here is the great confusion about Christianity. It's not about being good. It's about being forgiven and loved.

The profound message of God, sending his Son to die for you has great value - even just as a metaphor. If you take a leap of faith - because that's what it comes down to in the end - then this metaphor transforms your life.



I agree that there is evidence that Jesus (of the bible) existed. However, as we learn (through modern science), of the deeply flawed and inconsistent stories of the bible. My personal belief is that either the guys writing the bible made most of it up without Jesus having a say (he was most likely illiterate given the period and occupation when it was written). Or we simply have the most documented schizophrenic in history.

Religion (whichever you do/don't believe) is a simple matter of geography. If you happened to have been born in India you would likely be praying to Vishnu.

As for Jesus' followers dying for their faith, we see this throughout non-Christian history also (suicide bombers, hunger strikers) anyone dying for a cause would surely be an extremist, or severely unstable.

As for God, taking just the small spec of space we call the universe, by "God" merely "creating" life on earth only, this would be the equivalent of polishing only one small stone in your garden, and leaving everything else as rubble. (Either God just isn't that creative, or just plain lazy).

The bible is also heavily flawed on its account of the earth and the solar system.

My opinion of (any) religious following is complete fascination with how generally, such huge amounts of intelligent people display astounding confirmation bias accepting philosophical and metaphorical answers (with not a shred of tangible evidence) and accepting what they "wish to believe" against reason and rationale.

Some people like to believe in werewolves and vampires, but this doesn't make it true despite the numerous amounts of literature about the subject, and equally as plausible as angels and other such supernatural beings.

Every Christian has a different take on "the truth" every religion has a different reason why their "truth is the truth".

If you were to present evidence in a court of law with as many holes in it as the bible, it would never get to trial. It's simply a (pretty vile in parts) bedtime story to settle our human fear of death.

What exactly makes humans so special? The nearest thing we have to "God" on earth, is bacteria, (able to mutate, kill and heal at will, omnipresent) I don't see anyone on their knees singing to it strangely enough.