In my previous blog titled "Why John MacArthur Is Wrong About Mental Illness Part 1, I began a series where I critique His two latest sermons titled "Anxiety-Free Living". I make the strong case saying that Mr. MacArthur does not understand anxiety disorders, or mental illness in general. As I have said, this series is not an attack on Mr. MacArthur personally. While I do not like the guy personally, I have immense respect for him. So, please do not take this series as an attack. However, as I read his sermon transcripts, I cannot help but find that I have some serious issues with what he is saying. I will go over my issues with his sermons in this series. First, I'd like to post the biblical passage on which he is basing his sermons. The biblical passage is Luke 12:22-34. When we turn to that passage, we read the following,
"...Therefore, I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will wear, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If you are not able to do a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But, if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things will be added unto you.
Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in Heaven that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" "...Therefore, I tell you do not be anxious about your life, what you will wear, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If you are not able to do a small thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But, if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom and these things will be added unto you.
As you can see from this text, Jesus is telling us to not worry about anything but to instead trust in the Sovereignty of God. Jesus uses the imagery of birds and lilies to demonstrate the point that while they do not take care of themselves, God still provides for them. He then tells us that we are much more valuable than the birds and lilies, so God will take care of us. I have absolutely no issue with Mr. MacArthur's interpretation of this passage. However, I take tremendous issue with his oversimplification and outright condemnation of those who suffer from various anxiety disorders. Since I have already addressed his oversimplification of anxiety disorders in the previous blog, I will just continue where I left off. In the fifth paragraph of Mr. MacArthur's sermon, he says the following,
According to Ohio State University, they have a website in which they deal with some of these things, and one of the statements on their website is, "The goal of any treatment is to make anxiety a manageable part of daily existence." The best the world can offer you is to manage your anxiety. Jesus offers you to eliminate it. Does that sound like a good deal? Get rid of it all together? Stop it? In fact, you can...you could basically translate verse 22, "Stop being anxious," verse 29, "Stop worrying," and verse 32, "Stop being afraid." The world will offer you cognitive behavior therapy, or a long list of drugs. But our compassionate God offers a far better solution, and that's the elimination of your anxiety altogether. Stop being anxious! Stop worrying. Stop being afraid! Worry is a pretty deadly thing. Roche said, "Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained." You may start with just a little worry and it can engulf your whole life. I read this some time ago. I don't know why I read some of the things I read, just curious, I guess. But I was reading about the Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. and they set all kinds of standards, and there was one little paragraph in there that said this, "A dense fog covering seven city blocks.” Are you with me? “A dense fog covering seven city blocks, a hundred feet deep, is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops.” Not much there, the paragraph said, but it cripples the whole community. Well that's what can happen in worry. You can have something the size of one glass of water cripple a whole community. The word "worry" actually comes from an old German word, the English word "worry." The old German word is wuergen. It means to choke, or strangle. It's talking about mental strangulation through fear and anxiety and stress and worry
There are couple issues that I have with this paragraph. The first issue I have is that he pretends that stress management is not sufficient and that all we need to do is "trust Jesus more". He is basically insinuating that if we cannot stop being filled with anxiety, then we are not trusting Christ enough. While I do agree that if we did fully trust Christ, then we would not worry so much, but the truth is none of us trust Christ to that degree. Mr. MacArthur is acting as if he always trusts Christ and therefore he never worries. He insinuates that if we just trusted Christ like he does, then we won't worry anymore. This is a horrible thing to say to someone who is dealing with PTSD, OCD, or General Anxiety Disorder. What he is implying here is that any Christians who deal with an anxiety disorder are second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. This paragraph demonstrates once more that Mr. MacArthur does not understand just how serious anxiety disorders really are. If he did, then he'd understand that mere platitudes such as "Stop worrying" or "Stop being afraid" are actually quite offensive and not helpful to people who suffer with anxiety disorders on a daily basis. His rhetoric is basically implying that there is something wrong in the Christian who suffers with an anxiety disorder.
The next thing that I'd like to address comes from paragraph six of his sermon. It says the following,
Now there are only two realms in which you can worry. You can worry about the physical world or you can worry about the spiritual world. You can worry about what is immaterial, or what is material. You can worry about what is earthly and what is heavenly. And so that is precisely what Jesus says you don't need to worry about. In verse 22 He says, "Don't be anxious for your life," and by that He means what you eat, and your body, what you wear. Stop worrying about that, the basics of life. And then down in verse 32, "Don't be afraid on the spiritual level for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." You're left with nothing to worry about, nothing to be anxious about, nothing to be stressed about, nothing to panic over. So we conclude that if you do worry as a Christian, worry is a sin. But it's a sin that rises from a failure to understand God, a failure to understand His sovereign love, a failure to understand His sovereign care, a failure to understand His sovereign resources. So that's what Jesus unfolds here. Jesus does offer anxiety-free living. When you come into His kingdom, God takes care of you and your worries really are ended so that what defined your life, worrying about everything, is eliminated.
First off, I like the point where he says that there are only two realms in which we worry: the physical and the spiritual. I can definitely agree with that. However, he again makes the same mistake that he has been making for this entire sermon. He assumes that for someone struggling with an anxiety disorder, all he needs to do is "Stop worrying and trust Jesus". This may be true. All one does need to do is stop worrying and trust Jesus. However, for someone dealing with an anxiety disorder, this is much easier said than done. Mr. MacArthur is implying that this should come easy for a Christian. Then, he decides to condemn any Christian who seems to not be able to get a grasp on this by saying they are sinning. He further says that when these Christians worry, they are "failing to understand God, a failure to understand His sovereign love, a failure to understand His sovereign care, a failure to understand His sovereign resources". This blatant condemnation by Mr. MacArthur is extremely heinous because it tells any Christian who suffers from an anxiety disorder that they are not believing rightly concerning the Lord. He is telling these brothers and sisters in Christ that their anxiety disorders is their own fault. Worrying is not always a sin, especially when the person cannot control their anxiety. Mr. MacArthur is plainly denying that some people cannot control their anxieties. He is assuming that all anxieties are controllable and if someone cannot do it, then it is their fault.
I will end this blog on this note. Please stay tuned for Part 3 of this series. I hope that this blog series blesses and edifies you as it helps you to better understand anxiety disorders and mental illness as a whole. Thank you very much for reading this blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry website
According to Ohio State University, they have a website in which they deal with some of these things, and one of the statements on their website is, "The goal of any treatment is to make anxiety a manageable part of daily existence." The best the world can offer you is to manage your anxiety. Jesus offers you to eliminate it. Does that sound like a good deal? Get rid of it all together? Stop it? In fact, you can...you could basically translate verse 22, "Stop being anxious," verse 29, "Stop worrying," and verse 32, "Stop being afraid." The world will offer you cognitive behavior therapy, or a long list of drugs. But our compassionate God offers a far better solution, and that's the elimination of your anxiety altogether. Stop being anxious! Stop worrying. Stop being afraid! Worry is a pretty deadly thing. Roche said, "Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained." You may start with just a little worry and it can engulf your whole life. I read this some time ago. I don't know why I read some of the things I read, just curious, I guess. But I was reading about the Bureau of Standards in Washington D.C. and they set all kinds of standards, and there was one little paragraph in there that said this, "A dense fog covering seven city blocks.” Are you with me? “A dense fog covering seven city blocks, a hundred feet deep, is composed of less than one glass of water divided into sixty thousand million drops.” Not much there, the paragraph said, but it cripples the whole community. Well that's what can happen in worry. You can have something the size of one glass of water cripple a whole community. The word "worry" actually comes from an old German word, the English word "worry." The old German word is wuergen. It means to choke, or strangle. It's talking about mental strangulation through fear and anxiety and stress and worry
There are couple issues that I have with this paragraph. The first issue I have is that he pretends that stress management is not sufficient and that all we need to do is "trust Jesus more". He is basically insinuating that if we cannot stop being filled with anxiety, then we are not trusting Christ enough. While I do agree that if we did fully trust Christ, then we would not worry so much, but the truth is none of us trust Christ to that degree. Mr. MacArthur is acting as if he always trusts Christ and therefore he never worries. He insinuates that if we just trusted Christ like he does, then we won't worry anymore. This is a horrible thing to say to someone who is dealing with PTSD, OCD, or General Anxiety Disorder. What he is implying here is that any Christians who deal with an anxiety disorder are second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. This paragraph demonstrates once more that Mr. MacArthur does not understand just how serious anxiety disorders really are. If he did, then he'd understand that mere platitudes such as "Stop worrying" or "Stop being afraid" are actually quite offensive and not helpful to people who suffer with anxiety disorders on a daily basis. His rhetoric is basically implying that there is something wrong in the Christian who suffers with an anxiety disorder.
The next thing that I'd like to address comes from paragraph six of his sermon. It says the following,
Now there are only two realms in which you can worry. You can worry about the physical world or you can worry about the spiritual world. You can worry about what is immaterial, or what is material. You can worry about what is earthly and what is heavenly. And so that is precisely what Jesus says you don't need to worry about. In verse 22 He says, "Don't be anxious for your life," and by that He means what you eat, and your body, what you wear. Stop worrying about that, the basics of life. And then down in verse 32, "Don't be afraid on the spiritual level for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom." You're left with nothing to worry about, nothing to be anxious about, nothing to be stressed about, nothing to panic over. So we conclude that if you do worry as a Christian, worry is a sin. But it's a sin that rises from a failure to understand God, a failure to understand His sovereign love, a failure to understand His sovereign care, a failure to understand His sovereign resources. So that's what Jesus unfolds here. Jesus does offer anxiety-free living. When you come into His kingdom, God takes care of you and your worries really are ended so that what defined your life, worrying about everything, is eliminated.
First off, I like the point where he says that there are only two realms in which we worry: the physical and the spiritual. I can definitely agree with that. However, he again makes the same mistake that he has been making for this entire sermon. He assumes that for someone struggling with an anxiety disorder, all he needs to do is "Stop worrying and trust Jesus". This may be true. All one does need to do is stop worrying and trust Jesus. However, for someone dealing with an anxiety disorder, this is much easier said than done. Mr. MacArthur is implying that this should come easy for a Christian. Then, he decides to condemn any Christian who seems to not be able to get a grasp on this by saying they are sinning. He further says that when these Christians worry, they are "failing to understand God, a failure to understand His sovereign love, a failure to understand His sovereign care, a failure to understand His sovereign resources". This blatant condemnation by Mr. MacArthur is extremely heinous because it tells any Christian who suffers from an anxiety disorder that they are not believing rightly concerning the Lord. He is telling these brothers and sisters in Christ that their anxiety disorders is their own fault. Worrying is not always a sin, especially when the person cannot control their anxiety. Mr. MacArthur is plainly denying that some people cannot control their anxieties. He is assuming that all anxieties are controllable and if someone cannot do it, then it is their fault.
I will end this blog on this note. Please stay tuned for Part 3 of this series. I hope that this blog series blesses and edifies you as it helps you to better understand anxiety disorders and mental illness as a whole. Thank you very much for reading this blog and may the grace of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ richly bless you all!
-David Lee Chu Sarchet
Christian Mental Health Advocate
Check out the Christ-Centered Mental Health Ministry website
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