Friday, October 20th | Anxiety (pt.2)

Hello, everyone. Today is Friday, October the 20th. My name is Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028, and you can email us at contact at ClearviewTodayShow.com.

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We're going to leave a link in the description of this podcast, so you can do just that. I need the verse of the day today. Isaiah 26, verse 3, you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. I need some perfect peace right now.

No, I do love that. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. That's the hard part, is to keep my mind stayed on God because my mind wants to wander. My mind wants to find everything that I'm interested in and I'm seeking.

My mind is like a grenade exploded and then just the remnants never stopped flying through space. But when you stay your mind on Christ and on God because you trust him, then peace, that perfect peace is the result. You see that in your life.

Yeah, absolutely. It reminds you to have control over your mental landscape, control over your thoughts, what it is that you're pursuing mentally. So many times we use language like my thoughts got away from me or I lost my train of thought or this passive posture when it comes to our thoughts and our mental life. But we need to keep our mind in check and we need to keep it focused on Christ because not only is he going to bring us peace, he is peace.

That's right. And the world knows how fragmented our minds are. Why do you think TikTok exists? You know, TikTok is made to draw.

That's a great point. And if you don't know what TikTok is, number one, download TikTok because it is a pretty cool and useful app, especially if you're in ministry. But it's an app that is designed to grab your attention and hold on for as long as possible.

And I guess all apps are kind of that way, but TikTok is like definitely the most blatant about I'm going to hold your attention with really, really, really bite-sized entertainment. And you're going to shuffle through out about maybe five to 10 seconds each. How long would you say you spend on one TikTok before you scroll to the next? I mean, on average, probably about 10 seconds.

That's crazy. If it's engaging, if it's interesting, I'll watch for longer, but usually about 10 seconds. I'm like, okay. But I think the way that TikTok set things up, which is, I mean, it was very clever the way that it was done. It began with just like this video sharing thing, but now you've got like this whole algorithm behind it that has built your for you page into what you want it to be. And you've got these different trends that are going around with filters, like these games that you play and you upload your video of your score. You've got a TikTok shop where you have, you know, people who are sponsored by different brands that are promoting products. And I mean, there are some things that I've gotten because I saw them on TikTok. And it is extremely fun and creative. Like it's got like built-in filters and text and sound and, and they do the creative trends that over time you start to kind of remember them fondly, even though it was only like five or six months ago that people were doing this trend.

It has made video editing a lot more accessible to a larger number of people. That's true. And I found that that's typically what happens. Like, imagine like, like, and I, maybe we could talk to Dr. Shaw about this. Cause he, he would tell me all the time about how sound and video was always edited on tape. And it was a very, very, very niche field. You had to be really educated to do it. And now your son can do it on his phone.

Has, has done it with like, he doesn't have a TikTok account, but he's done it on like just in your photos. I mean, you can trim stuff and put it together and I'm like, how'd you know how to do that? But I see, and I see fields like that becoming more and more accessible. And I think that's kind of why Dr. Shaw and we are doing what we're doing is because right now, textual criticism and studying the Bible is at that level is a very niche field. And so what if we can take it and make it more accessible?

I mean, TikTok is doing it, Vine did it, rest in peace. And it's just one of those things that I think as we, as we see technology improve, we're seeing people, you know, in a way not improve. What is the opposite of improve? Deprove? Unimprove? I don't know.

I don't know what the opposite of that is, but I don't know what the opposite of that is. But they're also improving in a lot of ways too. That's why I don't, I don't like to, I don't like when people, especially older people write off stuff like TikTok, cause that's where your kids are like it or not.

That's where they're going to be. So you may as well leverage it for the gospel. And are there people making bad content on TikTok?

Of course there are. There are people who make bad content on any platform, but if it's a platform that exists and if people are on it, why not leverage it for the sake of the gospel? That's right. And I know that's Dr. Shah's heart and I'm grateful for that, for reaching into that realm and capturing that, that audience and pointing them toward the truth of the gospel. There's so many lies that are out there.

Why not use that platform for truth? That's right. I want to talk more about this. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. Even with a bad start. And that's where this book comes in.

That's right. Send us a text. Share what God has done in your life through this devotional. Hey, maybe we'll even read your story on the air. Ellie, you ready to get back to the show?

Let's do it. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text at 252-582-5028.

That's right. And if today's your first time ever joining us here on the Clearview Today Show, we want to welcome you, let you know exactly who's talking to you today. Dr. Abbadan Shah's PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and host of today's show. You can find all of his work on his website. That's AbbadanShah.com. You can also find it on TikTok. On TikTok.

You absolutely can. Many people might not know this, but Dr. Shah, you have a TikTok. I do. You do? You've got a TikTok account?

Let me clarify. I don't really operate it. It's other people who make those reels and they put it out in my name. So I'm not out there. I don't even have a TikTok app on my phone, but it's mine. Yeah.

Well, that's cool though. You still have, you have, so if anybody wants to follow Dr. Shah on TikTok, that's AbbadanShah PhD. A lot of highlights from this show are what make it up on there. And there's some also some new stuff coming that I have not told Dr. Shah about yet, but we're going to talk about it later this week. Some new Monday content coming out. Very, very fun stuff. So stay tuned. Make sure that you TikTok users out there, make sure you are following along AbbadanShah PhD on TikTok.

Look it up. Your For You page will be blessed as a result. You know, one of the things that I think TikTok does is it alleviates people's anxiety, you know?

Clever. It really, it really, whereas most of the experts, most of the experts would say that it actually creates more anxiety in us. I say, I say different. I think I might contribute to anxiety. Literally all day long. It's sort of like that Instagram center where people are like polished, super like posh. Like this is the life that I want you to think that I have with lighting is good. When really you don't see like the mess. And I scroll all day long and like, I'm anxious, but it's not because of that. It's because of other stuff.

This is the only thing I go back to, to calm down. Well, it's a good thing. We're talking about that because we are continuing the discussion. We started on yesterday's episode about anxiety. It was something that a lot of people struggle with. It's something, a lot of it's kind of getting a lot of attention and bandwidth in our culture right now. And it's not a new problem. It's, it's an old problem.

It's just kind of wrapped in a new rapper. Anxiety has always been with us in our world. There's been anxiety ever since the beginning of time, but it has taken on a new meaning and it has been given unjustly.

It has been given a whole new understanding in the past, I would say 10 years, maybe 10 years. Yeah. Maybe the coming of social media, maybe since millennial slash gen Z generation, it has taken on a very different understanding, which I don't agree with. Yeah.

I was thinking about it after yesterday's show. We, we kind of, we talked about it a little bit more off mic and it just went to, from this emotion that we feel to a label of what's wrong with us. You know what I mean? Like some people have this thing that is, is wrong with them. And for some reason that's something that we should now cater to, celebrate, make ourselves aware of and shift our reality and shift our life around this thing that really everybody feels. I feel like the perception of it also, it goes from something that a person experiences to who a person is. Like it becomes an identity thing. Like this is tied to the person who the person is.

Yeah. That's a good point. We want to blame somebody for our problems. We want to blame somebody for our impatience, our lack of self control, our anger, our bitterness, our outburst of wrath, our blaming each other.

We want to blame somebody for these things. And so anxiety is that one label that we can say, I'm struggling with this. So when I do these things is because of the triggers in my life, those micro triggers that happen and that send me in that zone.

And then I say things and do the, I'm sorry, it's not me, but this is what has happened to me. I've been damaged through life. Yeah. If only that trauma hadn't happened to me by someone else's hand, then you and I wouldn't be having the problem we're having. Right.

I'm traumatized. And usually I think this is going to be a breakthrough for a lot of listeners, viewers, radio listeners, podcast listeners, viewers on YouTube, because many times we're blaming people who will take our blame. And usually it is family. Usually it is loved ones.

Usually it is moms and dads. We're going to blame them because if we blame them, we know that tomorrow when things settle, when the dust settles down, they'll still be there and they'll still love me and accept me just like I am. There may be hurt feelings. There may be scars and bruises, but Hey, they want to maintain a relationship with me. They're going to love me and I can move on with my life. But in the process, I am going to right now blame them for all the wrong because I know eventually I can take all those things back.

And I don't have to necessarily say that to them that I'm sorry, I blamed you wrongfully, but Hey, it's all good. It's all good. Everything's good. It's all worked out. I was going through a phase and that's, can I use the word crap? Yeah.

Go for it, man. This is okay. It is crap.

If they want to censor it on the radio, man, that's their deal. We're keeping it real. Yeah. It's wrong, but moms and dads, whoever's out there. If you're being blamed for a lot of things, just know this is part of that process. It's not right. It's unfair, but okay. You have to deal with it. Understanding the process is very helpful though.

And I'm very, I'm grateful because right now my kids are like two and like barely even nine months old, but knowing that this is part of the process, I feel like I'm like 15 years prepared. If that makes sense. You know what I mean? Not that I'll be prepared. Like I can handle it perfectly, but that it won't catch me so off guard because of the wisdom that we're talking about right here.

And maybe it may not even happen to you. Generations. Remember our series on generations? If there's anything we can learn from that is this, not every generation is exactly the same. That's true. There are certain things that stay constant.

Okay. Folks, listen, sin is sin. All of us are born dead in trespasses and sins. There's only one savior and he is God's son. Fully God became fully man, died for us on the cross, rose again on the third day and he's coming back soon. And the word of God and the Holy spirit is what he's given to us.

Right. I mean, we know, we know that those are things that are constant, but then there's a lot of things that will change. So generations change and it may be that your kids will get to that point in life and they may have very different reactions. They will be very loving and kind and kind of like a romantic family. If you know about romanticism, I'm not talking about romantic as in love, but romantic is like every high ideal. Just everything is wonderful. Chirpy works out for the best in the end.

It has its lows, but boy, the lows are also wonderful. So you could have that generation and you may never have to see what another generation had to go through. And I am okay with that. I don't want anybody to say, how dare you suffered or we suffered and you're not. No, that means nothing. Moses had to wander through the wilderness.

Joshua got to live in the land. Okay. So what's your point?

Those are two different people, two different plans for each lives, but overall plan of God still moves on. So talking about anxiety today, this is that generation right now, at least for the past 10, 15 years, where anxiety is like everybody has it. Everybody's stressed out.

Everybody has a disorder. Everybody has been traumatized and they need help. So sadly it minimizes the ones who really need help. Well, that's a good point. And I think one thing that I've taken away, at least from our previous generation topics is that, and you've said this yourself, it does no good to make fun of that. It's better to understand it and then have that dialogue from a biblical perspective.

Because the typical thing that like most people of older generations will do is to be like, well, what do you have to be anxious about? There's nothing. You've got it easier than we did. Yeah. What'd you say?

You have a charmed life. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So we have to, as we did in the generation series, we talked about, let's meet them where they are.

How do you meet them? Well, this generation has had plenty of reasons to be anxious. Think about what's happened in the past 20 years. So I'm going back to starting with 9-11. Think about our trade towers and our Pentagon being attacked.

Think about the housing crisis or the finance market that crashed. Think about what happened across the world with ISIS, images of people being beheaded or burned alive, gruesome, satanic, devilish. That's what happened. What happened in our streets? We had people shooting, right?

In the name of some religion. We had school shootings, we had mall shootings, we had concert shootings. We've had so many other things, protests all over the country, over everything.

And then of course, talk about the pandemic. People's lives were taken away from them for three years or so. And then you're asking kids who are like at that time, like I was in fourth grade when 9-11 happened and then kind of lived through all that stuff. You're asking kids who are still developing to process that and come out as well developed as somebody else on the other side. Right.

Yeah. You as an adult went through those things. I mean, it happened to everybody, but you had adult level processing.

You had adult level reasoning. Your kids and your grandkids growing up, I mean, they are learning how to think about those things. They're learning how to classify things in their lives, but they don't have the same experience you do.

They don't have the same processing you do. So as they're growing, they have these traumatic events that are impacting them. And we need to be aware of that. But you touched on something yesterday that I thought was really the key of what we're talking about, which is that all of these emotions that we're feeling like anger, fear, panic, we're mislabeling them as anxiety disorder. Right.

Yeah. I 100% thank you for bringing that up because that's where I think we are are making more of our struggles and making them disorders as if they are clinically, clinically diagnosed disorders. And that's where we have to draw the line and say, no, I don't think so. Yes, there is anxiety. Yes, there is stress, but let's not take that to disorder. There are people who have disorders who just cannot help it.

And they go into a whole different state and have to be hospitalized. And people cannot tell what's wrong with you because you seem like you're fine and yet your heart is beating out of your chest. Okay. You have an issue here. But to say that, oh my goodness, I can't take this. What's your problem?

Why? What is wrong with you? Well, because if you're feeling, no matter how strong of an emotion I'm feeling, I'm ultimately still accountable for it and accountable for the things that I do while feeling those emotions. If I have a disorder, like, hey, I'm, I'm really not at fault here at all.

There's no accountability or culpability whatsoever. So that it's interesting that you bring that up. I was going to ask you, Dr. Shah, do you think that that rush to a diagnosis that we're seeing in anxiety or really even in things across the board, do you think that comes from a place of wanting to blame someone or something else for the, what, what we're experiencing? Like if I have a disorder, like if I have a disorder, I can blame it on the disorder.

I don't have to, I don't have to process and deal with my own emotions. I can blame it on this diagnosis. I think some people can genuinely blame the disorder and say, this is my problem.

All right. It's true. Soldiers, troops who come back, they have struggles, right? They struggle with anxiety. They struggle with we call that PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and something genuine is happening there. But then there are things in our lives that are just struggles and fears and doubts and even things we don't like about ourselves.

Why am I like that? Why, why do I get so angry or why do I start doubting or why do I see two people talking and immediately think they're talking about me? Billy Graham said that, by the way, in one of his books, in fact, the book on the Beatitudes, he talked about that. And when did Billy Graham live?

I mean, you know, think about that. He wrote that book somewhere in the fifties, if I'm not wrong. That's way before any of this stuff. And he sees two people talking and he would immediately think they were talking about him. And he had to come to grips with the fact that he was not that important. He was not, it was not that important. Could it be that some of our people today need to come to grips with that fact that we're not that important? I think so.

Cause we're talking about, and I'm talking about even my own generation, the millennials, we're talking about a generation who has been given cameras and given social media platforms and a microphone and lights and being like, Hey, the world is yours. Take it. Just put yourself out there. Hustle. Get your, get that money. And it's everybody's a winner. Yeah.

Everybody's a winner. Like I, like I think we all millennials and down have like main character syndrome. That's exactly what I was going to say. We grew up believing we're the main character. Exactly. Yeah. So I think all this is a very tangled web, but when we begin to untangle each of these strands, one by one, you go, okay, there is something real.

There is something generational. And yes, the cure is still Jesus Christ. For one, it may require therapy and maybe counseling and maybe even medication. The other one requires more submission to Jesus Christ and death to self and life unto Christ. But both groups have to ultimately come to Jesus Christ.

And that's the answer there. Where do you think the church body plays into all of this? Where, you know, we're, we're maybe an older generation who is seeing all this happen, but, but genuinely wants to help.

Like where do you think the, the church at large can come into a problem like this? Education. We need to educate ourselves regarding generational differences. And back in the spring of 2023, I sort of, out of nowhere, got asked to do a seminar on generations.

And this really happened through my, one of our chamber meetings. I'm on the board of our local chamber and I've made a comment about this generation. And I was not kind of talking down about our generation. I was just saying something to the effect of how they struggled and how they are told that they need to fix all the problems.

And if they don't fix the problems and they are the problems. And when I said that, and I was actually quoting somebody else that I had heard that from, the whole room just kind of turned to me and said, would you talk to us about that? And I was like, sure. And I said that sure, because I was like, I need to learn more about this myself.

So maybe it's a good time. So from there began series. I mean, there were, we had seminars here. I preached an entire series in our church. We did radio shows with that. And then also I was called to teach that to all the principals, assistant principals, administrative staff, board members of our local public school.

So, I mean, it was like a hundred some people I was teaching them because they wanted to take that information and then help lead their schools and their staff and the young staff coming. So all that to say, get educated because it changed my perspective. I still see where this generation can be at fault and is at fault making anxiety into anxiety disorder. I still see places where they would rather blame, like you said, Ryan, blame something rather than take the blame. But now I have a sense of compassion towards this generation.

So instead of just being like, y'all are a bunch of losers and you need to grow up and stop blaming us. Now it's like, yes, I know what you're doing. Okay. I need to work with this.

God, give me the grace and I'll help you. And in the process, what's happening is I'm able to help and y'all are able to help people, families, moms and dads who are struggling with their kids, older kids is what I'm talking about. And we're able to help them navigate through their family struggles and the blame game and the bad childhood and all of that. And I'm able to help them and see these young people come on the other side.

It's not like they were like, okay, mom and dad, you were right all the whole time. No, there's an understanding on both sides where kids are saying, yeah, we see I had to take that road. It was not a fun road, not a fun road, but I had to take it. So now I know where I'm at. And mom and dad to go, okay, we forgive you. It was not fun.

It was not right. But, okay, we see what you're trying to say. So I'm seeing that even today. Well, I think the proof is in the pudding because I mean, look at our student ministry, look at the amount of young people who are coming in here. And I mean, it's in part to both of you two men because of the atmosphere and the culture of understanding and compassion that you have created through understanding and through not only understanding as an acceptance, but understanding as in saying, hey, let's work together for a common goal, which is growing closer to Christ.

And finally putting this anxiety to work. There's an atmosphere of love here. And I think that draws young people. There's young people in this church that I see every single week that I'm like, I have no clue who they are.

They must be coming for the first time. And by the time I've learned them, there's like 10 more that are coming in. So definitely educate yourself, connect with the younger people, others facing similar struggles. Biblical preaching, teaching is so vital in this area, because if you don't have that, you can have all the books on psychology, counseling, generational differences, leadership management, family dynamics.

It can have all this information, but it won't make a difference. We have to get back to the truth of the Bible. And I think that's where the answer lies. It is so important. And if there's anybody out here who's working with teenagers or working in student ministry, I just want to give you some encouragement. The best thing you can do for your students is direct them to sit in and service and listen to your pastor. The best thing you can do is encourage them to sit under biblical preaching.

That is a non-negotiable for us here. That is something that I drive home with our students. They need to be in your messages, Dr. Shaw. They need to be sitting and listening to you teach and hearing you explain God's word, because that is where that unification, that environment of love that you were talking about, Jon, that's where that comes from, that togetherness. Otherwise, they're going to feel like they're in a separate holding tank in your student ministry until they get to be part of Big Church one day. They need to be part of church now. They need to be sitting in services now. And even as 12, 13, 14 years old, they need to be exposed to that biblical preaching because the world is preaching to them.

You need to make sure that they are getting sound biblical doctrine from your pastor. Preach it. Yes. Amen. I love it, man. I got a little soapbox in there. Cool off a little bit. I'm sorry. I got a little, I got a little hype. Somebody give me a towel. Yeah. Take a breath. Breathe it out.

Now in the show. Dr. Shaw, I guess I would end with just asking you if somebody is struggling with this or maybe they have friends or family members or people in their church who are dealing with this issue of anxiety, what, what encouragement, what next steps would you offer them? Great, great question. Go talk to people, go talk to mature, godly people. And sometimes your pastor is that person. And I know, I don't know all the pastors everywhere in the world, but most of them are very good and they genuinely care and they have far more knowledge than you realize.

They may not always live up to your standards or even their own standards, but they can definitely help you go talk to them and they'll help you and they will encourage you and guide you in the right path. So that, that would be the big place and pray, pray, pray. God answers prayers. I know parents right now who are reconciled to their children.

I know kids right now who are reconciled to their parents in a good way, in a better place now with better understanding on both sides. It's an answer to prayers. Yeah. So important. Well, I hope you guys hit that encouragement to heart. There is hope and it comes from Christ.

It comes from the gospel and make sure you seek that out. If you guys have questions about today's topic, maybe you're struggling in this area or you have a loved one who is, we would love to help you take those next steps. Send us a text to 252-582-5028. You can visit us online at cleary todayshow.com. And don't forget, you can partner with us financially on that same website. Click that donate button. Let us know that gift is coming from our Cleary Today show. We love you guys. We'll see you next time on Cleary Today.