More and more today, people are experiencing what psychologists are calling “headline stress disorder” and news-related anxiety. The American Psychiatric Association reported last year that 67% of those they interviewed were anxious about current events. Even though the news is triggering the anxiety, people compulsively check the news for reassurance, the way a person repeatedly checks to see whether the doors are locked for fear of an intruder. We fixate on worrying circumstances that are beyond our control and, as a result, experience elevated stress, headaches, sleep problems, and feelings of dread and helplessness.
Three foundational truths from the Bible about the future can help with this.
1. The world won’t be destroyed by climate change, nuclear war, or A.I.
The Bible is very clear about how the end of the world will be triggered. It won’t be through an environmental disaster, a nuclear war, or a digital takeover of our planet. In fact, Jesus said, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6).
The end of the world will come when Jesus returns, this time not as a baby in a manger but descending from heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:16), “coming with the clouds” (Revelation 1:7), “as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west” (Matthew 24:27).
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t do what we can for the environment, seek to bring peace where there is conflict, or put safeguards on our technologies—it just means that none of these threats are ultimate. Our lives and this planet aren’t in the hands of Greta Thunberg, Vladimir Putin, or Sam Altman. Our lives are in Jesus’ hands, and we will ultimately answer to Him. Our reassurance isn’t in the news; it’s in His second coming.
2. This life isn’t the end
Stephen Hawking once said, “I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken-down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” Statements like this can deepen anxiety because they leave people without hope beyond this life.
If this life is all there is, we have to find all our hope, meaning, joy, and purpose here and now. That makes every news crisis an existential threat. The Bible paints a different picture. It says that all people will one day be resurrected from the dead to enter an eternal existence. In John 5:28-29, for instance, Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” In Matthew 25:46, He said, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
If this life is just a precursor to judgment and eternal life or eternal punishment, then the highs and lows we experience here are not nearly as consequential. That’s why the apostle Paul was able to call his trial a “light momentary affliction” (2 Corinthians 4:16) and say, “The things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17). If I can learn to measure the news and my own circumstances against the backdrop of eternity, I can stop doomscrolling and give my attention to the things that really matter.
3. There’s a final judgment that will right the wrongs of this world’s injustice
There’s nothing like injustice to stir up our anger. Hearing incidents of economic injustice or racial injustice can open up old wounds and eat away at us. Personal experiences of injustice with the legal system, an employer, or even a spouse can make us feel powerless. While the news often intensifies our anger, reflecting on the Bible’s teaching about the final judgment can bring relief.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.” Jesus added, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:36). If I know that a day is coming when Jesus is going to perfectly judge everyone, then no one will ultimately get away with anything.
But if my enemy is going to answer to Jesus, then I will also. I can release the evil people of this world to His judgment, but I also have to deal with my own evil. Yet Jesus offers a pardon to all who turn from their sin and trust in Him. As He says in John 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Can you see how reflecting more deeply on the Bible’s teaching about the future could relieve the doom that comes from endless scrolling? The Fellowship Affirmation of Faith says the following about Future Things:
We believe in the personal and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory; in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust to stand before God in the final judgment; in the eternal, conscious punishment of the unregenerate in hell; and in the eternal blessedness of the redeemed in the new heavens and the new earth.
In awe of Him,
Paul
