Comments on: Fear: Cut it out http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/ A forum for discussion of news that arises at the intersection of Christianity and culture. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:15:17 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: REG http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-444765 REG Mon, 20 Jul 2009 20:05:11 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-444765 21- It would be more beneficial for all involved if you were to ask questions, as a learner, rather than make assumptions, as a judger, when you respond someone's posts. Then again, maybe you should stick with editing.. 21-
It would be more beneficial for all involved if you were to ask questions, as a learner, rather than make assumptions, as a judger, when you respond someone’s posts.

Then again, maybe you should stick with editing..

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]]> By: opinionated teen http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-444255 opinionated teen Fri, 17 Jul 2009 21:48:37 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-444255 I'm just being silly. Usually that's what a smiley face indicates, right? And if I'm the center of a debate, then it means I brought up a point that makes people think, and I certainly shouldn't be ashamed of that. However, you're right, less pride would serve me well. I’m just being silly. Usually that’s what a smiley face indicates, right? And if I’m the center of a debate, then it means I brought up a point that makes people think, and I certainly shouldn’t be ashamed of that. However, you’re right, less pride would serve me well.

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]]> By: Allen Wrench http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-444233 Allen Wrench Fri, 17 Jul 2009 20:58:29 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-444233 O Teen (24), You write (in part): "It makes me feel so special!" You are special, you are a child of the King. You'd be special even if you were not the center of this discussion. But please do not let this be an opening for pride. Everything we have and everything we are comes to us as a gift, a gift for which one day we will be called to give an account. O Teen (24), You write (in part): “It makes me feel so special!”

You are special, you are a child of the King. You’d be special even if you were not the center of this discussion.

But please do not let this be an opening for pride. Everything we have and everything we are comes to us as a gift, a gift for which one day we will be called to give an account.

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]]> By: opinionated teen http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443929 opinionated teen Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:27:29 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443929 Wow, I just love being the center of a debate. It makes me feel so special! :D Ms. Lawyer, maybe I didn't use good examples, but I've experienced hard times when worry is to be expected. My dad has been layed off a number of times. My church/pastor almost went bankrupt as recently as two weeks ago. Not to say that I've had a hard life, but even children have reasons to worry from time to time. I was just trying to say that God helps us to overcome. Yes, Ol' Hickory, you're right. We haven't the power to do everything we ought. It's just that some Christians use that as an excuse not to try. But I doubt you're one of them, right? Mr. FisherWoof: lol. :) Yeah, Allen (since you asked), I figured it wasn't your real name, but I try to be polite. Thank you for the encouragement. Wow, I just love being the center of a debate. It makes me feel so special! :D

Ms. Lawyer, maybe I didn’t use good examples, but I’ve experienced hard times when worry is to be expected. My dad has been layed off a number of times. My church/pastor almost went bankrupt as recently as two weeks ago. Not to say that I’ve had a hard life, but even children have reasons to worry from time to time. I was just trying to say that God helps us to overcome.

Yes, Ol’ Hickory, you’re right. We haven’t the power to do everything we ought. It’s just that some Christians use that as an excuse not to try. But I doubt you’re one of them, right?

Mr. FisherWoof: lol. :)

Yeah, Allen (since you asked), I figured it wasn’t your real name, but I try to be polite. Thank you for the encouragement.

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]]> By: Allen Wrench http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443920 Allen Wrench Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:54:19 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443920 O Teen (9): I appreciate and am more than a bit surprised by the use of the honorific. I chose the pseudonym merely to indicate my gender and my surname "Wrench" as a joke. Men are probably a bit more likely to recognize an allen wrench as a useful tool, but that's all it is. Allen, not my real name either, is perfectly fine for common use here. NJLAWYER's response (10) offers sound advice, but I would not have called your thread "cocky." There are fears immediate and fears imagined or delayed; you recognize them both, and each prompts a different response. Fear immediate, as I have mentioned, is not a sin, it is an involuntary protective response, and although we have no recorded instance of Jesus' reaction to it, I have no doubt that he knew what it was (he was human, you remember, and acquainted with all our foibles). Fears imagined are a different story. Since we are not (usually) privileged to see into the future we always tend to imagine the worst. I'm not sure why, but it probably has to do with our experience together with lack of faith or trust. NJLAWYER's rebuke was directed, I think, at your lack of experience. Just as a child is not an experienced driver he can have no concept of highway hazards and is unlikely to appreciate incipient dangers of which his parents are aware. His mother may say, "I don't think we have enough gas to make it home," and worry about it; he is unable to share his mother's concern, which will come later as an experienced driver. I suppose this level of worry is a sin, but a minor one which could have been prevented by more careful attention. Worry about things over which we have no control -- impending financial collapse, nuclear attack, a poisoned water supply -- are the ones for which we ask our Lord to increase our faith. O Teen (9): I appreciate and am more than a bit surprised by the use of the honorific. I chose the pseudonym merely to indicate my gender and my surname “Wrench” as a joke. Men are probably a bit more likely to recognize an allen wrench as a useful tool, but that’s all it is. Allen, not my real name either, is perfectly fine for common use here.

NJLAWYER’s response (10) offers sound advice, but I would not have called your thread “cocky.” There are fears immediate and fears imagined or delayed; you recognize them both, and each prompts a different response. Fear immediate, as I have mentioned, is not a sin, it is an involuntary protective response, and although we have no recorded instance of Jesus’ reaction to it, I have no doubt that he knew what it was (he was human, you remember, and acquainted with all our foibles). Fears imagined are a different story. Since we are not (usually) privileged to see into the future we always tend to imagine the worst. I’m not sure why, but it probably has to do with our experience together with lack of faith or trust.

NJLAWYER’s rebuke was directed, I think, at your lack of experience. Just as a child is not an experienced driver he can have no concept of highway hazards and is unlikely to appreciate incipient dangers of which his parents are aware. His mother may say, “I don’t think we have enough gas to make it home,” and worry about it; he is unable to share his mother’s concern, which will come later as an experienced driver. I suppose this level of worry is a sin, but a minor one which could have been prevented by more careful attention. Worry about things over which we have no control — impending financial collapse, nuclear attack, a poisoned water supply — are the ones for which we ask our Lord to increase our faith.

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]]> By: tammie http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443726 tammie Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:06:24 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443726 cheryl, i had never thought of what Jesus felt in the garden as fear, but more as anguish. and you are right, the command is against any kind of anxiety, ranging from terror to worry. the kind of fear moves you to positive action would be different. thank you for taking the time to explain. cheryl, i had never thought of what Jesus felt in the garden as fear, but more as anguish. and you are right, the command is against any kind of anxiety, ranging from terror to worry. the kind of fear moves you to positive action would be different.

thank you for taking the time to explain.

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]]> By: Cheryl D. http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443663 Cheryl D. Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:12:29 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443663 Reg, a lot of churches are currently being split over this over-emphasis on nutrients, and I literally know someone who is dying because she listened to this sort of thing rather than to her doctors. (The cancer is winning the battle with her wonderful diet.) Eat what you want, but don't equate it with holiness unless it comes as an absolute from God's Word. Reg, a lot of churches are currently being split over this over-emphasis on nutrients, and I literally know someone who is dying because she listened to this sort of thing rather than to her doctors. (The cancer is winning the battle with her wonderful diet.) Eat what you want, but don’t equate it with holiness unless it comes as an absolute from God’s Word.

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]]> By: Cheryl D. http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443662 Cheryl D. Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:09:18 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443662 Tammie, I think that the verses that say things like "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God" are talking about what we would call "worry" and not "fear" if we are making such a distinction. Here's the distinction to me: If a bear is racing at me, my adrenaline is going to start flowing--that's fear, and it's God-given. If I'm worried about the bears and bulls on the stock market, that's worry, and it's a different issue. When I speak of "fear," I mean a reaction to an immediate and real danger. Now, fear can turn into worry, but when I speak of fear, I mean the <i>immediate,</i> and I don't see biblical evidence that it's a sin to feel afraid if I fall out of an airplane without a parachute, any more than it's a sin to feel the "negative" emotion of sadness when someone dies. Perhaps fear might sometimes be a <i>temptation</i> to worry, and thus fear turned to God immediately is in fact more a temptation than an actual sin. Either way, I don't think it's a sin to have one's heart fall into one's toes when faced with immediate physical danger; I think it's rather unusual not to. Jesus Himself was afraid at the prospect of the cross, or His sweating drops of blood at the thought don't make sense. That alone should be enough to prove that fear isn't a sin. One time when I was about 21 I was driving home from church, and we had had some rain. I braked at a stop light, and one side of the car's brakes "grabbed" and one side didn't do anything, so immediately my car spun 180 degrees. Now, I'm going to assume that the spin took place very, very quickly--just a second or two. But mentally I literally saw it one frame at a time. That is in fact how I even know one side grabbed and the other didn't; I had time to feel everything. Time literally slowed down for me, and I didn't feel the car spinning, I felt it moving in tiny little increments, like a movie in slow motion. I didn't even have enough <i>time</i> to be afraid, but in that moment I experienced the fact that God has literally given our minds the ability, in potential life-or-death situations, to have the brain or the body work in a different than normal way. I didn't need to DO anything to get myself out of that situation, but potentially I could have needed to do something, and the slowing down could have made a life-or-death difference (if a semi was racing at me, for example, and I needed to swerve, having an extra second or two could save my life). In other cases, people have had increased physical capacity, for instance the ability to lift half a car to get it off someone pinned underneath. I think that such "fear" responses are a gift from God, and not sin. (There's a bear--what do I do?) Tammie, I think that the verses that say things like “Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God” are talking about what we would call “worry” and not “fear” if we are making such a distinction. Here’s the distinction to me: If a bear is racing at me, my adrenaline is going to start flowing–that’s fear, and it’s God-given. If I’m worried about the bears and bulls on the stock market, that’s worry, and it’s a different issue. When I speak of “fear,” I mean a reaction to an immediate and real danger. Now, fear can turn into worry, but when I speak of fear, I mean the immediate, and I don’t see biblical evidence that it’s a sin to feel afraid if I fall out of an airplane without a parachute, any more than it’s a sin to feel the “negative” emotion of sadness when someone dies. Perhaps fear might sometimes be a temptation to worry, and thus fear turned to God immediately is in fact more a temptation than an actual sin. Either way, I don’t think it’s a sin to have one’s heart fall into one’s toes when faced with immediate physical danger; I think it’s rather unusual not to. Jesus Himself was afraid at the prospect of the cross, or His sweating drops of blood at the thought don’t make sense. That alone should be enough to prove that fear isn’t a sin.

One time when I was about 21 I was driving home from church, and we had had some rain. I braked at a stop light, and one side of the car’s brakes “grabbed” and one side didn’t do anything, so immediately my car spun 180 degrees. Now, I’m going to assume that the spin took place very, very quickly–just a second or two. But mentally I literally saw it one frame at a time. That is in fact how I even know one side grabbed and the other didn’t; I had time to feel everything. Time literally slowed down for me, and I didn’t feel the car spinning, I felt it moving in tiny little increments, like a movie in slow motion. I didn’t even have enough time to be afraid, but in that moment I experienced the fact that God has literally given our minds the ability, in potential life-or-death situations, to have the brain or the body work in a different than normal way. I didn’t need to DO anything to get myself out of that situation, but potentially I could have needed to do something, and the slowing down could have made a life-or-death difference (if a semi was racing at me, for example, and I needed to swerve, having an extra second or two could save my life). In other cases, people have had increased physical capacity, for instance the ability to lift half a car to get it off someone pinned underneath. I think that such “fear” responses are a gift from God, and not sin. (There’s a bear–what do I do?)

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]]> By: REG http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443460 REG Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:15:00 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443460 Are we interested enough in Jesus to study His creation? And part of His being with us always and fighting for us is His creation of nutrients that build our strength. We need to know the difference between dead foods and those good substances which build our abilities to be steadfast. It is knowing Jesus' creation. Are we interested enough in Jesus to study His creation?

And part of His being with us always and fighting for us is His creation of nutrients that build our strength. We need to know the difference between dead foods and those good substances which build our abilities to be steadfast.

It is knowing Jesus’ creation.

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]]> By: REG http://online.worldmag.com/2009/07/14/fear-cut-it-out/comment-page-1/#comment-443424 REG Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:56:07 +0000 http://online.worldmag.com/?p=20261#comment-443424 Yes, and the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Check out The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman, Md., for discerning your nutritional needs. Yes, and the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
Check out The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman, Md., for discerning your nutritional needs.

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