What's Your Fear?

Show me what you fear, and I'll show you what you worship.

Everyone, whether they admit it or not, are afraid of something, even the so-called "fearless" among us. People who are described as fearless are merely people who either A.) respect something or someone greater than what might normally make them afraid, B.) are just plain too stupid to know they should be afraid, or C.) are too proud to admit it.

Fear isn't a bad thing when it is understood as reverence or respect for a real power stronger than oneself. I fear the bus coming down the street enough to know something bad will happen to me if I step out onto the road directly in front of it. I fear gravity enough to know not too jump off of the bridge because it will punish me with certain death. Fear can also be a powerful protective force. Fear of a child hurting himself can cause a parent to take certain precautionary measures to baby-proof a home. A healthy fear of punishment by Mom or Dad can prevent a young child from doing something harmful in their absence. A child's fear of a bully can be mitigated by the strength of an older brother who can kick the bully's ass. It is only when fear has no real external threat that it dissolves into anxiety and becomes immobilizing.

Politicians use fear to get us to support their objectives. "Pass it now, or catastrophic disaster awaits!" Advertisers use fear to get us to buy their product. The entire insurance industry from home security systems, to identity theft protection, to every other brand of insurance is based upon the idea that "you just never know if it might happen to you." Or, "If you call in the next 60 seconds will triple your offer!" in the hopes you'll forget the same commercial will air 30 minutes from now as if you couldn't get the same offer during the other 29 minutes in between. Most of it is designed to get you to "buy" a product or idea before you have enough time to figure out whether or not you really understand or need it.

Fear, in essence, is worship that is misdirected. Worship is nothing more than giving one's heart, thoughts, affections, time, attention to an object stronger than ourselves. So is fear. We don't fear things that are weaker than we are, but rather that which we perceive are stronger. It is this reason why I think that even the most irreligious atheists I've met are also some of the most superstitious people I've ever known. You don't have to believe in God Almighty to fear the future, the loss of health, the loss of life, the loss of relationships, the loss of a job.

In the Book of Proverbs we find the phrase, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And Jacob, in the Old Testament, describes God as the "Fear of Isaac". Often this is met with the challenge by secular critics, "Why should I fear God?" Uh...maybe because he can kill you at any moment and drag you before his judgment seat and cast your soul into eternal damnation? But setting that aside for the moment...

God has been thought of as the Being greater than whom no other Being exists. By logical necessity, He therefore possesses power greater than any other power that exists, and is worthy to be feared. But here's the catch. By necessity, God must be also perfectly loving. And if the object of one's fear, reverence, respect, and awe is also perfectly loving, then what would normally be our terror turns into respect and joy and confidence and freedom from every other lesser fear that begs me to give it time. People who don't fear God and yet fear something else are simply worshiping at the altar of a lesser god.

Show me what you fear and I'll show you what you worship.