What Are You Afraid Of?
K, so I realize it’s been over three months…three months!…since I’ve posted here. And there are many reasons for that dry spell. I could make all kinds of excuses, but I won’t. I’ll just say that I’m back for this post, and who knows how long it will be until the next one! 
This week, we obviously held a very important election here in the United States. And I noticed something leading up to the election, and it became very obvious as the election results came in Tuesday night.
I have a Facebook account (look me up on there if you’re not already my Facebook friend), and my friends list is very, very diverse. I have some of my blog readers, some “in real life” friends, high school classmates, college classmates, co-workers from the theatre where I have been working these past few months, high school kids whom I accompanied this summer at a music camp — all different types of people. Some very liberal, some very conservative. Some Christian, some not. Some straight, some gay. Some old, some young. Anyway, you get the picture.
Well, if you’re not familiar with Facebook, there’s this little thing on Facebook called “status” where you can say what you’re doing at the moment, what you’re feeling, or whatever you want to put in there.
And so, election night, I was logged into Facebook, and I was following the status changes of all of my Facebook friends. And I noticed a very disturbing trend.
I could have divided my friends into two groups that night. One group was jubilant. “YES, WE DID!!!” read some statuses (stati?). “Change is coming!” read others. “I am sooo happy,” read still more.
And then, there were the evangelical Christians and more conservative types in the other group. “I’m feeling very scared.” “I’m scared, but I know God’s still in control.” “I’m worried about our country.”
Now, would I expect everyone to be happy about the election results? Of course not. Millions voted for John McCain.
But fear? Acting like the world was about to go to hell? The funny thing is, I seem to recall very similar comments from friends and family back in 1992 when Bill Clinton was elected as President.
Seriously, Christianity is supposed to be about hope. About life. About victory. About peace. And we’re going to let the results of a Presidential election override all of that??
I just don’t get it. What are you afraid of?
Until next time,
steve 
November 7th, 2008 03:19
It’s difficult to know for sure… but I’ve noticed that some right-leaning news stations and radio shows (that seem to be popular with a lot of Christians) really major on fear. And when you feed on that sort of thing, after a while…
Well, you are what you eat, right?
When I went through my post-church detox, one of the things I decided was not to follow people who didn’t reflect the nature of Christ nor the fruit of the spirit – pundits included. Fear is not a fruit of the Spirit (nor is arrogance and gracelessness, I might add).
November 7th, 2008 07:47
You remain in my reader though you post sporadically because when you DO post, you are profoundly on target.
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. I Tim 1:7 (NKJV)
November 7th, 2008 08:07
Sarah is SO right on target. And to this post I just say YES! Thanks for writing it
November 7th, 2008 10:02
I think you’re absolutely right, Steve. Unfortunately, the culture of fear is not limited to Christians in America. Politicians and pundits all too often leverage that fear to promote their own politics. If people are frightened enough they’ll even vote against their own interests. For that reason, I completely agree that we need to change the culture of fear, but not just in the Christian community.
Here’s a thought – imagine how more effective it would be to spread your message if it was associated with hope and not with fear.
November 7th, 2008 10:37
Fear is the mind killer, to quote Herbert. fear mongering is what most of the news is all about. from local to national, from broadcast networks to cable. and people watch and people by into it, because THINKING as gone out of vogue with the masses. why make up your own mind when you have someone telling you what to believe and think and give you “good” reasons to do so?
well said, friend. Christ came to heal the world, not tear it a part, and fear tears it a part. more Christians need to head the Timothy text posted by Larry. the church is to be about hope and love and mercy. Christ brought a message of social change to this world, not one of fear and loathing.
i will stop here, i could ramble for days on this
again, well said.
Thomas
November 7th, 2008 15:28
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.”
St. Paul
“I tremble before my nation when I think that God is just, that his justice will not sleep forever.”
Thomas Jefferson
Fear is a complicated and nuanced topic. We are told in scripture on one hand that perfect love casts out fear and on the other told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Paul himself expresses his fear in several places in the NT. Personally, I don’t think it was his lack of faith which drove him to fear, but his abundance of faith and knowledge of human frailty.
Regarding the election, while I do think that much of the fear over the election of Obama is overblown, there are certainly reasons to fear for our country. Most of those reasons didn’t change much when Obama was elected, though some may have. Only the future will tell. Even if McCain had been elected, our country would still have had many reasons to fear.
Regarding what I fear for our country…
I fear that we may screw up the withdrawal of troops and cause the death of many innocents.
I fear that we have already initiated an unjust war and caused the death of many innocents.
I fear that we are an unrepentant nation over the slaughter of tens of millions of our own offspring.
I fear that many have let a desire for orderly immigration be overrun by ignorance and a lack of hospitality and love of one’s neighbor.
I fear that this country will once again take up the cause of international abortion as a human right and again try tying it to our foreign aid, like we did at the Beijing and Cairo conferences on women in the early to mid 90’s.
Most of all, I fear that those who call themselves Christians are complicit in these crimes by their acceptance of the status quo, by their lack of concern for the poor and helpless, and even by their lack of the most basic resistance of all: private prayer.
Justice and mercy need to be balanced. Fear shouldn’t dominate one’s life. It should be balanced and tempered by love, mercy and the knowledge that a individual is doing one’s part to end injustice.
MB
November 7th, 2008 17:15
Good thoughts, Steve. It’s great to see you posting again. Don’t be a stranger.
November 7th, 2008 18:07
I have been hanging out in chat rooms for chronically ill for nearly two years and have talked to a lot of Christians there. Many are afraid, dealing with the changes, the pain, and the scary symptoms. What I’ve learned is emotion is a part of life; sometimes fear/unease is a signal that we need to act; sometimes, it’s over active imaginations; sometimes it’s the result of a sudden change of circumstance. Ignoring the emotion or suppressing it doesn’t help.
What does help is praying it thru, seeking God, telling Him all that is worrying you, trusting Him, even when things don’t make sense, and God gives us peace, even when our minds still can’t make sense of it — Phil 4:6-7. We’ve done this a lot in the chat room, praying together.
Don’t condemn people for their emotions; a lot of us are expressing our feelings and concerns but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be stuck there. God is in control; we will be praying.
November 7th, 2008 20:44
Nice thoughts Steve.. I agree with your take on hope. Enjoyed seeing you back in Blogworld.
November 9th, 2008 14:28
Glad your back. Good post. I believe the US reality is the end of Empire – which is fear causing when our hope is in a nation or politician. When our hope is Christ, 1 Tim 1:7 describes what happens (as Larry pointed out.)
November 9th, 2008 21:24
Thank you all for your comments and feedback. Let me clarify a few points without answering everyone specifically.
First of all, I’m not condemning anyone for their fear. I actually understand it (even though I say “I don’t get it”). In other words, I understand the human nature involved. But rather than condemning others for fearing, I’m simply asking what it is we are afraid of? And why?
Not only that, but I am also proposing that we evaluate our fear alongside the truth that our Father has revealed to us. Frankly, when the world outside of Christ is “preaching” more hope than we as believers in Christ are, something must be wrong. Their hope may be misplaced and misguided, but we are the ones specifically told to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us.
Those who have read my blog for any length of time know that I am not about condemnation. But I am all for freedom in Christ. And freedom in Christ is freedom from fear. There simply is nothing to fear in Christ.
Furthermore, I do not see “fear of the Lord” and “fear of President-elect Obama” as anywhere close to being related, despite the fact that they both contain the English word “fear”. As many of you know, words can have multiple meanings. When the Bible talks about “the fear of the Lord”, I think it would be a huge mistake to read that as the type of fear that causes one to withdraw from danger. The phrase “fear of the Lord” appears many times in scripture, but is often found in the context of statements about the goodness of the Lord. So, there has to be consideration given to that context.
Thanks again, all, for your comments.
November 13th, 2008 22:10
Sorry; I shouldn’t have used the word “condemn” — I saw it in the post immediately after my comment showed up and I wanted to edit it but couldn’t, of course.
I might be a little sensitive on the subject because so many come into our chat room hurting and afraid, though mostly about illness rather than Obama.
God bless!