Recent Musings:
The grip of fear.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
"They terrify, lest they should fear." -Tacitus
I think about this quote when I feel people are trying to instill fear in me, usually an unjustified fear. For instance, the pastor who spoke Sunday worked very hard to portray biblical teachings as separatist - black and white, divided, you're on one side or the other, you're good or bad. I wondered: why would he feel the need to instill fear to people who are, supposedly, willingly attending church and believing this stuff already?
One obvious answer includes that fear is controlling, controlling to the point of being completely immobilizing. People who are taught to fear their own thoughts, their own actions, their own choices will not follow through on any of them as a result of their fear and will willingly follow a man who tells them what thoughts, actions and choices God thinks are best.
Perhaps instilling fear in others is correlated with self-preservation, as I wrote about the other day. Perhaps this preacher terrifies others with his definitive answers because he doesn't want to be without answers himself.
The way I've combatted people like this preacher is to refer to a Bible verse I've found that talks of fear:
"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." I John 4:18
To me, if a person has to use fear to persuade people to obey, as a preacher thinks he should, then he does not believe in the perfect love of God and Christ or at least does not know this love himself. This person is acting in fear of being punished and therefore treats others under those same guidelines. In fact, this person does not see that through the love and salvation of Christ he or she is made perfect; instead, this person only focuses on his and others' flaws, which keeps him in that fearful state.
Even within relationships, I've found it important for myself to remember that if I am truly loved by the other, I don't need to fear allowing myself and my faults to be in the relationship. The fear mentality would shift me to think that I should be punished for the faults I have and the mistakes I make, instead of seeing those faults and those mistakes as part of my humanity, as part of my being. By being loved for who I am, I am made perfect through that love.
I am not able to teach this principle to men like the preacher, for they do not agree and do not care to listen to me. Instead, I've resolved to show them through my interactions with them that I care not about their mistakes but rather for their love of God, their love for self and their love of others.