FACING FEARS

I Was Just Thinking About - - -

It’s difficult to identify or relate to all of the many possible fears a person may have concerns about. In a general sense, we should be able to understand a person’s fear of being alone especially if their residence is located in a marginal area where crimes occur frequently. In a similar way, many people have grown up with a fear of the darkness and what might be lurking in the shadows. Some people have the fear of Surgery or some other medical treatment where they have insufficient knowledge about why it is being done and what the outcome might be. If one does a Google Search of Phobias, there are listed hundreds of various fears/phobias that people deal with on a regular basis.

A random selection of some listed are: Enochlophobia = Fear of crowds; Elurophobia = Fear of cats (Ailurophobia); Electrophobia =  Fear of electricity; Enetophobia = Fear of pins (totally unrelated to a bowling team I know); Entomophobia = Fear of insects; Eremophobia = Fear of being oneself or of loneliness; Ergophobia = Fear of work (obvious in a welfare-oriented nation). There are many more that could be listed but I was particularly curious about the following:  Eleutherophobia = Fear of freedom. Why would anyone fear freedom?  

When Franklin D. Roosevelt Addressed Congress on January 6, 1941, he stated the following: “In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.”

Two other phobias seem to have a natural link to each other. They are: Epistemophobia = Fear of knowledge and Ecclesiophobia = Fear of church. They are linked by Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This same idea is conveyed in Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” One further expression is in Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever!” The only source of true knowledge, learning and wisdom is clearly stated in I Corinthians 1:30, “And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” The significance of this new life and relationship is stated in Colossians 2:8-10, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.” Colossians 2:10 (NLT) is rendered: “So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.”

The perspective of the legitimate fear that everyone should possess is stated in Deuteronomy 6:13-15, “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you, for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.” Consider The Lord’s Word and these things with me!