January 22, 2007
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FEAR
In Great Books 1 today, some of my students objected to my saying that it's natural to fear death, pain, loss, etc. I argued that even Jesus felt the temptation to fear death, the physical revulsion of the body against the unnatural ripping apart of soul and body, not to mention the agony preceding actual death. Of course, although he prayed to be delivered from it, he still went through it, so I argued that courage is not a lack of fear but having the nerve to do what you must in spite of the fear. "Perfect love casts out fear." But does that mean there is no legitimate fear that God gives us grace to live through? Does it mean that if we have godly love we will feel no fear at all when faced with imminent death ("you have a week to live, Mr. Callihan") or pain ("if you don't deny Jesus we'll burn you alive tied to a post and we won't let it happen quickly") or loss ("I'm sorry to say this, Mr. Callihan but your son/daughter was in an accident and may die tonight....")?
Comments (8)
yeah that was an interesting conversation, I really thought about it and if I found out I'd be burned tomorrow I would be scared, not to die but to suffer and hurt family and close friends...
deep stuff dude
Mucho luv and MUSIC
Sarah
"Courage is being scared to death, and saddling up anyway." -- John Wayne
"Courage is not the lack of fear. It is acting in spite of it." -- Mark Twain
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." -- Nelson Mandela
I've wondered how to reconcile courage and bravery with fear. This makes sense, though, that courage is doing what needs to be done despite the fear that *is* there. I doubt anyone is entirely fearless. Unless they are like Lucius Hunt, "I do not think about what might happen but what needs to be done."
I tell ya, The Village has it all.
Hmmm. I'm amused by thinking that when I was in GB1, I would probably have been one of the sutdents who argued against your position.
"Perfect love casts out fear." Doesn't that imply that fear was there in the first place? Christ was temped to fear death and to avoid it, but his perfect love for us helped him to triumph over fear and suffer what he had to for our sakes. I think that if we say He did not fear what lay ahead of Him, we cheapen the sacrifice He made. We do not have perfect love because we are imperfect. But as we seek God's path, His love continually works in our lives to cast out the fear that prevents us from following more closely.
Responding to Sarah: Very true. Certainly, we as Christians do not fear death itself, for in dying we gain the Kingdom of Heaven! But we fear pain, suffering, and sometimes even more, the pain of those we love.
I know that without faith in God's word that all things work together for good, I would never be able to suit up when the call went out. That's 99% of it. The other 1% is what Liz said, just thinking about what needs to be done, not what my happen if something goes wrong.
pax
Here's a thought: in the context of that verse, what sort of "fear" exactly is being referred to? Elsewhere, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge. Sarah was to submit to Abraham without terror. Abraham's love should have, presumably, cast out irrational/action-determining fear, preserving instead a sort of practical/action-motivating reverence (a cousin of sorts to fear). Respect/solemn deference to serious/difficult situations may not be so much fear as, well, what I just called it.
Fear, death, and all those other things are a result of the Fall. Yes, I think it's natural to feel fear.
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