Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear - Chapter 3

Here in chapter 3 of Scott Bader-Saye's excellent book Following Jesus in a Culture of Fear, we discover Why Fearlessness is a Bad Idea.

It seems that fear and love are inextricably bound together. If we love nothing, we have nothing to fear losing. So fear itself is not the problem, but only an excessive fear or a lack completely thereof.

So what should we fear? Scripturally it seems that fear of the Lord is in order, and is both spiritual gift and wisdom. However, we ought not fear the Lord as a threatening or coercive power. But, argues Ellen Davis, simple reverence is perhaps not the best interpretation either. She says, "The writers are speaking first and foremost of our proper gut response to God. Fear is the unmistakable feeling in our bodies, in our stomach and our scalp, when we run up hard against the power of God. From a biblical perspective, there is nothing neurotic about fearing God. The neurotic thing is not to be afraid, or to be afraid of the wrong thing... Fear of the Lord is the deeply sane recognition that we are not God." (44)

Aquinas makes the distinction between 'filial fear' and 'servile fear'. Servile fear prompts one to act rightly because of a fear of punishment. Filial fear, on the other hand, acts rightly because of a love relationship that you don't want to damage by acting contrary to it. Our relationship with God ought to be prompted more by a filial fear than a servile fear.

Aquinas also argues that one can become fearless in three ways, none of which are good or healthy: "through a 'lack of love' (loving nothing enough to fear its loss), through 'dullness of understanding' (not knowing or acknowledging the danger or threat), or through 'pride of soul' (refusing to believe that one is susceptible to loss)." (45)

Bader-Saye expounds upon each of these, but of particular interest I thought was the last one. He comments that 'pride of soul' can lead to a pursuit of invulnerability, which can be achieved only when one achieves totalitarian power and/or destruction of all potential threats. Bad for individuals, bad for governments.

He goes into a lengthy description of the Star Wars saga as a parable of fear and fearlessness, which is good and helpful, but I just can't in good conscience devote much space to Yoda. I know, it's small of me.

Next week: Putting Fear in its Place