12.07.04
Posted in culture at 9:27 am by
So, anyway. Back to the love and fear post. I don’t pretend to believe that I know all that there is to know about love and fear, and as evidenced by yesterday’s post about love’s multidimensionality, I don’t claim that fear is the only oppositte of love.
Perhaps it would do us well to discuss the nature of sin. New Testament writers didn’t think of sin as narrowly as we do. I believe that they thought of sin as a general category. Sin is, to them I believe, less about the things you choose to do, and more about how you do those things. Broadly, sin is defined as missing the mark.
I imagine that love is one of those great targets we aim for. The problem with fear is that people don’t really see it as an oppositte of love. They see fear as a natural response to bad things. In fact, in many Christian circles fear is seen as a virtue.
Let me explain. Let’s see, ah yes, and example. You all remember the Christian Exodous people, right? If not, google them, I’m sure you’ll find something. Their whole culture is built on a phobia. They believe in a God who wants them to completely separate from all society and form their own little theocracy. Why? You name it, gays, liberals, etc. They are a whole sect of Chicken Little’s screaming that the sky is falling. Fear is their God.
Some of you folks will be on your first visit here and wondering to yourselves, hmmm… but didn’t God say that we should fear her. And, the answer is yes, she did. I believe that something is lost in translation there. Fear, in that case, means that we revere God, because of her greatness.
Unfortunately, though, we needn’t look so far to find a group of Christians gripped by fear. They exist everywhere. Some of those Christians even look like they’re really engaging culture. But they engage culture at arms length. They claim to like culture, but refuse to believe that it could really have anything to do with their faith. They talk a good talk, but their actions belie their fear.
Fear hurts people and communities of faith. It spreads us apart, rather than bringing us together. I think we could do with a whole hell of a lot less of it.
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Posted in culture at 9:27 am by
So, anyway. Back to the love and fear post. I don’t pretend to believe that I know all that there is to know about love and fear, and as evidenced by yesterday’s post about love’s multidimensionality, I don’t claim that fear is the only oppositte of love.
Perhaps it would do us well to discuss the nature of sin. New Testament writers didn’t think of sin as narrowly as we do. I believe that they thought of sin as a general category. Sin is, to them I believe, less about the things you choose to do, and more about how you do those things. Broadly, sin is defined as missing the mark.
I imagine that love is one of those great targets we aim for. The problem with fear is that people don’t really see it as an oppositte of love. They see fear as a natural response to bad things. In fact, in many Christian circles fear is seen as a virtue.
Let me explain. Let’s see, ah yes, and example. You all remember the Christian Exodous people, right? If not, google them, I’m sure you’ll find something. Their whole culture is built on a phobia. They believe in a God who wants them to completely separate from all society and form their own little theocracy. Why? You name it, gays, liberals, etc. They are a whole sect of Chicken Little’s screaming that the sky is falling. Fear is their God.
Some of you folks will be on your first visit here and wondering to yourselves, hmmm… but didn’t God say that we should fear her. And, the answer is yes, she did. I believe that something is lost in translation there. Fear, in that case, means that we revere God, because of her greatness.
Unfortunately, though, we needn’t look so far to find a group of Christians gripped by fear. They exist everywhere. Some of those Christians even look like they’re really engaging culture. But they engage culture at arms length. They claim to like culture, but refuse to believe that it could really have anything to do with their faith. They talk a good talk, but their actions belie their fear.
Fear hurts people and communities of faith. It spreads us apart, rather than bringing us together. I think we could do with a whole hell of a lot less of it.
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jpe said,
December 7, 2004 at 10:17 am
Well put. Here’s the comment that I found most interesting:
Some of those Christians even look like they’re really engaging culture. But they engage culture at arms length.
One of the things that striking about some christian subcultures is the way they’ll simulate the form of the popular culture (the terrible parallel christian pop culture, from the ugly t-shirts to the music substitution sheets [if you like x, try z!]).
There’s always seemed something kinda pathological about the relentless drive to create a perfect point-by-point reproduction of pop culture. It reminds me of nothing so much as the opening of some Baudrillard book in which he retells a fable about a king that wanted a totally perfect map of his kingdom. It eventually became so detailed that it fit perfectly over the kingdom itself. What’s so weird about that drive to simulation and simulacra is that it reproduces the object but attempts to keep that armslength.
Hmm. I know there’s a coherent point in there somewhere, but it got lost in the brambles, I guess.
artmomz said,
December 7, 2004 at 10:49 am
I knew of a guy who was afraid to even speak his prayer requests out loud…as he believed that evil beings would use them against him. I was just a kid, and he was a leader in the church, and it was interesting that he felt compelled to tell me this. Ever since, I kept thinking about what was wrong with this scene. I finally came to the conclusion that the man was living in a constant state of fear…and what a horrible way to live. (Besides the fact that what ever evil was lurking probably already knew what his hang-ups were.)
Anyway, the church we attended was really good at using the rapture to invoke fear…showing fictional movies and such to help keep that fear alive and kicking. I could see the fear on all their faces. It fed on them. And now I think that they could all have used a good dose of the Serenity Prayer, because it’s no use getting worked up like that. But there you have it! This use of fear is a common thread among churches, and there are some people exploiting it as a marketing technique within the christian bookstores. And making good money at it too…
Christopher said,
December 7, 2004 at 11:20 am
Brandon,
Often where “Fear of the LORD” is used in our translations, “Awe of the LORD” does just as much justice to the Hebrew. The fact that we almost universally use “fear” in our translations says something about us.
Adam Tillman-Young said,
December 7, 2004 at 11:52 am
But since we understand fear in a spiritual sense, then mustn’t we also understand it as a fitting counteraction to one of God’s tremendous plans? So wouldn’t the cowering millions of us be repaired and transformed in to God’s most terrible and triumphant army?
Brandon said,
December 7, 2004 at 12:06 pm
Adam,
Yes. My point exactly.
Elise said,
December 7, 2004 at 6:06 pm
Christopher is right about the fear of God. It’s more respect than fear.
I’ve been thinking a lot about sin lately, what it is and what it does to our relationship with God. Sin is kind of missing the mark, kind of doing something against God’s word. The Baha’i way of thinking of sin is a veil between us and God. It doesn’t completely stop our journey to God (because that’s what our lives are, a journey to God), it just puts a slight barrier in front of us. The more we sin, the more veils between us, and we lose sight of God.
I’m still wrestling with the ideas of sin, mostly original sin, but that’s a totally different discussion.
nb said,
March 11, 2005 at 11:53 am
vbvn