Follow Up Lesson comments for March 15, 2008 Walking on the water

How do you see yourself when faced with the glory of Jesus?

We began by investigating causes of death. You can research this by going to this CDC website

We spent quite a bit of time discussing fear and reading/discussing the texts about Jesus calming the storm and walking on the water. We also read quite a few texts telling us what to do about fear (whether we should have it or not) and definitions and reactions.

Here are some dictionary definitions:

• be afraid or feel anxious or apprehensive about a possible or probable situation or event; "I fear she might get aggressive"
  be afraid or scared of;


• be frightened of; "I fear the winters in Moscow"; "We should not fear the Communists!"


• be sorry; used to introduce an unpleasant statement; "I fear I won't make it to your wedding party"
  an emotion experienced in anticipation of some specific pain or danger (usually accompanied by a desire to flee or fight)


• concern: an anxious feeling; "care had aged him"; "they hushed it up out of fear of public reaction"


• be uneasy or apprehensive about; "I fear the results of the final exams"


• reverence: regard with feelings of respect and reverence; consider hallowed or exalted or be in awe of; "Fear God as your father"; "We venerate genius"
  a profound emotion inspired by a deity; "the fear of God"
  


• Wikipedia: Fear is a powerful, unpleasant feeling of risk or danger, either real or imagined.


• Merck: (fear) (fēr) the unpleasant emotional state consisting of psychological and psychophysiological responses to a real external threat or danger, including agitation, alertness, tension, and physiological mobilization of the alarm reaction. Cf. anxiety.




• In the Old Testament used as a designation of true piety (Proverbs 1:7; Job 28:28; Psalm 19:9). It is a fear conjoined with love and hope, and is therefore not a slavish dread, but rather filial reverence. (Comp. Deuteronomy 32:6; Hosea 11:1; Isaiah 1:2; 63:16; 64:8.) God is called "the Fear of Isaac" (Genesis 31:42, 53), i.e., the God whom Isaac feared.


• A holy fear is enjoined also in the New Testament as a preventive of carelessness in religion, and as an incentive to penitence (Matthew 10:28; 2 Corinthians 5:11; 7:1; Philippians 2:12; Ephesians 5:21; Hebrews 12:28, 29).
  

Three Other topics that we did not get to were: "Scared to Death", "Fear Mongering" and "Lack of Fear"

• Scared to Death: Research conducted at the University of California, San Diego and published in the British Medical Journal, suggests that deaths attributed to heart mortality increase under psychological stress, particularly terror. Otherwise healthy people have been known to be "scared to death," that is, to suddenly die under extreme fear or emotional trauma. People of all ages have died from fright brought on by everything from earthquakes to amusement-park rides.
  While the mechanism is not fully understood, it is believed that sudden death can occur from cardiac arrhythmia brought on by a terrifying event. While the otherwise instinctual flight-or-fight response, which prepares the body for impending danger, is countered by the parasympathetic nervous system when the danger has passed, in certain cases an excessive response can damage the heart enough to kill.


• Scaremongering:
  Careful selection and omission of news (some relevant facts are shown and some are not);
  Distortion of statistics or numbers;
  Transformation of single events into social epidemics (Salem witch trials);
  Corruption and distortion of words or terminology according to specific goals;
  Stigmatization of minorities, especially when associated with criminal acts, degrading behaviour or immigration policies (Yellow Peril);
  Oversimplification of complex and multifaceted situations;
  Causal inversion (turning a cause into an effect or vice-versa);
  Outright fabrication of events or claims.


• Lack of Fear:
  Some commentators also point out that a process similar to that of creating fear can be used to dampen it either by trivializing or outright ignoring the problem, a kind of death by apathy. It's hard to be scared of something which doesn't exist. Examples of this are the issues of asbestos and cigarettes: until people could conclusively prove harm, all these problems were commonly treated as if they were nonexistent. Another example could be the idea of not reporting on wars to give the appearance they don't exist or to attempt to downplay their significance.Feel free to post comments: Remember to use your name - - we might not know you by your e-mail address.

:-) Leif