Page 102 - Biblical Counseling II-Textbook

In Biblical Counseling I, you spent some time learning about fear. In order to help those dealing with
fear, it is important to remember fear is not necessarily sinful. We are to fear God. In addition, we
should reasonable fear danger. God has given us the emotion of fear to protect us from real danger.
However, BCI discussed four times when it can become sinful. Let’s review:

1. When you fear people more than you fear God (Prov. 29:25; Gal. 1:10).
2. When you are not trusting in God (Psalm 56, es. 3, 4, 11).
3. When you are wanting control or certainty. These belong to God alone.
4. When fear is keeping you from fulfilling your responsibilities to God (Prov. 22:13).

Your BCI course goes on to state that sinful fear can be destructive. It can cause physical problems and
destroy relationships (fight or flight) Fear can paralyze and lead to loss as it can keep you from work and
from receiving blessings (opportunities). Let’s read about how psychology explains fear and see where
science and the Bible agree.

What is the function of fear, and how do we learn fears?
Fear can be poisonous. It can torment us,
rob us of sleep, and preoccupy our
thinking. People can be literally scared to
death. Fear can also be contagious. In
1903, someone yelled “fire!” as a fire
broke out in Chicago’s Iroquois Theater.
Eddie Foy, the comedian on stage at the
time, tried to reassure the crowd by calling
out, “Don’t get excited. There’s no danger.
Take it easy!” The crowd panicked. During
the 10 minutes it took the fire department
to arrive and quickly extinguish the flames,
more than 500 people died, most of them
trampled or smothered in a stampede.
Bodies were piled 7 or 8 feet deep in the
stairways, and many of the faces bore heel
marks (Myers, 2009). (photo:
people.howstuffworks.com)

More often, fear is adaptive. It’s an alarm system that prepares our bodies to flee from danger. Fear of
real or imagined enemies binds people together as families, tribes, and nations. Fear of injury protects
us from harm. Fear of punishment or retaliation restrains our harming one another. Fear helps us focus
on a problem and rehearse coping strategies. Fearful expressions improve peripheral vision and speed
eye movements, thus boosting sensory input (Myers, 2009).
Learning Fear
People can be afraid of almost anything – “afraid of truth, afraid of fortune, afraid of death, and afraid of
each other,” observed Ralph Waldo Emerson. The “politics of fear” builds upon people’s fear – fear of
terrorists, fear of immigrants, fear of criminals. Why so many fears? Behaviorists John B. Watson and
Rosalie Rayner showed that infants can learn to fear furry objects associated with frightening noises.
When infants begin to crawl, they learn from brief falls and near-falls – and become increasingly afraid
of heights. Through such conditioning, the short list of naturally painful and frightening events can

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