In the recent past I wrote a little bit about getting back into snakes. Actually that’s not true I wrote a little bit about Ball pythons, but getting back into snakes was the catalyst for the post and the subsequent purchase. A few minutes ago I was browsing around the Monster Snake Forums which specializes in um, monster snakes such as the Reticulated Python, Burmese Python, and Anaconda. In the forums I came across a post talking about why it took Lynn 20 years to get a snake. The resounding reason it took Lynn so long was fear. Both Lynn’s and other peoples fear of snakes. It got me thinking about how much we really fear things. Not just snakes, but so many different things.

Fear is not natural

Before we go any further let me be clear. There is a difference between self-preservation and fear. To illustrate my point I’ll use this example; It is self preservation to get out of the way of a runaway train. It is fear to cross to the other side of the street because you see a spider. One makes sense one is just stupid. Hopefully I don’t need to point out which is which…

In the Genesis it tell us the following:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. - Genesis 1:26-28

Clearly from the beginning of creation once God has set man upon the scene he intends for us to have dominion over every living creature on the earth. And I don’t know about anyone else, but when I look up the word dominion it seems to mean sovereign authority.

Even if you’re not a believer you surely believe that you are the highest order of evolved life that has ever scraped its miserable way out of the “primordial ooze”. And by nothing more than the virture of being the “highest order” you assume dominion over all living creatures.

So is fear of that which you have dominion over either by devine appointment, or by dumb luck natural?

Respect is different than fear

In a previous paragraph I illustrated self preservation with an example of moving out of the way of a runaway train. You should certainly fear a runaway train. Unless of course you want to get hit by it in which case you should probably spend your time doing something other than reading this blog. Anyhow you should always have a healthy respect for things that are potentially harmful. That just means you should be aware of potential dangers. An example would be electricity. Every day you use electricity unplugging and plugging in lights, tools, cords, heaters, and all manner of other things. In your day to day life how much do you respect or fear the electricity? Probably not at all. Unless of course you’re suddenly faced with a live wire that is dancing and arcing all over the place. Then most people move directly from cavalier disregard directly to abject fear. For some reason there is not real respect for the power of the electricity until faced directly with that power.

When it comes to animals people in general are different. It seems either we fear it, or we don’t. Most people don’t fear kittens or even a full grown house cats. Might not like them, but certainly aren’t afraid of them. I suppose I should qualify what I said. Some people actually do fear cats. It’s a sickness called ailurophobia. On the other hand the numbers of people who are terrified of snakes, spiders, lizards, and other critters such as that is astounding. They don’t respect these things they fear them. And that fear is ultimately due to lack of understanding.

Understanding what you fear

It’s been proven time and time again the more you know about something the less you fear it. When I’ve helped people get over their fear of snakes in the past the first thing I did was to begin helping people to understand the snake as a wonderful work of God’s creation. I made every effort to make it fascinating. The last thing I do is show someone a live snake. If you ever read up on overcoming irrational fears that’s universally a tried and true method. First you educate to bring understanding and then you worry about confronting the object of your fears.

If you have a fear of anything learn how it “works”. If you fear water, learn about water. If you fear snails learn about snails. Pslam 32:9 says it beautifully when it tells us Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee. Basically it means don’t let a bit and bridle control you like a dumb animal, like a horse or an ass. Don’t let your lack of understanding be a bridle in your mouth that fear grabs hold of and leads you around with.

We all fear something

There’s not a human alive who honestly has absolutely no fear of anything. A lot of us hide it very well. Some of us have irrational fears. I for instance fear groups of people. A group being more than about 3 or 4. Not fear where I need to run away, but fear nonetheless. I try not to let it manifest in a major way, but no doubt anyone who pays attention can see it. As horrible as it seems to me it pales in comparison to what many people have to endure when it comes to their fears both mentally and physiologically. And to be sure there’s no lack of things that we fear.

• Agyrophobia- Fear of streets or crossing the street
• Atephobia- Fear of ruin or ruins
• Bibliophobia- Fear of books
• Cherophobia- Fear of gaiety
• Chronomentrophobia- Fear of clocks
• Cyberphobia- Fear of computers or working on a computer
• Deipnophobia- Fear of dining or dinner conversations
• Doxophobia- Fear of expressing opinions or of receiving praise
• Eurotophobia- Fear of female genitalia
• Geniophobia- Fear of chins

To name just a tiny number of phobias the human race shares. You can find a great many more at The Phobia List

Overcoming fear

As I pointed out previously the first step to overcoming fear is to begin to understand what it is that you fear. It is kinda like guns. People often fear them because they don’t understand them, but once they spend some time learning about them the fear tends to go away. What about when that doesn’t work, or your fear is so overwhelming you can’t even take the first step? Again the Bible has something to say on the subject. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to. fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father - Romans 8:15. But that’s speaking to the faithful, what about the non-believers? I suppose you could seek the help of someone like Dr. Phil or any other psychotherapist type. Not personally my cup of tea, but if you have a fear of anything to such a degree it makes life hard to live when you are facing the thing you fear, seek help! Somewhere, somehow get help and get out of bondage to the thing(s) you fear. And yes I too am working on it and personally I find no small measure of solace in the fact that -

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. - Zephaniah 3:17

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Tags: fear, phobias