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Sermon Illustrations: Fear

General George Patton of WW2 fame was once asked if he ever experienced fear. "Just before an important engagement and sometimes during a battle, but," he added, "I never take counsel of my fears".

I only worry on Wednesdays. Any other day I have a worry I write it down and put it in a box. By the time I get to Wednesday I find most of the worries have been taken care of. J. Arthur Rank - one of the world's major movie producers.

Newspaper counsellor, Ann Landers, reputedly receives an average of 10,000 letters each month. When asked if there was a particular problem that seemed to predominate she said it was fear. Afraid of losing their health, wealth, loved ones, even of life itself.

Humans are much more dangerous to sharks, which tend to end up in soup or medicine. Fishing nets tangle and drown about 100 million sharks each year. In California there is only one shark attack for every 1 million surfing days, according to the Surfrider Foundation. You are 30 times as likely to be killed by lightning. Poorly wired Christmas trees claim more victims than sharks, according to Australian researchers. And dogs - man's best friends - bite many thousands more people than sharks do. Time Magazine July 30, 2001, p 44

In the last year and throes of the Soviet Union, I was strolling around Moscow with a university teacher whom I was interviewing. As we walked, on a bright blue September Sunday, I noticed that the people we passed were staring at me - lots of people, with a sort of scientific intensity. I asked my companion, Did I look so different from ordinary Russians that I stood out as an object of curiosity? She responded almost blithely, "You don't look afraid. Americans don't look afraid."¹

Many specialists estimate that 90% of today's chronic patients have one common problem - fear. Fear of losing their jobs, old age, being exposed, of facing the future etc.

Every two months, Mrs Jo Graham goes through 3840 plastic bags, 800 pairs of surgical gloves, 360 rolls of paper towels and 224 large cakes of soap. She doesn't have an extra large family. She uses them all herself. The bags, gloves, towels and soap are her protection from the world. Mrs Graham suffers from a fear of food which means she cannot bear to come into contact with food of any kind or anything that has anything to do with food. "If there's food on anything I won't touch it," she said at her Enoggera home this week. "I'm terrified of touching anyone because they might have food on them. I can't even turn a light switch off because my husband might have touched it and he mightn't have washed his hands after having had his dinner." Her fear of contamination means that she dons rubber gloves or puts her hands into plastic bags before touching anything that isn't hers. She can't touch any part of the house outside her bedroom because it has been "contaminated" by her husband. "I can't stand the thought of grease and meat, and I feel he has touched everything before he has washed his hands." … She puts fresh newspapers on the floor before she walks on it and fresh plastic over chairs before she sits on them. She often dons two and three pairs of gloves when she prepares her daily meagre meal of milk, ice blocks and banana. "I can't even pick up a bottle of water without something over my hands," she said. "When I see food on television I freeze. I'm terrified. …" Mrs Graham also suffers from a cleanliness phobia, something she says she's had for 30 years and occasionally uses an entire cake of soap to wash her hands, and sometimes two or three when she has a shower. To add to her problems, Mrs Graham is also an agoraphobic, which means she can't bear to go outside and is confined to her home which she admits is a mess "because I can't bear to touch any of it."

The Swedish scholar, Professor Samuel Oedman, was so terrified of catching cold that he took to his bed - for the last 23 years of his life. One winter in 1829 an old farmer came to see him. Unfortunately, he had snow on his clothes and Oedman promptly died of fright at the sight of it.²

Apparently, it's the most often repeated of God's commandments: "Fear not / do not be afraid." God repeats it over and over throughout Scripture.

It's common for last words of pilots before a crash to be mostly swearing because of fear.

Unusual fears: Ophthalmophobia - fear of being stared at; Arachibutyrophobia - fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth; Paraskavedekatriaphobia - fear of Friday 13th; Genuphobia - fear of knees; Pogonophobia - fear of beards; Alektorophobia - fear of chickens; Coulrophobia - fear of clowns; Dendrophobia - fear of trees; Didaskaleinophobia - fear of going to school; Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia - fear of long words; Thanatophobia - fear of death; Athazagoraphobia - fear of being forgotten or ignored; Ochlophobia - fear of crowds; Nyctophobia - fear of darkness; Scopophobia - fear of being looked at by other people; Kakorrhaphiophobia - fear of failure; Monophobia - fear of loneliness; Gamophobia - fear of marriage; Peniaphobia - fear of poverty; Hypengyophobia - fear of responsibility; Categelophobia - fear of being made fun of; Schoolphobia - fear of school; Theophobia - fear of God; Hadephobia - fear of Hell.

An Indian fable talks about a mouse that was constantly in fear of cat. So one day, a magician changed the mouse into a cat. But then the cat was afraid of a dog. So the magician changed the cat into a dog. But the dog was afraid of a tiger. So the magician changed the dog into a tiger. But then the tiger was afraid of a hunter. Finally, in exasperation, the magician said, "Be a mouse again, you have only the heart of a mouse and I cannot help you."

Fear causes sickness: Num 22:3 And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was sick with dread because of the children of Israel.

Fear of God: It's not contradictory to fear a God of love. My children understood a little of what it meant. They understood that the same Daddy who kissed and cuddled and tickled them, and bought them chocolate and ice-creams, was the same Daddy who wielded the stick.

The German post office said that giving mailmen training in canine psychology had reduced dog attacks by up to 80%. All 79,000 carriers have now followed courses giving tips on how to read a dog's body language and how to mask fear (Rule No. 1: Don't run away). The strategy has been much more successful than their previous attempts to cut attacks by using CS gas. The mailmen were usually attacked before they could deploy the canisters. Time 28-6-04 p 16

A man said to his wife just before an important engagement, "I'm so nervous, I've got sweaty palms and a dry mouth." His wife replied, "Then why don't you lick your palms?"

Currency lads (sons of early convicts in Australia) used to enjoy baiting the early settlers fresh from England. "When the kookaburra's laughter rang through the trees, a local would grab the new chum's arm and croak, 'Did you hear that? Don't worry, it's only old Joe, the black fella. He eats people, you know - he comes out at sunset. If you hear him in the bush, just come running into the streets yelling and we'll see what we can do to help you.'"³

Fear: What do you call an irrational fear of Santa Claus? Claustrophobia.

Fear: How many birds have ever been killed by scarecrows?

Fear of the future: 21% of Australians are concerned they may lose their job over the next few months, with almost one-third seeking additional sources of income other than their primary job. Reader's Digest March 2009, p 17

1 Rosenblatt, Roger Essay in Time Magazine p80
2 The Giant Book Of Fantastic Facts p 1902
3 Garvin, Mal Us Aussies p31