Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid…

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid… February 11, 2020

Why We Should All Be Afraid

There are many reasons why we should all be afraid. No, I don’t mean our lives ruled by fear. I mean reasonable fear of the reasonably possible. For example, in this sense of “fear” I fear that a reckless driver will run his or her red light whenever I come to a busy city intersection. I see it happen every day. So when I am in the front of a line of cars and my light turns green I do not just automatically “go.” I look to see whether anyone is turning left in front of me on his or her red light. It happens every day several times. (Although I’m not always in the front of the cars waiting to “go” when our light turns green.) This is reasonable fear.

We should all be afraid of the consequences of possibly man-made climate change. We should all be afraid of the possibility of an active shooter in the building where we are working or shopping or going to school. Again—not “afraid” as in constantly in a state of crippling anxiety but “afraid” as in reasonably cautious and wary.

One thing we should all be afraid of is the very real possibility of a federal government led by a rogue politician/head of government/head of state who fires his subordinates for obeying subpoenas to testify issued by legal authorities under pain of punishment for not obeying. And we should all be afraid of democracy being turned into autocracy. We should all be afraid of people with power who are narcissistic and declare revenge on critics.

*Sidebar: The opinions expressed here are my own (or those of the guest writer); I do not speak for any other person, group or organization; nor do I imply that the opinions expressed here reflect those of any other person, group or organization unless I say so specifically. Before commenting read the entire post and the “Note to commenters” at its end.* 

I also believe we should all be afraid of people who are so invested in the power they gain by supporting such people that they refuse to acknowledge the danger immediately in front of their own faces. And we should be afraid of religious people who put power-abusing government leaders on pedestals as virtual messiahs.

We should be especially afraid when some admirers of such government leaders embrace conspiracy theories that include a mass rounding up of their critics and putting them in detention centers if not killing them.

These things I believe we should be afraid of have all happened in human history. They could happen again. “It can’t happen here” is a delusion. Of course it could happen virtually anywhere—under the right circumstances.

When should ordinary fear of the possible, wariness of what might happen, turn into fear that the worst might be happening? As soon as feasible. As soon as a person with power begins to use it to punish subordinates who simply did their duty, obeyed the law.

People talk about a “dark state.” What if the dark state becomes the light state, the one in the spotlight, the one everyone can see? But blind people keep looking behind it trying to find a “dark state” that doesn’t exist—hidden, behind the light state?

The time has arrived to fear every government led by a would-be dictator as soon as he or she punishes subordinates for nothing other than obeying the law.

*Note to commenters: This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment only to me. If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective (very broadly defined), feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and “on topic.” Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to minimal length; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger’s (or guest writers’) opinions and constructive dialogue among evangelical Christians (very broadly defined).


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