Fear 2
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Posted by
Andrew
I don't know who does or doesn't read this blog. So, here's an open question for all readers and browsers of this blog. It follows on from my post on fear (see below).
Finish this sentence:
"If I wasn't afraid, I would ................"
n.b. BAndy wondered what the picture above had to do with the topic: what's the opposite of fear? Freedom - hence the image
10:17 AM
Leave my medical practice for three years, commute to Carey during the week and study Theology. I am afaid to do this as I don't think I could keep spending money or having fun on no income :-(. Also being a doctor allows me to help others, and the positive feedback (when it comes) makes me feel useful and needed. I guess you and I share the need to be liked for what we do, Pandy. I think it's normal to feel like that, and too many fear to vocalise it. Keep up the awesome work!
10:39 AM
I would also ride my bike more in traffic, but I think fear of the big fellas when out there on a bicycle is a pretty healthy fear
:-)
10:53 AM
I would take the little fat buddah out of the chch hospital chapel and run ova it with my car...
Gabrielle
11:49 AM
they tend to make thos fat wee Buddha's out of non-squash materials though. You might come worse off!
12:42 PM
tee he he...good point, thanx
Gabrielle
3:14 PM
It's a scary question, because I'm pretty sure answering it honestly would require me to change my life. Still, I'm trying to find an answer to it...
Get a visa, book my tickets and just go overseas RIGHT NOW is pretty close to it, I think.
4:37 PM
Thanks for your comments. Hi Matt, howzit going? That is a brilliant answer - I share the same fear of that question as you!
6:58 PM
...become a Calvinist. Haha, how does the picture relate to the question, Andy?
7:56 PM
I have been to freaked out to honestly answer this question, so have been trying to forget about it(not so easy to do! Thanks PAndy!). Like Matt said if i answer it, then it would require some action and for me to change.
...I would give most of my savings away (I suck at trusting God with my finances, am too afraid that he wont come through for me) and i would just hurry up and make a decision about my future/next step,instead of being afraid that i'll make the wrong decision.
5:59 PM
I have a long list of random things like Bike around Lake Taupo etc.
I have been thinking about this heaps since your first post on this topic, PAndy. I think i pretty much put it down to this: If i wasnt afraid, I wouldnt be afraid of being a Christian.
Like, I wouldnt be embarrasd whenever someone asked me why I dont swear. I wouldnt try hide whenever class mates said a rude comment about Christians.
If I wasnt afriad, I would be 100% proud, 100% of the time thatI belive in God and Im trying to live my life for him.
5:54 PM
What's your PAndy?
4:47 AM
I think you faced one of your fears on Sunday, eh, Andrew? You did an awesome job in your first 'sex' serrmon. Looking forward to the next two.
8:38 AM
If I wasn't afraid, I would publicly state what I am afraid of! I think that answers your question BAndy! For example, if I wasn't afraid I would be honest to say I struggle in my faith, often with serious doubt and my faith often hangs by a thread. I've come to see faith as more of a verb than a noun - something I do (act faithfully) than something I have ("my great faith"). Even saying that is a fairly safe thing to say - I have other things I don't publicly say because I'm afraid of what others may think...
Thanks Lauren, I was so nervous in the 9am service I said "Happy Birthday" instead of Happy Father's Day! Freud would have a field day with me!
10:02 AM
Yes its good to acknowledge struggles in faith, Ive been there too - Ive found it helps in that place to focus on where we see God working in history, in the Word, history of church, friends, saints and also to remember God is in the future too, it takes our faith from what I am doing now to what God has done, is doing and has promised to do...
Gabrielle
11:28 AM
Hi Gabrielle, yes, I found that quite profound when someone helped me understand it. We don't understand the present by the present, we understand the present only through memory and hope (what God has done and what promises God will do). The present is often confusing and painful (e.g. why did a tsunami kill hundreds of thousands of people, including a friend of mine?) and we are called to interpret the present not with what we immediately see but through memory and hope... But, I still often struggle with faith!
11:35 AM
O.k. so the part in brackets should read "(what God has done and what God promises God will do)". God went missing in there somewhere - perhaps that was meant to be in a comment on doubt and struggling with faith! ;)
12:41 PM
With talk of faith and hope,
and doubt and faith,
and God and suffering (tsunami)
and God seeming to disappear
I think I'll go and read the book Of Job !
Gabrielle
9:15 PM
I find it so hard to be consistent in my 'trusting' 'faith' 'not doubting' etc. Like when things are going well or i feel i know Gods purpose, or can 'feel' God, its so easy, yet when when i am in that place I seem to forget all the things he's done for me, or where hes taken me and where he promises to take me. I was working through this while at Capers (Capernwray Bible School) (more with the trusting God issue) and felt God say 'Claire, if i am trustworthy when things are going well, and you can 'see' where im taking you and what im working on, then I am also trustworthy when things are 'bad' and you cant see what im doing or where im taking you. You can't deicide when im trustworthy and when im not. Either i posses a quality or i dont.
SO- if you admit i am trustworthy when things are going well,then its true i am also trustworthy when things arent going 'well'."
I guess the same concept applies to any quality of God. (Faith, Doubt etc)