Article June 10, 1996 Issue

Dismantling fear

Helen Tucker Parnell

While I was out for a walk, a dog ran up, barking right at my heels. I felt fear sweep over me. Then I looked down and immediately recognized the dog. He belonged to my neighbor's child and was not vicious. He just barked at everyone who walked by! The fear disappeared as quickly as it had come. Factual human reasoning—knowing what is true and why—had destroyed it.

But what about fear of death, pain, disability, failure, and other human miseries? Human reason tells us these are things to be feared. Here, too, consciousness of the facts dispels the fear. What facts? The spiritual facts.

One basic spiritual fact is found in the Bible, which tells us that God made man in His own image (see Gen. 1:26). As God's likeness, man is held in His care and is subject only to the divine law of good. God's man is spiritual, so he can't be subject to any other law, including the material "law" that says his life can be invaded by a vicious dog, a vicious disease, or a vicious human.

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Article

In next week's SENTINEL