Fear Tactics... not a fan.

I am tired of people threatening me everyday.  Start with religious leaders: If I don't toe the line, remain faithful to the reading schedule, the meeting schedule, and the service schedule, I will fall prey to the devil and lose my ticket back to God's loving arms.  The world is dangerous!  Seen and unseen enemies lurk only inches away to snare me.  And, the world is going to end next Wednesday, so you have a little time to get right with God before He destroys everything.  And, you better get on the right side of God because when Christ (the Prince of Peace) comes again He will lovingly destroy all the wicked.  Be afraid... be very afraid.

Then there are the politicians:  Our country is on the way down into chaos.  Our God-given liberties are being threatened.  Terrorists are crowding in on us, they are already in our midst, ready to release weapons of mass destruction.  The federal government is a massive conspiracy reaching into our lives to enslave us (So they all want us to elect them to take the helm of this great evil...)  Thank God we have our guns!  We are going to need them!  And it could be next Wednesday...  Be afraid... be very afraid.

It's too late for us to save ourselves from catastrophic climate change.  The polar bears are the first to go!  China will take over the world.  North Korea will rain destruction down on our capitalist heads.  Mexicans are migrating in taking all the really good jobs that we need for our children.  Common Core Curriculum is brain washing our children, dumbing them down so they can never compete with the Chinese, or the Mexicans...  Drugs are poisoning our society!  Guns are killing innocent people!  Cancer is killing us all.  The Sun may blow up!  And there's a monster black hole in the center of the Milky Way!  Be afraid... be very afraid.

First... do fear tactics really work?  As a junior high teacher, I found that the more I threatened, the more problems I had with kids.  Threats do not work.  Fear may be a motivator, but it can only be sustained for so so long.  Fear does not inspire anyone to do good works.  We just cover our butts and watch for our enemies.

And, I already know that I am going to die (hopefully not today).  I already know that I am not safe from the tribulations of life.  I already know that I am not as free as I would like to be sometimes.  I am already afraid of the dark, of heights, and of spiders...  I don't need everyone telling me that I am living on death row...

I hear all the threats, the fear mongering...  but I am listening for Hope, Vision, Values.  I am listening for Humanity.  I am listening to someone say that we have a great future ahead of us... that we can embark on a great adventure.  There may be risks, but we are up to them all.  Let's go!