What Do We Fear?

 From the book Hospitality: Life in a Time of Fear
by Steve Clapp and Fred Bernhard

Also available as a Microsoft Word^® document.

Take just a few moments to go through the list which follows and to rate your concern about each item from one to five. Let one represent “I have almost no fear of this” and five represent “I have a very high level of fear of this.”

___   1.  Being on an airplane which is hijacked.

___   2.  Receiving anthrax or another disease through the mail system.

___   3.  Being in a public place (movie theater, shopping mall, athletic stadium) which is attacked in some way by terrorists.

___   4.  Having our water supply contaminated by terrorists.

___   5.  Being a victim of a bomb planted by terrorists.

___   6.  Having a disease like anthrax spread broadly by a crop dusting plane.

___   7.  Having a loved one become a victim of terrorism.

___   8.  Having a child who becomes almost immobilized over the threat of terrorism.

___   9.  Becoming almost immobilized myself over the threat of terrorism.

___ 10.  Having a child grow up hating people of particular ethnic or national backgrounds because of terrorist reports.

___ 11.  Finding that many people have become intolerant of those of particular ethnic or national backgrounds because of a fear of terrorism.

___ 12.  Finding the world involved in escalating war because of efforts to stop terrorism.

___ 13.  Finding that innocent people have had violence committed against them by military forces who are trying to stop or prevent terrorism.

___ 14.  Losing the lives of people I care about as they seek to protect others: fire fighters, police officers, and military personnel, for example.

___ 15.  Having my identity stolen by someone who obtains my credit card number and social security number.

___ 16.  Having my pocket picked or my purse snatched.

___ 17.  Having my car stolen.

___ 18.  Having my car broken into.

___ 19.  Being a victim of an armed robbery.

___ 20.  Having a burglary in my home while I’m gone.

___ 21.  Having a burglary in my home while I’m there.

___ 22.  Having my child or a child I know be kidnapped.

___ 23.  Being assaulted by another person.

___ 24.  Having someone I love be assaulted.

___ 25.  Being cheated or taken advantage of by a stranger.

___ 26.  Being cheated or taken advantage of by someone I trust.

___ 27.  Having a heart attack, cancer, or another life-threatening illness.

___ 28.  Having someone I love have a heart attack, cancer, or another life-threatening illness.

___ 29.  Being injured by a drunken driver.

___ 30.  Having someone I love be injured by a drunken driver.

___ 31.  Having drinking water or air made unsafe by pollution.

___ 32.  Having my descendants inherit a world without safe water and air.

___ 33.  Ending up without enough money to take care of myself in later years.

___ 34.  Being in the midst of a tornado, earthquake, or hurricane.

___ 35.  Losing my home to a fire.

___ 36.  Hurting someone by being careless in driving.

___ 37.  Making bad financial decisions which cause serious problems for my family.

___ 38.  Failing to respond to the needs of others as God would have me respond.

___ 39.  Failing to do what God wants me to with my life.

___ 40.  Dying and finding that I have disappointed God.

___ 41.  Having loved ones pass away and still having years to go by myself.

___ 42.  Doing something that diminishes the confidence my friends and family have in me.

___ 43.  Finding I have been betrayed by a loved one.

___ 44.  Becoming permanently disabled.

___ 45.  Having a loved one become permanently disabled.

___ 46.  Disappointing my employer or employees.

___ 47.  Getting in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service.

___ 48.  Being accused of a crime of which I’m not guilty.

___ 49.  Having violence at a school in my community.

___ 50.  Having a child of mine be harmed by drugs or alcohol.

___ 51.  Looking foolish to other people.

___ 52.  Appearing pathetic or lonely to other people.

___ 53.  Looking like I can’t control my emotions.

___ 54.  Losing my marriage or a significant relationship.

___ 55.  Losing my employment. 

Obviously the list could be significantly expanded.  Your greatest fears may or may not be represented in those fifty-five items.  Try going through the list again and rating each item in terms of how likely you think it is to actually happen.  There may well be some items on the list that have already happened to you and which have had significant impact on your life.  Talk about your responses with others in your family, class, or congregation. 

Some Scriptures which speak to our fears, anxieties, and relationships with others: 

Be sure to read the entire New Life Ministries Report, Hospitality and Fear: The Impact of Fear Since September 11.

You are free to reproduce this questionnaire for use in your own congregation. Thank you for giving credit to New Life Ministries, www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org . This questionnaire is also available as a Microsoft Word^® document.

 2000-2010 New Life Ministries (www.NewLifeMinistries-NLM.org). All Rights Reserved.
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