Overcoming the Fear of the Other

Series: Recovering Our Sanity

Cultural EngagementMoralityPolitics

Overcoming the Fear of the Other

38 min

Series: Recovering Our Sanity

Cultural EngagementMoralityPolitics

Overcoming the Fear of the Other

38 min

Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” In this episode, the WHI hosts explore what happens when this verse is not a reality for us. Trapped in a blame game that goes back to the garden, we fear each other—not the Lord. We confuse the kingdom of Christ with Caesar’s Rome and begin to use, exploit, and oppose the “other,” rather than seeing people made in God’s image. But when we live in the fear of the Lord, we in turn love our neighbors, worshipping together in anticipation of the feast around the Lord’s table with the diverse community for whom Christ died—people from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

Quote:

We need the wisdom that flows from the fear of God instead of the fear of a demonized other.

Michael Horton (Recovering Our Sanity, p. 187)


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Bob Hiller is the Senior Pastor of Community Lutheran Church in Escondido/San Marcos, California. He is the author of Finding Christ in the Straw and the content editor for The Craft of Preaching (1517).

Justin S. Holcomb, PhD, is an Episcopal minister and professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has authored, coauthored, or edited more than twenty books on numerous topics, including abuse, biblical studies, and theology. Justin and his wife, Lindsey, coauthored the award-winning children’s book God Made All of Me, God Made Me in His Image, and God Made Babies. You can read more from Justin at justinholcomb.com and connect with him on Twitter @JustinHolcomb.

Michael Horton (Ph.D., Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and Coventry University) is the J. Gresham Machen Professor of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California and Founder & Editor-in-Chief of Sola Media.

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