>_< whats scares you?

[Davidizer13]

AND IF ANYONE POSTS A PICTURE OF A LEECH IN HERE I SWEAR I WILL FIND YOU AND PUNCH YOU IN THE THROAT

Yeah, leeches scare me too. But you know what's worse than leeches? Lampreys! (Not for dial-up users or the faint of heart.) They're vampiric eel-like fish that live like leeches. That mouth? It latches on to fish. That tongue in the middle? It's sharp. It's used to lick holes through their hosts' skin! Sweet dreams, everyone!

[ich1990]

I have a friend of mine at school who came here to get a degree to become a pastor. Then he took some of the religion classes which absolutely tore down his usual Conservative/Evangelical Christianity. Then he began reading things like Moltmonn, then Marcus Borg, then Dominic Crossan...

Then he started reading all this stuff by atheists.

So now he's an atheist whom many of the religion faculty can't even convince otherwise. He's a freakin' genius.

That... kinda scares me. No other decision effects your life more than if you believe in God or not.

I guess that's why Kierkegaard is so appealing to me. Believe in God despite all rationality? Could be total feeling-based, but... hey. If all rationality points towards non-theism, I can still be a Christian.

In truth, the fact that many rational people (who are much more intelligent than I am) reject Christianity does scare me at times. Then again, Christianity has its fair share of genii (Chesterton, Lewis, Kierkegaard, Newton, Waugh, Augustine, Aquinas, Bach, Pasteur, Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, Planck, Pascal, Michelangelo, Milton, Dante, etc., etc.).

I also went through a time when I read Borg, Ehrman, and Crossan. If your friend accepts their "historical Jesus" premise, then I honestly don't blame your friend for being an Atheist. Their Jesus doesn't sound like someone I would care to devote my life to either. Thankfully, I found a few historians who gave me an alternate viewpoint. Between N.T. Wright and (to a lesser extent) Ben Witherington III, I think there are enough challenges to the Jesus Seminar ideology to allow one to plausibly doubt their conclusions based on historical evidence.

I guess many times it comes down to whether you want to give up yourself or not. Like Chesterton says, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult and left untried." Otherwise, how could Isaac Asimov, a genius who studied the Bible extensively, conclude that he doesn't want to go to heaven because it would be boring? A study of any depth should have cut through any visions of "sitting in clouds, playing harps", yet he held on to them and used them as an excuse to denounce Christianity.

I wonder, has your friend ever read Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" or N.T. Wright's "Christian Origins and the Question of God" series?

[Squeakmaster]

Ugh, needles! Just THINKING about them makes my blood run cold... D:

Also, I have a huuuuuge fear of rejection...I entered into my first...relationship, a little over a month ago...I'm STILL really nervous about it. I'm scared to say what I think, even in front of my closest friends, cause I worry they'll think I'm stupid...

[Sebastian Michaelis]

falling from a very high place and going splat x.x

[Nate]

This is gonna be a long list. I'm sure we've had a thread about this before but...oh well.

One is wind. I don't mean pleasant breezes, I mean loud/strong gusts of wind or long sustained winds. It always freaks me out and I am never able to sleep during a storm with wind in it (thunder is fine).

The second is having someone break into the house. This may sound paranoid, but when I was young we did have someone who lived near us break into our house and rob us (granted, we weren't home when it happened, but still). But more than that is the fact that we live on a hill near a major highway, and there's a seedy motel at the foot of that hill. Someone one night got drunk and got into a fight, and came up the hill to our house, and my mom had forgotten to lock the door, so he came inside and up the stairs into my mom's room and woke her up, asking for help.

Yeah.

The third thing is, well, a combination of two things. Death and eternity. I'm not so much afraid of death in that I know as a Christian my soul is secure, but it's thinking about the afterlife at all, which ties into eternity. Basically the way I see it, there's two possibilities.

One, after I die I go to Heaven, and life for eternity. The concept of eternity frightens the crap out of me. I'm actually starting to have chest pains and trembling right now even writing this post. The second situation is that I'm wrong, there is no Heaven, meaning I'm dead for all eternity. That ALSO frightens me, and to be honest I'm not sure whether death being the end or living eternally is more terrifying.

I know I should gain comfort from the fact that I will be in Heaven for eternity, but I gain no such comfort. Eternity is just too scary for it to be of any help.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I wonder, has your friend ever read Kierkegaard's "The Sickness Unto Death" or N.T. Wright's "Christian Origins and the Question of God" series?

Holy crap, he's read pretty much EVERYTHING. It's scary. As I said, the dude's a friggen genius.

There's a book recommended to me by a professor. It's a discussion between N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg. I think it's called "The Meaning of Jesus"?

This also seems interesting. J.D. Crossan and N.T. Wright dialogue:
http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Jesus-Dominic-Crossan-Dialogue/dp/0800637852/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256525137&sr=8-3

[ich1990]

Holy crap, he's read pretty much EVERYTHING. It's scary. As I said, the dude's a friggen genius.

There's a book recommended to me by a professor. It's a discussion between N.T. Wright and Marcus Borg. I think it's called "The Meaning of Jesus"?

This also seems interesting. J.D. Crossan and N.T. Wright dialogue:
http://www.amazon.com/Resurrection-Jesus-Dominic-Crossan-Dialogue/dp/0800637852/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256525137&sr=8-3

Actually, I happen to be reading "The Meaning of Jesus: Two Perspectives" right now. I am only about thirty pages into it, though, so I can't really comment. It looks promising, however.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I've read halfway through Borg's book ("Reading the Bible again for the First Time"). It's pretty fascinating.

[Fish and Chips]

Loneliness.

Doesn't matter what kind. Desolation or singularity.

You can be alone in a vast, empty space, or in a sea of indistinct people. A sense of isolation in a sprawling canopy of nothingness. Not praised or persecuted, not even acknowledged, not by nature or by man. The full spectrum of your insignificance played out against the background of the entire world, densely populated or not. There is no one you can talk to, and no one who will talk to you. It could be dark or day, hostile or tranquil. Loneliness is a stasis unaffected by the elements. Unaffected by anything, and everything. Because you are alone.

That frightens me.

[rocklobster]

I do feel a little uneasy in high places, but I wouldn't call it a fear.

[Riggidig]

Great White Sharks

Cockroaches

Heights

Embarrassing myself in public

Losing my temper

Feeling worthless

Being ignored/rejected

Nobody remembering me after I'm gone

Growing old alone

Being a horrible husband/dad someday

Losing my mom someday

Wasting my life

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Loneliness.

Doesn't matter what kind. Desolation or singularity.

You can be alone in a vast, empty space, or in a sea of indistinct people. A sense of isolation in a sprawling canopy of nothingness. Not praised or persecuted, not even acknowledged, not by nature or by man. The full spectrum of your insignificance played out against the background of the entire world, densely populated or not. There is no one you can talk to, and no one who will talk to you. It could be dark or day, hostile or tranquil. Loneliness is a stasis unaffected by the elements. Unaffected by anything, and everything. Because you are alone.

That frightens me.

Is this loneliness after the knowledge of existence of other people?

What would our lives and paradigms be like if we were not socialized around anybody? Certainly if everyone dropped dead all the sudden we would be horribly lonely, but we already have that "active differentiation" between the two. So if we were alone all our lives, would the concept of loneliness exist?

I wonder... XD

[Fish and Chips]

Is this loneliness after the knowledge of existence of other people?

What would our lives and paradigms be like if we were not socialized around anybody? Certainly if everyone dropped dead all the sudden we would be horribly lonely, but we already have that "active differentiation" between the two. So if we were alone all our lives, would the concept of loneliness exist?

I wonder... XD

Yes.

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

[Syreth]

lol, I have a pretty specific set of fears regarding my current circumstances. It's tied to an ongoing fear I have of being unable to amount to anything significant, achieve anything noteworthy, and provide for my imminent future family. I believe God will provide, though, trite as the saying may be.

[Sparx00]

There is only one thing 2 things that scare me.

#1: Things that lurk in the darkness. (You never know what could be in there.)
#2: Losing something close to me. (Like a family member, or a pet.)

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Yes.

See I don't think that's too suitable of an answer. First, Adam can see animals. Maybe he sees them in pairs? Thus the example of "non-loneliness" begins to exist.

Second off, God I presume could know these things because he's, well, God. God wanted Adam to have a partner, but did Adam give it even a thought?

This is, of course, stemming off the assumption that Genesis is historically accurate. But let's just assume that. I'm talking about total loneliness.

Let us say you suddenly are brought forth into existence at a functioning level that of an adult. Let's also say you've learned in your environment; i.e. you eat, use the bathroom, etc. But you are the only sentient living organism which you are aware of.

Would the idea of "other people" come to mind? I guess I'm asking is if it's innate or not. What effect would looking at a mirror have?

Now... what if you were suddely brought forth into existence, but you were some sort of ethereal spirit? And you were alive in... I dunno. Total blackness? You just kinda floated. You could think. Probably not learned anything because sensory information is there to acquire? I guess another way to phrase this would be if you were born but all your five senses were shut down. Would you be... "alive".

Man, I don't know. XD

[Fish and Chips]

I like that I can't simply be afraid of loneliness, we have to turn it into a game of hypothetical scenarios where humans born with wings aren't afraid of heights and with gills aren't afraid of drowning. Man Ryan, yeah, I guess if God had made me unable to feel loneliness, then I suppose I wouldn't feel lonely. Incredible.

What little I do know of sociology suggests that humans are social creatures by nature, as would be any species that doesn't reproduce asexually, or unless they were completely self-sufficient. My point in quoting Genesis is that God, an entirely self-sufficient entity, recognizes loneliness in his creation. Whether he lets Adam realize this for himself or not does not change the fact that God Himself sees a problem with man being alone, which means it is a problem, one He intends to be rectified.

If you're going to ask hypothetical questions like what if Man was created in a complete vacuum, you could at least acknowledge that you're creating your own criteria to answer a question that can't be answered in the real world because it didn't happen. You might as well ask if God had created humans with an internal energy source, would we get hungry. Would we be afraid of starvation. It's a non-issue.

[Etoh*the*Greato]

MSP, I'm gonna confess my biggest fear in my life right now to you specifically. It's becoming like your friend. I dont' have enough confidence in my intellect to feel like my decision would be as sound as his. I often take comfort in the existence of rationalists far smarter than me who Believe in God, but in the face of other rationalists who say that no such thing exists I tend to waver. Especially these days. My time post college has been turbulent. What I felt was my calling fell apart. I'd say it was what I'd spent six year of my life devoted to, but I think it was merely what six years of my life were pointed at. It still felt like an incredible waste to lose that, though, knowing that no ministry or fulfillment of my "purpose" waited on the other end as I finally got out in to the big wide world and was left at the train station.
There was first anger at God. Screaming one-sided arguments demanding to know what he'd made me wait for and on my knees begging to know what he wanted me to do. Then the apathy settled in and I've... just had a really hard time shaking that. I think Apathy might be in the stages of being replaced by disgust. I spent some time on a particular forum discussing theology and was so revulsed by the Christians there who were virtually indistinguishable from the agnostics and the atheists in terms of mean-spirited attitude (or at times worse-than). I've excised myself from the website but the disappointment with myself and with others hasn't really gone away.
Really, my anger at God has pretty much faded. There is still a very very strong part of me that says the Christian God would be the only God if there were a God and that he must be a Loving God with way more in mind than what we can see. Really I have very little problem with him. It's the believers though. The apathetic believers like myself, or the smug self righteous beleivers who preach Love on Sunday and spout hate Monday through Saturday.
I tried reading The Irresistable Revolution and really couldn't. The hardest thing I faced was the idea that I really need to follow this guy's example but I just can't bring myself to do that. Sort of like the Young Rich Man. I walk away sad.

[Radical Dreamer]

See I don't think that's too suitable of an answer. First, Adam can see animals. Maybe he sees them in pairs? Thus the example of "non-loneliness" begins to exist.

Second off, God I presume could know these things because he's, well, God. God wanted Adam to have a partner, but did Adam give it even a thought?

This is, of course, stemming off the assumption that Genesis is historically accurate. But let's just assume that. I'm talking about total loneliness.

Let us say you suddenly are brought forth into existence at a functioning level that of an adult. Let's also say you've learned in your environment]

I like that I can't simply be afraid of loneliness, we have to turn it into a game of hypothetical scenarios where humans born with wings aren't afraid of heights and with gills aren't afraid of drowning. Man Ryan, yeah, I guess if God had made me unable to feel loneliness, then I suppose I wouldn't feel lonely. Incredible.

What little I do know of sociology suggests that humans are social creatures by nature, as would be any species that doesn't reproduce asexually, or unless they were completely self-sufficient. My point in quoting Genesis is that God, an entirely self-sufficient entity, recognizes loneliness in his creation. Whether he lets Adam realize this for himself or not does not change the fact that God Himself sees a problem with man being alone, which means it is a problem, one He intends to be rectified.

If you're going to ask hypothetical questions like what if Man was created in a complete vacuum, you could at least acknowledge that you're creating your own criteria to answer a question that can't be answered in the real world because it didn't happen. You might as well ask if God had created humans with an internal energy source, would we get hungry. Would we be afraid of starvation. It's a non-issue.

Okay guys, we're getting a little bit off-topic here. Continue the discussion in private or make it circle back around to the point of this thread if it can be kept civil. Thanks!

[xblack_x_rosesx]

I'm sure it's evident that in University unexcused absenses from tests or assignments is not acceptable, and results in an immediete zero, unlike high school. Recent events have caused this letter to be sent out to the 50,000 students that attend my University.

This scares the pants off of me and makes me want to isolate myself forever.

"All Students:

As a result of the existence of H1N1 pandemic influenza in the
community, Dr Carl Amrhein, Provost and Vice-President Academic has
approved that effective immediately, supporting medical documentation
(i.e., a doctor's note) is not required for student absences due to
Influenza Like Illness (ILI).

It is important that students regularly consult the University's H1N1
website ( http://www.h1n1.ualberta.ca ) for the most current information
available, including signs and symptoms of influenza and what you should
do in the event that you find yourself ill."

THAT SCARES ME. So many people are getting ill with H1N1 that nobody needs a Dr's note to be absent from tests, so long as it's ILI.

UGH.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Non-issues or not, thought experiments are fun... for me anyway. The reason why such questions with certain criteria is involved is for the simple reason alone of desiring to understanding how the mind truly is. Mary's Room is a good example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%27s_room

Why else are there so many infeasible thought experiments constructed?

That being said, there is an apprehension in me of really finding out. It's as if I don't want to ever know... yet I do.

[Cognitive Gear]

This.... Thread.

D:

[Arya Raiin]

Because I've had so many terrifying dreams about someone killing all of my friends and I'd be unable to do anything about it. I guess because I'm kind of a true-blue-stick-to-ya-like-glue kind of friend.

Also, heights and spiders.

[Tsukuyomi]

Loneliness.

Doesn't matter what kind. Desolation or singularity.

You can be alone in a vast, empty space, or in a sea of indistinct people. A sense of isolation in a sprawling canopy of nothingness. Not praised or persecuted, not even acknowledged, not by nature or by man. The full spectrum of your insignificance played out against the background of the entire world, densely populated or not. There is no one you can talk to, and no one who will talk to you. It could be dark or day, hostile or tranquil. Loneliness is a stasis unaffected by the elements. Unaffected by anything, and everything. Because you are alone.

That frightens me.

*Hugs Fish* 8(

This is a type of scary I've experienced before, but I pulled out of it ^^ It would be pretty scary to be pulled back into it, so it it in a way a fear that will always be there >_>

Another fear for me would be total, absolute darkness O.O I guess it has to do with the whole not being able to see what's there and not knowing what's there <_<

[Fish and Chips]

Non-issues or not, thought experiments are fun... for me anyway. The reason why such questions with certain criteria is involved is for the simple reason alone of desiring to understanding how the mind truly is. Mary's Room is a good example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%27s_room

Why else are there so many infeasible thought experiments constructed?

That being said, there is an apprehension in me of really finding out. It's as if I don't want to ever know... yet I do.

I have nothing against thought experiments. I even entertain them myself sometimes. However, it's generally preferred that you ask people before jumping on their every neurotic tendency as a chance to espouse your opinion on causation and correlation in societal relationships and environmental feedback, or whatever it is that you do.

This thread called for people to open up about what scares them. This, I did, and while it may simply be my perception of events, having you swoop down and question my deep seated fear with a casually (almost callously) oblivious tone about "What if we were unable to recognize that we were lonely," or something to that effect, is not really appreciated and comes off as thoughtless instead of thoughtful.

Ryan, you are my friend, my good friend, and while we occasionally face off I value you as a human being. But please, if you're going to keep doing this, please, with reservation, or at least approaching someone before making a tangent.

I apologize that the bulk of this post has been fairly off topic, and so I'll reveal another fear of mine, tension before trials.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

I have nothing against thought experiments. I even entertain them myself sometimes. However, it's generally preferred that you ask people before jumping on their every neurotic tendency as a chance to espouse your opinion on causation and correlation in societal relationships and environmental feedback, or whatever it is that you do.

This thread called for people to open up about what scares them. This, I did, and while it may simply be my perception of events, having you swoop down and question my deep seated fear with a casually (almost callously) oblivious tone about "What if we were unable to recognize that we were lonely," or something to that effect, is not really appreciated and comes off as thoughtless instead of thoughtful.

Ryan, you are my friend, my good friend, and while we occasionally face off I value you as a human being. But please, if you're going to keep doing this, please, with reservation, or at least approaching someone before making a tangent.

I apologize that the bulk of this post has been fairly off topic, and so I'll reveal another fear of mine, tension before trials.

Yes. I concede to the fact that I let my "external processing" curiosity at a more irrelevant time. Not that I did it to antagonize or anything. Certainly not the case. It was me taking in one piece of information and then trying to apply it to a larger scheme or so. It was all for the sake of my own curiosity, but it ought to have been reserved at a different setting.

[-Frail-Dreams-]

The great mole rat.

...And clowns. Ugh.

[Kurama]

The Dark.

Monsters of my imagination.

No sarcasm is in this post. o_o;

[MangArtist]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOXvdfcct8g
This thing has made me hate all spiders... -_- I don't mind the really skinny and lanky ones, though.

I hate heights.
I'm afraid of not being able to use my hands anymore.
Losing any of my teeth.
Family members dying.
Rejection.
Saying retarded things.(I'm pretty quiet in real life)
What people think of me.
etc...

Another fear for me would be total, absolute darkness O.O I guess it has to do with the whole not being able to see what's there and not knowing what's there <_<

For me, having a flashlight when something is sneaking around in the dark makes things worse. ._.

[Syreth]

I'm afraid of not being able to use my hands anymore.

Ditto - it would be incredibly devastating to lose the use of your hands... and the things I love to do most require my hands. Hopefully they won't be arthritic for many, many years.