Thanatophobia 101

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Webers_Home

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Gen 2:15-17 . .The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of
Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man,
"You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will
surely die."

I'm confident in my own mind that death was common in Adam's garden due
to the natural life cycles of bugs, birds, beasts, and vegetation. So he fully
understood the threat. But apparently the prospect of his own death gave
Adam no cause for alarm; he ate from the tree in spite of God's warning.

Gen 3:6 . .When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for
food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she
took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with
her, and he ate it.

Now, prior to tasting the forbidden fruit, Adam and his wife were comfortable
in the buff.

Gen 2:25 . .The man and his wife were both indecently exposed, and they
felt no shame.

A very definite transformation occurred in Adam when he ate the fruit; easily
seen by the fact that he suddenly became no longer comfortable in the buff
like before.

Gen 3:7 . .Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they became
aware that they were indecently exposed; and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves loin coverings.

Not only did Adam become uncomfortable in the buff, but for the very first
time on record he experienced fear.

Gen 3:8-10 . .Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God
as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the
Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the
man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was
afraid because I was indecently exposed; so I hid."

In other words: in spite of his little apron, Adam still felt indecently exposed;
and not only that; but he also felt vulnerable; defined by Webster's as
capable of being physically or emotionally wounded and/or open to attack or
damage.

Where before; prior to eating the forbidden fruit, Adam was indifferent to
death; all of a sudden it loomed large in his thinking because of his newly
acquired sense of vulnerability.

Thanatophobia is psychological jargon for fear of death. Everybody has it to
one degree or another. Most of us merely dread death; i.e. we're aware it's
inevitable but we don't let it get to us except maybe in times of mortal
danger; while others suffer all the time with a stubborn, deep-seated anxiety
about dying.

According to the Bible; fear of death associates humanity with the Devil.

Heb 2:13-16 . . "Here am I, and the children God has given me." Since the
children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his
death he might destroy him who holds the power of death-- that is, the Devil
--and release those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of
death.

Christians aren't freed from the fear of death via their trust in Christ's
crucifixion. No, they go right on dreading it as usual. I'm 74 years old and
have been among Christians all my life; both in church and out of church. In
all my years I've yet to meet even one Christian who no longer dreads
death; they all continue to dread it and I'd really have to question both their
sanity and their honesty if they didn't.

But due to Christ's crucifixion, the fear of death no longer associates the
children of God with the Devil; viz: though their fear of death isn't gone, the
association is gone. In my mind's eye that is really important because people
associated with the Devil must certainly be on track to share his fate.

/
 

Helen

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Christians aren't freed from the fear of death via their trust in Christ's
crucifixion. No, they go right on dreading it as usual. I'm 74 years old and
have been among Christians all my life; both in church and out of church. In
all my years I've yet to meet even one Christian who no longer dreads
death; they all continue to dread it and I'd really have to question both their
sanity and their honesty if they didn't.

Good opening post.
I just quoted a snippet above...
I am 76 next month....I have looked into the face of death twice.
I can say that I do not fear death.
But...I do fear " dying by inches"....and I do especially fear pain.
Pain is my enemy, not death.
I am a weakling and have always hated pain. :(

Bless you....H
 
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amadeus

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Good opening post.
I just quoted a snippet above...
I am 76 next month....I have looked into the face of death twice.
I can say that I do not fear death.
But...I do fear " dying by inches"....and I do especially fear pain.
Pain is my enemy, not death.
I am a weakling and have always hated pain. :(

Bless you....H
I don't really much think about the "dying by the inches" pain you mention, but to be honest I would not be delighted to have to die that way. The idea of death itself doesn't faze me one way or the other except as it relates to others who might be hurt by my passing. But... as I have gotten past the deaths of people close to me, so it must be for other with my passing.

I neither push to live longer or for it to end sooner. I have really resigned myself to whatever God has in store for me here. The time does belong to Him and is perhaps only on loan to me.
 
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Webers_Home

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Sometimes people that talk bravely about death are fearing it and don't
know it.

Take for example Peter:

Matt 26:31-33 . .Then Jesus told them: This very night you will all fall
away on account of me, for it is written: "I will strike the shepherd, and the
sheep of the flock will be scattered." Peter replied: Even if all fall away on
account of you, I never will.

Matt 26:55-56 . . At that time Jesus said to the crowd: Am I leading a
rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

When I was an eighteen year-old youngster in training to be a paratrooper
back in 1962, I thought it would be easy to jump out of a Hercules C-130
until the jumpmaster opened the exit door on the first flight. From my
location in the plane; I could look almost straight down and get a good feel
for the altitude. When I saw how far below the ground was, and all those
man-made features in miniature, and the patchwork quilt of property lines
stretching far and wide below us; it struck me that I would be leaving the
relative safety of the plane and falling into an abyss. For a moment I
panicked, but managed to pull myself together in time to follow the other
guys out into the sky.

It's only at the moment of truth when we find out just how brave we really
are. Most of us have never gone thru death before. It will be a new
experience: for many of us, it will be our very first jump; so to speak.

/
 

Webers_Home

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Fear of death isn't reasonable, it's emotional.

Fear of death is also organic; it's triggered by centers in the fleshy parts of
the human brain called amygdalae.

It's easy to be rational about death when all is calm; but when a cause of
death comes their way, people usual react without thinking. Take for
example the recent school shooting in Florida. Nobody thought to throw
things like chairs and books at Nikolas Cruz to distract him. He went about
his grizzly business unopposed because most everyone lost their minds and
panicked.

/
 
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bbyrd009

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ah, well that is a good point, but this one, i dunno,
But due to Christ's crucifixion, the fear of death no longer associates the
children of God with the Devil; viz: though their fear of death isn't gone, the
association is gone.
imo the fear of death would not be present in a changed mind; John the Baptist knew that baptizing Jews in the Jordan amounted to sedition, and would not be tolerated. One might wrap themselves in the "child of God" cloak all they like, if there is still a fear of death, there is no changed mind imo, hence

Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
 

DPMartin

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Thanatophobia an undue fascination with death. not necessary a fear.


fear of loss is the same all the time. if you love this life you fear the loss of it. one can fear the loss of money or anything valued. so high school kids not wanting to loss their lives isn't evil.

or one can fear experiences, to experience pain for instance, but i don't see Thanatophobia in the subject in your OP.


Adam valued something more then God's Word or the life he had in the case of the garden, and lost the life he had that day. nakedness biblically is associated to shame and disgrace, of which God covered their nakedness with skins.


so being Christian doesn't exclude you from experiencing what anyone else experiences. the difference is that the Lord is with you. so even in the experience of death, you survive. Jesus had to experience death, because He was also the Son of man, and had to go where men go, but He walked away from it afterwards. its about the promise, its not a get out jail free card, in the case of experiencing death.

so the sting is gone, as far as hell is concerned, but the experience still awaits you.

when you think about it, can you imagine how man souls the Lord has been with in their experience of death.and the Lord isn't afraid.
 
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bbyrd009

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so being Christian doesn't exclude you from experiencing what anyone else experiences. the difference is that the Lord is with you.
love drives out fear,
yea though i walk through the valley, i will not fear


(as if any first-world Christians would be caught dead walking through any valleys anyway lol)
pun not intended

so iow i don't think the Lord is with them at all, wadr

furthermore, what you fear is what will come to pass; your worst fears are going to happen to you, according to the Bible
imo
 

Webers_Home

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if there is still a fear of death, there is no changed mind

Fear isn't mental; it's emotional, and typically triggered by centers in the
brain called amygdalae.


BTW: I seriously doubt that Psalm 23 is talking about imminent death;
rather; it's talking about providence; i.e. though the good shepherd might
lead his flock through perilous conditions on their way to water and pasture;
they need not worry for their safety because he won't abandon the sheep if
perchance they come under attack.

In other words: Psalm 23 isn't a psalm for the dying; it's a psalm for the
living. IMO, that psalm should never be recited at a funeral.

/
 

bbyrd009

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ya, i would have to agree, nothing to do with literal death
Fear isn't mental; it's emotional, and typically triggered by centers in the
brain called amygdalae.
here i am led to say that we are supposed to get control of our "female," and make it subject to our "male" imo, and that Scripture is written with this symbology; otherwise it is hard to make any sense of "no male or female in the kingdom" in relation to the passages that would seem to contradict this