Why do we enjoy being afraid?

We all get a kick out of being frightened--some of us more than others.  But why?   Why do we read scary novels or watch scary movies?  Not because we enjoy fear.   If we never stopped being afraid, we could not stand it.  We enjoy being scared only when we know we will come out of it all OK.  We enjoy facing the darkest horrors only when we know we will be victorious over the fear.  We enjoy the battle of dark against light only when we know that the light will win.  We enjoy a good fright only when we know it is not serious.

There are only two ways we can believe that frightful things are not serious.  We can say that the frightful things are not real, or we can say that the frightful things will be defeated in the end.  If we say that all frightful things are unreal, we are only fooling ourselves.  There are many frightful things that are very real.   Only the other alternative can truly work.  We must believe that the frightful things will ultimately be defeated.  But then we must believe that there is someone who is powerful enough to defeat them, and who wants to defeat them for our sake.  We must believe in the Lord.

So Believe

     Yes, death lies behind all the fears.  A dead body does not move, feels nothing, sees nothing, hears nothing, tastes and smells nothing, knows nothing.  It is nothing, and it helplessly rots away, eaten by worms and crumbling away into dust.  And we know that our own bodies will someday be dead also, as has happened with everyone before us.   We will be dead.

Death is coming for us.

Death stalks us, and we cannot outrun it. 

   What is it like to be dead?  If the dead experience anything, it must be lack--lack of any of the sensations which make life so pleasurable for us.  If they have any spirit, if they feel any emotion, what must it be?  Rage at the dying of the light?  Sadness without hope?  Jealous hatred of the living?

    Is that what lies beyond death--sadness and hatred?  If so, then it is right to fear death, and those who are lost in death.  If they were to come back, they would surely come against us.  And how could they be stopped?

   Lest they come after us, like the vampires of legend, let us stake them down to the ground or lock them up or bury them deep in the ground.  But will it be enough?  If they have enough power to come back from death itself, what would be the extent of their power?  Will they pull themselves up the stake; will they break the locks; will they claw out of the ground?  Could anything stop them?  And do they really come back at Halloween, as the ancient Celts believed?

But there is something even more frightening than this.  If you dare, click here.