Christians are some of the most fearful people I know.

Well, let me rephrase that: people who call themselves Christians, judge their spirituality by church attendance, and rely upon Facebook postings and Fox News for keeping up on what’s happening in the world, are some of the most fearful people I know.

This young woman, who looks free indeed, is not watching TV, a concept that seems foreign to a population raised upon what used to be called, “the idiot box.” Spirit of the Canyon, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed prints at Amazon.com, Art.com, Framed Canvas Art, iCanvasART, and Great Big Canvas.

When a person’s major source of news is Facebook or Fox, life has the potential to be reduced to either digital farming and links to bad news bearers at the former, and coiffed heads fomenting cyber-panic attacks at the latter. (And to be fair and balanced to Fox, all corporate news stations foment; it’s just that many Christians are convinced that Fox is, well, Christian.)

It’s working.

Which brings to mind the question — in what way? What is the result of much of the “news” we panic about — regardless of which station we watch — other than that it causes us to breathe quickly, hyperventilate, wring our hands, and worry as we drop off to sleep. Is this the function of news — to freak people out?

From the little that I watch it, I’m nodding my head. And from the response that it generates from many people, I’m nodding my head more. We jump from one shooting to the next, one domestic terror threat to a second, one disease with the potential to wipe out the planet to another. When the lives of other human beings are reduced to 10-second clips, enough to entertain for one evening, and then dropped completely as the broken lives of new human beings are featured, we’re not learning about the world so that we can show the love and compassion of Christ, we’re being bombarded with sensational voyeurism that results, primarily, in a climate of fear.

Although we could end right here, please consider following the link to my full article at The Christian Post, Free Yourself — and Your Family — from Fear.