Fear and False Security – Sunday, September 1, 1940
There are two extremities of attitude in which a man may find himself, which have always proved perilous and often disastrous. One is an over-powering sense of fear – and on the other extreme is a false sense of security.
Many a nation has been hurled to its downfall because it was paralyzed with needless fear on the one hand, or because it was over-confident in its physical defenses on the other. The fact is that fear is a worse enemy than any tangible foe and it is equally true that no weapon or fortification ever saved any people from destruction, permanently, unless behind those physical defenses was the high morale of an honest heart, a sacrificing spirit, and a righteous cause. And what is true of our physical life is likewise true of things of mind and spirit.
A man may be held in check by a religious philosophy founded on fear, but under such conditions he does not grow in character, nor in essential goodness. The fire and the brimstone may keep a man from the appearance of evil, but at the same time paralyze the mouth of mind and spirit. The kind of man who develops by association with a father he loves, is quite different from the kind of man who comes from association with a father he fears. On the other hand, some of us rely too much upon the mercy and the goodness and the indulgence of our Father in Heaven, supposing that we can commit all manner of offences, ultimately to be scolded a little, forgiven completely and exalted magnificently. This attitude is as untenable as the one prompted by fear, leading, as it does, to a dull conscience and a sense of false security.
It is of such that the ancient prophet spoke when he said: “And there shall also be many -which shall say, eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God – He will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. * * * * And others will (Satan) pacify and lull them away into carnal security, and they will say, All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well – And thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” (Book of Mormon, 11 Nephi, 29:9 and 21) Thus spake the prophet and thus men reason with wishful thinking. If it does not paralyze, fear may lead a man to a temporary frenzy of activity, but it does not sustain him in it – and a sense of false security may give us a few extra hours of peace and supposed well-being, but it does not change the nature of the ultimate consequences. We would to heaven that we could outlaw unreasoning fear on the one hand and the smugness of self-assurance on the other, both in things pertaining to the present and the hereafter.
September 1, 1940
Broadcast Number 0,576