The Bible says that man should have a healthy fear of The Lord for betterment of life. However, an unhealthy, persistent or irrational fear of God is a specific phobia that can cause a great deal of distress to the sufferer and his loved ones.
Fear of The Lord phobia is known by several names: fear of God, Fear of religion, Theophobia etc are a few of these. The word Theophobia originates from Greek words “Theology and Phobos”; former meaning God/religion and latter meaning extreme fear or dread.
This is an anxiety condition that can greatly impact the quality of life of the sufferer: lost opportunities, poor grades or performance at work, lack of promotions, degrading health can all result from this phobia. Contrary to popular belief, there is no link between Atheism and Theophobia: Atheism is the disbelief in God, whereas a theophobic actually believes (or even loves) God to an extent that he fears Him deeply.
A phobia related to Theophobia is Atheophobia. This is the fear of not having God in one’s life. It is not as extreme as Theophobia but is quite common among believers of God. Such people feel that they must always be ‘connected’ to the Lord: visiting a Church (or other place of worship) daily, constantly thinking or talking of God etc are a few ways in which they try to achieve this.
Causes of fear of God phobia
Phobias are the mind’s way of protecting itself.
As is the case with most phobias; fear of The Lord phobia also originates in the unconscious mind: it links emotions experienced under certain situations. A real-life childhood experience: bad grades, death of a loved one following a bad conduct might be linked to “God’s wrath or bad karma”. Mild cases of childhood theophobia generally go away by the age of six. However, some persist well into adulthood.
Other catalysts for Theophobia include movies, stories, news reports which show examples of similar situations.
Symptoms of Theophobia
Theophobics are known to experience panic or anxiety attacks at the thought of visiting a Church/religious place of worship, or when faced with ethical or moral dilemmas
Symptoms of Fear of God or religion phobia are more or less similar to those of other phobias. They manifest themselves in two ways: in some individuals, the symptoms may be present all the time; in others they may require a direct stimulus to be seen. (Direct stimulus includes sitting in a place of worship or facing a moral or ethical question etc).
Both, physical and psychological symptoms might be experienced by the phobic: shortness of breath, a full blown panic attack, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, sweating, trembling, gastrointestinal distress, thoughts of death, feeling like running away, etc are some of them.
Overcoming the fear of the Lord phobia
Since Theophobia is usually deep rooted, the recovery is also progressive. Phobics and their loved ones must realize that the process may take a few days, weeks or even months for complete resolution.
- The key to overcoming the fear of God or religion is early intervention and diagnosis. The phobic must be exposed to his phobia on a regular basis; going to places of worship, experiencing situations that call for moral and ethical choices etc are a few ways of achieving this.
- Drugs should not be used for treating the fear of the Lord phobia, as they only offer temporary cure and superficially mask the symptoms. They can also be habit forming or give rise to withdrawal symptoms.
- Neuro Linguistic programming and Hypnotherapy are two highly effective means of treating and overcoming Theophobia. Both these therapies get to the root of one’s fear and help the individual drive out the fear of God from his mind.
If you or a loved one is suffering from the fear of The Lord phobia; you are not alone. Countless individuals are known to suffer from it. But there is help available in the form of aforementioned therapies using which you can regain your confidence, understand reality and permanently drive out the fear of God from your mind.
Effie says
My grandparents are Catholic and raised me to be Catholic, even though I am naturally Buddhist. My mother always had paranoia that someone, sometimes specifically men, knew her thoughts and actions. Maybe this was deeply rooted in guilt/fear of punishment of sin. Sometimes I found myself being afraid of even thinking certain thoughts because I was afraid some cosmic force would give me bad karma or punish me for it. I believe this possibly stemmed from my grandparent’s beliefs. We fear the unknown, and since there is no way to know if God actually exists, I lived in constant fear. I was also always afraid that being baptized was some catholic curse permitting God to punish my life if I did anything bad. I do not want to believe these things as my true belief is that I am in charge of how my life turns out and what consequences I might face. Sometimes conducting spells to uncurse myself tricks my mind into believing I am free from the catholic baptism curse. I don’t think you should baptize children until they decide on their own religion. I work on not living in fear every day because of a choice that was made for me by my grandparents.
Patricia A Gracey says
I have been in and out of the church. I love God, but just recently my friend sent a text that the end of the world is coming. I was always happy-go-lucky but after the text it threw me into bad anxiety. Now I’m scared I ain’t going to heaven.
Tammy Miller says
Bless your heart I feel the same way as you do. People can really be rotten sometimes. I wish they understood the way we feel about this type of fear we experience, maybe they would see it in a different way. It’s my worst fear of not going to heaven. It overtakes me at times and I just have to battle it the best way I know how, just breathe and go on. If I sit and think about it I’m in full blown panic over it and it almost drives me insane.
Wes Connell says
God loves you Tammy! He wants you to be in heaven with Him forever. (John 3:16) He gave you a way not to be afraid of death. He sent Jesus to take your place so you can have peace in Him and what He has done for you. If you ask Jesus into your life you will feel His overwhelming love. Blessings!
Jason says
All people should have theophobia if they don’t wanna miss out on Heaven because there’s a verse in Proverbs that says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
Nadia says
Amen
Michael says
Theophobia is based on karma teaching, which says that if bad things happen to you, it means God is punishing you. The Christian faith says the exact opposite: God loved us and died for us while we were his enemies. We should fear life without God, yes, but the dread of God can lead to good behavior, but God isn’t after good behavior, he’s after our hearts, and fear actually repels us from his heart.
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” -God
Abraham says
I started to read the Holy Bible 4 years ago and since then I feel really afraid. I also feel like I’ve been changed to do what the Trinity wants, I believe. I still freak out when I do something wrong though, and I always have to correct it. But, that’s what Jesus died for, but I still fear a lot. Can anybody relate or does anybody know how to fix this? Thank you for the article, and this comment section. Maybe something more personal, respectfully, can be given on my behalf, and/for the behalf of others. I’m a little bit short on time right now.
joseph says
I also have this phobia but it seems like when I do sin or watch comic book movies or draw characters or even collect action figures, I have misfortune. I promised God I would stop doing these things because I believe he spared my mother’s life. I’ve been trying to keep my promise but I fall into temptation sometimes and I’m punished for it. I’ve apologized to him and begged him to forgive me a lot. Can someone please help me, I live in constant fear and sadness.
Bella says
We are sinners, separated from God by our nature and behaviour, and if we’re in Christ he’s washed us clean. However, we do keep sinning because we’re human. Read first letter of John ( not same as his Gospel).
That’s where the foot washing isn’t needed. A metaphor. Jesus washed the disciples’ feet, saying that full washing was no longer necessary for a believer, having been done . I take this to mean we are spiritually washed when saved, and then need to keep clean by bringing new sins to a Him for forgiveness, which He freely gives. He washes our feet.
We wash one another’s feet when we help our fellow believers, when we share our troubles so we can pray for forgiveness together. Some might call this confession, but I don’t believe it has to be formal in order for God to forgive us. You can have no secrets from God anyway, only sins you’ve not brought to him. He knows anyway, patiently waiting. But perhaps it’s more comfortable to have no secret sins hidden from our brothers and sisters in Christ either. That takes trust.
TimS says
The symptoms remind me of some well known atheist behavior I encounter on social media and the comments they make. I’m pretty sure they could be classified as genuine theophobes. Are you sure atheism and theophobia does not have a link somewhere? Perhaps there are both belief (love) and disbelief (hate) versions?
Siri says
My mind is relating every bad situation with god. I am trying to control it. But i can’t.
Abraham says
I hear your troubles. Religion is very hard sometimes for me also.
who wants to know says
so, I’m writing a paper on theophobia, and one of the things brought up was whether or not theophobia is limited to one god, or other gods from other religions?
lily says
i love god
TheReal_ROTR says
I am terrified of Elohim, he is an all-powerful all-knowing being of goodness, and I am a human worm
filled with evil and darkness, the same as an unclean spirit, I am basically a demon without the demonic
powers they posses, it makes complete sense to fear the ultimate being of all of existence.
The life which I draw from Elohim, is fragile and easy to destroy, even for other “weak” life forms,
the existence of a soul is based entirely on the continued mercy of Elohim, nothing can happen
without Elohim allowing it to happen, so every experience good or bad a being goes though has
been allowed by Elohim, all that pleasure and pain you experience is allowed to happen by his
own reasoning, as a being that can have it’s life ended in so many various ways it’s impossible
to remember them all, I am fully aware and completely fearful of the creator.
Psychologists would call this extreme Theophobia, I call it Cosmic awareness.
Narcissa says
Oooooh, “Filled with evil and darkness?” No wonder you are afraid of God!
Try repentance, then, moving forward, Love God unconditionally, and everyone else equally. Do that, and you will experience peace, friend, for my Father is to be respected, not feared! (Mathew 22: 47-38).
Narcissa says
Correction, Mathew 22: 37-38.
Michael says
You were wicked and sinful but when you were born again you received a new heart. Your old wicked nature was crucified with Christ. All things have passed away and become new. The only reason you still act like a sinner is because you don’t “recon yourself dead to sin and alive in Christ”. The Bible says that “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” Unless of course the enemy can convince you that you’re still a sinner. The Bible says that “He made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We are now the righteous of God”. and “one with the Father”. To say that we are a sinner is the same as saying that God is a sinner. Try telling an earthly father that his son is just a worm and the Father will defend his sons honor because it is wrapped up in his own honor. We are God’s offspring and since we came from God and are born of God we now represent Him.
Mary says
Christians still sin. The bible says there is not one righteous, no not one! Yes, you can be a saved dinner but even Paul said he does the things he doesn’t want to do, etc. He said it’s sin living in his members. Don’t think you’re not a sinner. Think again.
Jannah Vincent says
I secretly fear god. its because of my Great Grandfather’s death. now, god terrifies me.
Dallas C. says
I don’t know if you’re Christian or not but being raised as a southern Baptist I can assure you that you don’t have to be afraid of him. He loves all his children. If you want to know more read ROMANS.
KENDALL says
Ok thank you.
Lyon says
The comments here are really terrifying, and they make me want to pity every believer in the Jehovah religion. The commenters here make it obvious that almost all worshippers are extremely theophobic. To @TheReal_ROTR, this isn’t Comic awareness. It’s an unnecessarily severe devaluation of oneself in order to please whatever seems mysterious to them, which I do not agree with, because it is not necessary!
There are so many unsolved mysteries in the Universe, of course, because we cannot know everything. Our ancestors did not know it all, neither did the ones before them. We cannot know it all. The generations after us will know better, of course, but not all. I consider it really illogical that humans want to attribute every mystery to the possibility of the existence of a god of “all peoples.”
We really should understand that the Jehovah religion is like every other traditional religion. So, we should not impose it on ourselves, thereby degrading ourselves, just because we have a few or lots of unanswerable questions. Also, a true atheist would understand it this way. An atheist who is scared of an almighty god stylishly imposed on people is no atheist. And theophobia? Something has to be done about this extreme fear.