1013) I have had an interest in psychology and how the mind works for many years. I love to read about how incredibly complicated our brains are and how it reacts to things. In recent years, I have read two books about how trauma and then how music affects the brain and its functions and I am in awe of many of the things I read.

In thinking about psychology, there are two major approaches in helping a person deal with something they are afraid of. One approach is to gradually introduce the person to a picture of a snake across the room, then moving it closer to the person, then having that person hold the picture and then having a snake in a cage across the room, etc. The other method is to just toss the person into a pit of snakes and allowing them to react. Personally, I think that’s a horrible way to “help” someone afraid of snakes. However, these are two methods that help someone cope with their fear of snakes.

There is one subject Paul says to have a healthy fear of and admonishes Christians to avoid, and that is evil. (Romans 16:19) Why? It seems to stem from Genesis 2:17 when God instructs Adam and Eve to not eat of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Why would God instruct his children to stay away from evil? Perhaps he knew how evil can place its roots within a person’s heart and take over so slowly that it is not noticed. Some may think, Hey, isn’t it important to know what evil is so that it can be avoided? My answer to this is, those who are trained to identify counterfeit money are not trained by studying examples of the fake bills. Instead, they are so immersed in what real money looks like, they can easily identify that fake ones.

God and Paul knew the dangers of evil and desensitizing from it and it would be wise to avoid this all together.