Faithfully Yours - Don't say I didn't warn you

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Published on Thursday, February 12, 2015

By Neil Strohschein

If you suffer from Triskadekaphobia (the fear of Friday the 13th), you have three days this year in which you can try to call in sick. Today is the first. The others come in March and November.

But don’t be too eager to call in sick on that day—unless you really are. Employers read this column too; and if you call in sick claiming to suffer from Triskadekaphobia, your employer may say something like this: “Look, I read Neil’s column. See you when your shift begins.” So—don’t say I didn’t warn you.

How the superstition surrounding Friday the 13th came to be is anyone’s guess. So is how long it has been in existence. Scholars maintain that there is no written evidence for a “Friday the 13th” superstition before the mid 19th century (1850 onward); and that few of the theories explaining how the superstition evolved can be proven conclusively.

One view is that the superstition is linked to the events surrounding the death of Christ. He was crucified on a Friday. The night before his crucifixion, there were 13 people at the dinner table in the upper room and one of them (Judas Iscariot) died that night. So, the argument goes, when Friday and the 13th day of the month come together, they create chaos and disaster.

Folklore is filled with stories of unlucky events that happened on Friday the 13th. This has lead some “spiritual advisors” to suggest that one shouldn’t initiate a major project, go on a journey or make any significant change in one’s life or work on that day—because the day is cursed and whatever you do on that day will be cursed as well.

Don’t you believe it! It just isn’t true.

One verse written by the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah is more than enough to dispel every myth and superstition about Friday the 13th. “The steadfast love of God never ceases,” he wrote. “God’s mercies never end. They are new (they are renewed) every morning (even on Friday the 13th). Great is God’s faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22-23—words in parenthesis are my own)

The idea that Friday the 13th is a “cursed day” is just that—an idea—an idea that someone put into words, that many believed and that has now become part of our folklore. It has no basis in fact and certainly no basis in Scripture. So it is a day that we need not fear.

But some of us do fear Friday the 13th. The rest of us fear other things. The fears we harbor can keep us from venturing outside, trying new things or exploring new opportunities that could lead to a better job, more income and less stress in our lives. They can keep us silent when we should be speaking out on moral or social issues. They can prevent us from offering a helping hand to someone in need. They can cripple us and if we fail to deal with them, they can destroy us.

These fears are not figments of a tortured imagination. They are very real. There is only one way to overcome them—and that is through faith in God.

But faith isn’t a magic elixir that enables you to go through life without any fear. Living by faith requires us to go about our assigned tasks with confidence; taking risks at times, but always doing our best and trusting God to do the rest—to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Fear always backs down in the face of such faith.