The incessantly made claim that the Bible says “do not be afraid” 365 times is 100% false. The phrase “Do not be afraid” does not ever appear in the Bible (King James version, since it’s the most commonly used). Not once.
What about variations on the theme?
“Fear not” appears only 71 times.
“Be not afraid” shows up just 26 times.
“Do not fear” never appears. Another zero.
So the precise meme is completely a 100% failure, but it we allow for some wiggle room — looking for verses with the same message, though not the exact words — we come up with just 97 hits, not 365 — giving the wiggle room meme a 73% failure rate.
That’s some pretty serious failure. And if we’re lying about such a small thing, what else might people suspect us of lying about when it comes to our sacred texts and our deities?
The Meme Buster 