Fear of God

[Chaigidel]

What is the so-called fear of god?

I dont want to taint the pool but i would like christians/muslims/jews to comment upon what fear of god literally means

to me it is the same kind of fear you get when you realize how big something is when you are very small , a kind of respect and reverence ....any thoughts?

[Dunecat]

http://www.feargod.net/verses.php

Has a plethora of verses, all of which pretty much cover all the facets of what it means.

I'm not sure of the theology of it, but those verses will probably start one on their path, which should be followed up by some theology and commentary. But, failing to provide those, I merely list the verses. Here is one that I found interesting:

Proverbs 1:7: "1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

*EDIT*- and another:

Philippians 2:12-13: "Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."

[Garnier]

This post = my belief, based on the Bible:
The fear of God is NOT being afraid of God or being afraid that God will do something to you.

The fear of God is:
Knowing how powerful God is. Knowing that God made you and everything else, shows that He is more powerful than you or anything else. When you know something is more powerful, you respect it. You "fear" it in a way, though with God, I am not "afraid" per se, because I know God is merciful and love's me even though I do not deserve it at all, and I know that God does not change.

The fool is someone who says in his heart that basically, he or something else is bigger than God and thus has no respect or awe for God.

[Skyler]

though with God, I am not "afraid" per se, because I know God is merciful and love's me even though I do not deserve it at all, and I know that God does not change.

How do you know if god is loving, merciful and unchangeble? You can find out these things when you die but for now there is absolutly no evidence that god is good or bad for that matter.

Why would he love us flawed human (generalization) beings anyway and why would he want us to live a mortal life on earth with a good samaritan lifestyles then die then judged by our flawed actions on earth for classification for heaven or hell. It does not make sense, he could rule out heaven and make earth the afterlife in which land would represent heaven and the abyss of oceans would represents hell.

Why do we want to go to heaven anyway? ''Okay I am in heaven, cool I can spend an eternity doing awesome stuff , rock on!'' -1000 years later- ''I am bored, nothing more to do or experience than what I already did, hm I wonder what the opinions of god are on suicide in heaven''
So what exactly makes immortality so desirable, in the long run the chances are you could be bored with it.

I often contemplate on the notion of soulless nay under developed souls and their deaths and wether those soul would make it thrue to the biblical heaven without having the faintest idea of the concept of live(relative). New born babies or mentaly challenged people come to mind.

In short, to summarize my rabble of words, why do humans feel the urge to feel special, special enough to create immortality in another realm other than earth with a concept that holds absolutly no evidence whatsoever. The world was created that much is known and accepted, but we did not know how or why and people from ancient times were scared of the unknown and created relegion to better understand it and form an safetynet in which our precious souls could be catched and live on for ever.

So to fear god would be the same as to fear death; not very smart because you have yet to experience it.

I apologise for my amaturistic writing style and inability of technical virtuose on this subject at hand for I am just a monkey behind a keyboard with evolution behind me holding a banana in front of my face. It is that messed up.

[Garnier]

How do you know if god is loving, merciful and unchangeble? You can find out these things when you die but for now there is absolutly no evidence that god is good or bad for that matter.

Why would he love us flawed human (generalization) beings anyway and why would he want us to live a mortal life on earth with a good samaritan lifestyles then die then judged by our flawed actions on earth for classification for heaven or hell. It does not make sense, he could rule out heaven and make earth the afterlife in which land would represent heaven and the abyss of oceans would represents hell.

Why do we want to go to heaven anyway? ''Okay I am in heaven, cool I can spend an eternity doing awesome stuff , rock on!'' -1000 years later- ''I am bored, nothing more to do or experience than what I already did, hm I wonder what the opinions of god are on suicide in heaven''
So what exactly makes immortality so desirable, in the long run the chances are you could be bored with it.

I often contemplate on the notion of soulless nay under developed souls and their deaths and wether those soul would make it thrue to the biblical heaven without having the faintest idea of the concept of live(relative). New born babies or mentaly challenged people come to mind.

In short, to summarize my rabble of words, why do humans feel the urge to feel special, special enough to create immortality in another realm other than earth with a concept that holds absolutly no evidence whatsoever. The world was created that much is known and accepted, but we did not know how or why and people from ancient times were scared of the unknown and created relegion to better understand it and form an safetynet in which our precious souls could be catched and live on for ever.

So to fear god would be the same as to fear death; not very smart because you have yet to experience it.

I apologise for my amaturistic writing style and inability of technical virtuose on this subject at hand for I am just a monkey behind a keyboard with evolution behind me holding a banana in front of my face. It is that messed up.

Your post makes sense completely. I will PM you.

[Chaigidel]

http://www.feargod.net/verses.php
Proverbs 1:7: "1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

yeah its the beginning of knowledge but what is it :o!

[Kythras]

I think it means more abject respect than literal fear - after all, most Biblical passages have been translated more times than anyone cares to count, and likely some of the original meaning has been lost

[rez]

Well God's got a lot of fear to give. When you threaten someone with eternal damnation unless they do what you say that'l put the fear of God into your heart.

[Garnier]

Well God's got a lot of fear to give. When you threaten someone with eternal damnation unless they do what you say that'l put the fear of God into your heart.

Read my above post #3. This is not what fear of God means. If someone threatens you with eternal damnation they must not know the God I know.

[rez]

Read my above post #3. This is not what fear of God means. If someone threatens you with eternal damnation they must not know the God I know.

That is you're interpretation of the phrase.

The phrase fear of God explicitly refers to people being afraid of him. if it didn't it would be called respect for God.

The simple fact is that punishment awaits those who disobey. And we all know that humans are inherently afraid of punishment.

[Dunecat]

That is you're interpretation of the phrase.

The phrase fear of God explicitly refers to people being afraid of him. if it didn't it would be called respect for God.

True, but is not the only meaning of fear- it is just part of it. It's not supposed to be a carrot-and-stick analogy. It is not meant to be taken in a postmodern context. Example:

I listed this verse: Proverbs 1:7: "1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

Now, if you take that literally, you will read that "fearing God" is when you first start learning. That is obviously false. What it really means is something different. The bible is not written as a transparent picture book. The text is meant to be dwelled on.

The simple fact is that punishment awaits those who disobey. And we all know that humans are inherently afraid of punishment.

When it does apply that men specifically fear punishment, it is in reference to the O.T. revelation. (The revelation from God, by prophets, before the N.T., by Jesus the Christ, before now, which is the H.S.)

[TestudoAubreii]

You know what statement always makes me think about this--"they were god-fearing folk" or "he was a god-fearing man" something to that effect. I always wondered why one would need to fear god. Why is he/her/it/something/nothing/everything/creator one to be feared? I think what it really boils down to is this:
People fear god today because of tradition. No one really knows what god is. I can almost guarantee that no one has ever met god, but if you carry the faith that is god enough. Don't get me wrong, this is just my opinion. I not trying to say that this is a bad thing. I would go as far as to say it is a good thing, because for some people without thier faith they would not be able to make in this world. Believe what you want, it is no business of mine,
I think the fear comes because you don't know. I think god may even be a metaphor for death. Insert death everytime you are about to use god, then I think we are on to something.
I hope that made some kind of sense.

[Chaigidel]

I personally think fear of god speaks more to a state of being-- not a "fear" in the sense of omg im going to hell or omg i dont want that vengeance--

the kind of fear you get if you have never seen the ocean and then you see it and you see how goddamn huge it is -- or you stand beside something huge like a building and look up that feeling of vertigo is the same kind of fear i think fear of god refers too -- a dizzying realization of your insignificance in the face of something greater

[Skyler]

I do not think I ever had fear looking at the ocean or buildings the first time.

I would fear those in other contexts like tsunamies or standing on top of a building and looking down.

Anyway, isn't fear the wrong word then? How about awe, being awed at the significance of god.

[Town Watch]

hmm generally the evangelic-lutherans tend to think God as a loving and caring God, and not as an angry judge who is to be feared.

[Dunecat]

hmm generally the evangelic-lutherans tend to think God as a loving and caring God, and not as an angry judge who is to be feared.

Well I thing to some extent those things are true, though the meaning of each word is very deep, and I'm considered a heretic considering salvation, so I'm probably not the best guy to listen too...

[Garnier]

hmm generally the evangelic-lutherans tend to think God as a loving and caring God, and not as an angry judge who is to be feared.

Maybe they are right. If the God they believe in is the God described in the Bible, he is loving and not an angry judge.

[enoch]

hmm generally the evangelic-lutherans tend to think God as a loving and caring God, and not as an angry judge who is to be feared.

until he, through them, judges others who have not accepted Jesus' love

a bible thought that even the most uninterested have probably been told
the god of the OT is a revengeful, by the modern definition cruel, paranoid elitist (exclusion of all others), overtly judgemental, demanding, and restrictive being who is constantly, openly intervening in human affairs - even appearing and the like, and then,
in the NT, he is suddenly a loving, laid-back guy who only deals with his "son" and few others, and is pretty satisfied with just chillin and letting man figure things out for himself, no longer a guiding force, even when his church splits in crazy directions

now god of course might have some magic that defies logic and the physics of his own universe
but otherwise one of four things happened

1 - God got jacked and someone else has been sitting on the cloudy throne
2 - God had nervous breakdown after his kid died and never really recovered
3 - God discovered the seven sided green leaf
4 - God is bipolar (his manias and depressions last geologic time and we had the bad luck of being born 2000 years after his last swing)

Should we have a poll?

[Ummon]

See also, exagram 51 of I Ching, in Wilhelm's transaltion, full text.

[Chaigidel]

I think the bible is layered with "secret" ways because you know we have been as smart as we are now for about 30000 years , so I imagine the more intelligent minds needed some kind of creative and sustainable focus, that is part of the longevity of the holy books because they can speak on so many levels to so many people--- I do believe that fear of god as it is plainly written does refer to a kind of fearful respect like you have for a king who will kill you for stealing the deer or something --- but that is for the uneducated, and uninitiated -- the meaning deepens once you accept that something was going on in these books that some kind of thing beyond normal thinking could be found within its pages, that great thinkers wrote great things and great teachings and hid them away in the prose and poetry--(as you well know all kinds of mystical traditions hide messages and have so called "secret truths" and "forbidden laws") here the fear of god concept starts to change.