Okay...Why should I Fear God? - Page 2

strange....but ok...

it's been made apparent to me that I have been too vauge with my last post.

what I'm trying to get at is that if you think god exists, you have every right to believe everything that is said about it and all the reprocussions along with it. [i.e. Going to hell, facing the wrath of God, ect..]

but if you do not believe, there should be no reason for you to fear God reguardless of what you may have heard.

when it comes down to it, the final decision whether to believe something or not and make it your own thoughts is completely up to YOU

i see what your saying but it was just strange that you said...he still loves you even though you go to hell...if he loved you why would you go to hell??? you see? but yes i understand the choices ty

yeah with that post I guess I indirectly simplifed it completely forgetting that everyone will have no idea what I'm talking about.. hahha ^_^;

lmao

If you believe in the traditional God of judeo-christian tradition, then you should not fear him. If you should fear anything, it is simply judgement. God has no reason to condemn you, in fact the opposite is true and he would love the pleasure of your company. The only person that can affect your afterlife (if you believe in one) is you. Blaming God for his judgement is just like a criminal blaming a judge for being setenced to prison time.

the christian religion tells you that you should fear god because he is powerful...thats why i dont have a religion...

If people are taught to fear God, then people are also taught to fear a higher authority?.
Mmmmm..., think what a useful thing that might be to whoever is in control!

Maybe love is more important than fear...
(but how can you fear love???)

quote:

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If people are taught to fear God, then people are also taught to fear a higher authority?.

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i think that ties in to the phrase of 'respect your elders'

You know, I've never liked the God I've read about in the Old Testament. His image depicted seems very jealous, spiteful, wrathful and very unforgiving. I have a friend who believes that this God that was depicted in those scriptures was not the true God, but a powerful being acting on his own behalf for the sake of unifying the Israelites. Wouldn't that be interesting if it were true.

My concept of God, at this point, is something beyond description, but I do believe God is everything. all existence, both good and bad, and that we may actually experience the spirit of God who actually resides within us. We are each a spark of the great soul of God, and each spark contains within it the potential to intensify, to come to the realization that it is God. So, in fearing God, it may be said that you fear yourself, and it is quite possibly true that all misfortunes may be inflicted upon us by ourselves somehow. Of course, that idea sucks but, then again, it also means we can bring good fortune to ourselves as well. I guess what I'm saying is if you live your life with no guilt in your heart (and that, of course, depends on alot on what you say and do in your life) then why would you have anything to fear from God? I think all this stuff about burning in hellfire and brimstone if you don't get "saved" or got to church every Sunday is alot of %@#&!)*^.

Believe it or not I completely agree with wizardlogic.
The old testament is not to my liking at all the way it dipicts the creator as a destructor and an angry one at that. That's not God that's an angry man giving vent to his anger and hoping fear will keep his people in line. The New testament is much more to my liking and Jesus talks of love being the greatest gift to give another. Love, peace and harmony are the things to take from this view of the bible and of God and by living in a way that is loving and giving, thinking of others and loving yourself, there should be no guilt in your heart or fear of God.

Sorceress -

Unfortunately you do not get to pick and chose the God you believe in, the God of the Old and New Testaments are the same God. The reason for the apparent "change" in God is simply because he totally revolutionized the way we interact with him. It would take way too long to explain here, but basically the birth and death of Jesus Christ forever changed our relationship with God. We have no reason to fear him by cowering in a coner worried about his wrath. Webster's New World Dictionary (College Edition) lists one of the definitions of fear is to feel reverence or awe for when used as a verb. When we are told to fear God, it is the same as being told to fear our parents, it means to respect their authority. I do not live my life in fear of God, but I am aware of his standard that he will judge me against. The beautiful thing is that everyday I fail to meet that standard, but because he is a forgiving God I am able to talk to him and ask his forgiveness. It is very similar to a parent/child relationship...which I think is the reason he designed procreation the way it is in nature. We see everyday the example of his love in the parent/child relationship in all animal species.

its not about picking and choosing God, Its about understanding what God means to you as an individual. I've talked about this before, if you fear your parents I think its very sad. Fear and respect are not the same at all, respect can be a two way relationship, fear cannot. When fear is instilled in one person by another there can never be respect only bitterness, sadness and intimidation, that is not how I view God or my parents.

I was brought up to beleive in the one true God, but within an environment that being alive and happy within yourself was all you needed to think about. I was brought up to respect others regardless of their faults or dissabilies and respect those who cared for me and keeping ones thoughts to yourself as being in an Orphange it was the only way to survive especially without a home or money. But I am a true believer that you are the master of your own Fate and that someone up there takes care of those who take care of themselves.(Not sure it's a God though?) I most certainly do not fear anyone or anything.

Absolutely, a person's environment has a lot to answer for. Fear breeds fear in my opinion, if you live in an environment of God-fearing highly religious people, then yes you are going to fear God's wrath. If you live in an environment where you are encouraged to explore and question your own spirituality in whatever way life 's path opens to you then fearing God probably doesn't come into it.