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Why fear God?

WeAreAllOne

WeAreAllOne

Member
Why are Christians expected to be God fearing people? Does this mean a literal fear, or meant to imply respect for God's word and commandments? Also, are Christian's actions motivated by fear, or by love, or something in between?




Before you think I'm trying to back you into a corner I really have no opinion on this besides I don't like the idea of having to fear God. My reason for that is because, if God is truly all loving, and you are living your life the best you can I don't see why you have anything to fear. Or do you?
 
dawny0826

dawny0826

Mother Heathen
It means both, to be honest.

And I think to some degree the actions of Christians (or at least this Christian) are motivated by a mixture of the two.

Let me add that it's a joy to fear a God as awesome as my God. And the love that my God has for me is greater than any love I could ever produce from my flesh.

I believe He loved me so much that He died for me...so that I didn't have to fear his Wrath (although his WRATH is a very real thing to fear)...so that I could lay my treasures with Him and once released from my flesh in death, truly live with Him...in his eternal love.
 
WeAreAllOne

WeAreAllOne

Member
but that still misses the real question, If he loves you so much, and you are basicly a good person, what is there to fear?
 
dawny0826

dawny0826

Mother Heathen
WeAreAllOne said:
but that still misses the real question, If he loves you so much, and you are basicly a good person, what is there to fear?
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An eternity without God...that's what there is to fear.

I don't have that fear.
 
dawny0826

dawny0826

Mother Heathen
dawny0826 said:
An eternity without God...that's what there is to fear.

I don't have that fear.
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He loves us. But he demands our obedience. Just as a parent demands the obedience of their children. When we do not follow his commandments, his plans, not our own for our lives...we will be chastised.
 
waldo

waldo

Member
WeAreAllOne said:
but that still misses the real question, If he loves you so much, and you are basicly a good person, what is there to fear?
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nothing, but if you're not a good person, you do fear
 
dawny0826

dawny0826

Mother Heathen
waldo said:
nothing, but if you're not a good person, you do fear
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It doesn't only boil down to being a good person, though.

The heart of the issue is whether or not a person has Christ. It's Christ who takes that fear.
 
spookboy0

spookboy0

Member
We aren't to fear God, because there is no fear in love as perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

While we should respect Him (after all, He made us), we should not be afraid of Him.
 
WeAreAllOne

WeAreAllOne

Member
dawny0826 said:
He loves us. But he demands our obedience. Just as a parent demands the obedience of their children. When we do not follow his commandments, his plans, not our own for our lives...we will be chastised.
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So it apears this will lead to the free will debate again.


How then, do you reason that eternal love can equal eternal damnation.
 
jeffrey

jeffrey

†ßig Dog†
spookboy0 said:
We aren't to fear God, because there is no fear in love as perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

While we should respect Him (after all, He made us), we should not be afraid of Him.
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Totally agree!
goodpost.gif
 
WeAreAllOne

WeAreAllOne

Member
spookboy0 said:
We aren't to fear God, because there is no fear in love as perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

While we should respect Him (after all, He made us), we should not be afraid of Him.
Click to expand...
I agree with this a well. But that leads to another intresting question, do you think S/he cares if we don't respect God? not beliveing in a God could be considered disrepecting him/ her, IMO.
 
jeffrey

jeffrey

†ßig Dog†
WeAreAllOne said:
I agree with this a well. But that leads to another intresting question, do you think S/he cares if we don't respect God? not beliveing in a God could be considered disrepecting him/ her, IMO.
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I believe he's above that. If he truly wanted us all to believe, I'm sure he would do so. I also believe that most, if not all will progress, or even for some, regress, into the next life. I don't see him being a jealous God. As one of the few things in the OT I believe man got right, "I AM" is how he described himself.
He's like Santa. He knows who's naughty and nice. I believe that's what is truly important to him.
 
spookboy0

spookboy0

Member
WeAreAllOne said:
do you think S/he cares if we don't respect God? not beliveing in a God could be considered disrepecting him/ her, IMO.
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S/He who?

I do think that not believing in Him is disrespectful, however there are many factors to take into consideration as to why they do not believe in Him.
 
spookboy0

spookboy0

Member
jeffrey said:
I believe he's above that. If he truly wanted us all to believe, I'm sure he would do so. I also believe that most, if not all will progress, or even for some, regress, into the next life. I don't see him being a jealous God. As one of the few things in the OT I believe man got right, "I AM" is how he described himself.
He's like Santa. He knows who's naughty and nice. I believe that's what is truly important to him.
Click to expand...
Of course He is above it. He created it. However He loves so much that He gives us free will so that we can choose to love HIm, as He chooses to love us.
 
AquilaKit

AquilaKit

Member
WeAreAllOne said:
I agree with this a well. But that leads to another intresting question, do you think S/he cares if we don't respect God? not beliveing in a God could be considered disrepecting him/ her, IMO.
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If that's the case, we might be disrespecting a variety of Gods and Goddesses daily. If there are more than one dieties, then wouldn't they feel the same about us believing in them as 'the' God might?
 
WeAreAllOne

WeAreAllOne

Member
AquilaKit said:
If that's the case, we might be disrespecting a variety of Gods and Goddesses daily. If there are more than one dieties, then wouldn't they feel the same about us believing in them as 'the' God might?
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Maybe we are, but what does that mean to you besides that we just opened up a huge compex mess? Do you care, should we care?
 
spookboy0

spookboy0

Member
sure. i knew what you meant.

however, how did you derive "eternal love equals eternal damnation" from dawny's statement?
 
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