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Add to FavoritesShould we fear God? ~ Based on my personal experiences, with the many life changes, challenges and obstacles, that have offered me much opportunity for growth, my answer is no.
I am Catholic/Italian. I grew up in a house where it was a sin to do this or that and that God was sitting in judgement, ready to strike at us for our sins. Although I have read parts of the Bible, I did read the New Testament many times as a kid. And each time I was told about sin or God waiting to strike at us for our sins, in my gut and my heart, this always felt like a very untrue statement.
It would be many years, through many, many life experiences, as I climbed the evolutionary ladder to my inner awareness, that my understanding would expand, evolve and grow, where I would finally discover, that as human beings, we are taught what our parents were taught, what their parents were taught. After awhile, the limitations of thought begin to take over our lives. And we become imprinted with past thinking and understanding, instead of finding our own inner knowing, and allowing it to become our guide in life.
Should we fear God? No, we should however fear what we are contributing to the Tapestry of Life with our emotions, feelings, words, actions, attitudes and behaviors. Each and every moment, of everyday, we live and breathe into the energy field of life. When we are not paying attention to the inner realms and workings of life, this energy does indeed go into weaving of the Tapestry of Life. After awhile, there is much accumulated energy, until the energy needs to go somewhere for relief from the pressure valve.
My sense is, that however God/Goddess, Universe, Creation, Creator is perceived for each of us individually, this energy is waiting for us to buy ourselves a clue for what is really important to our lives. As a society, we are always running and busy and running and busy, that we finally begin to loose sight of what is important and what we do with our actions and behaviors, on a moment to moment, day to day basis.
We should fear what we are contributing to our inner lives; do we pay attention to our emotions and feelings? When someone asks how we are, do we say fine when we are not? When we are upset or in a bad mood, do we take what we are feeling out on another and then not take ownership and responsibility for crossing another's psychological boundaries? When we want something that we are not getting, do we try and verbally manipulate another into doing our bidding? It is things like this, yes, to our logical, human side, this all sounds very mundane and not worthy enough to take notice.
However, consider it this way; centuries and years have gone by with this attitude and approach to life; and this all represents accumulated energy into the field of life.
No, God/Creator/Goddess is definitely not waiting to get at us, but waiting for us to get a clue about the gift that life is for each of us...hardships and all. For the truth is, when we are lucky enough to have people around that care about us, then the hardships to life, become a journey, where we can take the hand of another, to move forward in life.
No, based on the direction that my life has taken, we should not be fearing God, but fearing whether or not we are paying attention to the finer details of our life; the part that makes us a human being.
Learn more about this author, Carolyn Gwiazdzinski.
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Yes
I believe the Bible teaches us that to "fear God" is the beginning of wisdom. Our society has placed so much emphasis on the negative connotation of the word 'fear' that we forget its true meaning. Following is a simplified version of Webster's varied meanings of the word.
Fear: 1) dread, terror, fright 2) respectful, awe, reverence 3) apprehension 4) to expect with misgiving or suspect.
I think these first three meanings should enter into our heads when we think of God. I think that meaning #4 is a result of the sinful nature of our human minds. Perhaps, we should be frightened of His wrath, but this is where most people stop. They do not consider all the aspects of God. They keep God in their own little framework of a scary, mean father-type being who only wants to punish us for something.
If you can open your mind to reading more about God in His own love letter to the world, The Bible, you may discover that God is also someone to be respected, to stand in awe of, and to reverence. He is not only deserving of these attributes from us, but when get to know Him we actually begin to feel these things towards God. At this point, He promises that He will then send His wisdom to us. What a promise! Who wants an extra dose of wisdom to live by? Most everyone I know would enjoy having some kind of extra knowing that is outside the realm of their own thinking. This is godly wisdom that is freely given by God Himself.
Now to meaning #3: Apprehension. Yes, I think it may be healthy to see God with a little apprehension. After all, we cannot see or touch Him physically, or hear Him audibly. This is a strange thought at first to the human mind. It actually takes what some people call a 'leap' because you have to kind of let go of the limits of your own mind in order to open up to something much larger. Namely, God. This leap of faith is where the apprehension can be for many people. When they begin to actually communicate with the God of the universe, they may feel apprension, fear and reverance all at the same time. When you begin to listen to what God is speaking back through this communcative experience called prayer, you begin to be more in awe of the great love and joy and wisdom you may experience. Yes, He really does have all the answers to your questions. Even if the answer may be "Wait," much of the time.
The fear, sense of awe, respect and reverence that the Bible tells us is a crucial part of how we need to see God can really only come through a relationship with Him. Yes, we can get to know Him, however limited, more that we know Him at this moment. Many people throughout history have claimed to know the Father and do great miracles by cooperating what what He wanted to do here on earth. Jesus is the best example of this. Jesus said that if we could know him, then we could get to know the Father, just as he did. I think that Jesus' only fear of God in the dreaded sense, was fear of NOT DOING what God wanted him to do. Therein lies the challenge for mankind. If we get to know God and what he part He wants us each to play on this earth, then we will have to make a decision to obey that or not. The choice of how you fear God is up to you.
Learn more about this author, Cathy Phillips.
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