Is it even right at all to worship a being simply out of fear? People claim to love and worship God, but actually they're all deathly afraid of him. To force one to love God out of fear is like being forced to love an abusive parent, otherwise they will receive a beating. But that should not be the case; we shouldn't fear him. In the Old Testament, he showed great acts of wrath against humanity; however, we failed to see WHY he did what he did.
The first expression of wrath began when Adam and Eve ate from the Tree. Wouldn't it be fair, in God's defense, that he did tell them to not eat the Tree's fruit? I believe Adam and Eve should have had more will and resilience to the temptation; they took the word of a serpent over the word of God. That alone should be considered the first act of human ignorance. And because of it, they were banished from the Garden of Eden for their disobedience.
If one were to look at all the catastrophes created by God, it is easy to see that it was to exterminate an infestation of sin from his world. It would be no different from fumigating from a bug problem. However, despite the destruction, there was also salvation for those that followed his will. But in these times of great suffering from natural disasters to an economic crisis, it's easy for anyone to believe that God is the driving for behind all humanity suffering. However, if one were to look at the big picture, and take a closer look at humanity we can see that we are responsible for our own dilemmas. Our first instincts are to despair and pretty much blame God for all the suffering in the world, and wondering why our creator would allow this to happen.
Truthfully, God has not been behind any of it, not since the Old Testament. We humans make others suffer through our greed, gluttony, and lusts for more than what we need and have. Why would an entity create so many beautiful things like the mountains, the forests, and the oceans; and then be so cruel as people portray him to be? How is it love, when we fear him? Is he not more like a very stern parent, the tough love kind? He has allowed us to make our choices, the chances to shape our own destinies. If we are careless and make mistakes, of course we are going to suffer the consequences for it, that's what a loving and stern parent does.
The God known by many people is but a distortion of his true nature. True, he is mysterious and at times questionable. A question that should always come to one's mind is: "am I worshiping God because I love him? Or simply because I don't want to go to hell?" To worship God out of fear is worship for the sake of convenience if one stays in his favor, he or she will live well and when death claims them, they will go up to heaven. I do not believe that is how God works, he knows what truly lies in our hearts he knows us better than we know ourselves.
God should not be feared. He gave us life and so many wonderful gifts. Our troubles are a result of our carelessness, or to teach us things that we need to know and see how well we fare in our trials. He set down virtues for all of us to follow, such as accepting others and living honest lives. Now why would someone want to fear God after all he's done? He is not to be taken lightly, of course not, but he is also not the monster he is made out to be.