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God Fearing

sandandfoam

Veteran Member
It brings to my mind old people of a traditional mind set who believed in 'hard work', honesty, who weren't given to fun and who thought life was supposed to be tough.
 

Thief

Rogue Theologian
I recall an episode, in an old science fiction program.

A child has the ability of instant creation... anything he may conjure.

The adults in his presence, deal with the constant fear of his reprisal,
their continuing existence hanging on the recoil of their own words....
and he constantly tests them.

The show combines the mind of a child with the creative abilities of God.
 

Noaidi

slow walker
What does the term "God fearing" mean to you?

Exactly what it says - do this or don't do that, otherwise god will punish you. You must fear his wrath (this view comes from speaking to many (predominantly fundamentalist) christians - this is what they tell me).

Fear of supposed eternal damnation - a sad way to go through one's life.
 
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Skwim

Veteran Member
"God fearing" to me means fearing the wrath of god for not doing as he says. What other reasonable meaning could it have?
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
To me it means being afraid of not doing what God supposedly wants, and being punished for that in some way.

An unwanted extension of the fear that little children have of falling in their parents' disfavor, I believe.
 

Skwim

Veteran Member
Your question Willamena means exactly that...but I'm wandering nevertheless; why do people fear God, isn't this God of theirs a God of Love?
Au contraire mon frere. Secure thee a Bible and begin perusing.
 

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
Willamena
What does "god fearing" mean to you?
I tried Wikipedia, but found only Godfearers. The Godfearers are Gentiles who practice Judaism without converting, that is undergoing the necessary sacrifices like circumcision.

The term has never meant much to me, but, growing up, I've heard others use it as if it was a good thing. So I thought perhaps there's more to it than that. Perhaps it's metaphor. (And no, it's not exclusive to the Christian image of God. A brief search of the Internet shows the term used in India.)
 

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
Here's more on its archaic usage.
Old English fǣr, the ancestor of our word fear, meant "calamity, disaster," but not the emotion engendered by such an event. This is in line with the meaning of the prehistoric Common Germanic word *fēraz, "danger," which is the source of words with similar senses in other Germanic languages, such as Old Saxon and Old High German fār, "ambush, danger," and Old Icelandic fār, "treachery, damage." Scholars have determined the form and meaning of Germanic *fēraz by working backward from the forms and the meanings of its descendants. The most important cause of the change of meaning in the word fear was probably the existence in Old English of the related verb fǣran, which meant "to terrify, take by surprise." Fear is first recorded in Middle English with the sense "emotion of fear" in a work composed around 1290.
 

Tarheeler

Argumentative Curmudgeon
Premium Member
The dictionary indicates "extreme reverence or awe," perhaps an archaic context for "fear".

That's the way I've always understood it. You act a certain way out of respect.

Most dictionaries I've seen define it as pious or devout.
 

Noaidi

slow walker
The dictionary indicates "extreme reverence or awe," perhaps an archaic context for "fear".

That changes the context of the word 'fear'. Interestingly, christians that I have spoken to see it very much as a literal fear (as we would interpret the word) i.e. they are afraid of what their god will do if they 'step out of line'. "Extreme reverence or awe" seems much more benign. Thanks for that.
 
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