Godly fear

[starlite]

Opinions please on what "godly fear" is.....

 

[truseeker]

Saying we should "fear" God really means to "respect" Him. Just like a child should fear his parents.

 

[starlite]

so...does everyone agree with truseeker?

 

[Thesavorofpan]

Yes, that exactly what Christians would say and should say.

But...I tend to think that when it says to fear God you should fear God because he can destroy you, but its a good thing he's not on a smiting spree these days.

 

[dallas1125]

Depends on the view of god. Some view god (assuming the christian god) as a vengeful and jealous god, while others see him as compassionate.

 

[Nerthus]

I have always seen it as meaning we should fear God, because he can easily throw you into Hell. So to fear him, means you are more likely to follow his every word.

 

[Breathe]

I guess I would see it like how truseeker uses the term. However, it still brings up one question: why does it still say "fear God" as opposed to "respect God" in more modern versions of the Bible? That I don't know.

I do not fear my Deity personally, nor would I want to follow a deity that requested fear. I respect my Deity because I love Her.

My $0.02

 

[Onkara]

My take is that fear arises when something or someone i.e. God, is out of our control and is recognised as having an influencing power on us... beyond our will or choice. Although I would like to say I respect God, rather than fear God

What I find becomes a little silly is if I fear God because God is more powerful than me and out of my control, why bother fearing God, why not just love Her/Him and accept all that comes to you?

I think fear is just a tool, a way to make you realise God instead of thinking everything that happens in life is down to you and me.... rather God is there too!

 

[Meow Mix]

There's no love in fear, that's all I know.

 

[starlite]

There's no love in fear, that's all I know.

[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]The phrase you are stating was originally made by the apostle John. It is found at 1 John 4:18. A reading of the context will help us to see the special meaning of this verse. The previous verse shows that the discussion by John is a continuation of the discussion on having “freeness of speech.” He speaks of freeness of speech as regards one’s speech toward God. This is shown in the third chapter of 1 John, verses 19-21. Using a previous post as an example...just as a child can come to a loving father in full confidence that his father will understand him and help him, even when he has made a mistake, so should we feel about our heavenly Father. We should feel free to approach him with any problem we may have. We should not have a morbid fear of the heavenly Father. This is not to say that one should “revel” in doing wrong and then go to the heavenly Father to seek forgiveness, thus taking advantage of God's mercy. But it does mean that we should not be in terror of him nor quake at the prospect of approaching him in prayer. Out of love, we feel free to address, or approach, God in prayer. In this respect, “there is no fear in love.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Let us combine the two thoughts then. A Christian must always have a reverential fear of God, born of deep respect for his position, power, and justice. But we also love God as our Father and feel a closeness to him and a freeness to approach him. Rather than being inhibited by any terror of him, we trust that we can approach him, as a child feels open to approaching a loving parent.[/FONT]