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True Disciple 03-14-2011 04:37 PM

Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
God wants us to FEAR Him!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the common critiques of Christianity among ungodly liberals nowadays is that it applies a wrong method, at least in their opinion, in winning new converts to Christ. Many True Christians™ warn the unsaved about the terrors of Hell, where our Loving Savior will send them after they die to be tortured for all eternity, as described in Revelation 21:8.:sinner:

They call this argument an “argumentum ad baculum,” which means an attempt to convince people by pointing out the consequences if they would choose wrong (in the case of Christianity, Hellfire). They continue to describe Christianity as a “Religion of Fear.”

False Christians, in an attempt to make the Bible more fitting in their heretic, liberal worldviews, argue that Christianity is a religion of love, not of fear.:thumbdown:

As usual, of course, the false Christians are wrong. While Christianity certainly is a religion of love, it is still mainly a religion of fear. There is nothing bad with that; it’s how God wanted True Christianity™ to be: not a religion of reason, logic, human rights or other secular nonsense, but a religion that is based on the fear of its adherents.:fie:

I will now present a short overview of important Scripture Verses that explain the nature and importance of the Fear of God, and its place in the True Christian Faith™:

Deuteronomy 6:13:
Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

Psalm 89:7:
God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.


These Verses are irrefutably clear: God wants us to fear Him. I could stop here already, but let’s continue, because the Bible provides us with many interesting insights as to why we need to fear God, what this fear works out, and what the consequences are of refusing to fear God.:thumbsup:

First of all, for a successful life, we are dependent on God’s goodwill. Only if we fear Him, He will preserve us alive, otherwise He’ll likely kill us. That’s why He gave us the Law of Moses:

Deuteronomy 6:1-2:
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

Deuteronomy 6:24:
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day.

God likes it when we fear Him:

Psalm 147:11:
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.


And therefore He wants us to work out our Salvation™ in “fear and trembling:”

Philippians 2:12:
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

In other words, God considers fear to be a very valid motivation for attaining Salvation™. Additionally, He likes it when we glorify Him with presents, which people who fear Him do, of course:

Psalm 76:11:
Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.


One of the most important reasons to fear God, of course, is to refrain from doing bad things. Imagine how it would be if there wasn’t a God: there would be no Divine Judge to give us moral guidance. We would all be murdering, raping and pillaging like a bunch of atheists!:fear2:
God acknowledges the fact that only by making us fear His Judgments we will refrain from evil:

Proverbs 16:6:
By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.


The Fear of God is a vital ingredient of our True Christian™ Faith. First of all, the basis of wisdom and knowledge is not, as scientists claim, intellect coupled with curiosity, scepticism and an open-minded worldview. Only by being constantly terrified of God we can achieve wisdom and knowledge:

Job 28:28:
And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Proverbs 1:7:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.


This is very logical, of course: the most important thing for each and every person is where he will spend eternity: Heaven or Hell.:sinner:

As it is God who condemns people to eternal torture, the wisest thing to do is to fear Him:

Matthew 10:28:
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Luke 12:4-5:
And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.


Romans 11:20-22:
Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

This might well be the Passages in the Bible that explain clearest the enormous importance of fear. He can condemn you to eternal torture in Hell! You have to be extraordinarily stupid not to fear Him, in my opinion.:)

God further emphasizes this through the words of the prophet Isaiah:

Isaiah 66:2:
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

God wants us to be poor and of a contrite spirit, and literally tremble at His Word. A “contrite spirit” means, of course, that we should be conscious of our utter worthlessness as human beings, and His Divine Mercy in not sending us to Hell.:worthy:

Besides Salvation™, fear of the Lord also has rewards in this lifetime. God extends the lifespans of those who fear Him:prophet::

Proverbs 10:27:
The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.


Proverbs 14:26-27:
In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

The Bible is rife with examples of people fearing God, and how God blessed them because of that. It was the fear of God that caused Abraham to be willing to sacrifice his son, whom he greatly loved! An atheist would never sacrifice his own child to God, because he doesn’t fear God. But Abraham, a Godly Man, feared God so much that it might even cost him his son:thumbsup::

Genesis 22:11-12:
And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

All heroes in the Bible feared God. David provides us with a nice instruction as to how we should hold God in reverence:

Psalm 119:120:
My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

This example of David was followed by the righteous True Christian™ community in Corinth, who received Titus, who was sent by Paul carrying his first letter, with “fear and trembling:”

2 Corinthians 7:14-16:
For if I have boasted any thing to him of you, I am not ashamed; but as we spake all things to you in truth, even so our boasting, which I made before Titus, is found a truth.
And his inward affection is more abundant toward you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear and trembling ye received him.
I rejoice therefore that I have confidence in you in all things.

They knew, of course, that Paul’s first letter was word of God, and they trembled before His Word, obeying Isaiah 66:2.

Of course, God also provides us with sensible arguments as to why we should fear Him: because of what He will do to us if we don’t! There are many examples of an “argumentum ad baculum” in the Bible, which means that it is not a rhetorical fallacy after all, but one of God’s favorite ways of convincing people to love Him.:wub:

His Message often is: “Fear me, because I can do terrible things to you!” For example, he sends massive plagues over the earth to make people fear Him:

Deuteronomy 28:58-59:
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
Then the LORD will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.

Needless to say, this is very convincing: if God killed half of your family with a plague, you will certainly be fearing Him.:rip:

In addition to plague, He sometimes also sends hunger and thirst, as He did to Judah in the days of Jeremiah:

Jeremiah 5:21-25:
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

We’ve had pestilence and hunger, so it may come as no surprise that God also sends war at people who fail to fear Him properly:

Psalm 2:7-12:
I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The “Son,” in this Passage, refers to the writer of this Psalm, probably David. If the kings of the heathens fail to fear the Lord, then He will send David to destroy them.:death:

And after God has sent these three punishments for not fearing Him in this life, much greater punishments will follow in the Afterlife:

Hebrews 10:30-31:
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Hebrews 12:28-29:
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
For our God is a consuming fire.

Sensibly, Hebrews further states:

Hebrews 4:1:
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

In short, it is very clear that God wants us to fear Him. True Christianity™ is a “Religion of Fear,” whether you like it or not.:)

Of course, we must learn to properly fear God. To do that, we should listen to our pastors, who can instruct us in this:

2 Kings 17:28:
Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

Also, it is important to rebuke one another, to make sure that the congregation keeps living in fear:

1 Timothy 5:20:
Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

And as a special reminder, God installed the commandment of tithing to the church as another incentive to fear Him:

Deuteronomy 14:22-23:
Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

I expect all of you to take this last commandment very seriously, of course.:)

To conclude, I think I have shown that the Bible commands us, time and time again, to live in constant terror because of God’s Power, and what He can do to us. Fear is the driving factor of Christianity, as fear is needed to keep us in check. Any fluffy-bunny false Christian who claims that we shouldn’t live in fear is neglecting God’s Words in the Bible, plain and simple.:thumbdown:

I will conclude with one final Scripture citation:

Proverbs 28:14:
Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.


Only if you fear God, you achieve happiness. Otherwise, you’ll face the consequences. That’s how God rolls, folks. That’s the Message of the Bible.:rtfm:

Yours in Christ,

True Disciple

R.Brooks 03-17-2011 12:18 AM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
That is certainly enlightening.
I pointed out your comments to the wife on Deuteronomy 28:58-59:
Quote:

"Needless to say, this is very convincing: if God killed half of your family with a plague, you will certainly be fearing Him.:rip:
She agrees wholeheartedly and pointed out that if God should see fit to strike me down she would be at a total loss as she can't even work the central heating or for that matter drive...I'm not sure she got the point really. Pray for her please.

True Disciple 03-17-2011 04:56 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by R.Brooks (Post 712820)
She agrees wholeheartedly and pointed out that if God should see fit to strike me down she would be at a total loss as she can't even work the central heating or for that matter drive...I'm not sure she got the point really. Pray for her please.

I certainly will, Brother! I'm very glad your wife gets the point.:thumbsup:

Of course, women already tend to fear things that are harmless, like spiders, mice and gaining weight, things we men heartily laugh about. It isn't a very big step for them to start fearing the very real Power of God who can kill them and send them to Hell with a snap of His Fingers.:fie:

Rosanne 11-14-2013 05:55 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
I love this sermon because it is the absolute truth that we are to Fear God which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge!!!

Basilissa 11-14-2013 06:25 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosanne (Post 1041309)
I love this sermon because it is the absolute truth that we are to Fear God which is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge!!!

That's wonderful, honey, now please go to the introduction forum and introduce yourself properly.

lovethelord1 11-15-2013 02:05 AM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Matthew 22:37
King James Version (KJV)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mary Etheldreda 11-15-2013 02:16 AM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by lovethelord1 (Post 1041410)
Matthew 22:37
King James Version (KJV)
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Yes, friend! We are indeed commanded to love the LORD with all our heart, soul, and mind! We are commanded to both fear and obey all His commands!

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.
Ecclesiastes 12:13


Welcome to our friendly forums! You are most welcome to introduce yourself HERE so we can greet you properly! You can read all kinds of helpful information on this thread for newcomers like yourself. If you’d like to share your opinion, kindly provide the Scriptural Support where we can see how wonderfully God said it first. Finally, your rights on our forum can be found HERE.

:)

Allyson 11-15-2013 03:19 AM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

His Message often is: “Fear me, because I can do terrible things to you!”
Having fear of God is the best way to live because then you always try to do everything the way he wants it! Even though he can do terrible things, we must not forget all the wonderful things he does as well :D

Pim Pendergast 11-15-2013 01:19 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
There are two common atheist misconceptions about love:

1) Fear cancels out love.

2) Love cannot be compelled.

Both are false. The Bible says love cancels out fear.

1 Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

It does not say fear cancels out love. As God's children we should love and fear our Heavenly Father just as we loved and feared our earthly fathers. Good fathers never spare the rod (Prov 23:14), and neither does God.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Now to the second misconception. Love can be compelled. God has commanded us to love Him.

Deut 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Wouldn't it be a bit silly for God to command us to love Him if commanding us to love Him meant we could never really love Him?

MitzaLizalor 12-23-2013 09:33 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Pim Pendergast (Post 1041470)
There are two common atheist misconceptions about love:

1) Fear cancels out love.

2) Love cannot be compelled.

Both are false. The Bible says love cancels out fear.

1 Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

It does not say fear cancels out love. As God's children we should love and fear our Heavenly Father just as we loved and feared our earthly fathers. Good fathers never spare the rod (Prov 23:14), and neither does God.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Now to the second misconception. Love can be compelled. God has commanded us to love Him.

Deut 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Wouldn't it be a bit silly for God to command us to love Him if commanding us to love Him meant we could never really love Him?

Thank you for that encouragement Mr Pendergast. A left-wing type of "christian" said to me the other day "o but God doesn't want us to be frightened of Him" in other words, I thought to myself, this pretender is telling me that God promoted some other sort of fear. A special magic fear.

I get so confused when they start mincing words like that. Magic is witchcraft and witchcraft is satanic. Nothing God does is "magic" and nothing He asked us to do is magic either. And in the passage you quoted God's command is clear. The type of fear is described clearly in I John, it is the type of fear associated with torment. When King David forgot that and relaxed his standard of fear to accommodate a pouncing hussy who, unsurprisingly, immediately pounced a demonstration of torment was provided.
II Samuel 11:2-4a And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her
27c…But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.
KJV
Not only had that trollop manipulated David into her arms but she'd hypnotised him to zap her husband as well. Hypnotism is also satanic so we have no doubt who is operating here.

God sent Nathan. David listened.
II Samuel 12:1a And the LORD sent Nathan unto David..
13-14 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die..
15b…And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
KJV
David was going to get a lesson he would never forget. Hallelujah!



The Torment Component of Fear
Let's see what The Bible says:
16-17 David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth. And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
KJV
There he lay in the dirt. Not eating. Imagine the plight of that child, begnawed by plague so intense as to consume him utterly. Imagine what that would feel like. Perhaps the extremeties would fail first, the toes, the fingers. Remember that this is active plague, not some gradual wasting, and that each bit to succumb was alive. Quite soon even the child's blasted heart would fail: "quite soon" means after a week. So whatever this is it is not leprosy which works slower with numbness. This is the Hand Of God. God continues:
18a, 20, 24a And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died…Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat…And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her:
KJV
Although God forgave David, it was still necessary to torment the child to death. For a full week. Satan didn't care about that when he got Bathsheba on the go and he still doesn't care as a visit to the ICU at any children's hospital will confirm. So the torment mentioned in I John 4 as a part of fear is real torment, the fear is real fear. That is why God commands us to Love Him and sure enough, right there in The Bible, we have the proof. That love accepts fear. Real fear.
24b…and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
KJV
Real love.

undefined 12-21-2021 02:17 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
But doesn't Proverbs 8:13 say that fearing God means hating evil?:
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Basilissa 12-21-2021 04:53 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by undefined (Post 1292640)
But doesn't Proverbs 8:13 say that fearing God means hating evil?:
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

Hello and a cautious welcome to our forum! We do have an aptly named Introduction Forum where you're most welcome to create a thread, you know, to introduce yourself.

Back to your question - what is your question, exactly? :huh:

Yes, fearing God includes hating evil. This is what that verse says, so yes, absolutely.

I hope that was helpful?

Joanna Lytton-Vasey 12-21-2021 07:18 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Basilissa (Post 1292645)
Yes, fearing God includes hating evil. This is what that verse says, so yes, absolutely.

Indeed, fearing God (and thus hating evil) is really the whole premise of this thread. And our new, as yet unintroduced friend clearly understands that.


I look forward to him (or more likely her?) explaining his or her post. :thumbsup:

The Attention Seeker Jen 12-22-2021 10:33 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
My biggest fear is the famine prophesied at the end times.

Revelation 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.



What a terrible day that's going to be. I swear, everyone better watch out at the supermarket. I'm a fighter, and I'm not going down easy. Armageddon will be just like Black Friday x10000000.

MitzaLizalor 12-23-2021 08:50 AM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by undefined; grammar & punctuation corrected (ML) (Post 1292640)
Proverbs 8:13 says that fearing God means hating evil.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

A much simpler sentence without the conditional clause suggesting that if Proverbs says fearing God means hating evil (the condition) then we don't need to be frightened of Him. Perhaps my earlier example was not clear.

DAVID'S YOUNG SON

Anyone with children places a high value on their well being. They are the next generation; without them there can be no grandchildren just as without our grandparents there could be no us. Other than maniacs, for whom any sort of survival is not a factor in decisions, this survival across generations is so urgent that people risk certain death to protect a son or a grandson, often dying themselves in the process. But David's son had not been born when this happened.

BATHSHEBA: “Oh yes, just the spot for a bath”

https://www.23hq.com/23666/30173111_...d9_large1k.jpg


GOD

The picture explains what's going better than the words alone, which may be found in II Samuel 11:2-4. Do you think Bathsheba was surprised when the inevitable happened? I don't.

II Samuel 11:5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.

David immediately got up to shenanigans so the husband was killed and went on canoodling with Bathsheba. Imagine watching the child in whom all your hopes lay, for whom you'd even risk death, sat there blasted with plague, then soon—unable to sit—fallen to the floor writhing there hour after hour, day after day, each infinity longer than the last with pain and sores and dehydration and woe and grief and tears, “Help me!” but no help was possible for David to give because this is the very finger of God; II Samuel 12:1-19 eventually the boy died.

BE AFRAID

Imagine a knock at your door. There's this goon standing there. He needs a shave and smells. In his sausage fingers there's a great big syringe. He allows you to read what is says: Ebola Leprosy & Black Widow Venom. Your eyes move from the label to the business end: yes, it's very sharp and the serum is oozing out: the goon looks unstable and you see him casing the joint for someone to inject if you put a foot wrong. You don't quite know what transgression on your part would tip him over and make him start injecting your family. Would you be afraid? Yes (other than maniacs) even if you tried to appear strong because others were looking to you to get rid of the goon. David was in a similar situation EXCEPT that he knew what constituted a transgression because he knew about The Ten Commandments.

II Samuel 12:15b And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.

Christians hate evil and God defines what evil is. The consequences for transgression can be severe, as my example makes plain especially with the illustration to help you understand. If one were not frightened of God, there'd be no reason to behave in accordance with His will. There are those who don't accept The Bible as providing any useful standard or even say its standard is wicked. They would say God did the wrong thing by killing that boy so nastily when he'd done nothing wrong. They're happy to cast God as a monster and follow their own appetites, in which case we'd like to know where they get their values from? Others make up their own "God" having nothing in common with God in The Bible and feel free to misbehave in even worse ways than David. When a nation is blasted though everyone suffers, not just one boy.

That is why it's so important to be frightened of God and to remember what He's capable of. Just in case you think one day He's changed His mind about sin.

handmaiden 12-23-2021 11:05 PM

Re: Love? God wants us to FEAR Him!
 
Thanks to our Brother in Christ, True Disciple, for all those terrific verses on fear. :thumbsup:

For another perspective, let us look at 1 John 4:18


There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.


Now, the first thing some snarky unbeliever type will do with a verse like this is try to juxtapose it against all the other verses about fearing God and try to claim that the Bible has contradictions.

Let's nip that nonsense in the bud straight away. There are no contradictions in the Bible. It is the repository for all of God's Wisdom as well as a comprehensive set of instructions for those who choose to follow Him. God, being above our mortal understanding, doesn't always make things as simple as our simple minds would like, but that doesn't mean that He ever would contradict Himself.

God is Perfect, as is His love. As we are perfected in His love, we need not fear that Love. But remember, the Bible may have been revealed to us, His True Followers™, but it still applies to everybody. You don't have to believe it or like it to still be under its authority. I may not like the idea of breaking all my bones by falling off a five story building, but that doesn't excuse me from the penalty incurred by jumping off the building.

In a similar way, even deluded atheists are instructed to fear God. Not believing in the existence of God is no excuse. Now, if you love God as perfectly as He loves you, your fear may be cast out, but that's up to God who does all the casting out that we hear about in the Bible.

So, believers fear God as instructed and His perfect love that saves them casts out that fear. Everybody else just better fear Him. No contradiction and no exceptions for not believing because God told us all this and He knows better than any unbeliever whether He exists or not.


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