The Fear of God



                This is a question that has been bugging me for some time now; what does it mean to fear God? Some people would say that it is a simple respect for the Lord, while others on the opposite spectrum are absolutely terrified of His wrath if they step even an ounce out of line. The phrase or reference to fear of God is mentioned over 300 times in the Bible. So somewhere we have gone astray in this meaning. A main objection to God, especially who follow the thoughts of Richard Dawkins, is that he is nothing more than a supernatural bully and we should fear Him as a sort of mobster crime lord. While this is somewhat true, I don’t believe this is all there is to the phrase “fear of God”.
                While we should be afraid of the Lord should we cross Him and what punishments He is capable of meting out, I believe there is also a sort of reverence involved as well. I think another piece of fearing the Lord is having the sort of fear people have of letting a loved one down. As Christians we should attempt to walk the narrow road that Jesus laid before us and fear straying from this path. Not only for the repercussions we can face from our sin, but also because our lives are normally the only testament to the Christian faith that non-believers will ever read. If we are out acting like the world, then we are not acting like the new creations in Christ that we are claiming to be now are we? The people of the world will look at us and wonder, “Why would I ever want to become a Christian if these people are morally worse off than I am? What is so special about them? Apparently not much”. Unfortunately I know there are quite a few Christians who do wicked things in the name of God, ruining the reputation of the One that I serve. They show no fear of God in their actions using his name the way they do.
                So I actually do agree with the atheist’s argument here, God is a being of perfection and power, and we should fear that power, but He is also a being of love and compassion, showing this love by sending His son down here to die for our sins so that we may enter into relationship with Him as clean souls.
               

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