Tuesday, February 22, 2011

To Fear God

I was inspired by my sister's blog today.  For those who don't know, she recently gave birth to a beautiful sleeping angel.  My niece, Stella, was born still. 
My sister writes a blog about how she copes with this loss, and how she helps other momma's who are going through the same grieving process.  Today, her blog entry was about fearing God.  She questioned WHY God want's us to fear Him.  This was my response:

I am in no way a Bible scholar. I am a full time student, who learns more every day. When you asked why we are to fear God, I believe you are reading the word FEAR wrong, as it is stated in the Bible. Since the Bible was not originally written in English, the translations of each word may not be precisely what we see a word as meaning. Fear, for example. We see fear as a very bad thing. We don't like to fear things, it scares us, hurts us, binds us. That is not what God want's us to feel for him. I am going to quote a man named Clark, and post what he wrote, his commantary on the Bible referring to the FEAR of God.

"The fear of the Lord - In the preceding verses Solomon shows the advantage of acting according to the dictates of wisdom; in the following verses he shows the danger of acting contrary to them. The fear of the Lord signifies that religious reverence which every intelligent being owes to his Creator; and is often used to express the whole of religion, as we have frequently had occasion to remark in different places. But what is religion? The love of God, and the love of man; the former producing all obedience to the Divine will; the latter, every act of benevolence to one's fellows. The love of God shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit produces the deepest religious reverence, genuine piety, and cheerful obedience. To love one's neighbor as himself is the second great commandment; and as love worketh no ill to one's neighbor, therefore it is said to be the fulfilling of the law. Without love, there is no obedience; without reverence, there is neither caution, consistent conduct, nor perseverance in righteousness.

This fear or religious reverence is said to be the beginning of knowledge; ראשית reshith, the principle, the first moving influence, begotten in a tender conscience by the Spirit of God. No man can ever become truly wise, who does not begin with God, the fountain of knowledge; and he whose mind is influenced by the fear and love of God will learn more in a month than others will in a year"

So this explains that to "fear" in the bible, is to be obediant, to gain knowledge in our Lord, and to follow what he wants for us in this life. So the Word FEAR would be better translated as the word WISDOM. I am not sure why the word "ראשית reshith" would transfer to FEAR, I can't even pronounce it. I just know that God loves us, and want's us to love others as he loves us. He wants us to be the best we can, to be His hands and feet, to spek His word. AND to be with Him one day. I hope that this is making some sense to you. I would love to get together and talk more on this, we can learn more together.

Here are some verses that were cross referenced with the word FEAR and the topic that this Clark man was talking about.

Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Deuteronomy 4:6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

Job 28:28 And he said to man, 'The fear of the Lord--that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.'"

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

Proverbs 2:5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 5:12 You will say, "How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!

Proverbs 15:32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 23:9 Do not speak to a fool, for he will scorn the wisdom of your words.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man.

I love you, Krystal. God loves you more.
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I would like to know what everyone else thinks about the fear of God. 

COMMENTS ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

As always, thank you for reading, and God bless you!

~Karie Anne

3 comments:

  1. I appreciated the response greatly. I think it would make a whole lot more sense if the bible wrote, about fear, as obediance or understanding of God and not a "fear"
    You can also attest to, the catholic or other religions who have "re-wrote" the bible/ translated it, were using religion to controll mass ammounts of people. and i am sure putting a fear on the people would be able to "control" them better. This idea helps me understand the idea of "fearing God" and i wont use the term to fear God any longer. I find it FAR more comforting in "obeying" and "understanding" God, which can lead me to have a better understanding of God in general. the comment the priest stated at Tinas service got to me on this subject, the one thing you fear the most, love the most, and trust the most is your "God" putting the word "understand" or "Obey" in place of "fear" would be a heck of a lot more comforting IMO.

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  2. I completely understand! I remember being taken aback at Tina's service by his statement. I guess I look at the brighter side of things... it is hard for me to agree with those who think that God is wanting us to fear Him (in the manner that we understand the word FEAR). Since I have been saved, I FEEL the love of God, and honestly when I wrote on your blog today, I didn't come up with all of those words. It was God writing through me, as He has many times in my (we will call them) altercations with athiests. God is Great, He does great things through people when we allow Him to. I have re read my post many times, and am amazed at how He works.

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  3. Thank you for posting this! When I first became a Christian I wondered what "Fearing the Lord" meant. I was scared! I didn't understand it. I had a friend of mine whose father is a pastor explain to me what this meant. Then she gave me a women's bible and wrote this verse in the front "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:30. I love that verse. Anyways, thanks again for this post (:

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