Loving and Fearing God
 

Some religions dictate that God is to be feared. The people I know who follow these religions claim to both fear and love God.

It seems to me that unconditionally loving someone you fear indicates a dysfunctional relationship.

Why wouldn't you cast down, or leave, a God you were compelled to fear?

Is it learned helplessness?

I think in this context the words 'fear' and 'love' have slightly different connotations. They're drawing on older meanings, in which the two sit together more comfortably.

Perhaps "respect" and "devotion"?

I suspect those would be more accurate than the more common current usage of love and fear yes. Adoration as well, again in its original usage.

I was raised Catholic and I've always misunderstood this. I wonder how many people put up with abusive relationships because of a similar misunderstanding.

Probably a crack-pot theory. But this is the Internet and I don't feel too stupid postulating all sorts of garbage.

Well, there's also the fact that we have changed what we mean by love nowadays to be something much softer and less about power and authority. Love of a father for example would have been expected to include fear of that father as the source of discipline and authority. A loving parent would be expected to instill fear in their children. Not fear of the person so much as fear of the punishments that parent could and should inflict as a way of teaching the child to fear properly.

It was, don't forget, the opinion of most people for a very very long time that children were born with an inherent tendency towards going bad. It had to be beaten out of them and good character beaten in.

Yeah, I think awe would be close, but I was a Vatican II guy so who knows?

Old Testament God works with the modern definition of fear. But the New Testament God invented hell, which is worse than anything that Old Testament God ever did, so the modern definition of fear works there, too. Not too lovable, except that He demands love, so if you fear him you'd damn well better love Him!

Para Stockholm Syndrome involving fear of something powerful enough to not only deprive one of this life; but, an afterlife ... eternal life. It also enables the imposition of one's beliefs on others which we routinely see an example of here with one user.

What about those bumper stickers that say "Fear This" and "Ain't Skeered" ...?

Those guys are having the philosophical debate of the century, right?

What if God were one of us?

What if God were a hobo?

IM would have killed him already, and none of us (except the hobos) would ever have to be scared.

Not sure what you mean, HM. Lots of references to Hell in the OT.

Two quotes from the bible that will do you well. Look to the sun for your answers on this subject. It makes the earth warm, gives energy and drives out darkness. Get too close and it will melt you like a Popsicle. The closer you get the more you fear. The more you fear the more respect. The More respect the more you begin love. The more you love the less you fear.

It may start with fear but it ends in love. Fear is not the end of this.