It is not unusual for Christians to say they dislike the term “Fear of God”. They think it is a very poor translation of the scriptures. That the “Fear of God” is an Old Testament understanding of God. Whereas the New Testament understanding is one of “Love of God”. There is a sense that the concept of “Fear and Love” in the context of God are incompatible.

Should We Scrap “Fear Of God”

But are Fear and Love truly incompatible? Is it not possible to love someone so much that you fear doing the wrong thing to them?

I was able to come up with about 70 or so references throughout the bible. Old and New Testament that torched on the subject of fear of the Lord

Some of them do clearly mean fear as in terror (Exodus 9:20; Exodus 9:30; Deuteronomy 9:19; Deuteronomy 11:25; Joshua 4:24;2 Chronicles 17:10; Isaiah 2:10; Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21; Isaiah 19:1; Isaiah 59:19; Ezekiel 21:7; Micah 7:17).

But whilst the people of Israel feared God when they saw what God had done to the Egyptians in the Exodus, that fear did not result in a flight response. But rather God was seen as someone they could trust (Exodus 14:31).

A Clear Distinction

There is a clear distinction between the fear of God and fearing God (2 Chronicles 20:29; 2 Chronicles 26:5).

Fear of the Lord is about justice and purity. It is promoted as a way to make sure that people are kind and considerate to others (Leviticus 19:14; Leviticus 25:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Psalm 19:9; Proverbs 16:6; Malachi 3:5; Isaiah 11:2-3).

The people of Israel are commanded to fear God and to love Him at the same time. But not just love Him, love Him with all the intensity that it is possible for a person to have (Deuteronomy 10:12).

Fear of the Lord is promoted as a means by which others will respect the people they belong to Him (Deuteronomy 28:10).

It is a way by which others can learn about God (Deuteronomy 31:12; Psalm 34:11; Acts 9:31; 2 Corinthians 5:11).

Fear is seen as going hand in hand with Praise and Reverence. Only those who fear him can truly praise him (1 Chronicles 16:25; Psalm 22:23; Psalm 40:3; Psalm 96:4; Psalm 33:8; Psalm 102:15; Psalm 135:20; Jonah 1:16; Acts 19:17).

Not A Thing To Shrink From

Rather than be a thing to shrink from it is considered to be something we should actively seek. Indeed more than just actively, it is something worth victoriously or wholeheartedly pursuing and doing so is the path to success (2 Chronicles 19:9; Proverbs 23:17).

It is the beginning of wisdom (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 2:5; Proverbs 9:10; Isaiah 33:6).

Fearing Him means that you are under his protection (Psalm 27:1; Psalm 34:7; Proverbs 29:25; Isaiah 41:13; Isaiah 50:10; Jeremiah 26:19; Jeremiah 39:17).

He loves those who fear him (Psalm 33:18).

Without the fear of God, there is only the sinfulness of the wicked (Psalm 36:1; Proverbs 24:21).

It is life itself (Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:27;) and the path to inner peace (Proverbs 15:16; Proverbs 19:23).

They that fear Him, are destined to become God’s treasured possession and as having a father-son relationship (Malachi 3:15 – 17).

It is defined as Humility and with it, you are blessed (Proverbs 22:4; Psalm 128:1).

I’m Not Convinced We Should Give Away Fearing God

I’m not convinced that we should give away the concept of fearing God. I think that in today’s day and age, we try to be too familiar with the creator of existence itself. I’m not suggesting that He should not be approachable I have a very close relationship with Him. However in the context of “familiarity breeds contempt,” I think that we need to acknowledge His awesomeness.

As a Swim Teacher, I love the water but I am also fully aware of its power and how merciless it is if treated with disrespect. I am not suggesting that God is merciless at all but I think that Mrs Beaver in the CS Lewis Narnia Classic, “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” puts it well when she says that “Aslan is not a tame lion” (for those not familiar with CS Lewis’s Work, Aslan the Lion, is an Allegory for Christ)

We are not talking here about God being a bully. I hate Bullying. I hate it so much that I teach self-defence to people to help keep them safe from it. Yet when I talk to children about self-defence as I am teaching them, Judo, I tell them that fear is a Friend and a Foe. There are many things that fear does for us if it is properly managed and we should not want to dispose of it lightly.

I Love my God and He has always treated me well. I think that I for one am going to continue in the true understanding of fearing God (Joshua 24:15). Just because I Love Him that much.

I was surprised by Ecclesiastes 8:17. I’ve always considered the book of Ecclesiastes to be possibly the most depressing book in the whole of the bible. But I’ve just discovered from my regular bible reading that I’ve never really understood it.

This Guy is Manic-Depressive

The most difficult thing for me to read is the statement that recurs over and over “it is useless”.

English literature was one of the challenges and interests in itself when I was in High School. I loved this subject. Chaucer was a favourite though I took a long time to understand it. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich had me from the first few words. But The Member of the Wedding was just embarrassing and Tess of the D’Urbervilles had me mystified as to why it was considered good literature and that was the case with most of the books chosen for the subject. I concluded that those that chose the syllabus for this subject are all manic depressives!

This is what I felt when I first read Ecclesiastes. This guy is manic-depressive. The writer spends verse after verse describing how everything is “useless” or “meaningless”. At least that is what the modern translation says. The King James version uses the word “vanity”.

But Eccl 8:17 has changed all that for me:

¹⁷ “then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it.”

Now I’m no Hebrew scholar and I’m sure that the translation of the word that comes out as “useless” or “meaningless” is not that clear but the verse above is very clear when the writer says something is meaningless he is not saying that something is without purpose. Rather he is saying that “No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun”.

This puts a whole new light on what is being said.

Ecclesiastes 7

When the writer says  

¹ A good name is better than fine perfume,
and the day of death better than the day of birth.
² It is better to go to a house of mourning
than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
the living should take this to heart.
³ Frustration is better than laughter,
because a sad face is good for the heart.
⁴ The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
⁵ It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person
than to listen to the song of fools.
⁶ Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
so is the laughter of fools.
This too is meaningless.

He is actually asking the question “why are people like this, I can’t work it out”.

Now I know that there are going to be those that say “This is a book of wisdom is it not, how can he not understand”. But that is the point, isn’t it? The beginning of all wisdom is to know that you cannot comprehend God and his ways.

Hence for me, The book of Ecclesiastes is a compatriot of Job. If you change the word “meaningless” to “hard to comprehend” then you read the book of Job and the book of Ecclesiastes side by side and just be amazed as to how much the two agree.

And you know what? I agree with the writer of Ecclesiastes, people who believe “a sad face is good for the heart” are beyond comprehension.

Richard

Just invite them to church

“Don’t you dare ever ask me to do that again!” This was the response of a member of a congregation I had been encouraging to invite his neighbour to a church service. Maybe he went about it all wrong. Maybe I should have warned him that there could be a negative response. Still, his reaction surprised me. It surprised me because I don’t understand how you can spend as many years in the church family as he did and never shared to story of Jesus with anyone except those in church. When just inviting friends and neighbours to church has always been and always will be the best way to spread the good news

I’ve always had a passion for spreading the Gospel. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the fear of talking to others about God. I do understand that each person confronts the prospect of different kinds of problems and prejudices in their efforts. Even so, I don’t think our society is any harder than anything they had to confront in the New Testament and I don’t get the lack of passion that many church people in our western society have for presenting the message.

It’s not that hard. All you have to do is tell your story.

A Powerful Deterrent

The fear of rejection and of ridicule is a powerful deterrent. But when something like the story of Jesus stirs in your heart, how do you not share?

I remember sharing my passion when I was much younger with an elder of my church. His eyes lit up as he said “that’s exactly how I feel Richard”. Again I was taken by surprise. I had tried many times to get something started that would help get the message out and had always been frustrated. I had viewed this person as one of the barriers. In fact, he was on my side but, even though he was in leadership, he too had been frustrated. It was only years later when I was in leadership that I realized just how easy it is for one or two individuals to stymy enthusiasm.

Over time I discovered that the best way to overcome this opposition was to get individuals to share their stories. It is only when enough individuals share their stories of the importance of Jesus in their lives, that the barriers fall down.

I have done, I think, every evangelism course ever developed and they all come down to one thing. You have to find a way to share your story. Don’t be rude; be patient with your listener; be in context with the conversation and share. There will be opposition but if you love Jesus you will love to do it.

It’s all very well for the Lord to say in Matthew 5:22-24 that we should be reconciled to each other but I’m reasonably certain that his expectation was that we would therefore learn how to reconcile.

Being reconciled with your brother and sisters is hard

But let’s face it, Christians don’t, at least not nowadays. I don’t mean to suggest that Christians don’t try to be reconciled to each other, I just mean that on the whole, most churches make no attempt to learn how to go about it. Because if they did, churches would not be struggling with just that.

I remember when I was younger, our church had a constitution that actually quoted the Matthew verses, saying that everybody who joined the church, was expected to follow that as their rule. Our current one says nothing like that and it is probably fair enough. I mean just because it is written doesn’t mean that it will be followed.

I think that it is kind of interesting, that worldwide industries and organizations have spent huge sums of money learning how to put in place conflict resolution policy which is essentially the same thing and we as the church just struggle along.

Not that these policies make a lot of difference, they must make some difference or they would not continue to spend money on it; but it is impressive to see them recognize the need and do something about it. It caused me to wonder whether we as the church need such training.

How To Reconcile

One organization that I follow have written these articles:

• Fullpower Boundaries for Adults with People We Know
• Create Emotional Safety ~ Be a Powerful Positive Adult Leader
• Conscious Apologies
• Confessions of a Recovering Perfectionist

Most of these suggestions are really worthwhile and would make our fulfilment of the Matthew directive so much easier. Would it not be a wonderful thing to try and put this information into a different context? One that has or should have a chance of making it work: is the church.

I used to think that Atheists were one of the worst threats to the church there could be. After all, an atheist has no moral absolutes. They can do what they want. The risk to society and the church is enormous.

But over the years I have come to realize that human nature regardless of what doctrine you subscribe to is one of the hardest things to overcome. It’s hard enough to get Christians, who have a uniting imperative to agree on things let alone someone who has none.

Humanist in Schools

I remember listening to the News here in Melbourne Australia one day. I heard that the Humanist Society wanted to offer an alternative to religious instruction in schools. That they wanted the same access to the children to promote humanism.

My Christian friends were running around frantically trying to get petitions going to stop this “threat”. I was just amused because I said “isn’t it amazing how an organization that insists it is not religious wants to now promote itself as a religion”? I said as soon as they realize the contradiction they will stop the push. “But it is so dangerous,” my friends said – the favourite fallback of fear-mongering to all on both sides whose argument is built on sand. I said, “nonsense, even if they can get past the contradiction and they do go ahead, sooner or later they will have to face the reality that all religious organizations do: a unified syllabus and getting enough teachers”. That is always a hard ask.

Atheists Church

When I watched on TV, the advent of the Atheist church. I took great pleasure in saying on my Twitter account “Proof that Atheism is just another religion”.

Well, the response I got was instantaneous. All the apologists came out from the woodwork, most indignant and giving all the reasons why it was not. When I said that I was amused to see all those Atheist apologists, all but 2 went silent as the contradiction set in. It just felt like they were saying we want what you religious people have got so we are going to copy it.

I was impressed with one comment, however, in that the author felt that it could not be a religion unless there was some sort of deity involved. It would have been a good point except that I have never come across anybody, religious or not that is capable of referring to any kind of existence, nature, human, Cosmos, or evolution, without talking about it in divine terms. Without God these terms simply become substitutes.

The argument that intrigues me the most, however, appears in the article “Atheist Ex-Pastor Jerry DeWitt’s Mission to Red America“. It is incredibly common among Atheists and goes: “I can’t believe in a “God” that allows for suffering particularly the suffering of children”.

It’s Not Logical, is it?

I find it intriguing because I can’t work out what the argument is. It’s not very logical, is it? Because we don’t want to suffer in the world is not proof that there is no cause. Or are they saying they are angry with God and therefore they refuse to believe? I mean you can’t be angry with God and not believe in Him. But perhaps that is one of those contradictions that Atheists live with to justify their choices.

No! Atheism is not a real threat to Christianity and particularly not to God. I thank God for many atheists (but that is another article). The real threat is Christians being unwilling to contend with their faith.

When Christians are not secure in their own faith the rebellious will succeed.

The psychology of forgiveness

Let’s face it, forgiveness is harder than we as Christians like to admit. The more pious you are the less you are likely to admit to that but unwillingness to admit to it doesn’t make it any less true.

It turns out that there is a good reason for it physiologically

The study was done by UCLA and posed the question, “Why do we furiously resent the minor insults but forgive, or at least let go, of the major ones?”

The results were quite enlightening if a little disturbing. Because it turned out that we do a similar thing to minor and major injuries. As well as travel issues.

Of course, because we can afford to hold little grudges is not a good reason to do so. That after all, is part of the Christian condition; to resist the natural human condition but I think it helps to understand don’t you?

Check out the article and let me know if you think it has helped you.

Being a secular study it does not help much with being able to resolve our inability to let go of minor infringements. Fortunately, as Christians we have prayer and it is worth remembering that from the Bible’s perspective forgiveness is a verb. We don’t have to drum up any warm fuzzy feelings we are just expected to act out forgiveness to others.

That means getting on with the relationship and praying for the Holy Spirit to renew our hearts to others. The act of behaving towards your offender as though they have not offended you regardless of your feelings is very powerful.

The prayer of St. Francis is by far my favourite and most challenging prayer in such circumstances when it talks about seeking to console rather than console. Putting others first definitely helps me down the path of forgiveness. Though I will admit it takes time.

Richard