That and more.
I fear Him because I understand who and what He is, at least a little bit.
And that is a good thing.
Was supposed to be in reply to Liberal’s good post.
What kind of irks me is when people start blaming God for the mess that is the status quo. Fine, by definition he is omnipotent, but he isn’t controlling our very actions. IF you believe in the fact that he created us, then you also have to believe that he didn’t create robots that he uses to satisfy his twisted whims. So, mostly he just exists and watches us destroy ourselves. But what do I know…
Only when he has had a few too many beers at O’Casey’s and gets mean - otherwise, he is a pretty good guy. He has some pretty interesting tattoos, and if you get him talking about creation and shit, he has some pretty interesting stories. He’s a good tipper as well.
BTW, he liked the Barbra Walter’s special, “Heaven” and saved it on his DVR.
No, I don’t fear him and, in fact, I’m not sure that Christians are supposed to fear him, at least, not as I read the Gospels. For the record, my mother, who’s also Anglican agrees, although Mum’s much milder about her faith than I am. I have felt awe and trembling a few times, most notably one time when I got a less than five minute turn around time on a prayer on the way to a church retreat, but fear wasn’t part of that reaction.
I know from talking with Fundamentalist and conservative Christians that there are some Christians who do believe the proper response to God is fear and, if you asked this question on a Christian message board, you’d get some very different responses. I gather there are some folks who serve God out of fear. I’m not one of them. God has had plenty of opportunities to smite me, or even fail to save me and I’ve no doubt that if He ever wants to, he will, but, if I serve God only out of the fear of what will happen if I don’t, it strikes me as a bad arrangement for all concerned. My attitude is more summed up by this hymn:
Since the OP’s interested in a range of opinions, I asked this question of an old friend of mine, the Fundamentalist-turned-Atheist-turned-Wiccan I mention every so often around here. He didn’t fear God in either his Fundamentalist or his current Wiccan phase. Instead, his response was more one of love and respect.
CJ
I think I’d view a face-to-face with God much as I’d view a peek into the Total Perspective Vortex: self-knowledge in absolute detail, and complete objective awareness of my position in Creation and the searing purity of God. Arrogant as I am, I find the prospect daunting to say the least, but I also trust in God to see me safely through it.
I’m an atheist (but gettin’ into non-theistic Buddhism) and I fear God because of what he/she/it makes other people do. Killing in the name of the lord has negatively affected billions throughout history and recent times. I fear the day I get in the way of some religious person and their version attaining heaven.
-Tcat
[Moderator Underoos On]knock it off, indierock82-this is a poll, not a debate.[/Moderator Underoos on]
No. I suppose that’s what turned me down the road to agnosticism. If I feared God, I would be going to church, etc. in order to appease him. But, I don’t believe in the God of the Christian bible, and I believe that, if there is a god, he/she/it can hardly fault me for not being reverent, etc. if there has been no credible proof of his/her/its existence. Perhaps this god does not give one whit about me, or even know of my existence. To fear such a god would be to fear everything. Perhaps “god” is just a construct of your brain, the way you can will yourself to a “higher place” when you meditate (and that’s just what billions of religious people have been taught to call that feeling). Well, to fear such a god would be to fear yourself.
I can see why people fear God (the Christian one) though. God is blamed for the bad and the good in peoples’ lives, of which there seems (to me) to be no rhyme or reason. I mean, people call hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, etc. “acts of God”. God is supposed to be loving, and yet can go off and kill thousands of people on a seeming whim. If God is a father, he seems to be modeled on the abusive sort, perhaps an alcoholic (which could explain why wine is used to represent his son’s blood 
.) And, of course, there’s the whole “be good or face eternal punishment” thing. I can see why people would fear being judged like that. I had a good friend in high school who was convinced that God hated him. I don’t know if that’s the same as fearing God, but it’s never seemed like a good or healthy outlook to me, even back then.
I wonder why non-believing types were originally excluded from this thread. Most people who come to non-belief do so by thinking of such questions.
In which case I fear your knowledge of language.
Thanks for that. I did not know that. 
God is the only thing worth fearing. Do not be afraid of evil; it is petty and worthless.
But good is terrible to behold in its purity; and merely seeing the Righteous One in righteous wrath would cause you to rip your eyes out and cast yourselves into a the deepest sea to escape Him.
“No, abashed the devil stood and felt how awful Goodness was.”
I think one major problem with moern life is that people have this easter-0bunny view of God. He’s kind and gentle s the summer breeze - but He is also the thunderstorm and the wild ocean. He’s not a tame lion. But He is good.
Because I wanted to avoid the “why would you fear something that doesn’t exist?” responses.
Well said, and sums up my views.
I fear God in the sense that it would be terrifying to behold Him. I do not fear that He might do bad things (plagues, smiting, ect.) to me.
I’m afraid I’m going to continue to disagree with you. I most certainly agree that God is awesome and terrible in that He is completely beyond mortal understanding but something to be feared? No. This is, after all, the same God who, in my religion, made the ultimate sacrifice so that we may have eternal life. I have complete trust in the efficacy and completeness of Christ’s death on the cross in atonement not only for my sins, but for the sins of the entire world. Therefore, for me to fear God would be to imply a lack of trust in the promises He has made to His people which includes me even under the strictest Christian definitions. I have complete and utter trust in God’s mercy and justice. I also trust Him to know my limitations, even when I don’t myself. It’s not that I don’t expect Him to let me know when I’ve done wrong or even punish me. It’s that the trust I have in Him is so found that even justly given punishment is not something for me to fear. By the miracle of Christ’s Incarnation as fully human, complete with the myriad flaws of a human body, I trust God to know what it’s like to be mortal and fallible. Therefore, I trust Him to know my human limitations. It’s one of the advantages of omniscience.
He may not be a tame lion, but he is also one who will not attack without reason or beyond one’s ability to bear.
CJ
I’m an agnostic/atheist but I have to admit there’s a tiny–very tiny–piece of me that worries that after my death my spirit’s first thought is going to be “OH SHIT, JACK CHICK WAS RIGHT!!”
No. If I did, I’d have to fear everything else in this universe that creates and destroys. While you’re spending time collapsed in fear, you’re not listening.