# Why "God-fearing"? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 9, 2000, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740 "2000-08-09T20:19:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sweet\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/1 "2000-08-09T20:19:11Z")
If a child went to school and told everyone about their wonderful father who loved them, and then went on to say that they feared Dad because of what he might do if they were bad, the teachers would call Child Protective Services for suspected child abuse. Christians will claim to outsiders that their God “Is love”; is merciful, loving and kind. And then they brag to each other about being “good, God-fearing people”. Uh, so if he’s so great, why should you fear him? That sounds like a pretty fucked-up relationship to me. Borderline abusive, in fact. Wierd fundies. Wierd, wierd. ---
**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/2 "2000-08-09T20:22:47Z")
Interesting point, but you spelled some stuff “weird”…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/3 "2000-08-09T20:28:11Z")
I think it’s just semantics. Anything that is omnipotent and all-powerful demands awe. Definition of awe: reverential fear. Eh, who know’s, I’m not particularly afraid of Him. ---
**Author:** ![Tymp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Tymp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tymp)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/4 "2000-08-09T20:35:43Z")
I find the idea of being turned into a pillar of salt or condemned to a life of suffering as punishment for attempting to satisfy curiosity to be kinda frightening. God is creepy. There’s no way around it. I’ve found it best to not blindly believe any horror stories about supernatural villains even when there are tales to suggest that such villains possess hearts of gold. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/5 "2000-08-09T20:44:56Z")
I’ve always found it telling that if a person were to burn someone alive for a perceived fault, that person is probably a Hitler or a Caligula or the Ayatollah Khomeini. However, we’re supposed to find it comforting that a god can do this and we’re supposed to worship him for it? Someone would have to remove my logic lobes first. ---
**Author:** ![Demigod\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecd19e/32.png) [@Demigod\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demigod_5)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2000, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/6 "2000-08-09T23:38:51Z")
> [@](#): > > if he’s so great, why should you fear him? Silly people, you’re suppose to fear Him because you were TOLD to! Don’t you know how religion works? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/7 "2000-08-10T01:32:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\*I think it’s just semantics. Anything that is omnipotent and all-powerful demands awe. Definition of awe: reverential fear. > Eh, who know’s, I’m not particularly afraid of Him. \*\* Nope. The typical “god-fearing” notion in Christianity is dervied from the need of the Church to control its subjects. One of the best ways to control people is through fear. Really simple: Be good, go to Heaven. Be bad, go to Hell. This is one of my major peeves with Christianity; you should do what’s right because you should, not because of the consequences. ---
**Author:** ![Zion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b5e925/32.png) [@Zion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zion)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/8 "2000-08-10T01:43:33Z")
To fear God is to respect Him, to hold Him dear, to know, and recognize His power. I’m a Christian, and I am not afraid of God, yet He commands the highest respect from me. Fearing God also means honoring Him, not because of consequences, but because of love. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sweet\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/9 "2000-08-10T03:15:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zion \* > \*\*Fearing God also means honoring Him, not because of consequences, but because of love. \*\* Um, in love there is no fear. Love is state of fearlessness. That is why trust is essential in a loving relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/10 "2000-08-10T03:24:45Z")
Since I don’t know the man, I have no fear of him. SHAZAM! Okay, I do now… where the hell did that lightning come from? Thor, is that you? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/11 "2000-08-10T05:36:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Zion \* > \*\*To fear God is to respect Him, to hold Him dear, to know, and recognize His power. > \*\* Oh, please. Fear does not lead to respect, it leads to contempt. Have you ever known anyone you were afraid of that you respected? I sure haven’t. But I have known people who I respect very deeply. They don’t scare me. ---
**Author:** ![FreakFreely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@FreakFreely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreakFreely)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/12 "2000-08-10T06:11:29Z")
No Byz, that was me. I’m just that cool. ---
**Author:** ![Byzantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dfb087/32.png) [@Byzantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Byzantine)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/13 "2000-08-10T06:41:31Z")
Well, now that you mention it, the flash did leave a lingering stench of idiocy… ---
**Author:** ![FreakFreely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/48db29/32.png) [@FreakFreely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FreakFreely)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/14 "2000-08-10T07:17:33Z")
Nah, that’s the smell of scorched hair coming from your armpits. ---
**Author:** ![Zion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b5e925/32.png) [@Zion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zion)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/15 "2000-08-10T16:08:09Z")
According to my Webster’s dictionary, fear means “respectful dread, awe, reverence.” I’m not so sure I agree with the word “dread” though. Biblical fear is not the same as terror, fright, being scared…etc. As I said before, I’m not afraid of God, and He doesn’t cause me to cower in the corner. > [@](#): > > Um, in love there is no fear. Right. But, we’re not talking about _that_ type of fear in this instance. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Lotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sweet\_Lotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Lotus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/16 "2000-08-10T16:18:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by friedo \* > **Oh, please. Fear does not lead to respect, it leads to contempt. Have you ever known anyone you were afraid of that you respected? I sure haven’t. But I have known people who I respect very deeply. They don’t scare me.** My point exactly, friedo. Also, people who truly love _you_, don’t want your fear. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/17 "2000-08-10T19:32:15Z")
The interpretation of “fear of the Lord” that I know is knowledge of how important our relationship woth God is, and the “fear” is of hurting that relationship. Love is wanting what God wants, not an emotion, and the “fear” thus described is not an emotion either. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/18 "2000-08-10T19:36:45Z")
Sorry-didn’t get this in. [QUOTE} Also, people who truly love _you_, don’t want your fear. [/QUOTE] Exactly. But people who love you do want you to care about the relationship, to the point where it matters to you how you behave in relation to them, that you “fear” hurting them or your friendship/relationship. Fear does not come from God, as we are not free if we are consumed by fear. ---
**Author:** ![Papamurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/90db22/32.png) [@Papamurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papamurf)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/19 "2000-08-10T20:06:09Z")
Tymp, I wouldn’t neccessarily call God a villian. He’s all powerful. He’s on a plane by himself. In order to have a villian, you need a hero, to provide opposition. I suppose you could say the Devil is that opposition, which would make him the hero, but that’s even screwier. As for fearing God, I was always under the impression the “God-fearing” = “God-respecting”. If God ever tells me to do anything I will most likely listen. However, I will make sure to get it on tape, just in case. -Murph ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740/20 "2000-08-10T21:38:53Z")
[pedant]I think the expression is just an archaism. The word fear at one time did denote a certain awe and respect. There is a Greek word, incidentally, which has this meaning. _Time_, pronounced teem-AY, rather combines fear, respect, and awe. The name Timothy (Timotheos) literally means god-fearing, in the sense of honor and respect. For whatever reason, god-fearing must have sounded catchy and the archaic meaning of the word fear never completely dropped out of English usage.[/pedant] MR [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-god-fearing/28740.md?page=2)