The Fear of God and so can you.

Quite simply, whatever you fear most becomes your God.

If you fear financial ruin, then money is your god.
If you fear the opinion of others, then they are your gods.
If you fear the unknown, then you will remain ignorant.
if you fear death, then the reaper and its precious hourglass is your god.
If you fear the Most High God, Source of all things, then what would be impossible for you?

If a child is bettered by fearing the discipline of his biological parents, how much more would a child be better by fearing his universal heavenly Parent? biological parents are flawed, but God is unflawed - knowing both past, present and future. Just like a disappointed biological parent will hold back their affection to demonstrate a point, so too are we currently not receiving the entirety of God's love because we continue to do the things that we know are wrong.

Fear of God works in the same way that fear of your biological parents prevented you from playing with fire, indulging in risky behavior, and so forth. If you truly believe God is omniscient, then it is absolutely illogical to not strive towards an entire orientation with God's will. Surely, due to God's omniscience, God will know what would bring you happiness more than you do. For this reason your attempts to force happiness on your self with hedonistic pursuits will always be digging a bottomless pit. Whereas practicing altruism, forgiveness, righteousness and the love meant to unite humanity back together will re-align your self with God.

The path where you are aligned with God's Will was pre-ordained so that the moment you would synchronize your self with it, you will begin to remember (literally re-member) the eternal birthright that awaits you. This is your psychological archetype, the true you in which there is no compromise.

This is a transcendental shift out of the valley of death into the land of the living. A way of existence that is totally unprecedented by your past experiences or the experiences of others

"What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him--

For these reasons it is futile to even consider disobedience. Now is the time to change your mind, and remove yourself from the self-destructive habits. Everything is disclosed in the heavenly realms, so there is no point trying to hide it. Change your mind now, because the transcendent kingdom of God is near. Taste and see.

All organised religions are mind control and manipulation. Fear is the ultimate method to control people. Look at what fear of terrorism had done to the United States. It has created an evolving security state with fewer freedoms every day. Fear is the ultimate method or motivation to control...

a reply to: cooperton

Gods aren’t real. People’s imaginations are though. I think your rant goes a long way to back that up.

a reply to: cooperton

Thank you for those thoughts. So many times people misunderstand the biblical command to fear our creator.
Satan was created by the same Father that made the rest of us but people often fear evil more than their creator.

Great thread. It reminded me of something I read regarding our "higher self". People get hung up on semantics and terminology, and call it by different names. We all have this higher self that can be called God, The Holy Spirit, The Divine, etc.

It is like the perfect parent, having every noble characteristic a person can possess. It will never misguide you, deceive you, or steer you wrong. At the same time, you cannot deceive it or fool it in any way. Therefore, it must be respected, and even feared to a point. It will knock you on your ass if need be, It absolutely communicates with you. Trust it before you trust people. They will mislead you. Your higher self CAN'T mislead you. It is in touch with every aspect of your being. The mental, the physical, the emotional. A key component is balance.

Few people seem to understand this. In my opinion, the Shaolin monks seem to have a good grasp on this. They see through the nonsense and cultivate their relationship with God. The Higher Self.

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: cooperton

Gods aren’t real. People’s imaginations are though. I think your rant goes a long way to back that up.

tHERE IS A LOT AT STAKE SO i HOPE YOU HAVE HEAVILY RESEARCHED YOUR POSITION.
dO YOU EVER WONDER WHY SO MANY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE OVER (SORRY) the centuries have felt the opposite of you?

a reply to: cooperton

The logic doesn't follow. In your first 4 examples, you listed a negative "god" that would be the outcome of fearing something, but in your 5th example you flipped the logic to make the outcome positive. We could do the exact thing in the first 4 examples. i.e. if you fear financial ruin, then you will try harder at your job and become wealthy.
You could also easily make the 5th example negative: If you fear the most high god, source of all things, then you'll forever be afraid of an omniscient overlord. You can't set up 4 negatives and on the 5th totally change the logic.

-Child bettered by fearing a parent
-Holding back affection to demonstrate a point
This sounds like terrible parenting. Children should see their parents as a source of comfort, security, and knowledge, not fear.

"If you truly believe God is omniscient, then it is absolutely illogical to not strive towards an entire orientation with God's will. Surely, due to God's omniscience, God will know what would bring you happiness more than you do."
-Again, the logic doesn't compute. Why is that illogical? God supposedly gave us free will so we can do what we love doing, but we still have to listen to God about what we should do because he knows better than ourselves? What's the point of free will then? If god truly is omniscient, and wants to show us what we want to do, then he/she/it should just do that, rather than making us prove that we like god before he grants us this gift. That seems like a very petty thing for an omniscient god to do.

"For these reasons it is futile to even consider disobedience."
-So, free will isn't really a thing then, if it's futile to even consider it? This contradicts one of the central tenants associated with god creating humans. He gave us free will. But you're saying it's futile to use it? That doesn't make sense.

To be clear, I'm in no way saying that your god doesn't exist. He clearly does exist in your world. However, religion (in general) is not a logical thing, and trying to apply logic to it is a fool's errand. Believe and enjoy your religion and it's blessings to your heart's content, but don't try to use logic to convert people/show them "the way".

In my opinion, debating whether or not god exists is pointless. You clearly believe he does, and I'm not going to try to take that away from you. But for me, I've seen no proof of his existence (and I've actually seen quite a bit of "proof" to the contrary), so I don't believe in any gods. Even if it were proven that the Christian god exists, I wouldn't follow/worship him. I believe almost all organized religions are horrible things, but religion in and of itself is not. So by all means, practice whatever you want, as long as it doesn't hurt others, just don't try to convert people, and everyone else should do the same. Let people believe whatever they want. As long as they aren't hurting other people, who cares?

theoatmeal.com...

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: cooperton

Gods aren’t real. People’s imaginations are though. I think your rant goes a long way to back that up.

I'm not implying the universe was not of divine creation but I don't believe in an all seeing, all knowing, a witnessing every thought and action of every person living god is real. Cant believe a god that "so loved the world" would allow millions, and millions of good, honorable, loving, gentile people to be cast into oblivion just because they practice a religion, other than Christianity, just because they were indoctrinated into. Just as we were indoctrinated into Christianity by 2000 years of influence and ancestry.

originally posted by: SeaWorthy

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: cooperton

Gods aren’t real. People’s imaginations are though. I think your rant goes a long way to back that up.

tHERE IS A LOT AT STAKE SO i HOPE YOU HAVE HEAVILY RESEARCHED YOUR POSITION.
dO YOU EVER WONDER WHY SO MANY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE OVER (SORRY) the centuries have felt the opposite of you?

There's a lot at stake? Is there proof of that claim? I haven't seen any.

I can't speak for Woodcarver, but I have heavily researched my position. I've read the bible in it's entirety. I grew up in the Catholic faith. Catholic school, catechism every Sunday, followed by church (where I was an alter boy), etc etc etc. Everything I learned throughout that showed me that I have zero desire to follow a god that acts as described in the bible/by the church.

I can easily flip your statement: There are many very intelligent people that aren't religious in any way, shape, or form. Do you ever wonder why?

a reply to: narrator

Child bettered by fearing a parent -Holding back affection to demonstrate a point This sounds like terrible parenting. Children should see their parents as a source of comfort, security, and knowledge, not fear.

Children that behave often do it because of fear of repercussions from loving parents. Otherwise you have footballs being thrown in areas where things can break or children doing dangerous things that may harm them or others. A healthy fear of parents is essential in bringing up well behaved children.

Am afraid that am surrounded by know-it-all, know-nothing fools.

originally posted by: Sheye
a reply to: narrator

Child bettered by fearing a parent -Holding back affection to demonstrate a point This sounds like terrible parenting. Children should see their parents as a source of comfort, security, and knowledge, not fear.

Children that behave often do it because of fear of repercussions from loving parents. Otherwise you have footballs being thrown in areas where things can break or children doing dangerous things that may harm them or others. A healthy fear of parents is essential in bringing up well behaved children.

I completely disagree.

I never once felt fear towards either of my parents, and I turned out just fine. "Better" than most that I grew up with, if I do say so myself. My nieces/nephews are being raised the same way I was. I know for a fact that they don't fear their parents, and they're fantastic children.

A fear of parents is totally unnecessary in bringing up well behaved children.

originally posted by: narrator

originally posted by: Sheye
a reply to: narrator

Child bettered by fearing a parent -Holding back affection to demonstrate a point This sounds like terrible parenting. Children should see their parents as a source of comfort, security, and knowledge, not fear.

Children that behave often do it because of fear of repercussions from loving parents. Otherwise you have footballs being thrown in areas where things can break or children doing dangerous things that may harm them or others. A healthy fear of parents is essential in bringing up well behaved children.

I completely disagree.

I never once felt fear towards either of my parents, and I turned out just fine. "Better" than most that I grew up with, if I do say so myself. My nieces/nephews are being raised the same way I was. I know for a fact that they don't fear their parents, and they're fantastic children.

A fear of parents is totally unnecessary in bringing up well behaved children.

Let’s agree to disagree

ETA: I’m not talking about fear of parents per say.. more the fear of consequences if disobedient behaviour will be exercised.
It’s a healthy respect for authority in my opinion and I don’t believe that well behaved children don’t have that to some degree.

originally posted by: Sheye

originally posted by: narrator

originally posted by: Sheye
a reply to: narrator

Child bettered by fearing a parent -Holding back affection to demonstrate a point This sounds like terrible parenting. Children should see their parents as a source of comfort, security, and knowledge, not fear.

Children that behave often do it because of fear of repercussions from loving parents. Otherwise you have footballs being thrown in areas where things can break or children doing dangerous things that may harm them or others. A healthy fear of parents is essential in bringing up well behaved children.

I completely disagree.

I never once felt fear towards either of my parents, and I turned out just fine. "Better" than most that I grew up with, if I do say so myself. My nieces/nephews are being raised the same way I was. I know for a fact that they don't fear their parents, and they're fantastic children.

A fear of parents is totally unnecessary in bringing up well behaved children.

Let’s agree to disagree

Sounds like a plan.

originally posted by: narrator

originally posted by: SeaWorthy

originally posted by: Woodcarver
a reply to: cooperton

Gods aren’t real. People’s imaginations are though. I think your rant goes a long way to back that up.

tHERE IS A LOT AT STAKE SO i HOPE YOU HAVE HEAVILY RESEARCHED YOUR POSITION.
dO YOU EVER WONDER WHY SO MANY INTELLIGENT PEOPLE OVER (SORRY) the centuries have felt the opposite of you?

There's a lot at stake? Is there proof of that claim? I haven't seen any.

I can't speak for Woodcarver, but I have heavily researched my position. I've read the bible in it's entirety. I grew up in the Catholic faith. Catholic school, catechism every Sunday, followed by church (where I was an alter boy), etc etc etc. Everything I learned throughout that showed me that I have zero desire to follow a god that acts as described in the bible/by the church.

I can easily flip your statement: There are many very intelligent people that aren't religious in any way, shape, or form. Do you ever wonder why?

The Catholic church has little to do with what is in the bible. Your eternal life is at stake and no one can prove that to anyone else. The majority of the world does believe in creation and science is leading to that conclusion.

Less and less people will believe in the last days as is happening.
The old testament had its purpose which was fulfilled and no longer needed, the new testament tells us again how much our creator loves us. Fear is not the kind you speak of, my children who turned out wonderfully did fear disobeying me and that is a good thing. They also knew they were loved as all who have faith in Jesus feel strongly.

a reply to: narrator

No, no! Don't judge God by how the church presents him OR by the way the church acts! Today's church is broken, largely. And the Catholic Church, while I'm positive there are millions of good individual Christians within it, went off the cliff from the beginning.

I've found that God is pretty unlike what the church/loud judgy "Christians" portray. 😕

And Jesus said love your enemies, if it were singular it would be Satan.

a reply to: KansasGirl

No, no! Don't judge God by how the church presents him OR by the way the church acts! Today's church is broken, largely. And the Catholic Church, while I'm positive there are millions of good individual Christians within it, went off the cliff from the beginning. I've found that God is pretty unlike what the church/loud judgy "Christians" portray. 😕

Tsk tsk.. sounds like a loud judgemental Christian to me.🤷🏻‍♀️

a reply to: cooperton

Originally posted by cooperton
Fear of God works in the same way that fear of your biological parents prevented you from playing with fire, indulging in risky behavior, and so forth. If you truly believe God is omniscient, then it is absolutely illogical to not strive towards an entire orientation with God's will. Surely, due to God's omniscience, God will know what would bring you happiness more than you do. For this reason your attempts to force happiness on your self with hedonistic pursuits will always be digging a bottomless pit. Whereas practicing altruism, forgiveness, righteousness and the love meant to unite humanity back together will re-align your self with God.

How can I also love that which I fear…?

It’s actually our spiritual dis-connection from God that leads to fear, and uncertainty etc…

My parents would always explain to me why something was wrong…They taught me the difference and that’s why I loved them…

It’s the exact same thing with God. God wants us to know right from wrong…It’s through understanding God and our spiritual connection to him…that we learn to live more righteously…not through fear imo…


- JC

a reply to: cooperton