The Paradox of Fearing God
17th April 2006
A very well-known verse from Proverbs tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). As a teen, I remember being somewhat confused with the teaching of this verse. For, while I appreciate and understand what it says, I could not fathom how exactly to fear God. After all, I bought the message that my relationship with Him is based on love, mercy and forgiveness.
More than that, my confusion stems from my earlier religious experiences. As a child, I had witnessed and participated in various religious observances with my own family, relatives and friends. During religious festivals of various “gods of war” with fierce looking black and red faces, with long flowing robes, dressed up in ancient armory, wielding large swords and looking menacing and threatening, I had attended temples with heavily scented incense and grim looking worshippers. My parents had cautioned that I needed to behaved myself for fear of upsetting these dieties. I had also seen depictions of the ten courts of hell that graphically render the kinds of terror that will strike evil doers and sinners. I had also witnessed rituals where these mean-spirited dieties possessed men who then seemed to lose all self-control, mutilated their bodies, and behaved in manners that appeared to my young mind as intimidating and dangerous. Read the rest of this entry »
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