Should We Fear YHWH
In this age of anything-you -like, people design their own deities. As everything else is made to order..customized, personalized and tailor made, it seems natural to people who have everything else just as they want it to have a Creator which fits into their self made reality as well.
What the world desires... including Christians in the majority... is a Higher Power that is loving, gentle, kind, compassionate and forgiving. At least they desire a deity who is all that they imagine those things to be. What the world is not interested in is an Omnipotent Creator, A Righteous Judge... an Elohim who has all power and authority to both raise up and cast down.
It was once common for parents to describe the discipline of their children in terms of "putting the fear of God" into them. No child was unaware of how that meant business... one simply did not incur the wrath which meant being taught the "fear of God". Whether it was getting a sound paddling, peeling potatoes for hours on end or cleaning out 40 manure laden stalls... the sort of punishment that was sure to teach a child the meaning of fearing his Maker would leave an impression. This was the way by which mothers and fathers made it understood to their children that those in authority over them had that authority with the power to enforce it... their parents and especially their Heavenly Father.
Parents are encouraged to be much more indulgent with their children these days... no longer would most use the phrase "putting the fear of God" into their offspring... it simply sounds too harsh. Just as the world wants a Higher Power who is anything but intimidating, they carry that same distaste for a clear position of authority into their homes. Those attributes which are imagined to be desired in an ideal "God" tend to be those attributes with which parents exercise towards their own children.
The weakening of imagined attributes of our Creator result in rebellious followers of Him, the same way that the weakening of the parental authority results in rebellious children. Instead of loving, gentle, kind and forgiving...the designer deity incorporates the attributes of indulgence, apathy, enabling of poor character and the tolerance of self destructive habits.
The average Christian responds to the mention of fearing YHWH with almost visible cringing. The knee-jerk response which inevitably comes after such a mention is "fear means Respect..not.....fear..". My fear is that believers have altogether forgotten the meaning of that word... as well as the words respect and love.
For those swept along in a societal shift towards tolerance and indulgence, the idea of fearing an authority is equated with tyranny. Though a tyrant by definition has power of enforcement and uses that power abusively to create subservience through fear Unjustly...righteous authority should not be viewed as impotent or ineffectual power. Justice requires enforceable power or it is simply without effect.
A deity who would not enforce righteousness with power cannot be loving...because by default that "god" has allowed injustice to reign over the innocent as well as allowing the guilty to destroy themselves. Respect is not respectable without a knowledge that the one to whom respect is owed can also back that up with just discipline. We do not serve an ineffectual Creator who is willing to allow sin to ravage His people...He will chastise the child that errs and it is that knowledge which should inspire our respect and our Fear of transgressing His will.
We should not be put off by the idea of Fear of Him...we should feel well comforted in the fact that He is powerful enough to put down our enemies and a loving Father enough to teach us right from wrong.
What the world desires... including Christians in the majority... is a Higher Power that is loving, gentle, kind, compassionate and forgiving. At least they desire a deity who is all that they imagine those things to be. What the world is not interested in is an Omnipotent Creator, A Righteous Judge... an Elohim who has all power and authority to both raise up and cast down.
It was once common for parents to describe the discipline of their children in terms of "putting the fear of God" into them. No child was unaware of how that meant business... one simply did not incur the wrath which meant being taught the "fear of God". Whether it was getting a sound paddling, peeling potatoes for hours on end or cleaning out 40 manure laden stalls... the sort of punishment that was sure to teach a child the meaning of fearing his Maker would leave an impression. This was the way by which mothers and fathers made it understood to their children that those in authority over them had that authority with the power to enforce it... their parents and especially their Heavenly Father.
Parents are encouraged to be much more indulgent with their children these days... no longer would most use the phrase "putting the fear of God" into their offspring... it simply sounds too harsh. Just as the world wants a Higher Power who is anything but intimidating, they carry that same distaste for a clear position of authority into their homes. Those attributes which are imagined to be desired in an ideal "God" tend to be those attributes with which parents exercise towards their own children.
The weakening of imagined attributes of our Creator result in rebellious followers of Him, the same way that the weakening of the parental authority results in rebellious children. Instead of loving, gentle, kind and forgiving...the designer deity incorporates the attributes of indulgence, apathy, enabling of poor character and the tolerance of self destructive habits.
The average Christian responds to the mention of fearing YHWH with almost visible cringing. The knee-jerk response which inevitably comes after such a mention is "fear means Respect..not.....fear..". My fear is that believers have altogether forgotten the meaning of that word... as well as the words respect and love.
For those swept along in a societal shift towards tolerance and indulgence, the idea of fearing an authority is equated with tyranny. Though a tyrant by definition has power of enforcement and uses that power abusively to create subservience through fear Unjustly...righteous authority should not be viewed as impotent or ineffectual power. Justice requires enforceable power or it is simply without effect.
A deity who would not enforce righteousness with power cannot be loving...because by default that "god" has allowed injustice to reign over the innocent as well as allowing the guilty to destroy themselves. Respect is not respectable without a knowledge that the one to whom respect is owed can also back that up with just discipline. We do not serve an ineffectual Creator who is willing to allow sin to ravage His people...He will chastise the child that errs and it is that knowledge which should inspire our respect and our Fear of transgressing His will.
We should not be put off by the idea of Fear of Him...we should feel well comforted in the fact that He is powerful enough to put down our enemies and a loving Father enough to teach us right from wrong.
Views: 12
© 2024 Created by Cyprium.
Powered by
