Possible to love God without fearing him?

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englands123

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I fear him with all my heart but I never used to.
 
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I don’t know. I do know that to Fear God is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
 
The Fear of God that we have is not a servile fear, it is not like being afraid of a spider or of a monster.

That sort of fear has no part in love.

Fear of God, the virtue, means reverence and respect and awe of God.
 
The fear I have is like a Father & Son relationship.

Would this be incorrect ?
 
With my earthly father, the only time I feared was when I had broken the rules and I knew he knew. When I would violate curfew, put my key in the front door lock and before I could, dad opened the door. I knew that there would be grounding happening.
 
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That opens a can of worms.

In a perfect father/son relationship, the answer would be “no”.

In a relationship where the father is abusive and violent, it would be incorrect. The image works for people, but not for all people; those who have had a rough relationship with their father will have difficulty relating.
 
They are two sides of the same coin. Inextricably intertwined. To love someone is to fear offending them out of that same love.

It is not trembling, perspiring fear, but a caution which protects love.
 
I’m not sure that’s all there is to it.

And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.
 
TheLittleLady said:
Fear of God, the virtue, means reverence and respect and awe of God.
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This. Fear can often have negative connotations, but a healthy fear of God shouldn’t be a negative thing, it should be a motivating factor in living lives that glorify Him.
 
MiserereMeiDei said:
but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.
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That would be a sort of poetic allusion to Satan (because Satan is not actually in control of hell) and also poetically about ourselves. These words are not in the least bit about God.
 
Love actually “casts out fear”, as Scripture tells us, even if that might be a gradual process, and even if fear may be where we all start. But the more we come to know Him the more we love Him-it can’t be helped. It’s a process, a struggle, but a good one.

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:7-8

"But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

I like the way Basil of Caesarea, a 4the century bishop, put it:
"If we turn away from evil out of fear of punishment, we are in the position of slaves. If we pursue the enticement of wages, . . . we resemble mercenaries. Finally if we obey for the sake of the good itself and out of love for him who commands . . . we are in the position of children."

I also appreciate the teaching from the catechism on the Fall:
399 Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness.280 They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image - that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.281

I think we all default to this distorted image, which could also be said to describe a God who is distant, angry, aloof in His superiority, sort of the way we play God when we abuse authority over others. But God’s not like that; Jesus came to reveal a very different God. In fact, His character is more aptly described in 1 Cor 13:4-8
 
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I’d never heard that. And considering that fear of hell is sufficient contrition for absolution I’m curious how long that’s been taught.
 
In half a century, I have never heard taught (Protestant nor Catholic) that verse as describing God as the destroyer.

From Haydock:

Ver. 28. Fear not those that, &c. Men are afraid of a prison, yet they are not afraid of hell fire. They fear temporal punishments, but dread not the torments of eternal fire. S. Austin in Baradius. — He who continually fears hell, will never fall into it; but he who is negligent, will undoubtedly fall. S. Chrys. in Baradius.

https://www.ecatholic2000.com/haydock/ntcomment12.shtml
 
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Not to be obstinate, but that looks to me to be saying it the way I understood it. This may be my non-denom background rearing its ugly head though. Thank you, though. 😃
 
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Fear of the Lord (also known as Piety), is more about fearing separation from him, rather than fearing him. We fear anything that can take us away from Him, but not in the sense of cowering, but rather hatred, such that we should avoid it as one would avoid sticking their finger into the light socket. We do (naturally) fear God’s wrath, but what is spoken of is the fear of that which causes God’s wraith. While Satan is not in control of hell, he does have sufficient power to manipulate, and drag us into a position, whereby Divine Justice mandates that we are destroyed body and soul in hell.
 
The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. That is, when we realize there is a God and we are not God we experience the kind of fearful awe that leads to reverence. But love conquers fear and a mature faith will find that indeed this is true.
 
@englands123
englands123 said:
I fear him with all my heart but I never used to.
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Have you been able to determine what has influenced this change in you? Could it be that you were formerly a bit complacent and you’ve recently been studying more about your faith and are now overwhelmed by how tiny we are and how mighty God is? If so, keep studying and try to be an exemplary Catholic. When you stumble, or just plain fail miserably, receive absolution to cleanse your soul and the Holy Eucharist to nourish you. God knows our hearts and intentions.

Hugs and prayers, englands.
 
In my understanding it is more the fear of offending God, which obviously stems from love.
 
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I think it’s quite natural to fear God in that we want to do what is good so we are not punished. That said, we should want to be virtuous because we love God and want to worship Him, not because we fear God and don’t want to be punished.

It should be a positive action not a negative action
 
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