Should we fear God?

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yes we should fear God, out of Love and reverence ,and fear Him for what is,for the one, who died and rouse for us ,for our salvation ,that would be perfect’’ Love’ cast out fear
 
We can also frame this as such:
Justice and mercy (or justice and love) are not opposed to one another. In God, justice is elevated in love. Because God is love, justice is elevated through God’s own self gift to more than justice; to salvation.
This gift is open for acceptance or rejection. Servile fear is a hindrance to the acceptance of this gift. In faith we can live out our acceptance of God’s gift. Fear tends to make us self-preoccupied with our own salvation. Grace draws us out of self preoccupation into God’s love.

To answer the question of free will, to the extent that we are preoccupied with attaining salvation, we are not free to love.
“The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy”

The victory is already won. Accept it with praise and thanksgiving, and pass it to others. Be joyful!
 
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I discovered on Youtube - this testimony - where a man went to Hell.
He suffered a sudden heart attack - it’s real convincing -
anyways - he said - he was a born again believer - went to church once a week ( Protestant ?)
Once saved always saved type doctrine -
He was shocked - begged and pleaded - God gave him another chance -
and now he posts all these 5 minute videos - of being prepared to die -
a true - " I never knew you " moment.
Fear God - is in the bible 100’s of times - over and over -

A Catholic man yesterday told me - on the day of judgment -
we’ll stand before God - speechless - like fear struck lambs -
There will be no talking, explaining, bartering, denying, politicizing - etc etc

I do believe in some of these ‘near death’ experiences.
 
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Seagull said:
I discovered on Youtube - this testimony - where a man went to Hell.
He suffered a sudden heart attack - it’s real convincing -
anyways - he said - he was a born again believer - went to church once a week ( Protestant ?)
Once saved always saved type doctrine -
He was shocked - begged and pleaded - God gave him another chance -
and now he posts all these 5 minute videos - of being prepared to die -
a true - " I never knew you " moment.
Fear God - is in the bible 100’s of times - over and over -

A Catholic man yesterday told me - on the day of judgment -
we’ll stand before God - speechless - like fear struck lambs -
There will be no talking, explaining, bartering, denying, politicizing - etc etc
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Hell is permanent for the dead person who visits there. So the imaginings of this man are just that. Don’t place too much stock in the individual imagination. It is safe to say that he did not die and go to hell.
As for God’s plans for us, see the first reading for today Dec 5th, from Isaiah.
 
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I’ve watched many " near death " experiences - of honest people -
on youtube - sent to Hell - and returned -
I DON’T recommend anyone watching them -
but one or two of them - are absolutely believable.

" Struck By Lightning " is a great Catholic book by Dr. Gloria Polo
( Death, Judgement and Conversion )
She was a dentist - with her nephew - taking shelter in a storm in Colombia.
Both were blasted by a lightning bolt.
90 pages or so.
 
You say imaginings and imagination. I say it was a vision. God in his mercy may give someone a glimpse of Hell. It looks like it worked for that man.
 
That’s good. St Faustina and others were given visions of hell, they did not die and go there. That’s all. I’m just skeptical of visions that lead to fear in an un-Godly sense.
 
At the end of the day I fear my own stupidity and sinfullness, and especially the consequences of it. Been there and done it. Scary stuff.
God is good, and he calls us out of sin and darkness. The fear of God is one of awe and reverence not terror.
 
I certainly don’t have the answer to this, but here is a bible verse that at least somewhat answers the question. Proverb 8:13 - “To fear the Lord is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.” I think to have the fear of the Lord is to be aware of His existence; to be aware that there is such a thing as right as wrong. Once we do that, we will naturally be able to differentiate between right and wrong and will realize how disordered sin is.
 
Let’s look to the Gospel of Matthew for some advice:

“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” - Matthew 10:28

Yes God is infinite in His mercies but we do not deserve His mercies. That implies that He owes us something. No, we want His mercies and He wants to give them to us!

We should be afraid of sinning for two reasons, sure it can lead us to hell which is terrible and a good reason to be afraid. But also, when we sin we offend God. He’s not mad but he’s sad, it hurts Him to see us turn from His love into sin. So we should be afraid or worrisome of making God sad.

Our sins crucify Jesus, let’s not continue to make His crucifixion worse. Whenever I am tempted to sin (for me lust is a sin a struggle with), I imagine the cruxifixction with a a charred black cross, dark red/black blood running down it and the nails that drive through Jesus. What a sad picture, and knowing that if I fall to this temptation I am driving the nails in farther, it helps me to not fall!

So should we be afraid? In a way yes, but more so we should not want God to feel sad because we rejected His infinite love for finite pleasures of the flesh.
  • Matt
 
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To be completely honest many religions use fear as a way to control. This is just the sad truth. Especially in Catholicism you see the irony of an infinitely merciful God who will send you straight to Hell if you die in a state of mortal sin. Not sure why my other thread was deleted, but if this is the case, every teenager in the world is doomed as when you’re a teen, you masturbate constantly.
 
Ellipses said:
Especially in Catholicism you see the irony of an infinitely merciful God who will send you straight to Hell if you die in a state of mortal sin.
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Those who wind up in Hell chose it. Mortal sin is a choice, never an accident. If you want to reject God, then you’ll get exactly what you asked for: Hell is as far away from Him as you can possibly be, and considering He is our creator and the source of all that is good, staying as far away from Him as possible is pretty bad.
 
Lee1 said:
An old question but perhaps worth revisiting.

We often speak of a loving God, a God of mercy and that implies God could smite but instead shows us forgiveness.

Any thoughts?
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Fear of God is a virtue. It means respect.
God will send you to hell if you are not justified by the end of your life, per the Gospel. Why doubt it?
We still must suffer consequences of sins in this life even though forgiven the guilt when we are absolved.
 
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I heard the Ark of the Covenant - is in Ethiopia -
guarded by men with machine guns -
it’s enclosed in a prison like atmosphere -
and only one monk is allowed - to watch over it.

This is where things getting interesting.
The monk guards must be worthy - some guards have dropped dead - immediately
they had to be replaced - dangerous.
One monk gave a description of the ark - to an outsider - briefly -
" a thing of living breathing pure terror "
 
Actually Indiana Jones discovered the ark and it is hidden in some Warehouse right now haha.
 
That story rings a bell, I wonder where I read it?
Thank you seagull.
 
Just type in Ethiopia / Ark / Saint Mary’s - into youtube -

Not sure if it’s legit -
but it is a place very heavily guarded -
 
Sorry but there is more proof for the Roswell alien crash landing than any Arc conspiracy location. Or Noah’s Ark for that matter. I don’t take the Bible literally and those are just stories left for interpretation imo.
 
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