First of all, let me make this clear: Star Trek ROCKS. Even the not-so-great movies — Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Nemesis (2002) — were still at least mildly entertaining.
What grabbed my attention about this graphic, posted in an atheism Internet community, is two things:
1. The Spock character never said these words;
2. That said, I absolutely agree with them.
What kind of a god would ever demand constant fear from his creations? Certainly not the God I believe in, or Jesus of Nazareth, who many people believe is God’s Son.
An ancient document by one of Jesus’s earlist followers addresses this topic in a very reasonable way: Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear.
That makes a great deal of sense to me. While I don’t fear God the way this graphic suggests, what I do fear is this:
- Disappointing Him by failing to constantly strive to be the person He knows I can be.
- Saddening Him by ignoring the opportunities He gives me to tell others about how He changed my life through Jesus and how their lives can be made better the same way.
- Insulting Him by living my life as if He doesn’t exist.
- Belittling Him by not fully acknowledging everything He did for me (and for you, too) by offering the gift of Jesus, who died to make up for the sins of everyone who believes in Him and follows Him.
I like how the United Church of God website puts it:
“God does not want us to be in continual terror of Him, though that may be where we start in our relationship with Him. Proper, mature fear of God means having a healthy reverence and respect for the most powerful Being in the universe and the laws He has set in place for our own benefit.”
I also appreciate the words of Christian Post columnist Dan Delzell:
“Think about a family. Parents who dearly love their children also discipline their children appropriately for their good. In those families, children know they are loved. They also have the ‘fear’ of discipline should they choose to push the limits and disobey. That is not a bad fear. It actually is a very necessary part of family life.”
I see logic in wanting to worship a deity like this. Do you? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
There is no love in a relationship where one partner is ‘afraid’ of the other. I do not fear god nor anything else imaginary. When a child is afraid of disappointing their parents, that is not fear. It is uncertainty about disappointing the self. They look up to and seek approval of the parent, failure to do so is self loathing, not fear of reprisal or pain nevermind eternal torture.
The comparison between parent/child relations and god/man relations breaks down because no parent would kill ALL their children but YHWH (God) would. Normal parents would not kill even one of their children yet YHWH has demanded that humans do this and was not bothered if humans did. There is no love with YHWH, only fear and compliance.
Thanks for your thoughts. Of course, I absolutely disagree with them; in fact, if I believed what you believe, I never would have become a Christian. Please show me where Jesus Christ “demanded” humans kill their children.
In addition, please explain the gift of Jesus Christ to anyone and everyone who is willing to accept Him. Hardened atheists may not consider Him a gift; I do because through Him, I’m better able to withstand the challenges of this life and I have real, life-changing hope that this life is NOT all there is to my existence.
You believe that JC is YHWH, what YHWH did JC did. The christ is not a gift, prophecies were adjusted to make JC the one. Lies were told. Abraham was told to kill his child. Idiotically he did not say no.Jeptha did it willingly and YHWH accepted it because we know he loves the smell of burning flesh.
You have withstood the challenges of life, but not because of JC. If JC were required then atheists would no be able to withstand them.
While you may think there is an afterlife, there is no proof of such. So you live your life in hope, like an insurance policy rather than live this life like it is the only one. To you reality is that of invisible make believe friends — but we know that living this way is not good.
Of course, if you have credible evidence or proof of your JC, show it because the world wants to know. Atheists are not who you need to convince. To start you need to convince all Christians that there is one god and one way to worship and then you have to convert those that want to believe – Muslims, Jews, and other religions. When you do that I will take notice.
Taking a few verses out of the Bible and coming to a conclusion about God is a mistake. God is too big and too complex to be well understood without some serious study. And He has given us the Bible for that purpose. The Bible is spoken of as God`s `love letter`to humanity, and as such, the more that we know about it, the better.
The Bible says that fear of God is a healthy thing. Not an unhealthy, paralyzing fear, but a fear which makes us sit up and take notice: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments“.
The Bible also tells us how Jesus, the Messiah, died on a cross for our sins: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.“
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who was fully divine as well as fully human, did not owe mankind anything. And when the Roman soldiers came to take him away, He could have easily commanded angels to release him. But He didn`t because He loved us so much that He chose to die as the perfect sacrificial Lamb for mankind`s sins.
So now the ball`s in our court: Are we going to judge God for being too strict or unloving. Or are we going to believe that God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And to end on a personal note: back in 1985 I broke down in tears, repented of my wickedness, and asked Jesus to forgive my sins. And instantly, and miraculously, He did! Years later, I was baptized in Jesus`Name for the remission of those sins (although I had been forgiven, baptism wiped away the record) and three months later I was filled with the precious gift of the Holy Ghost!
It is such a blessing to be able to follow God`s Word without paralyzing fear and to feel His love on a consistent basis!
I would just like to leave this here.
“If the person offering you salvation is also the person threatening you with punishment, it’s not really salvation. It’s terrorism and extortion. ”
Also, what makes Christianity the one true religion over all the others in the world?
I don’t even know if anyone will read this comment but that is a question for which I have never received a satisfactory or logical answer.
Anne, it’s NOT terrorism or extortion. That’s propaganda. The truth is, when this life ends, you, me and everyone else must account for the wrong things we’ve done and the right things we’ve failed to do. If you think you can pull that off to God’s satisfaction, without having Jesus at your side, then good for you. I know I can’t.
As for your second question, please check out this answer:
http://carm.org/why-believe-christianity-over-all-other-religions
I hope and pray that you are serious about wanting an answer and will check out the link.
I love how you have compared God to the love of a good parent. If we didn’t love our children, we would not care how they grew up into adults. God cares. Always has and always will. And, I know my God loves His children beyond measure as He sent His precious Son to take on our sins and die in our place.
Blessings, Frank!
I believe the Bible, Koran, bhagavad-gita and similar sacred books are collections of old stories. I don’t know why responsible adults of recent history (maybe 1700 and forward) still want to be “cared for” by a “super daddy” (i.e., “turn all my troubles over to you”, and such).
Own your own successes, and learn from your failures. That is how we continue growing, learning, and living throughout this only life we’re sure we have.
If all the Christians can’t get together on their story, and all the Muslims can’t get together on their story, and the versions contradict each other… how likely is it that any of them are right (or real)?
Thanks for reading and commenting Gail. I’m curious as to why you believe people of faith don’t own their successes and failures. I certainly own mine – rejoicing in success and learning from failure.
But I don’t need my ego to be any bigger than it already is, Gail, so I’m happy to share my successes with Someone way, way bigger (and smaller!) than me. Especially as I know that without Him, there wouldn’t even be a planet earth, much less anyone living on it.
I can’t speak for other faiths, Gail, but I can write that Jesus followers “can’t get together on their story” because God has made our sandbox very big. That means there is room for many interpretations on God and Jesus and their relationship with us.
Some people may not like that, but I appreciate how the gift of freewill lets us differ on many things while still mostly agreeing on the fundamentals.
One other thing, Gail. You sound like an atheist. Since there are many differing opinions and “camps” in atheism, how likely is it that any of those camps are right or real?