(July 22, 2011 at 4:45 pm)Godschild Wrote: So you tink hell is the only punishment there is, God punishes those who disobey Him in this life to, the omnipotent God is to be feared.And yet with regard to god punishing in this life, the fear you speak of is what is traditionally understood as holding fear of god. Which of course then precludes god from being omni-benevolent.
Quote:When the fear of God is mentioned in most of scripture it means to have respect for God not to shake in your boots.I agree. Earlier translations of the Bible declare that fear of the lord is to venerate, revere, hold in awe and respect. And yet, isn't that god-fearing deference a result of scripture that imparts god punishes, exercises his wrath and vengence, as one that insists he is the only god, against those who do not fear him?
If god drowns the whole world save for one family he let's to live and then, as they and all the inbred generations they shall be responsible for in repopulating the earth by god's will are again let to be sinners, which caused god's wrath to send the waters in the first place, and he then reiterates that he must be feared and loved as the lord thy god, does someone who just survived to witness what he does when god judges fear (veneration, respect, awe, reverence) to be unsatisfactory and sin rampant, going to be persuaded to do otherwise?
God punishes the condition he created to come into being. And then he threatens, intimidates and terrorizes compliance in wake of the evidence of what he's capable of when dissatisfied , as a superior being, with the behaviors of lesser mortals.
In order to fear god,i.e. respect, he has to earn it. Is it then any real surprise that after the flood omniscient omnipresent omnipotence promised next time he'd not drown his creation, but would instead consume them with fire. That is meant to imply the traditional definition of fear. Of the being that's suppose to be superior to our human failings and sins. Tragic, he demonstrates he in the eternal example of one who possesses them, because from that creator did they have their genesis.
We humans would be perfect.
If it wasn't for god.
So says the book.
"In life you can never be too kind or too fair; everyone you meet is carrying a heavy load. When you go through your day expressing kindness and courtesy to all you meet, you leave behind a feeling of warmth and good cheer, and you help alleviate the burdens everyone is struggling with."
Brian Tracy
Brian Tracy