Fear

Satanus

Here are some quotes about fear. I think the fear of god concept could spend some time under the microscope.

SS

FEAR

"Fear is the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind."

(H. P. Lovecraft)

"Fear has many eyes and can see things underground."

(Miguel De Cervantes)

"Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear."

(Zora Neale Hurston)

"Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be."

(Lucius C. Lactantius)

FEAR OF GOD

"The fear of God is not the beginning of wisdom. The fear of God is the death of wisdom."

(Clarence Darrow, Why I Am An Agnostic)

"Those that worship God merely for Fear
Would worship the Devil too, if he appear."

(Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, No. 6419, pub. 1732)

"In cell and cloister, in monastery and synagogue:
Some fear hell and others dream of Paradise.
But no man who really knows the secrets of his God
Has planted seeds like this within his heart."

(Omar Khayyam, "Seeds Like These," in Idries Shah's The Way of the Sufi, p.65, pub. A.D.1968)

StinkyPantz

I totally disagree with this statement (unless you are only talking about the context of religion, but even then I disagree somewhat):

"Where fear is present, wisdom cannot be."
(Lucius C. Lactantius)

In such cases like me fearing a spanking from my parents. There was much wisdom in that fear.

And I supposed even when speaking about religion, much of the fear that I had turned out to be a good thing. Fear of displeasing God kept me from sleeping around, doing drugs, etc.

One could certainly go overboard in those areas. I had a short time in my late teens where my desire to find happiness, which i had not found within the wt, overpowered my 'godly' fear. I tried sex w one girl. I tried lsd, mj and lots of booze. I think i was wiser for those experiences. 'Course there are always risks. One should seek some info before trying something new.

SS

refiners fire

hey SS.

As a new age guru, you would be aware that the "channeled " information is that there are only TWO states. Love and Fear. Love, of course, is God. But all negatives are fear. Anger is fear, hate is fear. I wonder what you reckon to this theory they all postulate?

Satanus

Refiner

Guru, me? Heh heh.

I haven't read any channeled stuff to speak of, although i have been a bit curious about edgar casey.

I would agree that hate comes from fear. Anger is often a reaction to being stepped on, or having been stepped on, so to speak. I think there would be cases where anger does not originate from fear. A lot of people here have anger for the wt. Few fear it. It's something to think about, though.

SS

Navigator

SS

Interesting post. I think that part of the problem with "fear", especially of God, is the KJV translation that today would be properly translated as revere or respect. If you substitute the word respect for the word fear in Clarence Darrow's statement, it falls apart. Since Darrow was well educated, he is bound to have known that he was misusing the word.

I think that Refiner's Fire was referring to A Course in Miracles. It holds that anger cannot be experienced unless you believe yourself capable of being harmed. That can't be unless you consider yourself merely a body. It states that of the two states, love and fear, only one is real(read permanent).

You would enjoy Edgar Casey. He was an amazing fellow. I recommend, however, that you tackle Richard Bach first.

DJ

Perfect love casts out fear. That's from the bible, of course.

In my experience that is always true. love, Dj

Satanus

Navigator

Thanks. I have heard many good things about richard bach.

At bible gateway http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=PS+111:10&language=english&version=NIV&showfn=on&showxref=on

One translation out of 12 says respect in sp111:10. Another says reverence. The other ten render it fear. Regardless, it still comes down to the fact that standard christianity, and bible verses indicate that one who doesn't believe/love/have faith in jehovah is stupid. Jehovah will kill/torture/judge him/her. It's back to fear.

Calling stupid/worthy of death someone who is unable to love/deeply reverence/have total faith in something that refuses to prove it's existence is stupid, IMO.

DJ

I agree w that. I also think that perfect love would not destroy any just because they had an absence of belief in the lover.

SS

Fear

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