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Post by csobell on Sept 11, 2012 12:53:19 GMT -5
I struggle with the context of fear I think are talking about - God is so much more powerful than the collective intelligence of all humankind could understand - he is fearful beyond words in terms of what he is capable of...and yet, all the encounters with me have been in love - and I think I respect him... without fearing that he's waiting around the bend to break my legs. I wonder if the young people you describe are incapable of respect because of their parents, or just haven't met someone worth respecting yet. How horribly sad that they might have to wait till they meet God for that to change. I am not against spanking - I did with my own children - but isn't teaching respect done better by example?
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Post by kingdomseeker on Sept 11, 2012 14:01:23 GMT -5
I believe that the fear in Scripture in the context of God is a deep profound awe and respect as we see from the disciples on the mount of transfiguration for example. A well-grounded fear that leads to worship not to the breaking of legs! Scripture says that if we spare the rod we spoil the child. A spoiled child is not interested in examples but in getting his own way. This is typical because of our sinful human nature. We don’t have to teach a child to be bad it seems to come naturally! This is not to say that Love is not involved for it is through Love that the child (us) grows like a well-tended vine. Yet Jesus is not afraid to trim the vine as necessary and it is these trimmings that can show us how far we have grown away from Him. And not only that it is through these trimmings that we can grow and bear much more fruit!
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