COMMON GROUND: Why do/should people fear God?

COMMON GROUND is a column dedicated to encouraging respectful dialogue by posing a monthly question that is open to people from every religious/non-religious/political background.  If you would like to post a response, please email smjivey@gmail.com for details.

The question for August is "Why do/should people fear God?" 

 
Ira Schwartz, a Jewish screenwriter from Hollywood, CA, responds with his article "Fear" below. 

Fear

By: Ira Schwartz 

While perusing one of the political pages on Facebook the other day I noticed a discussion on religion.  There were about a dozen comments posted regarding the article so I decided to give it a whirl.  As I was reading through the comments I noticed a pattern developing…these people were afraid of God.  Most of the commenters claimed to be Christians and almost all agreed that God was to be feared.  Here is one of those comments:

“My fear of God is that I do something so terrible in my human nature against him that when I face him on judgement day he will not say "well done thou good and faithful servant, enter the kingdom of heaven" but "depart from me for I knew you not" You see we all are God's creation yes! But we are not all God's children.”

Not being of the Christian faith, I was raised and still am Jewish; I thought I would check with some of my Christian relatives to see if this was a common thing.  Much to my surprise I discovered it was.  Now I do not profess to be an expert in Judaism, in fact far from it, but in searching my memories of those 5 “long” years in Hebrew school I can’t recall one time we were told that we should fear God.

I have always been taught that we, the Jews,  are God’s children but the modern belief of that statement is that we are “all” God’s children and I have always believed God, like a good parent, loves all his children equally and should be loved by those children not feared.  I have also believed if a child makes a mistake, you as a parent try to explain the error of their ways so your child can learn from it. You don't physically punish him or her to make them fear you. Control by fear is something man invented and almost never yields good results. God, in his almighty, need not control his children with fear. He simply doesn't have too. After all he is God and above human fears and emotions.

According to Rabbi Jeffrey W. Goldwasser in his article “How Does Judaism Define Fear of God”;

“The Hebrew Bible's concept of "fearing God," therefore, can be compared to the feeling of looking at the nighttime sky and being awed by the immensity of space and simultaneously terrified by the thought of our smallness in such a vast expanse. That is to say, it is the feeling of being overwhelmed by a reality greater than oneself and greater than that encountered in ordinary life.  To live in this way is a profound and spiritual experience. Yet, Jewish tradition says that, in addition to experiencing the fear of God, a person also should develop an awareness of the love of God. The Jewish liturgy says that God loves us with an unending, infinite love. Just as we wish to feel the awe of God around us, we also should desire to know and to feel that we are loved -- deeply and passionately -- by God. ”

Awe and wonder is pretty much the description I have always been taught to use in ones description of God.  Love him and respect his laws definitely but fear him, never.  I have always believed that if you are a good person and treat your fellow inhabitants of this planet with dignity and respect to the best of your ability the rest will take care of itself.   As mere mortal beings that is all we can ever hope to do.

http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefsandlaw1/f/feargod.htm