"a BORING question?"

[theophilus]

Both fear and love have their part in our relationship with God. We often live our lives without thinking about God and sometimes he has to use fear to get our attention.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 ESV

We all have good reason to fear God, because we have all violated his commands and God's justice requires that he punish all sin. But he has made a way we can escape the punishment we deserve. He did that by sending Jesus to bear our punishment in our place. When we understand that and put our faith in Jesus we are forgiven and this naturally leads us to love God, in response to the love he has shown us.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
1 John 4:18

Fear is the natural response to recognizing how sinful we are when we measure ourselves according to God's standard. Love is the natural result when we understand what God has done to remove our sins.

Originally Posted by theophilus

[/indent]We all have good reason to fear God, because we have all violated his commands and God's justice requires that he punish all sin. But he has made a way we can escape the punishment we deserve. He did that by sending Jesus to bear our punishment in our place. When we understand that and put our faith in Jesus we are forgiven and this naturally leads us to love God, in response to the love he has shown us.[indent]There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.
1 John 4:18

Wow, I can literally see a group of priests sitting around a large gold encrusted table deciding on how to gain control over their people. That's pretty cool.

[norseman]

Fear. Fear. Fear. Fear. Commands. Punish. Sin. Punishment. Punishment. Fear. Fear. Fear. Sinful. Sins.
That has to be a record in one short post ! Reliance on fear, commands, punishment is the sign of a vengeful dictator , not a loving deity ! And that tells you all you need to know about the decline of christianity as a religion.

[Silver]

It's not the symbolism nor the main 'idea' behind what has been fobbed off as 'Christianity' over the centuries, it's the Man of Love and transcendence ~ a lot of misfits like myself (my own notion of 'The Silent (and meek sort of) Majority') who are imho, the truest Christians. No need for church...He has had nowhere to lay his head...etc., etc.

As non-physical, immortal, spiritual beings and not the mortal, physical, human body we operate, we each are of God or the Supreme Being. Through time, being in the physical universe, (physical body birth-death cycle) we each "forgot" we were of God, but most beings still have a sense of this knowledge or truth. Jesus taught, that we each are a part of a spiritual type collective, which includes the Supreme Being. I learned and realized this knowledge through my own spiritual non-faith-based religion and studies, but found it interesting that Jesus knew this also, but did not know at that time how to get man to understand it.

John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (an individual "realization" of being of this spiritual collective, through advancing spiritually. (enlightenment)

John10:34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh;(mortal, physical, human body) and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (you as a non-physical, immortal, Spiritual Being).

1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.(when you realize this spiritual collective, you realize how much love you have-feel for all spiritual beings, which includes the Supreme Being who is part of this collective. We are each one, but also independent of each other, a collective)

Mark 9:19And He answered them and said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" (a frustrated Jesus realizing man was not understanding the heart of his spiritual message, spirituality.)

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by jamesart7

mattie,
Don't you thing that the Jesus dude is just a good spokes person?

Miss Hepburn,
Fear does make the people love God. One example is the town that he destroyed because no one loves Him there...

I'm sorry I didn't know you believed in those stories - you proceed on then.
Blessings

Originally Posted by jamesart7

ok.. Direct to the point..

"How can so many love GOD without Him affecting freewill?"

Now that question I do not think the mind can ever comprehend.

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by Seperate_Reality

Mark 9:19And He answered them and said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!" (a frustrated Jesus realizing man was not understanding the heart of his spiritual message, spirituality.)

"How long must I suffer you." Another translation...not many people use this verse!

Note, he said this after coming down the hill from the !Transfiguration!, no less.

Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn

I'm sorry I didn't know you believed in those stories - you proceed on then.
Blessings

If your God is really true and loves the humankind so much, Where did he go when the earthquake and tsunami occurred in Japan? Huh?!! If He was all powerful, He could have prevented that and saved all those people....!

[Silver]

I don't think stopping mother nature from doing her thing, and the earth from rockin' and rollin' is a prerequisite for any 'god' or guru. People have always been stuck with hoping and praying to minimize any damage these inevitabilities may cause. just my 2 cents...