I’d like to address all of this “fear of god” narrative that Christianity espouses.
First, Let’s take the most uncomplicated approach and do a quick comparison. Imagine you are a father or a mother. Maybe you are a parent. Is there ever a time when you would want your children to be afraid of you? I don’t mean fear of getting caught and then grounded or judged or a time out or looks of disappointment. I mean real fear. Fear that you might actually strike your child dead?
Even for adult children, would there ever be a time when you want them so afraid that if they screw up and do something wrong that you might just kill them?
Is that love?
Every sane person would agree that it is not love.
Fathers like this exist. Their children do live under intense fear of harm or even death. We call those fathers ‘psychopaths’.
It’s not hard to find verses in the bible that tell you to be afraid of god. It’s supposed to be a virtuous proof of your dedication and love to this god.
Proverbs 1:7 states, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge”.
Ah, okay. So if you want to be really wise, first thing you have to do is to be afraid of Yahweh! Interesting. This exact sentiment is repeated two more times in the Bible in Proverbs 9:10 and Psalms 111:10. All three verses are written by a kings – rulers – controllers. Keep that in mind.
These verses about fear and wisdom massage the ego of the believer and pit them against the unbeliever – “Clearly I’m smarter than you because I believe in god”
Phillippians 2:12 tells us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” Trembling? That’s intense!
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The Creative And Cruel Punishments Of Yahweh
This could be a book. There are many punishments inflicted by the “loving Father” on his creation and the humans within it. Sometimes, he even bestows punishment on innocents – thousands at a time, or even all of humanity.
These are some of the most commonly known.
Burning Alive Forever And Ever
Most are already familiar with the punishment for rejection of disbelief in this god which results in eternal suffering in the form of burning alive in hell – forever.
The Christian narrative, the evangelical narrative at least, tells us that anyone who does not believe will be sentenced to hell.
I’d like to take an example of a young boy for you to ponder. The boy’s father was an angry drunk who beat him and his mother and left the family. The boy was then raised by his mother who is not in the home much, working long hours. Dealing with her own pain and dysfunction, she has little to do with him when she is around. He meets what seems to be a nice many who takes him to church and gives him nice gifts – video games, clothes etc. The man sexually and psychologically abuses the boy for a few years while under the ‘care’ of the church. The boy grows up to be a man of 20 and is struggling. He uses drugs and alcohol to mask the pain. Any talk of ‘god’ sends him into an emotional mix of shame, guilt, anger and pain. The young man dies at at 20 in a car accident without ever ‘giving his heart to the Lord’, as the narrative goes.
So does the young man go to hell forever and ever? Most of us would realize this man is the victim of abuse. We would feel empathy for him. None of us would decide that it would be appropriate for this man to burn alive forever because he failed some earthly test. In fact, we would want to do everything we could to help make things better for him. We would understand why he does not want to think about or believe in god.
So what kind of god would send this tormented, abused soul to burn alive forever, if most of us humans could never inflict that kind of punishment upon him?
The gist of the whole thing is is “Believe in me or else die a horrific death forever and ever”. That’s not love. That is coercion.
I also have to ask what kind of punishment is fire if we leave our physical bodies in the afterlife?
Or what kind of reward is heaven if our ‘wayward’ child, friend, sibling, parent is burning alive in hell?
Working The Land To Eat And Extreme Pain In Childbirth
According to the first book in the Bible, Yahweh’s plan was that humans should be prancing around naked in the “Garden of Eden” and blissfully unaware. He did not want the first humans, Adam and Eve gaining knowledge or insight about right and wrong. What were humans to him? Playthings? Entertainment? An experiment gone wrong? (He later regretted making them).
Yahweh did not want the couple gaining certain knowledge and gave stern warning about eating a fruit from a certain tree that would provide them that knowledge. He claimed they would die if they ate of the fruit.
So when Adam and Eve ‘sinned’ and ate the fruit, the swift punishment occurred. They did not die, as promised, but instead, all of humanity was punished forever. The man’s punishment was have to toil and work the land in order to eat (no more prancing around) and women would have great pain in childbirth.
What a kind, loving Father.
Six Weird Things About The Adam and Eve Narrative. delves in deeper.
Death By Flood
The flood was another great example of Yahweh’s punishment and why he was to be feared. Children, babies, teens, adults – all drowned in a catastrophic flood at his hands due to their ‘sins’ which were never really even mentioned specifically. God found that they were all ‘evil’ and destroyed them, except for Noah and his family who were saved on the ark.
What a kind, loving god.
Babies, toddlers, children went to heaven though so no worries. Where does it say that? Nowhere in the bible does it actually say that. It’s a Christian narrative that is being mindlessly repeated.
Death By Fire And Brimstone
Later Yahweh destroyed two entire cities, Sodom and Gomorrah, for ‘grievous sin’ and generally not being good. Again, no specifics on what they were doing that was so bad they deserved death. The ‘good’ person in the story, Abraham’s nephew Lot, was saved and had to flee the city while it was being destroyed by fire and brimstone. Children, families, adults all died in the destruction.
What a kind loving god.
Again, babies, toddlers, children went to heaven though so no worries. Again, it doesn’t say that but feel free to repeat the narrative.
Death By Turning Into A Pillar Of Salt
Continuing with the above story, Lot’s wife, we don’t know her name – she was just another insignificant nameless woman – did not fare so well. While she and her family fled the burning cities, this woman did the unthinkable. She actually glanced back at the cities that were on fire and being decimated. The kind loving ‘Father’ turned her into a pillar of salt for that action. But don’t forget, she was ‘duly’ warned not to look back. It doesn’t matter that she was leaving behind her home, perhaps siblings or parents. She turned her head and defied Yahweh’s orders. Fair’s fair!
What a kind, loving god.
Inflicting Boils, Seizing All Assets and Killing Off The Children
I can’t help but think of Job when it comes to fear of “the lord” and punishment. Ironically with Job – he didn’t even sin. In fact Yahweh called Job “perfect”.
Yahweh bragged to his arch enemy, Satan, about how perfect his faithful and loyal his follower Job was. Yahweh was certain he could prove to Satan that no matter what kind of pain and agony and abuse that could be inflicted on Job, Job would just keep worshipping him. And so the story goes, Yahweh allowed Satan to take away everything Job owned, inflict physical pain and agony on him, and killed off his children.
Indeed, Yahweh won this contest that he himself initiated with Satan and Job remained loyal to Yahweh. Bragging rights earned through the abuse and pain inflicted on this innocent man! Yay!
The story ends well because Yahweh gave Job back all of his assets and as well more children to replace the dead ones! No sense mourning the children that were murdered when you get a bunch more!
What a kind, loving Father.
Struck Down Dead
From the New Testament, we have the story of the husband and wife team – Anaias and Sapphira. They were indeed believers, but Paul’s writings tell us their unfortunate sin was selling a piece of property and not giving all of the proceeds to the church. How dare they sell property and not give all of the proceeds to the church! This ‘horrific sin’ was labelled “conspiring to test the holy spirit” and as a result, each fell down dead.
I remember being a child being taught this in Sunday School and being very confused and afraid. I wondered what kind of sin might cause ‘god’ to strike me dead. I might unknowingly sin and be stricken to death.
But never mind that, children. Let’s sing a song about “What a kind, loving Father!”
(I seriously question the motivation of the writer Paul in general – given his status as a Roman who killed believers who later had a sudden, unwitnessed miracle and subsequent conversion. His writings contradicted Jesus. Even the disciples were wary of him. While other New Testament writers might have been genuine, there are too many red flags with Paul. Also note, this story of Anaias and Sapphira was a story of not withholding your own money. More on Roman government control later.)
Death By Bear Mauling
This is the story of 42 youths, or some versions say “children’, who are verbally teasing Elijah, an apparent prophet of god. They called him “Baldy”. In retaliation, “In the name of the lord” Elijah curses them are mauled to death by two bears.
Psychological Manipulation
Why do we accept this idea of fear? What is it about our upbringing that can give us such a warped view of love? That a father might love us but then kill us if we do wrong? And that it’s always justified and fair? And we should never question it?
Were we abused and dysfunctional that never knew unconditional love or could see that this was manipulation? As for myself, yes, I was that dysfunctional.
It’s especially confusing when you also have verses talking about the truth about how fear and love do not go together!
More Mixed Messages From The Bible
A recurring theme in the New Testament is to make us aware of a god of love and grace and forgiveness whom we should not fear.
1 John 4:18 says “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love.
2 Timothy 1:7 “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Could we say these verses contradict the verses telling us to be in fear? Yes of course they do! The Bible is full of contradictions and mixed messages.
Those who worship the book fail to see them.
I have heard that fear is the opposite of love. That make sense to me.
I don’t have all the answers but I do know this. The bible has errors, contradictions and mixed messages. Why do you think there are thousands of Christian denominations out there? Go on a Christian message board or Facebook bible study group where believers argue this and that all day long – each individual ‘right’ in his own mind while providing biblical support.
It’s insane.
Fear Is A Means To Control
That’s not some new revelation – just a reminder.
If you’ve never heard George Carlin’s brilliant rant, The Game Is Rigged, please take a listen. It’s decades old but so very relevant. Briefly, Carlin calls those calling the shots in this world “the real owners” and the politicians are there just to make it look like we, the people, have a choice. The real owners use fear to control. They are always putting fear messages out to us.
Since I was a teen in the 1970’s, here a few of the examples of the fear mongering that was broadcasted that never came to pass – The Killer Bees, A New Ice Age, Y2K Panic, Acid Rain Devastating Forests, The Opec Oil Crisis, Mad Cow Disease, Sars etc. This calls for a whole other blog post but you get the idea.
Fear is also said to be the currency of the ‘real owners’ who are also operating in another realm – again a topic for another post.
The Bible Is A Control Mechanism
The Bible was compiled virtually by the nefarious Roman government via the Council Of Rome, more than 300 years after Christ.
AI precisely describes the approval part on the part of the government. “In essence, the Roman government didn’t need to “approve” the council because the council’s very purpose—to define and solidify the Nicene Christian faith—was in perfect alignment with the state’s new policy. The government had already approved of the theology and authority of the very leaders who were convening the council.”
Basically, the Romans, who had previously been killing off believers, packaged up the religion with the help of the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Rome and said “Here is the version of Christianity we can approve of with so have at it. We will no longer feed you to the lions in public arenas you if you believe in our approved version of Christianity.”
This should be common knowledge to all but it’s not. Why would anyone trust the Roman government for anything – let alone to bring them the “truth” they live and breath daily – the ‘truth’ they stake their lives on? The ‘truth’ that divides them from family, friends and other relationships? The ‘truth’ that defines their actions and their very being? Do they even consider the fact that the mixed messages and contradictions divide them from other believers?
The Bible was compiled with the approval of the nefarious Roman government as a means to control.
I do not mean to say there is no truth in there. I do think there is and I don’t discount that there is a real god of love, but a god who rules like a tyrant through fear and murder and killing the masses, condoning evils like slavery and polygamy (for men) and killing children is definitely not a god of love.
See it for what it is – not for what you want it to be.
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