Fear of God

[Rafe]

One thing I have persistently found difficult and sometimes paralysing in religion is the idea of a fear of God, or a fear of punishment.

In the Christian tradition, this seems most manifest in the idea 'If you don't do what God tells you, if you don't follow the law, then Satan will have you'. This idea of eternal damnation is I feel one that puts many people off pursuing a religious path. I also suspect this fear has led not only individuals, but nations into conflict and war against each other. An irony, as this is completely against the central themes of many religions and, for Baha'is, the idea of unity.

As I understand it, the Baha'i faith doesn't recognise an evil manifestation like Satan, but rather that we can be either close to God or far from him. And the fear is be to eternally separated from him. And the choice, as I understand it, is up to us. In the fifth verse of the Arabic hidden words, Baha'u'llah says:

"Love Me, that I may love thee. If thou lovest Me not, in no wise can my love reach thee...".

The word "reach" here is critical to me, as it says that God will always love us, no matter what we do, but it is up to us whether we receive this love or not.

So far, I feel more comforted by this view. But this morning, I read verse 27:

"Breathe not the sins of others so long as thou art thyself a sinner. Shouldst thou transgress this command, accursed wouldst thou be, and to this I bear witness"

If we assume that everyone is by default a sinner, what is this saying? To me, it says - if you talk about the sins of others, accursed you will be. Accursed means lying under a curse, and am I right in assuming the 'accurser' here is God? To be cursed can literally mean to be damned. So, if at any point, I talk about someone's sins... "X really hacked me off because they lied to me and betrayed me, and it really hurt me" ... then I am damned by God? Have I interpreted this right?

I am taking each meaning to the extreme, but you see my point. Do I really want to subscribe to a belief system that uses such fear to control my behaviour?

[Donna evertz]

Baha'u'llah explains that the fear of God is really the fear of disappointing God...in other words, we KNOW (by virtue of the spiritual laws of God, which are unchanging in all dispensations) what are the right things to do...and when we do the wrong thing (such as backbiting) - we ARE disappointing God...and in doing that, we take ourselves further away from God.

If we believe that our purpose here is to ready our souls for the spiritual worlds to come, then when we make a choice which is contrary to the will of God - we rightfully fear that we are threatening our own progress...I liken it to when we, as children, tested the limits that our parents set for us...when we really KNEW what we were doing was wrong, we feared our parents' reactions - all the while knowing that they would still LOVE us, but that (if they KNEW what we had done) they would be disappointed...

God ALWAYS knows what we do...so when we go against His Will, it is unarguable that we disappoint God. At the same time, God would also know what that OTHER person did, too...so, unless you had a particular reason to tell someone what had been done to you - perhaps as a warning? - what would the BENEFIT of saying this be?

As far as your question on the literal translation of "accursed" - I believe that we curse ourselves when we backbite others...

One thing I know is that when someone tells you a story about someone else's faults...at some other time, that person will very likely be telling someone ELSE a story about you...and on and on...

God gives us the laws...and the free will to obey or disobey. There are consequences to all actions - and I think it is better to give some thought to the consequences, even to FEAR the consequences...

[susan nossa]

"Fear ensures watchfulness." This was mentioned in a talk to youth in Haifa Israel a few years ago and being a very simple-minded person, this helps me understand obedience, patience, and my own view of the big picture.

[Rafe]

Dear Donna and Susan

Thanks for your replies. I still have an issue with the word fear. In fear, we are paralysed. There is no rational thought. Fear has been used by dictators and oppressive regimes to keep people in their place. The fear of something bad happening if you don't toe the line!

I think perhaps one of my issues here was, as you pointed out Donna, the issue of back biting. I want to start a discussion about back biting that on the fundamentals of faith group - how we actually define it, and look at why it seems (in the Faith) it is one of the worst of sins. Would value your opinions! Peace.

[Carrie]

A thought from another scholar of the Faith, some time back:
And whoever has learned to fear God becomes thereby immune from every other
fear.
(George Townshend, The Heart of the Gospel, p. 43)


And an interesting notion:

Fear God, O my people! Let not too
much reading (of the Sacred Word) and actions by day or
night make you proud.

(Baha'u'llah quoted in Dr. J.E. Esslemont's Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p. 92)

There may, and likely is, a great deal involved in fearing God, but in this quote I think it says that if we fear God, then whatever devotion may become our habit, we are protected from pride, which would cause us to become remote from God. The natural way of things is that there are tests of our condition no matter what it is - not written in heaven and sent down for us to pass or fail, but the organic process of life in this world will test the state of our faith and the motives for which we do things. And if one is in the habit of living each day making the best decisions in light of faith, praying and reading the Writings morn and eve, taking care of our own spiritual battles, giving to the Fund, attending to the poor, applying spiritual principles to the raising of one's children and the relationship with one's spouse, undertaking those teaching efforts that are possible - a person could begin to feel pretty proud of efforts made, which hasn't undone the good accomplished, but limits our effectiveness at that point, until we can recover.

Human beings are susceptible. As Susan's message mentioned in other terms, I think fearing God is another safeguard we can adhere to in order that we be liberated from the siren of pride and pomp to come closer to the true nature we are to discover true happiness here and for our soul's journey - for it's the real "self" our true identity.

Humility seems to be such a key to providing our souls with the wherewithall for it's future. It provides an environment for both our growth as individuals for the sake of our soul, and it provides that environment necessary for the uniting of a fractious world.

Many quotes exist that say things like "Fear God and God will give you knowledge" Gems of Divine Mysteries, p.26 and "Fear God and follow not your idle fancies" Gleanings p.344, and "Flee ye the One Who hath sacrificed His life that ye may be quickened? Fear God, O followers of the Spirit, and walk not in the footsteps of every divine that hath gone far astray."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 10)
And those to my poor mind seem to say that if we fear God, can resist our magpie ways, leave glittering things and be attracted to pearls of wisdom. All keeping our eye on the ball stuff....

[Carrie]

Hi Rafe,
I woke up this morning with this on my mind, and I think if you think of the practical applications of the law regarding backbiting, it might help.
I think there is an element of re-invention possible for evolving individuals each time they make a new acquaintance, which re-invention can be sabotaged by pre-conceptions the new friend might carry due to untoward remarks about the one they've just met. The law against backbiting allows people to progress. We are none of us who we were and none of us were then who we are now. And it's by the grace of the good will of our compatriots that we can more easily forge new habits, feel liberated from our mistakes and go gamely on to being better people. Often, if the one we have wronged at some time is a close friend or family member, we can apologize and build anew what was stunted by misunderstanding or shortcomings. If the someone is recalcitrant, then all of itself, the new relationship will meet with sorrow again, until the individual who betrays or lets one down in some way is able to overcome.

cheers!

[Susanne Alexander]

Some thoughts...

I've spent a lot of time in the last few years trying to define character qualities...it has very much taught me that looking up what a word means in the dictionary or going by what I have been taught or experienced gives me a very limited view of what Baha'u'llah might mean by a particular word. What is the spiritual context for "fear" and what is its spiritual purpose? That helps me to see that the whole purpose is to guide me to be and do my very best.

Part of the challenge with "fear" of an authority figure - in this case God - is that our minds mix it up with every fear we have had with parents, teachers, police, etc. (and actually probably everything we have ever feared!) It becomes difficult to separate our experiences and try to figure out what the spiritual perspective is instead. One of my coaches pointed out to me a year or so ago that as children, we often associate our mothers with the Creator and our fathers with the Manifestion of God or God Himself, which is quite normal in developing a relationship with God. However, we have no good mechanism in our current society that helps us to shift into a more adult view of God as God and our fathers as our fathers and separate the relationships. We then also sometimes transfer the same perspective onto a spouse, regarding the spouse as an authority figure! We then walk around as adults finding it difficult to pray and take the actions that help us to have an amazing spiritual connection with God and His Manifestions, particularly if we have mixed feelings about our fathers.

One of our current societal challenges, too, is that we may resent anyone having authority over us and the thought of giving anyone the power to discipline us (which actually means teach/train, not punish) raises significant resistance. We are still in spiritual adolesence :-).

A Being that has the power to create and direct every atom of the universe is certainly powerful enough for me to seriously respect. Respect, awe, and fear all have interconnections.

Susanne

[Rafe]

Dear Susanne

Thanks for your post. That's interesting, that we may see our Mother as Creator (physically, she is) and our Father as the Manifestation. I have thought about this - that we base our idea of God on the experiences we have had with authority figures, especially during our formative years. It's obvious to me the enormous difference between people who have been brought up in a loving and secure environment to those who haven't. I reckon I can pick it up after about 30 seconds of meeting someone. When we are children, our parents ARE God.

So - how do we change this when we are older (and its those of us with less of the loving and secure upbringing most need the change). Investigating the Faith, I have been told that God is unknowable, and perhaps this brings about another fear response - fear of the unknown (again, based on previuos experience). So , I should focus on a manifestation to pray to as a way to God (Jesus, Muhammed, Baha'u'llah). But I've never met any manifestations. I don't even have a signed photograph. So it's difficult. Like a divine arranged marriage - you are told to love this person even before you meet them. And its a long engagement :)

Specifically regarding fear - we are limited by language, and by our experience again. That word has many negatives to many people. For me, fear is paralysing, controlling, it diminishes hope, it is without love, it is (and my friend once described) 'the enemy'. As such - I can't fear God in the sense of what that word means to me. Awe and ultimate respect - that's has different meaning to me. I'm happy with that word for now.