@wakeupkitty 26 June 2020 more from that month

Living in fear

"God-fearing" I just read the expression again and thought it is a good subject to write about. What does this expression "God-fearing" mean? Why should anyone fear God? It sounds negative to me. It doesn't make sense to fear what stands for love and forgiveness. Why do people say they are in fear, fearing God? **Do you fear God?** I don't. I lived in fear for many years, I feared my parents, for my life but not God. He's a figure somewhere up in the sky, one of those (7?) heavens or even above. Apparently, a he although once, a long time ago there was a she. She's still there but she has to shut up. She is good, gives life but doesn't count. If you believe in her you are an idiot, a fool, a tree hugger, a witch, or pagan. **Is God good?** If I read the bible I read a lot of things I would not label as good. God seems to have a love for punishing in extremely cruel ways. It's clear if you don't listen to him he drowns you, changes you into stone, punishes you with more than one plague and he didn't really seem to care about his behavior for ages. Shouldn't it make anyone wonder where the goodness is? On the other hand, should God care? If he created Adam a total loser not using the gift of free will (he could have refused to eat from the fruit offered), and if he used himself for an example to create this man, it explains a lot. It explains to me why Cain beat his brother dead, why there are so many liars, thieves, killers, and people with small excuses. Excuses God didn't need because he modeled Adam. If you model something, if you create and don't like it you have the right to slam it into pieces, throw it away and start all over again. **It's clear to me a God behaving like that spreads fear.** Fear to those who believe in him. A fear spread by what a colleague writer calls "some of his employees". I am not one of those who fear God. The fear for my parents, the teachers at school impressed me way more than the fear for a God who never gave me a hand but also never harmed me. Perhaps God was too busy at that time to bully and molest me, too busy with blessing America or some other country, too busy listening to all those people in need being a victim of wars fought in his name, too busy to hear all those endless wishlists as if he is Santa Claus. I decided to go my own way and used the gift of free will and the brain given to me. I build a life for me and my children free of fear. If it comes to fear I have experienced enough for the rest of my life. I do not count on a place in heaven because I am not a good, sweet, person and can not live by all those rules but that doesn't matter because many of those I heard saying they go to heaven I do not want to meet anyway. God-fearing? If you are I ask you why? If God is good there's no need to. The only one you should fear is yourself. *It's not my intention to hurt anyone's feelings but to share my thoughts about an expression used as a columnist should.*