Fear of God

The concept of a "fear of God" or of being a "god-fearing" person seems to be contradictory to much of what is taught about God. Scriptures tell us that God is a loving, merciful being. The fourth chapter of the first epistle of John even says that "God is love" (1 John 4:8,16). Why would we "fear" God?

On the other hand, there are other scriptures that are less reassuring. Many scriptures, especially in the Old Testament, speak of the justice and judgements of God. This is the God who rained fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and who drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea (Tangent: I wondered when and why they started calling it the "Red" Sea. Probably before this event, but I wonder). According to these accounts and other stories and teachings from the Old Testament, God could be seen as being vengeful and destructive, and we'd be right to fear Him.

Yet, according to Elder David A. Bednar's talk, Therefore They Hushed Their Fears, this isn't the kind of fear that's implied by the term "godly fear." When a person tells you that they're a God-fearing person, that doesn't mean that they're literally afraid of God. Speaking of this kind of fear, Elder Bednar said:

The righteous fear I am attempting to describe encompasses a deep feeling of reverence, respect, and awe for the Lord Jesus Christ (see Psalm 33:8; 96:4), obedience to His commandments (see Deuteronomy 5:29; 8:6; 10:12; 13:4; Psalm 112:1), and anticipation of the Final Judgment and justice at His hand. Thus, godly fear grows out of a correct understanding of the divine nature and mission of the Lord Jesus Christ, a willingness to submit our will to His will, and a knowledge that every man and woman will be accountable for his or her own sins in the Day of Judgment (see D&C 101:78; Articles of Faith 1:2).

Let's organize this definition. Godly fear "encompasses
      - A deep feeling of reverence, respect, and awe for the Lord Jesus Christ,
      - Obedience to His commandments, and
      - Anticipation of the Final Judgement and justice at His hand.

"Thus, godly fear grows out of
      - A correct understanding of the divine nature and mission of Jesus Christ,
      - A willingness to submit our will to His will, and
      - A knowledge that every man and woman will be accountable for his or her own sins in the Day of Judgement."

I can understand why Elder Bednar used the phrase "I am attempting to describe" rather than "I am describing." This concept is difficult to grasp, and even more difficult to put into words. Perhaps C.S. Lewis said it best with his descriptions of Aslan. In The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Lewis wrote that we "sometimes think that a thing cannot be good and terrible at the same time. If the children [who were now meeting Aslan] had ever thought so, they were cured of it now." I imagine that we will be, too, when we're brought back into God's presence. After the children saw Aslan's "great, royal, solemn, overwhelming eyes," they were so overwhelmed they couldn't bring themselves to look at him. Hopefully, that won't be true for us when we meet God, but it may be.

I think the fear of God has less to do with actually fearing Him, and more to do with recognizing how great He is. He is just and powerful. He is wise. He is our God, our King, and our Father. We don't need to be afraid of Him, but we do owe Him a terrible amount of respect. Part of that respect takes the form of reverence and obedience. Part of it includes the expectation of a just judgement from Him. We will get, at our Final Judgement, exactly what we deserve, given everything we've done. Perhaps that's what we're all so afraid of. But God has made it perfectly clear that we don't need to fear Him, not in that way, not if we follow His plan. Through the Atonement, Jesus Christ has satisfied the demands of justice for all of us. Because of Him, we don't need to fear justice, fear judgement, or fear to meet God.