[RoadGumby]

Sophomoric reply. Fear is to respect, to know that someone is more powerful. Should you ‘fear’ your Creator, I would say a resounding ‘Yes!’. He is loving, and also just. It is just that should you fall short, that you not spend eternity with Him.

Yet you say that needing to have ‘fear and trembling’ makes God sound like his opposite number?

That opposite number requires nothing from you at all, except that you ignore God, refuse His Son. Is that you? I pray not. That opposite number HATES you, wishes you to die, not only here, but for eternity. He requires no ‘fear’ from you at all.

Accept Christ and work out your salvation wiith fear and trembling. He desires to lose not one.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Sophomoric reply. Fear is to respect, to know that someone is more powerful.

Fear is an emotion evoked by a threat to your safety and well-being. In fact, most people do not respect what they fear - they hate what they fear. You're actually claiming that the emotion we feel toward a violent murderer with the power to end our life is the same emotion we should feel toward God. Again, you sound like you're talking about God's opposite number.