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As human beings we are very familiar with legal codes and penalties; if we are caught transgressing the law, we can expect to be tried and, if found guilty, to pay a penalty of some sort. We see this in the Old Testament in the Deuteronomic Code: I sin, I am punished, I repent, God forgives me and restores me to his love. Te most revolutionary aspect of the Gospel message is that God still loves us though we are far off: Saul of Tarsus was not repentant, and yet God’s love reached him and he repented and followed God even unto death; unearned Grace saved him, and it is the same Grace, similarly undeserved, which will see us home of we repent and follow God’s precepts.
This runs so counter to our experiences as fallen human beings that we have trouble comprehending it. Jesus asked (Luke 7:42) who would love more, one forgiven a small debt, or one forgiven a large one? As the Word Incarnate he knew that true love stemmed from receiving forgiveness rather than from fear of being punished. It is understandable that so often the Christian message gas been spread in terms of the fear of God, but it is hard to see that as the main message coming from Jesus himself. He offers salvation to all who will receive him and his message, and that message is not based on frightening us, but on enlightening us, not on fear, but on love. I know there are those who have a visceral reaction to the word ‘love’ because of its use to effectively obscure the consequences of not turning to God and repenting. It may well be that there are those who have turned to God because of fear, but we are not presented with any examples in the New Testament of Jesus or the Apostles using such methods.
Punishment does not heal us. It may make us mindful enough to avoid whatever behaviour got us punished, or it may make us cunning enough not to get caught again, but it will not heal us – it will not make us good. Where Scripture talks of the ‘fear of God’ the Greek word ‘phobos’ is better translated as ‘respect’ or ‘awe’. In encouraging us to call God “Father”, Jesus encourages us to think in a way which can help us. So, though it may run counter to some modern child care theories, fathers do set boundaries, and they do so for the sake of their children; there are some things which are bad for children which they would, nonetheless, embrace if allowed (think child, think sweet-shop, think unlimited access to same). But a father who punished his child for an infraction with the threat that they would burn forever unless they behaved would not command ‘awe’ or ‘respect’, he would be someone to be reported to the authorities for child cruelty.
We have free will from God. He wants us to use it to embrace his love for us and to love him back. If we turn away from that offer, if we refuse that free Grace, then we exile ourselves – and in so doing, thwart his will for us which is that he should be all in all to us. In this Advent Season let us not turn away, but tread the road to Bethlehem.
All Along the Watchtower 
Excellent post C.
Fear is a complicated emotion as is love and was given man and animals in the natural order for self-preservation among other things . . . such as courage, anger, temperance, prudence and a host of other useful gifts. While the gist of your post is of obvious merit, in this present age I think we place little account or even encourage a distaste for the gift of fear; and it is surely a gift both in the natural and the divine order of things. It is imperfect in itself and can only be dispelled by its perfection in love. But fear in itself is a sense that we are not in charge and are at the beck and call of circumstance, natural disaster or the goodwill of a superior, a stronger opponent or an authority greater than ourselves. Whether it be servile fear or parental fear is simply the mechanism that is innate in the soul to realize its own helplessness or recognize true authority and thereby bring one to either throw oneself on their mercy (either for love of self or love of the parent that you have offended) or defiantly die in hatred and contempt for the one who could spare you or spurn you. We either respect and love such power or we end up hating it. Mercy has become, sadly, a sign of weakness or a sign of self esteem that is considered to be owed to the person; an entitlement of sorts. It is no longer, as was charitable giving, a sign of benevolence and love as intended. I think that something has gone haywire in the wiring of our minds which ought be explored; for we truly need to recover that sense of awe and love along with our fear of not finding such comfort in this life or the next.
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Good points which emphasise our fallen nature. Mercy is what God shows us. He does not want us to be frightened of him. Being frightened of the consequences of bad actions is very wise. I’d draw a distinction between that – i.e. being frightened of the consequences of being bad – and being frightened of God. Our fear should be of the consequences of sin on ourselves and our soul, and our prayer should be to rest in God’s strength to resist and come to him as he wants.
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Well I see Matthew 10:28 as both warning concerning the urgency of seeking mercy from God and a word of courage for dangers in this life.
“And fear ye not them that kill the body, and are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him that can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
And of course when speaking of the urgency of finding what is important in this life there is nothing quite like: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” That is the use of the natural gift of fear to abandon what is not helpful in this life for that which we were made for; God Himself.
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I’d be careful here, because there is a danger of implying that somehow we deserve mercy from God and can earn it. We don’t, and we can’t – it is clear it is a free gift. We can show by own way of life our gratitude for receiving it, but we cannot ‘seek mercy’ – or deserve it. It comes like manna from Heaven so to say.
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Is not certain prayer and the movement to the confessional an act of ‘seeking mercy’? As you know regarding ‘deserving’ of mercy, I fully agree. It is unmerited grace.
Perhaps I could explain my understanding a bit more.
There seems to be a ‘healthy’ fear and an ‘unhealthy’ fear of offending God. A healthy fear drives us to make ammends to our lives and to attend to our consciences as formed by the Word of God and His Church. But an unhealthy fear is an obsessive behavior that is best illustrated by scrupulosity in the spiritual realm and OCD in the natural world. For scrupulosity as is taught by the Church actually keeps God at arms distance for fear that they are not good enough and prevents them from attaining to the desired loving presence of God. One fear is motivational and the other is demoralizing and paralyzing as it prevents us from acting and utilizing our will to embrace His love in all its magnanimity. That is how love should overcome fear [an unhealthy fear] that separates us from God. But fear that is transformed by love to bring us to tears for offending the one Whom we love and Who has shown us all of His love first is wisdom and only natural. Such fear is often not even spoken of as fear but as love; for it certainly is given us by the loving God as a gift of tears as the saints speak of them.
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Good distinction, Scoop. Yes, we can. of course, seek mercy – as long as we know that it is a gift and we don’t, as perhaps the modern fashion might suggest, get all upset when we don’t get what our self-esteem tells us we ‘deserve’.
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Precisely, my friend.
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🙂
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A good piece, C, and very much in line with Isaac the Syrian. That thread in our tapestry here has caught my attention of late and cuts to the heart of the question, “Who is God?” In pointing to Christ, you remind us that He is the “image of the invisible God”.
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Thank you, Nicholas. Yes, we see Christ manifest as a healer and a teacher – roles he still fulfils if we are watching.
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Of course, talk of healing leads to the restoration concept and its application now in the ministry of the Church and in the age to come in the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth. I am beginning to wonder whether we ought to write a series thinking about what restoration really means. Perhaps if we had a renewed sense of vision, that might redirect our thoughts towards greater charity.
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That’s a good idea, Nicholas 🙂
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It might also be a nice distraction in between political gloom. 😛
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Quite so – trying to avoid politics – so feel free to write if you have the time.
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Just a thought to toss into the mix………….on the Last Day, one of the events just after the general Resurrection of the entire body of humanity in which God separates the sheep from the goats, (see Matthew 25:31-46) the Last Judgement, there will be what is sometimes called the great illumination. In that hour, all the sins of all the people from Adam to the last man standing will be revealed to all of humanity. As Scripture declares, “we will rejoice to see that day,” etc. because those of us who are sheep and not goats will experience the perfect Justice of God along with his infinite Mercy, (again Scripture is supportive in Ps. 85) that is if we maintain a sheep’s status until death and don’t revert to goat-like behaviors, none of us is saved in the sense the Protestant’s perceive that word. But I love this particular event in the eschatological schema. Having some cops in my family who worked until “case closed,” could get stamped on a file folder, I relish the fact that God will do the same with every hidden crime on the planet! There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed in this hour, NOTHING. Think about it for a little while. All those hidden good deeds done for God in the secrets of our hearts will also be made manifest along side the evils hidden there. The Justice of God will prevail and anyone who has had to bear the sorrow and even bitterness that accompanies life after crime will understand. We will see exactly how damaged the Body of Christ, the sheep of His fold have been by sin and how the tender mercies of the Sacrament of Penance has healed these divisions. It truly will be a very, very glorious hour. But we will also see all that is evil, the false prophets, the devil who is satan and everyone in league with him, plus those who failed to live as God willed tossed into the abyss to be eternally destroyed. Then a new heaven and a new earth are made, the new Jerusalem, etc.
I don’t need to go that far in describing it all for the purpose of this discussion. We will rejoice to see those judged by God eternally punished. Ugly word, and not seen in its proper perspective, to some it simply isn’t God’s will to punish anyone, the universalists and their ilk and kin of various types. But I really enjoyed my study of eschatology, especially in regard to the truth about the “grand illumination.” My interest in this particular event was spurred on by two main facts of my life, a murder of a loved one and the person who “got away with it,” and a need to sort thru the BS of Garabandal and their distortion of the eschatological messages they proposed to the Church. I learned bunches of stuff about all this. I’m very grateful to know it too.
Yes, Chalcedon. There will be a time in “THE END” when we will rejoice to see sin punished by God, all sin, every single dirty deed. And if you can stand using that word, “punishment,” that is exactly what the goats, the false prophets, and the devils deserve, eternally.
God bless. Ginnyfree.
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God alone can judge that – and I am content to let him – and even if I weren’t, he’s not asking my advice 🙂
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“Punishment does not heal us…it will not make us good.” Indeed, C. In my own experience, before I was disposed to receive God’s mercy (i.e., in a way that didn’t see it as a free ticket to sin), I had to be broken down by years of fearing God as one would an enemy. A lot played into that, but my years of fearing and even hating God because of my paralyzing fear of hell, finally broke me down to the point that I was ready to receive mercy. Left simply with fear, we either turn into atheists or unmerciful legalists. However after fear has done its proper work, God’s mercy comes and ignites our love and converts our hearts in such a way that fear of punishment no longer needs be our motivation.
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