| | Hello to the four of you who read my postings. Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I could make excuse but why bore you. So here is a long overdue post:
There is a church near my house that has an illuminated reader board and every week or so they put up new inspirational messages (Tom, you have experience with this church). Given my background, pagan and such, I am not very interested in these messages but I am curious sometimes to see what they will put up next. This week's message brought up a question for me. The messages is, "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" (or maybe knowledge I cannot remember right now). So my question is why fear? Does fear have another connotation in Christian theology? So I looked this word up on Merriam Webster online and saw two pertinent definitions:
1) an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger
2) profound reverence and awe especially toward God.
I do not understand how one goes from definition 1 to definition 2. Why is the word fear used instead of respect or another synonym of respect? Because I come from a non-Christian background it is hard for me to read the sign and not understand it through def. 1. But I am pretty sure that def 2 is the one preferred by those who put up the message. I am not trying to be offensive or disrespectful but I am honestly curious as to why this word is used over others that seems to have a less negative connotation within their definitions. So my question is why this word and not another? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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| | Posted 8/24/2007 5:17 PM - 109 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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