Is the fear of God a type of phobia?

Question

*cough*

Answer 1

Fear is subjective to WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. If you are trying to please God, then FEAR becomes extreme respect and reverence and is demonstrated by your obdience. If you have sinned and are doing evil in the sight of God, then FEAR becomes terror in knowing you will get what you have coming to you.

Answer 2

a phobia is any irrational fear - fear of spiders, heights etc. - a fear that makes little sense, as opposed to a fear which is rational fear of being in a plane crash, fear of being run over in the street - both of which you are right to be fearful of.
To clarify - to be scared of fire arms is a phobia - to be scared of being shot by someone witha gun is very real fear.

So if you are scared of a god then it is irrational as it has no real outcome and no harm can come to you, in the same way a spider is unlikely to hurt you given the disparity in size. So it would be a classed a phobia.

In factit is not one but two phobias: Theophobia - Fear of gods or religion or Zeusophobia

Answer 3

Phobia - an irrational fear. A fear in God is irrational, as it is not proven that he has every hurt any of us (or even if he exists). If you believe in God, and are a Christian, you should follow primarily the New Testament which teaches of a caring and loving God, so God shouldn't hurt you in any way. Therefore the fear is irrational, and is therefore a phobia

Answer 4

Fear of anything is a phobia. The fear of God is called theophobia.

http://www.planetpsych.com/zPsychology_101/disorders/phobias.htm

Answer 5

No, its the same thing as kids fearing their parents. You are not just living in fear but you fear making a mistake because of fear of punishment.

Exodus 20:20 (Whole Chapter)
Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

Answer 6

I seriously see it as an addiction. If you've ever seen people in church get high on the "Holy Spirit," you know what I'm talking about. I think there is a psychological longing for the attention, combined with a physiological "high." The adrenaline and endorphines must be addicting. The addiction is fueled by afflicting others. Very dangerous, it appears to be. This is only my personal observation. And, the charismatic churches are rampant with "recovering addicts," since they are recruited from jails and halfway houses. I would love to hear what Brenda's World has to say on this theory. I bet she has some research and statistics.

Answer 7

No its just a fear, if it was a phobia it would a Phobia of God probably Dietyophobia

Answer 8

You have raised a good point here.

My sister-in-law who was brought up in the Catholic faith and who later married my brother a non-Catholic, was and still is but to a lesser extent absolutely terrified at the men of the word God. It did not help when her parish priest sent her letter upon letter saying that she would be dammed even in hell for denouncing her religion and for marrying a non Catholic.

So I am not sure whether phobia is the correct word to use.

Answer 9

Belief in a god is so preposterous that it is hard for me to understand why anyone would believe in it to start with let alone allow it to frighten them. However if it was forced into your head during your child hood I can understand could happen. It is a shame that parents would brainwash their children in such a way. Most any other type of brainwashing if proven would land a person in jail.

Come on and wise up people and don't treat your own kids like that. Religion should be kept in your bedroom like sex and children should not be exposed to it till they are of age. Which at that time they can make up their own mind on it just like with sex. It is way more dangerous then sex or drugs ever was.

Answer 10

Obviously not one that worries many people today in the traditional sense. Sadly, that will change, but then it will be too late. It is supposed to be a constructive force to guide us to proper decisions when we wouldn't while left to our own inclinations.

Today we have, may I coin a phrase, theophobes. They don't fear God but fear God will enter their lives and ruin the cesspool they are so happy with. The American constitution has been reread to assume a freedom from religion instead of freedom of religion. In that sense, many Americans are afflicted with this phobia against anything Christian, first, and possibly anything Jewish, second (second, only because to be anti-semitic is still un-PC and therefore un-cool).

Answer 11

A phobia is a abnormally strong and irrational fear of something...
Simple fear of something is just common sense in many cases.