Fear of God and Man

In the Scriptures I find a remarkable contradiction.  We are told to fear God, but we are told not to fear.  Those who fear are damned.

"I, the Lord, have said that the fearful... shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (D&C 63:17)

This is a scary thought.  As I read more carefully, it seems to me that there are two kinds of fear:
1. The fear of man
2. The fear of God

Those who are fearful of man are afraid of the suffering in the body.  Pain, loss, suffering, hunger, fatigue, hatred, reprisal, shame, and all the attendant repercussions that come with them are a motivating force for action.  If we base our actions on the fear of the things that are in the world, we will suffer in the spirit all that we want to avoid in the flesh.  This is because the fear of the world is always based on a false premise.

Ignorance brings fear because we don't know what will happen, or even the possible outcomes.  "Fearing the worst" is the result of our lost and fallen state.  We cannot see, so we guess -- and when we fear we always guess wrong.  Some common fears, and their realities include:

Loss of life -- we will all live forever.
Reprisal of others -- they are not our judges.
Loss of status -- we are all in the same boat.
Failure -- we cannot fail in the things of the world.
Loss of control -- God is in control.
Pain -- Jesus Christ has taken on all pain and suffering.
Loss of loved ones -- we are all eternal beings and cannot lose each other.

"Fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever."
D&C 122:9

"Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth."
Luke 21:26

"Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart I have written my law, fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings."
2 Nephi 8:7

There is even a false fear of God:  "Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men..."
2 Nephi 27:25

Fear God. (1 Peter 2:17)
As Peter said, we are commanded to fear God, and not to fear man.  Fear of God is based on the truth.  When we know who we are in relation to God, we will come to Him in fear and trembling.  We need Him for everything, being totally dependent on Him for all things.  Nothing good can come to us without Him.  Without him all is lost, fallen, hopeless, lonely, and worthless.

Without Him we really are lost.
Without Him we really are fallen.
Without Him we really have no power.
Without Him we really are nothing.
Without Him we will lose everything.
Without Him we will die every death.
Without Him we are alone.
Without Him we will suffer untold and immeasurable pain.
Without Him we can only fail, no matter how much effort we expend.

Fearing God, then, is fearing the reality of what we are, lost, alone, powerless, and suffering.  These are the real things to fear.  God has all power over every sense of our salvation so it is logical and reasonable to fear Him, to fear His judgment.  All the things we fear in the world are really under the control and power of God.  It's His judgment we need to fear.

"I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me." (D&C 76:5)

The antidote for the fear of the world, is knowledge.  We don't need to know everything that will happen, only that God knows, and He loves us and will care for us.  If we understand in our hearts the truth of our own situation, where we stand before God and man, we would never fear man, but rather we would fear God.  Our concerns would be to Him, asking, "What does God think of me?"  The fear of God would drive all of our actions, and we would come to know Him and love Him.  Even in love we maintain that fear, knowing that He would never let us down, but that we may fall by our own volition.  By remaining fearful we continually submit to His will, giving up our own, "even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)

One of the most intelligent children I have ever met is Ethan Daniel Hughes.  I became his step-father when he was four years old.  He had lived his life during a time of great difficulty in the family because his father had cancer and was slowly dying.  He was a child that needed guidelines, but all the different caretakers had no consistency, and he was left without a foundation.  Several times I had to use brute force to restrain him, or move him.  One time I picked him up and put him in his room.  He sat there and looked at me, and I could see what he was thinking, "This guy is stronger than me, and I cannot win a fight with him..."  This impeccable logic led him to submit.  He has since become an amazingly obedient and happy child.

To "put the fear of God" into another is to show them how useless it is to resist His love.  Pride only brings the very things we fear -- sorrow and suffering.  The humility of a child submitting to his father is the relationship between man and God that brings happiness, peace, and complete fearlessness.  The fear of God removes all fear of the world, allowing us to fearlessly face all the vicissitudes of life.