Soaringeagles posts in this thread remind me to bring up another reason why "fear" is used instead of "respect." Respect implies an equality. (This is not to say that God does not respect people after all, he'll never force anyone to do anything, you've got free will) What I am saying is that people and God are not equal. God is superior, and that is why fear is used in my opinion. Fear implies a difference in power, knowledge or whatever else. Respect simply implies an aknowledgement of something elses powers, not that they are neccessarily great or worse. PS-- Please do not start to debate whether or not God is superior etc., that's a different thread, I'm just expressing why the word "fear" is used.
Not much of a sense of humor with you, is there? And hey, as far as "fear" being used instead of "respect"...when someone says "respect your elders", we all know it's because they are not our equals, rather they are our superiors (due to more life experience, I guess). At least that's what is meant, let's not get into a debate about whether the elders are indeed superior to younger people.
