Religion = Fear?

Question

I just read this quote here on answers...

"If you mind the idea of eternal punishment and want to do everything you can to ensure you dont get there, make God the desire of your heart!!!"

I keep seeing this theme over and over again. I truely believe that this is indicative of the way "religious" people live. They are so afraid of some supposed punnishment after death (ie. "hell"), that they only carry on with religious baloney to avoid this fate.

Are people really that brainwashed by "religion"??

Answer 1

I guess thats what 1700 years of being told you'll go the hell if you don't believe will give you. You can't really blame them the church has been brainwashing since they were first given power. It was an old tactic that the churched used to convert others to the faith.

Answer 2

I am not a Christian because of fear. I consider myself a Christian because I believe in God and the lessons taught by Jesus. I also believe that many people over the generations have added their own personal thoughts about God and have corrupted many minds, and continue to teach others their own ideas not God's.
The bottom line is that I am unique as you and every other human ever born. We are not the same, therefore we don't think the same.
If one were to accept a religion based upon fear it would be pointless and in vain. God does not want believers to fake our way to him, and although many religious humans do fake their way to God based upon religion, God knows the true heart.
I'm a religious person and I don't live in fear. I read the bible and throughout the bible I get the message that we can't judge others because we are imperfect and all of us have faults.
So how could I wake up in the morning and tell you what to do with your heart when only God knows it?
I would never recommend a non-believer to become a believer based upon fear...that would be a life wasted!
Be yourself, seek wisdom, let go of pride, love others, don't let greed capture your heart, advocate for the weak, don't worry about tomorrow, do your part to keep the earth clean, learn to accept yourself and others, keep an open heart and GOD WILL FIND YOU...Regardless to what you believe God does give us our heart's desire...what is yours?
If you are contempt with yourself & your beliefs, why does it seem as if you have a complex against religious people? You basically stereotyped me for being religious and asked if I were brainwashed.

How old are you? Perhaps one day you will mature and realize we all have different minds and we will never agree, but we should at least educate ourself and learn to accept others beliefs. The world will NEVER be religion free simply because God is present in the mind of almost every human born. He is even in the mind of the atheist, or else they'd never attempt to argue about God :-)

Answer 3

It's basically human nature to learn through positive reinforcement (or, rather, negative non-inforcement). Children are brought up to do things not because they are the proper things to do, but to avoid reprisal by some authority or act of nature ("Don't play with fire, you'll get burned" "Follow the law or else you'll be arrested"). Naturally, there needs to be some equivolent way to raise children with religion. Everyone until their teenage years has been indoctrinated by their household religion (unless their family is agnostic/athiest) so they are by default part of that religion, and with most of those religions, the children learn stories of God/gods rewarding the righteous and condemning the wicked. Since you general have no control over your mortality (you may be healthy due to acts like good cleaning and eating habits, but die due to random occurance or affliction) it's good to know that there is almost absolute control over your soul when you die.

For me, however, I'll acknowledge some high power, though not necessarily the one in any of the montheistic tomes (Quran, Torah, Bible, etc.), but while I fear the pain of death, I also don't fear non-existence, nor do I feel like I should exist eternally in some paradise. I mean, unless I'm a completely different person when I die and become a spirit (what wouldhave been the point of me existing at all), I'm pretty sure eternity at some point would bore me to tears.

There's my 2 cents.

Answer 4

Religion only equals fear depending on the religion and or the interpretation of that religion. It is true, often fear is preached to gain and keep adherents.

With this said not all people who practice a particular religion do so in the exact same way. For example you could chose to focus on the passage in the bible that says the fear of God is the beginning wisdom. Or you could focus more so on the passage that says true love drives out all fear. I believe in the later interpreting it to mean that God is love and we have no reason to fear him/her/it because God is a good God who will always does the right thing.

I do not believe in God's wrath, punishment, judgment as God is much better than the various men who wrote, scribed, translated, changed, the bible over many millennium.

Trust the compass God put in your heart and you will not find any fear, but instead much light hearted joy in the knowledge that the destiny of all souls is with God.

Answer 5

Sometimes it is true that people start out being a Christian because of being afraid of hell (for good reason). But then as you hear of all Jesus did for us, by dying and suffering for us on the cross, you go from fear to love and thankfulness to Him and you want to live for Him and do all you can to show Him you appreciate His sacrifice so you can be forgiven and enjoy eternal happiness in heaven. There are lots of things we do because we are afraid of the consequences, but that doesn't make it wrong. You don't speed because you don't want a $150.00 ticket, you don't steal because you don't want to go to jail, etc. If you do anything out of fear of the consequences, does that mean you're brainwashed too?

Answer 6

Well, people aren't really brainwashed by religion, because religion is essentially a collection of beliefs for people to guide their lives buy. The problem in religion arises due to two reasons:

1. Misinterpretations of the same religious document to derive different meanings. For example, no holy book says that women are to be relagated to households only, but in some religions we do see it happening.
2. Unneeded emphasis is given on parts of the religious scripture in order to inspire fear in the minds of its believer. This is wrong, because it encourages fanaticism and encourages people to believe that they are being held for ransom by the very God they believe in, which is wrong.

I think the only way that people can avoid this is to use their common sense and discretion when it comes to their religion, and to keep such opinions and beliefs amongst themselves. It is because of the clash the religions that we stare into the face of chaos today.
As for your title, I would add a change. For me,
Religion = Arrogance.
SBK

Answer 7

Religion also caters to a fear of the unknown, and a fear of death. It provides complete (inaccurate) answers to everything, and it promises an eternal life that will be everything you could desire.

Answer 8

Sometimes, "fear" is a legitimate motivating factor -- especially when the thing to be "feared" (in this case, hell) is real.

Fear is also often used to get people to obey the civil law. If you break the law, we are reminded, you will go to prison.

Is that fear? Yes. But it's a legitimate use of fear to help someone -- because the possibility of going to prison is very, very real.

It's the same with hell. It's a real place where real people really go. Really!

So, it's perfectly okay to warn people of that very real possibility.

Is that "fear"? Yes, I suppose it is. But as long the consequence to be feared is real, there's nothing wrong with using "fear" as a teaching tool.

Answer 9

You hit the nail on the head. Religion = Fear

Answer 10

If you look just here fair enough, although it's a little inaccurate.
There are folks of faith who aren't afraid. And anyway, who wants to die? Do you?
cheers from an agnostic atheist.