Do you think that most people believe in God because they are afraid not to?

Question

personally, I think a lot of times people doubt their religion more than they preach it, the only reason they continue to believe is due to the fact that they think something bad will happen to them if they don't. I want to know others opinions.

Answer 1

The Christians that I know, from my church, believe in God and His son because they have a personal experience of Him.

Answer 2

It's been my experience that this is true. They won't admit it, but the believers around here come across to me as believing less than they make it out to be that they do. They profess to be devout believers, but they don't act like it.

They're afraid to step away from the familiar, from what they know. They're afraid of being wrong, and they're afraid of the unknown. People have been indoctrinated since they were infants, never given a chance to think for themselves and are told that it's "wrong" at the least and a fatal sin at the worst to question such teachings. It's a form of control, to restrict free will so that people act a certain "accepted" way dictated by those in power.

People are also, quite naturally, afraid of death. Obviously, nobody's survived death. That's why they call it death. Because nobody can die and then come back a hundred years later and say what's on the other side, nobody knows what happens after a person dies. People are afraid to think about what happens then. People are afraid of nothingness, so they cling to the hope that there's something after death.

And not only that, to further fuel that natural fear and use it to make people behave as those in power want, they say that if you don't do as they say, something BAD will happen after death. If you're good and do as told, you'll be rewarded. But don't do what doctrines say, you're in for an eternity of pain. Seeing as how eternity is a VERY long time, people obviously don't want to suffer for the rest of time.

People think of the worst-case scenario, fear it, and will toe the straight and narrow, just to ensure that they avoid an eternity of unimaginable pain and suffering. Those in power have used this to their advantage for centuries, be they priests, governmental officials, or heads of households. Do as they say, you'll be fine. Don't, and you're in deep trouble. People are truly afraid of the worst things imaginable happening to them, the unknown, and they just plain are afraid to be wrong.