I ask this question with respect to either the none believer or believer?

Question

Do you feel that some people who say they believe in God do so out of fear of the unknown. And that they are no better than those who do not believe. I will explain: I know someone people who say they truly believe in God, but they have no campassion or love for their fellow man.

What do you think.and .no reporting please? Thank you.

Natasha pardon......?

No I actaully did not accuse people of believing out of fear. Please read the question once more. Tks x

Answer 1

Yours is a deep question.

This paradox is simple hypocrisy.
It has been with you since the first mortal was created and beheld the ever-living light.

I assume you refer to the God of Abraham?
There are many other deities - some require their acolytes to show no compassion or love. Perhaps those you know are simply devout to a different God?

The omnipotent ever present ones know what deviousness lies in a mans heart, and how to exploit it. Pseudo-worshippers fool no one of importance. To fear the unknown is reasonable, to let it constrain your wrath ridiculous. To do so, means living an anguished life of inner torment with a duplicity of sin that damages all human creditability.

Big Nic can spend decades unpicking the soul of a pious believer. This wavering human condition and dull lip-service represents no challenge at all.

Believe or not. Zealously try to do both and they will be miserable in this life and dammed in the next.

Kinda' comforting isn't it? :-)

Answer 2

Some people are brought up to follow a particular faith and just get on with it , ordinary every day people like me and you, making the best job of their lives in the way that their faith informs them to .
Then their are those that actively seek answers to the "God" problem , does he , doesn't he, etc. Some will be influenced by the fear of being utterly alone in an uncaring hostile world with no hope beyond this uncertain life , who would condemn them ?
Others will weigh the facts as best they can and come down for or against and holding their convictions equally on each side of the question ,respect them and their decisions .
It is a moot point who has the most to fear when we do not know the true answer without any shadow of doubt . If those of faith find it hard to maintain it in the face of life's tragedies then sometimes those who claim no faith might now and again just possibly contemplate the slight chance that their might be reason and ultimate intellect in the universe , something verses nothing .
Humans will always be just that , humans , with all the failings we have . That is the point about the need for redemption isn't it?

Answer 3

Fearing the unknown is not possible.
You do not fear what is unknown to you, how could you?
The fear is from the little you do know.
What you do know can never cover all things.
We fear that.

People believe for many reasons and simply because they do does not obviously make them a good person.

We all want security and the world we have been creating for thousands of years does not and has not offered this.

So instead of seeking a solution to this problem they have invented an idea. That there is a supreme entity that will offer them the security they have always sought after. The idea has been subdivided into various forms of organised religions. Which have been the cause of much insecurity and still are.

The word god has become so loaded, that even if it once had a sacred meaning it has been lost in bloodshed.

That does not mean that the unknown to us has nothing sacred, absolute.
Its does not mean that people have not been genuinely touched and moved by something extraordinary.

If you attribute something that has happened to you from what we term unknown then you are attempting to shape the unknown to the known.

Answer 4

I'm not so sure the believers 'fear' the unknown, its more explaining the unknown with another unknown. Let me explain:

In the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy,” a native in the Kalahari Desert encounters technology for the first time--in the shape of a Coke bottle. I found this to be very amusing, but I also began to see parallels between his thought process, and that of the modern day Theist. Both are using CAVEMAN LOGIC to explain their world. I fail to see the difference between “hmm, bottle fall from sky, must be gods” and “hmm, trees, sunsets, complex human organisms and butterflies prove the existence of god.”

In both of these cases, someone is simply replacing one unknown for another unknown, but proving nothing!

I would have thought that as man became more knowledgeable and logical that he would have pushed aside his caveman beliefs, but it seems to be just the opposite.

As an atheist, I do not need the bribe of heaven or the threat of hell to be a good person, I believe in being good for its own sake. Through science and reason, we know more about the true nature of the world we live in than a religion could ever hope to offer.

My quarrel is with irrationality, wishful thinking, superstitions, intellectual dishonesty, and all other forms of thinking that keep mankind mired in darkness, ignorance and hate. Sometimes i do get depressed over our utter death and annihilation, but it just renews my zest to make the most of this life.

Answer 5

All that we know we know with certainty only when we are able to define what we do not know – the unknown. We are in reality a life form upon a medium sized planet floating into limitless bleakness of the space all around. There is nothing I between us and what is unfamiliar and by far unreachable, nothing to protect us but a layer of thin air. Our live is rounded by our beginnings and our ends beyond which we know not what awaits for us to be known.

Religion is a suggested way to manage and organise what we and then to understand and define what we perhaps can not know. The unification of mind through believing in God Almighty is unmatched by any other human approach of the mind. This is true that many people seek refuge into the folds of religion because they simply cannot take any more of what they know, not to speak of the unknown. The thinking minds have always been thwarted by the fear of the unknown. The fear of things unknown and things to come is real as in the words of Shakespeare: ‘when we have shuffled off this mortal coil’, and the ‘country from whose bourns no traveller returns’, this ‘gives us a pause’.

The fear of the unknown is however not the only factor forcing people into submission. The mind has innate qualities the liberate human beings from fear of all kind. The mind that strives for excellence and yearns for fulfilment and better understand of everything that is in existence. Human mind essential is like a candle. Its reach goes further than what we can grasp with our understanding. The first realisation of the presence of God Almighty as a supreme being in existence is not only a consequence of the fear of thunder bolts of lighting but also because of our need to seek out the best that can be there – to realise that there is nothing aliens and unfamiliar in existence. We are as much part of all this as anything else is. The concept of God has not been conceived objectively; it is not exclusive of human kind.

Answer 6

To Say that Believing in God Out of fear, is To say That God is fear,So before accusing People For how they Believe,why not
ask them Why they believe in god.

Like all Good Things One Day It Withers On A Vine!!!!!!!

Answer 7

I think that some people are religious because they need something in their life. The type of people who the Mormons always try to convert tend to be poorer people, people who are vulnerable, and people who want to feel they "belong" to something and matter to someone. For them, they get drawn into the group, and go along with the crowd (of mormons), in order to feel they belong. They get lots of attention, get invited to peoples homes and social gatherings, and end up following the herd and succombing to the pressure, and finally joining. Some people who are religious are so because they were born into a religious family, and never question it. It's their way of life. Some of these people do believe in their religion, but others amongst them tend to think that their being a member of a religion makes them a good person, and that they can live their lives in any way they want, and be as intolerant and nasty as they like, and that if they say they're sorry on a Sunday, and cry about what a sinner they are, that their God will make it alright. Religion gives some people the panacea of a happy afterlife, if they do what they're told, and stops them having to question who they are and what their lives are like. Just as with people who are not believers, there are good and bad people in the world. It's just that non-believers tend to realise that the good and bad in people comes from within themselves, and they're ultimately responsible for their actions: a contrite prayer won't undo the consequences of their actions. So good non-believers tend not to be so reckless in their lives as non-believers are. They tend to be able to have a maturity and understanding of human nature which believers don't, as believers are told how to view the world and the nature of reality by an organisation, not judging these things, and learning the lessons of life themselves. As you can probably tell, I'm a non-believer, but that's not to say that I have no morals - if anything, I think I probably have a stronger moral centre than some believers, as it comes from me, and isn't someone else's version of what a moral centre should be. I was brought up in the Mormon church by mormon parents, and left that organisation when I left home to go to University. I am so happy that I left - I feel that since I left I can be truly myself, think what I think, and be happy to be me. That's not to say that I think everyone who's a believer should stop what they're doing and follow my lead, but I do think that everyone should have their own choice in their belief system and how they live their lives.

Answer 8

I think that some , not all, people who call themselves Christians do so with no clue about what it means. That is why there are so many people without compassion. People who have to tell you REPEATEDLY what a good Christian they are, are usually the first ones to be mean and cruel. Those of us who try to live a Christ-like existence get truly annoyed by the fair-weather Christians giving us all black-eyes. I believe you judge by how the person treats you.

Answer 9

A lot of people unfortunately are of low intelligence so do not really understand the good book that well although they think that they do and that is where the confusion is.

It is better to view it on the basis of those who know and not the followers. The book says be good and do good things. If a "believer" is doing wrong then they are misguided rather than plain evil.

Answer 10

To be a true believer in my understanding does not make a non believer a lessor person.

I do get confused by professed believers who have no values of human kindness of which I as a non believer feel I possess.

Fear of the unknown is a very large factor in many peoples choices of a belief.