come on, face up to the facts instead of reporting anything that upsets your fairy tale world. I bet every single church has had at least one sermon on how those who are different want nothing more than your death!
2007-05-03 13:47:01 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It is the most primal emotion we have and the easiest to manipulate.
2007-05-03 13:56:38 · answer #1 · answered by Skeff 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There are some good answers to this question, but I will give it a try anyway...Yes, some Christians DO preach fear...to try to scare people to belief in God & the fear of going to burn in hell fire & brimstone if they don't. I know very well that exists. However, those preachers/believers do not know what I know. God is a God of love !!!...God loves all of us reguardless of who or what we are. I experienced that once when I was at rock bottom & I haven't been the same since. I was very lucky because it is very hard to find a church like that. Their emphasis was unconditional LOVE & ACCEPTANCE by the HOLY SPIRIT. I stress the word HOLY. I had felt like I did not deserve to walk on the ground even, much less have a person care about me. Well, that changed...big time...Unbelievable!!! And now I feel like I need to share with people that God is Love...and I mean to everyone. Everyone...the homeless, the addict, the down & out, etc. The church I go to now is not like the one where I found out about freedom in the HOLY SPIRIT...but it is close. It has an outreach ministry for the alcoholic, the drug addict, the mentally ill, the homeless...You name it. Fear is not going to change these people...but accepting them & loving them just might. They already know what hell is...do they know that they are worth being loved? I hope so.
Finally a quote I heard in a meeting:
Religion is for people who don't want to go to hell...
Spirituality is for those who have already been there...!!!
I am a spiritual person...if I go into a church & it is
C o l d...or if it talks about the E v i l O n e...to quote a Catholic priest..."I run like hell".
Blessings...Nala
2007-05-03 15:11:12 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Face up to what facts? That there are a lot of atheists around here who think that it's OK for them to say any vicious thing that they choose to about us, our God, and our beliefs.. . .and yet froth at the mouth about how terrible we are if we dare to defend ourselves?
That atheists are just as apt to hit the report button as anyone else or to give thumbs-down to a good reply that they don't happen to agree with? You mean those kind of "facts?"
Trust me, if you're a Christian and you've been here for longer than 30 minutes, you're very well aware of that particular set of facts. Your side of the faith issue has no room to talk about our side, that's for sure: your little dig about "your fairy tale world" comes to mind.
If some of you atheists were half as tolerant as you claim to be, you'd find that we Christians can be very easy to get along with.
2007-05-03 13:56:42 · answer #3 · answered by Wolfeblayde 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Not all churches rely on fear to reel people in. When people do this they are obviously trying to pull people in. Whether it's out of their own fear for the "lost ones" soul, or the fact that they feel that there is only one right way (ego and such) and others need to join them.
2007-05-03 13:51:20 · answer #4 · answered by J R 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
This is what Jesus himself clearly identified as his most important teaching :
{Luke 4:18}
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me;
he has appointed me
to preach Good News to the poor;
he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted
and to announce that the blind shall see,
that captives shall be released
and the downtrodden shall be freed
(i.e. liberated) from their oppressors."
Those who follow Jesus should do so because they believe that he had the best answers to mankind's questions about how we should live the life we now have, and whether there is any life beyond this one. Of course keep in mind that when a person has discovered what they think the answers to these things are ... Its REAL hard to keep it to oneself!
2007-05-03 14:02:00 · answer #5 · answered by thundercatt9 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Fear can be used to control others.
Fear also means awe; fear God.
2007-05-03 15:05:19 · answer #6 · answered by jefferyspringer57@sbcglobal.net 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
although some might .. not all do .. and God has not given us the spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind ...
2007-05-03 13:52:29 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding
2007-05-03 13:50:17 · answer #8 · answered by Jesus Freak 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
of course to fear the hell
2007-05-03 18:15:53 · answer #9 · answered by myr 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because happy peacful people do not pay to have babies baptized for fear of us hethans stealing them for sacrifices.
because people that are not afraid of living in hell do not drop the nest egg in the offering plate.
because they are good at it,
and because it works.
2007-05-03 13:50:58 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋