at armageddon. do you agree that to a point, organized religion uses fear in one form or another to controll its members?
2007-11-15 11:12:44 · 16 answers · asked by ~testube Jebus~ 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
im sorry P JUNE but they are breed to believe they are Gods favorites. i think that is what attracts most people is the exclusivness of it. to be 'better" than other people. gods chosen people right? to spread the only good news of this system to all those who are ignorant of it. that seems pretty self rightious to me.
2007-11-15 12:55:26 · update #1
At any time religion uses fear to control the members.
2007-11-19 10:50:26 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The attitude you mentioned is exactly how they feel. I used to be a JW so I know. It’s how they justify a lot of their mistreatment toward non-JW’s. If they are not going to covert, then it doesn’t matter how they are treated because they’ll be destroyed anyway. The whole thing is pinned down by a membership status. No where is sin taken into account. As long as you’re a JW, you’re good to go; if you’re not you’re screwed. With other Christians, sin is accounted for. I’m a baptized Catholic, but my membership in the Catholic Church does not in any way assure my salvation. I HAVE to work on my sinfulness and LOVE OTHERS if I want any chance at heaven, because God WILL judge me by what I’ve done or haven’t done.
God bless.
2007-11-17 03:01:23 · answer #2 · answered by Danny H 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One of the first commandments given to Adam and Eve involved an element of fear in that God said, they would positively die if they ate from a certain tree. The difference is there was not eternal torture involved like with the hell concept. The bible gives several examples of non believers being destroyed, so it's nothing new or unique.
2007-11-16 14:57:11 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
You are correct in suspecting fear can be used as a control mechanism with religions. It undeniably is, but that is not God's way. He states the consequences for disobedience, which is akin to a scientist telling us that if we step over the edge of a cliff, forces of gravity will ensure a horrible death. He's not obliged to then put up an electric fence to force us to keep back. God does not force us to heed his warnings either. But the Watchtower Society uses sanctions with those it would influence. For example, fear of dying at Armageddon (because such ones will never get a resurrection); fear of smoking tobacco (because such ones will not be baptised by them, implying they cannot become Christians); fear of accepting whole blood (because such ones will lose God's approval and no longer be part of God's congregation) etc.
Contrast that with the apostle John's explanation about God's way: 'Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.' (1 Jn 4:17-19) Those who trust Christ have had their consciences cleansed - they have passed over from judgment to life. All fear goes. Love binds them to Christ and nothing in the universe can separate them from the love of God in Christ.
2007-11-17 01:31:50 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
What Jesus Christ did on the cross made the gift of salvation ," Paid in Full". We can not add to or take away from what Jesus did for us. We can not earn it by our deeds. It starts with faith alone. Fear is present when our heart knows we have separated ourselves from God by our actions. It is a good thing for that ill feeling to cause us to repent and try not to do it again.
2007-11-15 11:23:55 · answer #5 · answered by Dennis James 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Most Witnesses tend to focus on the positive side of the good news of the Kingdom, namely, the wonderful blessings that faithful mankind will receive like everlasting life on a Paradise earth with no sickness, pain, hunger, suffering etc.
Unfortunately, there WILL be bad consequences for anyone choosing not to serve Jehovah, and it is Jehovah who says so, not we ourselves. We just quote what God says.
Zeph 1:14,15- “The great day of Jehovah is near. It is near, and there is a hurrying [of it] very much. The sound of the day of Jehovah is bitter. There a mighty man is letting out a cry. That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and of anguish, a day of storm and of desolation, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick gloom,
(Isaiah 2: 10-22; The Book of Joe; Malachi 4:1; Isaiah 66:15,16; Revelation 14:19,20)
2007-11-15 11:17:26 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 3⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses replace the fear of hell with the fear of disappointing their creator.
Hebrew "Yara": fear, reverence, honour, respect
Lev 25:17 "...thou shalt fear thy God: for I [am] the LORD your God."
2007-11-16 06:52:52 · answer #7 · answered by keiichi 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No. And JWs do not promote the fear that people who are not witnesses will be destroyed. That is misinformation. JWs believe that the decisions about who will live and who will die lie exclusively in God's hands. No one else can say who will be saved and who will not.
2007-11-15 11:25:28 · answer #8 · answered by eliz_esc 6 · 6⤊ 2⤋
yeah, for the most part. I think that is pretty accurate. Although...the church I go to has not harped on something with the obvious intent on breeding fear. It has always been with love comes obedience. Not the other was around.
2007-11-15 11:19:22 · answer #9 · answered by Princess Peabody 4 · 2⤊ 4⤋
No, if you serve God because of fear and not because of Love, you won't be saved.
.
2007-11-15 15:59:08 · answer #10 · answered by TeeM 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋