I truly believe that the phenomenon of religion lies in fear !

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   bolt1951posted 13 years ago

   I believe this simply because it appears that everyone is looking for salvation. They are so afraid of life that thier only choice is to look into what appears more pleasing. So what can be more pleasing than having to live forever. (as if that were so much fun) I would hate to live for ever especially if I had to do the same thing in heaven that I do here listen to all the rhetoric about who's religion is better or who is gonna get saved and the rest of the bull that goes on in this life. I think fear plays such a much in this, that most don't even realize it. Just like going to a funeral do we really cry for the person that died or the fact that we realize our own mortality. As if we really knew what it's like to die, the way I see it it's the same as being born you feel and know nothing.
   And if there is something to know we will surely find out then and only then.

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      Baileybearposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't think it's horrible to have to die - it's horrible for those still living if their loved ones died a violent death or suffered greatly. 
      As for living forever - that doesn't sound very appealing to me at all

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      kessposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It is not correct to blame religion alone for the fearfulness in this world..
      Actually the fear in this world was intended from its very foundations and we are expected to walk in fearfully for a while...
      
      Nevrtheless religion are guilty of this...since they did not understand the intended purpose for the fear.. the are using to perpetuate death in this world.
      
      Which means that Death will remain as the ultimate ruler.
      
      This Life was intended to show Life itself...and how death through fear is of a benefit to Life. But as long as the living keeps dieing then death still reigns over the living...
      
      Which is actually an impossible situation made a reality.
      
      So I say that fear which come because of death is good, but only to those who have found Life within it...
      
      And to those who have not found Life...then it means that their time is not come....or they are death itself so they go back to their own place.
      
      And death and fear was and is upon all men within and without religion... for death rules this world through fear and none is without guilt.
      
      For so it was intended from beginning.

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      Woman Of Courageposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I have never heard of anyone being afraid of life. There are many other things that people fear.

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   SpanStarposted 13 years ago

   bolt1951,
   
   Certainly we are all free to believe as we so choose and your prospective on life-and-death might well be correct. There is however only one lingering question "What If You're Wrong?"
   
   The fear of death is a valid point and it is utilized a lot not only in religion but in life in general. One can find the threat of death from a robber, the possibility of dying have a number of insurance agencies knocking on ones door. Wars are based on the number of deaths one sides receives over another.
   
   Death is a real part of life and in the end only one perspective will be correct.

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      Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If you are wrong (which you are) - you will have spent your entire life spreading fear. Makes me all warm and fuzzy when I hear that question. What if you are wrong and the Invisible Super Being tortures you for eternity for not believing total nonsense?

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         Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         What if both of Ya are wrong .?,  and it is tue: but they told the story wrong ?

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            Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Then she will have spent her whole life spreading fear and I will have spent mine trying to stop that.

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               Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Well I quess "She" will do what  "She" does  and I wil do what I do,  ...   and you too .

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                  Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Not worth trying to make things better then? You are still going with that religious defeatist attitude I see. Good for you. Hope that is working well for you. I personally think this will do us no good in the long run and would like to try and better both myself and the society I live in. Oh well. To each his own.

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                     Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     If Ya really want to be honest ?    What good does talkng about it really do ?
                     
                     
                         Talk till the cows come home and all ya get is another days supply of milk !

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                        Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Talking about it is always good. And creates change. It just takes time. We are re-writing ourselves and our society all the time. It is certainly better than doing it the other way.
                        
                        Or are you hoping for Jesus v Mohamed - Smackdown - The Final Conflict?

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                           Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           I'm goina just wait and see like caint no body else do much differnt either.
                           
                              Have a good day Mark.   wontcha ?

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                     Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Don't ya think that "Most" everyone thinks that they are doing that too

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      Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      What if we are the ruler of our own destiny ?    And what ever we believe it to be will be  ??
      
      
      
         Just a question;  Not a statement...?

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      Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I wrote about how most Christian believes most people will end in hell. For a guy fearless guy like me, it leaves huge contradiction of an all loving God, lacking good sense in promoting love for all on earth.
      
      Fear is a matter of time and understanding and I sense the true spiritual age will come regardless of religious perjuries and dislike of most people on earth

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      Beelzedadposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Through my observations here, I've found that the more this freedom to believe is embraced, the more irrational and illogical are the beliefs chosen.
      
      It is a non-requirement for a non-believer, hence as religions become extinct over time, so should this concept.

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         Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I can imagine Religion going from 8/10th and lower to about half in our life time. Yet, spirit and imagination will never die; being skeptical will shortly follow closer rather than trail behind.

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            just_curiousposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            It doesn't sound so bad, when you put it like that.

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            Beelzedadposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Yes, there may very well be a portion of the population who never give up their delusions, who always deny reality and never wish to learn anything.
            
            Of course, once the cycle of indoctrination is broken entirely, there will be no flocks for religionists to fleece.

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               brotheryochananposted 13 years agoin reply to this

               wrong
               we dont deny reality we extend beyond it. We are not limited by reality.
               
               joseph, marys boyfriend. They never slept together in a sexual way, yet one day he discovered that she was pregnant. Scripture says he was mindful to put her away but he did not. In josephs belief system there was room for a miracle. His belief extended beyond the limitations of reality. And they had other children.
               Now there's a man of character. Any other idiot deluded by reality would have missed out.

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                  Brenda Durhamposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Amen.

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                     brotheryochananposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     The bible is soooooo awesome 
                     There are scriptures for every situation that mankind faces.
                     The more i read it, the more i cannot be persuaded that mere man wrote it.
                     It is truly the best and most important book in the world and i can even extend that to universe and cosmos.

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   pisean282311posted 13 years ago

   ofcourse...religion cannot survive without fear...

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      brotheryochananposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      This is what the catholics thought and therefore they invented eternal punishment in a place called hell.
      They invented many other doctrines too.
      like buying the dead out of purgatory LOL
      
      The new preaching is a bit trickier than "you're gonna go to hell". It has to do with a God of love and his desire that all be saved and repent and turn from their ways and have a relationship with Him. To bring people to Christ with a doctrine of fear is ridiculous and the wrong reason. You can't have a relationship if it is based on fear. Relationships are based on love.

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   Lisa HWposted 13 years ago

   There's definitely fear used in religions, but I'm not sure people's personal belief in God is always about fear.  Sometimes it can be.  Not about being "good" or else going to hell, but about needing to have someone/something to pray to if things get really horrible/scary in life.  Sometimes, though, people can feel so incredibly blessed and "watched out for for some reason", it means so much to them they can associate their feelings with a sense of spirituality, or else belief that there are reasons for things we can never understand.  Maybe a better way to describe what some can feel is wonder.  Some people can feel so incredibly blessed and fortunate, they have a sense of wonder at "it all".
   
   Then, too, some people believe in God because other people told them who/what God is and that not believing is not an option.     Religions can be based on what someone else told someone who came before, and the whole business just got passed down through the ages.

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   Jeramiposted 13 years ago

   Good night Yawl ...    Ir's almost 2 AM here and I'm goina fall down on the bed now.

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   just_curiousposted 13 years ago

   I don't think religion should be based in fear. I do agree that most concepts I've read that people have on the afterlife seem somewhat trite and boring. I see faith as hope that the answers are not only out there, but that we will someday have them. That's a pretty powerful argument, in my mind, for a reason to believe. There's nothing more tantilizing than knowledge, on a spiritual level.

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   SpanStarposted 13 years ago

   Mark Knowles,
   
      I know it's a waste of my breath but for others that are reading, If I'm wrong I have created these fears and lies Knowles said by spreading peace and harmony between my fellow man, I have refused to engage in wars in an effort to follow that horrible book called the Bible "Thy Shall Not Kill"  I frighten others my extending my hand in an effort to help.  Yea, like the life of this so-call imaginary God has to be the biggest waste of time-REALLY?

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   Bellamieposted 13 years ago

   "religion" can be a fearful thing, especially if you enter with absolutely no idea what that religion is offering.  But the phenomenon of FAITH is that of love and grace and nothing to fear.

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      Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Fear is simply about the unknown, when the world and universe is 99% unknown to all of us. When a book comes along and claims is has the answer to everything, plus the be all and end, wail promoting a man nailed to a cross and hell
      
      For me blind faith is not good enough, in a sense of my experiencing of more happiness and less suffering along with wasting many ways of thinking to think about.

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   Jefsaidposted 13 years ago

   Religion is absolutely based on fear and guilt otherwise it would not be so unquestioningly followed.

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      Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I do wonder sometimes, if people are more fear driven than love driven?

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      Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      To say that religion operates upon fear ?   DUH !
         Everything does!
         To say that fear is not a motivational factor in all walks of live, and all aspects of social interaction ... is a bit nieve. 
        Fear has many names and faces,  And degrees.
         Good behaveior is rewarded and undesireable  behaveior is not
         Fear of failure in business is a major motivational factor which drives hard work and ambition. 
          Fear walks hand in hand with antisipation.
      
         SO yes fear is used by religion as well as in big government, family issues and yes even he Boy Scouts.
      
         Everyone operates in its grasp whether we recognize that fact or not.  Some of us just don't pay as much attention to it.
      
         Like being at the Chineese buffet and only seeing the the one item we don't like,  OR   ???
      
          But we can blame it all on religion  if we want to. 
      
          What the heck ?  give religion a break;  I did it ALL, 
      It's MY fault.

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    bolt1951posted 13 years ago

    Fear is to me is such a waste of energy and time, what does it matter how someone dies death is death weather tragic or not. So why bother with it? Just let life flow and roll with the punches. In the long run weather your fearful or not it is inevitable to avoid this so called death. Which by the way I happen to believe is really the beginning. Living fearless makes one free and peaceful. It aslo allows to see and think with a clearer mind and sense of being.

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       Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       agree

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    brotheryochananposted 13 years ago

    I believe this simply because it appears that everyone is looking for salvation.
    How do we know to look for salvation except we be told salvation is needed and if we look for it, we must believe in salvation. But what form of salvation? if works make us acceptable to God that would be a form of salvation. Trying to be the best person you can be. So search for that then. But if the bible states that man cannot earn salvation then we must look beyond our works.
    
    
    They are so afraid of life that their only choice is to look into what appears more pleasing.
    More pleasing... that is a mistruth as is that people are afraid of life. People may be afraid of what Brings them. The person who was earning a comfy living in the united states suddenly has a heart attack and ends up paying bills for a huge sum of money, the wife cheats, he cheats, the grass looks greener... an injury and quadriplegia. Some people may fear life but not every christian fears life and certainly not after they come to know God. God has many promises of protection, care, sustenance, etc. It may be perceived that becoming christian ends fear of lifes disasters but that is not the reason people become christian. Life itself brings forth questions about God because the Father draws them.
    
    So what can be more pleasing than having to live forever. (as if that were so much fun) I would hate to live for ever
    limited thinking at its finest. How can u make that assumption? Based on what? Eternity is so much different than this life the two cannot be compared and the other cannot be imagined except you search the scriptures.
    
    
    especially if I had to do the same thing in heaven that I do here listen to all the rhetoric about who's religion is better or who is gonna get saved and the rest of the bull that goes on in this life.
    I can guarantee you this will not happen. How do i know? because i searched the scriptures.
    
    I think fear plays such a much in this, that most don't even realize it. Just like going to a funeral do we really cry for the person that died or the fact that we realize our own mortality.
    Christian funerals are happy times. People cry because they suffer loss but christians know that person is finished the race and will live forever.
    
    As if we really knew what it's like to die, the way I see it it's the same as being born you feel and know nothing.
    Yes all go to the grave but you omit the resurrection which all must partake. The bible says there is no remembrance in the grave and Paul says it is appointed for man to die once and then be judged and christ says all must face either the white throne judgment or the judgment seat of christ.  
    
    And if there is something to know we will surely find out then and only then.
    This is what happens when people think they are the vault for all knowledge. They make up theories and conclusions that are both totally unscriptural and based on nothingness but imagination.
    
    Its an interesting question but it is dictated by your own hypothesis which according to the bible is flawed.

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       Jeramiposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       But;  as Jesus said to the Pharasees,  Where did all these rules come from ?   You  (the pharasees)  are making up all these rules that you  (Pharasees)  have no intentions of
       keeping, But,   You  (the pharasees) make them up to kep every one else from entering...  ??   
       
       
       
           There is a lot said in that statement if we look for it  ( between the lines)

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          brotheryochananposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          and keeping it in context we know what the pharisees were like but as in everything in our world, rules exist. Principles and rudiments are established and in order to be promoted one has to ascend the greasy pole by completing each course. If we do not finish grade 12 courses we will not graduate. If we do not keep the rudiment principles of Gods ways we also will not graduate.
          God never promotes anyone if they have not first learned the basics.

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    wasimmominposted 13 years ago

    The main islamic versis is "LA ILAHA ILLALLAH,
                                MOHMMEDUR RASULULLAH"
    It means "There is none worthy of worship but only ALLAH"
             "Mohmmed is the truest messenger of ALLAH"
    <snipped link - do not promote your Hubs in the forums>

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       Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       brotheryochanan
       
       I think wasimmomin asking you sometime, it's under your post anyways
       
       “Surrender” to “Subbmit” to “Yield’ our self to The ‘ALLAH’
       
       Isn’t Religion sweet

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          wasimmominposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Hi Castlepaloma, I dont understand clearlly what you want to said please explain me clearlly what you said about my post.

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    BunuBobuposted 13 years ago

    As a child I was always afraid of God.
    Afraid of the fact that because I loved my family so much, God would take them away because I wasn't allowed to love anything more than God. I would sometimes cry myself to sleep begging God not to take them away.
    
    When I lived the blind life of a Catholic. I missed out on so much of "real life" because I was afraid of what God would do to punish me. I never felt loved, accepted or protected. I breathed every breath in fear of God.

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       Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       BunuBobu
       
       Sad story, how are things working out for you today?

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          BunuBobuposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Today my life is great.
          In my late teens I slowly began to see the truth.
          I feel free now.
          I am filled with hope since my life story is not set in stone. I actually have power over my own destiny.

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             Castlepalomaposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             Few teenagers feel they have control of their own destiny, Good for you,
             
             With grace, often tragedies in life take us to higher levels of consciences

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                BunuBobuposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I agree totally.
                Pain opens our eyes to reality.

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    paarsurreyposted 13 years ago

    I truly believe that the phenomenon of religion lies in fear !
    
    I don't agree with you. The Creator-God is merciful:
    
    [1:1] In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. http://www.alislam.org/quran/search2/sh … r.php?ch=1
    
    The very first verse of Quran mentions His mercy and this verse is repeated before almost every Surah/Chapter of Quran. If we obey His commandments to worship Him and to do good and virtuous works to the fellow human beings, then we don't have to fear for anything.

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       Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

       IF being the operative word here.
       
       What does your Invisible Super Being do to people who do not worship him or obey his commandments that were majikally given into some one's head?

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          paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

          Those who do not obey commandments of the Creator-God; they can ask forgiveness from Him; they can repent for their behaviour and reslove not to do it agains; then they can get His mercy again.

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             Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

             I do not do that. I do not recognize your Invisible Super Being - nor do I worship it or intend to.
             
             What is your Invisible Super Being going to do to me?

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                paarsurreyposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                I cannot judge you; it is your own life.

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                   Mark Knowlesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                   I am not asking you to judge me. You already did that when you said your Invisible Super Being is merciful, but only IF "we obey His commandments to worship Him and to do good and virtuous works to the fellow human beings."
                   
                   I do not worship it.
                   
                   What does it do to people like me? What does not being merciful to me mean?

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