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fear
is fear in religion a good thing, to keep morality, or is it some man made thing to control people?
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Maybe give some free advice about: Spirituality?
religion is a man made thing ... think about it
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okay what? Well if your asking what i think this what i will say. You are suppose to fear god like you fear fire.. You respect fire because you wouldnt want to get burnt/hurt.. so there for you fear.. You respect god therefore you fear him and respect what he has in plan for you-trix
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No one will have a real answer to this. Personally, I think it's a man-made thing . . . I feel that if religion is meant to be about love, fear should not be a part of it. Religion should be about love and forgiveness . . . not fear, and possibly hate. If fear is factored into the equation, then it's probably a power issue, and about controlling people . . . stuff like that.
Interesting question though ;)
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I'm Pagan and I don't believe in hell and all the rest of that. I chose to be Pagan partly because of the whole control/ fear issue. How can you really value a religion if it's based on fear and how many dollars you donate to it? What are you really putting your faith in?
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There ARE men who instill fear in an effort to control, but, that;s not the origin of fear. Fear itself, is an innate repsonse that is integral in self survival. As far as fear in religion. THAT may be an implementation of man to chide one into his/her way of thinking or believing. Notice I say may be. Your personal relationship with your god is nothing that anyone else can comment on. Nor should they be allowed to. if YOU feel that it's best for you to be fearful, then by all means, do. If you don't feel it's necessary for you to have an absolutely wonderful relationship with the Holiest of Holy, then...... Only you can answer that.
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If your morality comes from your honest thought "What actions will best serve my purpose, and the purpose of others around me, in this situation?", then you are going to be moral without the fear of being smited by lightning or pits of hell.
If your choice to do "right" comes from the unbelieveably juvenile thought of "I have to be good, or else mommy will spank me", then it's just sad. Unfortunately most people need to be punished before they learn what to (and not to) do. Most people can't think in an abstract manner, and wonder "is this right for the people around me? Will I make a good impact or a bad one? Will this help me grow as a person or soul?". Most people are still of the four year old mentality.
Sad but true. People as a species are pretty stupid, like cows.
To work with this, the book religions (christianity, judaism, etc) have told people, "You be good or daddy will spank you!" and it is fear of the spanking that keeps them in line--like training a dog not to piddle on the carpet or else it gets whacked with a newspaper.
Pathetic, isn't it?
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Fear in religion is normal, as odd as that may sound, because not everyone knows what to believe in and you just let what you believe in come to you when it does.
Maybe if you see what type of religions there are and see if you're interested in going in that direction. But that's really all the advice I can give you right now.
Good Luck
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as a wiccan/pagan i have encountered many people who have fear me because of my religon they think that if you are wiccan and or a pagan you are an evil witch like from the wizard of oz which isnt true so i think that fear of a religon is only fear of what is not understood And what you dont want to understand so i hope that my response and help you
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We're wired for fear as humans... some fear is exploitative, some fear is justified. It's like any other emotion. Just a means to an end, whether it's the pleasure of getting into a warm house out of the cold, or the pleasure of berating someone into the ground.
I've got atheistic tendencies, so the good bits of fear in religion are those which keep people honest, helpful, respectful of others, etc. Good non-religious fear includes fear of pointy things and unsafe footing at great heights. Bad fear paralyzes, defrauds, inspires hate... you get the idea. In religious and secular discourse, you'll see a bit of both. Unless you believe in a cruel or indifferent god, religious fear should be that good stuff. The not-good stuff comes from those silly humans messing up the message in that case. (This is not to say puny humans can't evoke good fear... like your parents probably did with the hot stove). If you're of an atheist or agnostic persuasion... well, it's all silly humans, but they can do good as well as bad. It's what they're doing that counts.
So, in summary: fear -- it's not what it is, it's what it does.
Hope that gets you started.
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I'm not 100% sure what you mean, but religion is a real thing, and a good thing, when the fear comes from within. When it's used by a government to control people that's a big problem. People should have free will to decide if they want to be religious or not, otherwise there's no point.
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