Well, me be the blood thirsty atheist I am, believe that the Abrahamic religions are very unforgiving, and dare I say hateful? This is no secret, however I have been told many times on this forum that the said religions do not use fear as a tool against its believes. I have been told that the said religions do not use fear as a tool of recruitment. I disagree, being raised with Baptist curriculum, I know very well what tactics I am referring to, and quite frankly I find the use notion of using fear to demand worship to be disgusting. I am certain if a parents tortured their children for not the child not loving the parent they would be considered horrible parents. Probably go to prison as well. However the act of glorifying a deity that is so vain and jealous that he requires the unwavering worship of mere humans for salvation? Sorry, you guys make absolutely no sense. What so ever to speak of. Anyways, I started a thread asking the question, http://www.politicalforum.com/religion/206425-so-what-happens-if-you-reject-notion-god.html I wasn't surprised, you are punished for denial. Essentially the doctrine is a threat, the threat of eternal suffering for the rejection of an idea. An idea no more valid than any other religion.
I don't think you can judge all of Christianity by what happened to you in the Baptist church. I met a few Baptists, and I found them a bit overzealous.
I think that belief is somewhat American fundamentalist, if you don't mind my saying so. I don't get the impression many Anglicans here give it houseroom, except in some sort of 'absence from God is dreadful' translation.
Isn't a lot of child-upbringing based in fear? "Eat your broccoli or you won't get desert", "Don't go into the woods, the trolls will get you", "Don't make that face, it might stick". But I suppose "You will burn in ultimate agony for the rest of time" sort of sticks out. Christianity has stuff of all kinds in it. Fear, love, murder, joy and so on. Then again, my view is that if you can't muster the love and joy a child needs without adding a bit of murder, then maybe you shouldn't be a parent...
Actually, I do believe in hell, however, I don't think that God makes us burn in hell. People may think that this is silly, but I believe WE will want to. I believe that when we die and go before God we will be so ashamed of the sins that we have committed that we will want to be punished for it and God will oblige us. It may seem a little crazy, but that makes more sense to me with the idea of a loving God.
Hell is permanent separation from God, never to be in His presence or experience His glory....ppl try to relate on a mortal human basis (as in "we would get 'bored' praising God all day," having no idea of what it is to be caught up in the rapture of His awesome presence) and try to apply physical suffering (there will be no physical body as we now know it in eternity) to what will actually be spiritual suffering (of the soul & spirit of man). ....again, just more of the futility of the limited mind of the carnal flesh.
hence; being kickd out of the garden (leaving by choice). ie... nature itself is god, the idiots never know it the nuts think god is some utter dude in some utter and basically pray, beg, bow..... for their own needs, not for any god in a sense, that is right.................... comprehending nature itself is god, is practically scary We ALL know it is awesome, to say the least. the suffering is being without truth. the life after death is what you do i agree.................. idiots still believe in magic and sheet that dont exist!
Another good one; fear. 14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. Deuteronomy 14:23
Interesting. Terrorism: the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.
Even more interesting? The only guys that seem to preach fear the most are young atheists? Makes you wonder what they are afraid of? None of the people who believe in God are particularly afraid of him. Anger is one of the things that can drive wedge between you and God.
I know, I am such a horrible person for having an issue with fear based beliefs. If you are going to devote your life to something or someone, the reason should be something other than fear. Your predictable conspiracy theory need not apply.
Our beliefs are not fear based. That simple. Ergo: #1 - you are clearly ignorant of what our faith preaches (no shock there). #2 - you are afraid for no apparent reason. I suppose being deliberately ignorant and, quite frankly, being mean to others about it is not evil, but it is neither good nor smart either. Maybe you should start figuring out what you believe instead of trampling all over other people's beliefs with gross inaccuracies about what they believe. Most people call it trolling. Some call it atheism. Eh.
14:23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always. Deuteronomy 14:23 Oh, my mistake. I am well aware of what I believe, and it certainly does not call for fear based membership.
Fear. Interesting subject. What does it really mean? From the Strongs Bible dictionary, it has the following meaning: "1) to fear, revere, be afraid a) (Qal) 1) to fear, be afraid 2) to stand in awe of, be awed 3) to fear, reverence, honour, respect b) (Niphal) 1) to be fearful, be dreadful, be feared 2) to cause astonishment and awe, be held in awe 3) to inspire reverence or godly fear or awe c) (Piel) to make afraid, terrify" Have you conferred with the authors of Deuteronomy in order to ascertain their intended meaning? Hmmm. From a secular college dictionary, the term 'fear' means: "fear (fîr) n. 1. a. A feeling of agitation and anxiety caused by the presence or imminence of danger. b. A state or condition marked by this feeling: living in fear. 2. A feeling of disquiet or apprehension: a fear of looking foolish. 3. Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power. 4. A reason for dread or apprehension: Being alone is my greatest fear." Well, it appears that both, a Bible dictionary and a secular dictionary, carry essentially the same meanings. So is 'fear' (as mentioned in that passage you quoted in part) really a dread, or is that 'fear' a condition of 'awe or astonishment'?
Yep, and how many times have we talked about the old testament and the centrality of Jesus to our faith? And yet, you still find it difficult in your proximity searches and complete lack of knowledge on the Bible to know that deuteronomy is in the old testament? By the way, in the OT, the central point is about WISDOM - not fear. Which you would know if you read rather than just typed in the word 'fear' into a proximity search. Now try typing in "Love" or "compassion" or "teaching" and see what you find. No offense, but are angry atheists required to fail an integrity test?
Sure I do - because you say so. The guy that ignores 99.9% of my faith and tells me is entirely based on fear, even though I worship a loving God, is telling me that I am the one avoiding what is in the Bible? Its no ones fault that you need others to be screwed up to feel better about yourself but you. I know what my religion teaches, and I, and most people, recognize the desperate antics of a proximity search. You are just angry and lazy, but somehow that is Christianity's fault?
The definition of fear you cited is due the the unforgiving nature of that power. The writer could have just as easily said "respect" "disorderly reverence" "love your god". Any one of those would be more constructive that using fear to herd people into believing a particular doctrine.
The cartoon only depicts one side as the victim. A hint, its the side that is constantly whining about the destruction of traditional Christian values in the US.
