Are some people scared of their faith?

Q

Quirkybird

Guest
Some of the more vociferous Christians I have come across, who castigate non believers at every opportunity, give the impression that they are rather scared of their stance on faith matters, and are actually jealous of people who don't share them. It could be they are frightened not to believe in case they end up in the fires of hell.

As a young person I was a 'born again'. I frankly admit when I 'gave my heart to Jesus' aged eleven, it was through fear rather than any great desire to a be Christian. When you are told so many time you would go to hell if you didn't get saved, it wears you down. Looking back I am surprised I held out so long before giving in to the pressure I was under! For a few years I was quite devout and tried to convert my school chums, YIKES, without any success, I should add, phew! When eventually the doubts were too great to deny, and I lost my faith the relief was enormous.

I hasten to add that no way am I trying to de-convert anyone, if people are happy being a Christian, no problem. However if anyone is scared of their faith maybe they should rethink their position and wonder why it is bugging them.
 
fear based religion is poison and real Christianity is not based on fear but on Love.
 
Quirkybird said:
Maybe, but love of what? I cannot see anything loving about the Biblical deity.
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In my belief system G!d is love...

this means that if you can't replace the word G!d for the word love and it make sense...then you need to look at that scripture as a parable, an allegory, metaphysically and see what else you can find in it...
 
wil said:
In my belief system G!d is love...

this means that if you can't replace the word G!d for the word love and it make sense...then you need to look at that scripture as a parable, an allegory, metaphysically and see what else you can find in it...
Click to expand...

There are some good things in the Bible of course, but nothing to do with a deity, just the thoughts of the human authors, imo.
 
Pick a passage you have issues with.... find some good smiting... let's see what we can play with.

Just one...and then let's explore it.
 
Quirkybird said:
Maybe, but love of what? I cannot see anything loving about the Biblical deity.
Click to expand...

ok then :rolleyes:

I will give you just one quote.

1 John 4:16
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [a]for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Click to expand...
 
wil said:
Pick a passage you have issues with.... find some good smiting... let's see what we can play with.

Just one...and then let's explore it.
Click to expand...

I have so many issues with so much of that book it would be hard to pick any one passage.
 
How about this one?
31 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian.
4 Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.
5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.
7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.
10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.
12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Literal meaning....in your own words after reading it...what does it say?
 
wil said:
How about this one?

Literal meaning....in your own words after reading it...what does it say?
Click to expand...

It says an evil deity is encouraging its sycophants to commit acts of great cruelty.
 
Cannot speak for other parts of the world, but a lot of Christian religious teaching in the U.S. is of the 'fire and brimstone' variety. Those voices are teaching fear. Tow the line or you will burn, baby, burn!

They are not the majority, but they are the loudest and the loudest most always gets the most attention. So yes, there is a segment of Christians who are scared into believing.
 
Quirkybird said:
Some of the more vociferous Christians I have come across, who castigate non believers at every opportunity, give the impression that they are rather scared of their stance on faith matters, and are actually jealous of people who don't share them. It could be they are frightened not to believe in case they end up in the fires of hell.

As a young person I was a 'born again'. I frankly admit when I 'gave my heart to Jesus' aged eleven, it was through fear rather than any great desire to a be Christian. When you are told so many time you would go to hell if you didn't get saved, it wears you down. Looking back I am surprised I held out so long before giving in to the pressure I was under! For a few years I was quite devout and tried to convert my school chums, YIKES, without any success, I should add, phew! When eventually the doubts were too great to deny, and I lost my faith the relief was enormous.

I hasten to add that no way am I trying to de-convert anyone, if people are happy being a Christian, no problem. However if anyone is scared of their faith maybe they should rethink their position and wonder why it is bugging them.
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying. There are a lot of folks out there who's sole reason for having faith is fear of doing otherwise. That never made much sense to me though. If you only believe because you're afraid of going to hell, than you're not a true believer and you're going to hell anyway. At least those folks who actually believe in hell. Unfortunately, a lot of organized religions exploit that fear to get converts. Actually, the entire concept of hell is a mistranslation of a few different Hebrew words. That's why most Jews don't believe in hell at all. At least not in any permanent sense. Personally, I'm with them. I believe as the Hindus, that hell, per-se is just temporal.
 
If heaven exists I wonder if it would be something like this?:D

St Peter was showing a bunch of new recruits the delights of heaven. There were things to suit all tastes, even a gay bar. Most popular were the wine tasting sessions, which Jesus had set up, he was particularly proud of his Chateau Heaven vintage, being of course an expert in viticulture.

A carriage, pulled by eight white horses, stopped beside the group, and out got the most beautiful woman they had ever seen. St Peter bowed low and introduced her, "This is God"! The recruits gasped, "Don't worry, you will soon get used to the idea", she grinned!

At the end of the tour the recruits were shown a tin shack from which emanated the sound of hoarse discordant singing. St Peter explained, " That is reserved for 'born again' Christians who think they are the only inhabitants of heaven, we don't like to disappoint them so they can sing God's praises for all eternity. One puzzled new arrival queried how they reacted to God being a woman. "Ah" said St Peter, "Now that is our very cunning plan. Not everyone can enter into the delights of heaven immediately if they have been very bad whilst on earth. They must serve a term playing God for the 'born agains’, the length of which depends on the wickedness of their crimes. As the actor is always hidden in a blaze of light, they are none the wiser when a changeover takes place. However heinous the crime, the perpetrator is deemed to have served their sentence after a few millennia of listening to that lot 'singing God's praises!"

RJG
 
Quirkybird said:
It says an evil deity is encouraging its sycophants to commit acts of great cruelty.
Click to expand...

Yup...that is the literal... G!d sending Moses out in vengence, kill all the people...and then when they didn't kill the old and the young and the women, he sent them back to kill the rest...but keep the virgins for themselves...

Quite offensive eh? Doesn't sound like love does it? Love wouldn't send people to kill women and children would it?

Ever read a baby name book? John is love, Peter Faith...ever wonder where that stuff came from? It is biblical...they named towns and places, and people and wells based on traits. And they used the names/traits/nature to describe stories...

take a look at the metaphysical bible dictionary... Metaphysical Bible Dictionary now Hyperlinked | Truth Unity look up the words in the text (medianites, moses, sons, virgins, women) and replace them in the scripture and tell me what the story becomes...
 
NiceCupOfTea said:
ok then :rolleyes:

I will give you just one quote.

1 John 4:16
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has [a]for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Click to expand...

NCOT, that's one of my (many) favorites verses too!! I get misty just by reading it...

Allow me to add just a few more...

--- Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

--- Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

--- But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)

Tad
 
Gordian Knot said:
Cannot speak for other parts of the world, but a lot of Christian religious teaching in the U.S. is of the 'fire and brimstone' variety. Those voices are teaching fear. Tow the line or you will burn, baby, burn!

They are not the majority, but they are the loudest and the loudest most always gets the most attention. So yes, there is a segment of Christians who are scared into believing.
Click to expand...

GK, I hear ya… This is totally the wrong way to believe in God… If someone’s reason of believing in God is to avoid going to hell, that is not true faith.

I’m seriously thinking of sending emails to pastors of fundamentalists’ churches about that… It is really a shame if Christian parents teach their children this way…

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18)

Tad
 
wil said:
Yup...that is the literal... G!d sending Moses out in vengence, kill all the people...and then when they didn't kill the old and the young and the women, he sent them back to kill the rest...but keep the virgins for themselves...

Quite offensive eh? Doesn't sound like love does it? Love wouldn't send people to kill women and children would it?

Ever read a baby name book? John is love, Peter Faith...ever wonder where that stuff came from? It is biblical...they named towns and places, and people and wells based on traits. And they used the names/traits/nature to describe stories...

take a look at the metaphysical bible dictionary... Metaphysical Bible Dictionary now Hyperlinked | Truth Unity look up the words in the text (medianites, moses, sons, virgins, women) and replace them in the scripture and tell me what the story becomes...
Click to expand...

Wow… wil… this is very interesting…

I was almost ready to toss most of the OT as Marcion of Sinope did (not because I think there were two different gods but because I thought the ancient Israelites totally misunderstood God), but maybe I was wrong…??

Thank you for posting it!

Tad
 
Tadashi said:
NCOT, that's one of my (many) favorites verses too!! I get misty just by reading it...

Allow me to add just a few more...

--- Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)

--- Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34)

--- But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; (Matthew 5:44)

Tad
Click to expand...

Thanks Tadashi, the New Testament is all about love :)
 
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