Religious for the right reasons?

You should fear that you are going to hell.But to become a christian becauose of that sounds abit silly to me.I go by you are damn if you do and you are damn if you don't.jm

Originally posted by Nellinator

And I disagree. Faith, can entail the symptoms of a mental illness, but in the vast majority of cases, it does not.

lol, I was actually saying that "faith" in general is just another word for "delusion"

however, ill skip to the end, and say I don't necessarily feel that way now... haha, I was told

Originally posted by AngryManatee
Ok I'm not a religious person, but I do get into conversations with religious people sometimes. One thing that does bother me though is that some of the people I've talked to appear to have become christian for fear of being condemned to hellfire for eternity, which brings me to ask: Should one be compelled to be become religious, or join a religion, out of fear?

What's your opinion on this?

No. Religon should be fun.

Originally posted by inimalist

many of the beliefs and rituals, when removed from the religious context, would be considered abnormal and symptomatic of delusional thinking.

It seems to me that people do rituals even if they are not religous without knowing it eg what boxers do before they enter the ring.

I would recommended not joining a religion out of fear but I'd first look into that religion see what they do and why. One should not become religious just because they think the end of the world is coming on 7/7/07. I have a best friend who's a convert and she did it because she looked into what the Catholic church had to offer and decided it was a better life for her then the one she was living not because she was afraid of going to hell. People have lots of superstitions and one of them is fear of the unknown. We fear what we can't describe or touch. Therefore we fear hell a human consept of eternal pain and suffering. What if there is no hell? Then people would be doing this for nothing right? So I guess people become religious because of the unknown.

Originally posted by Sahri24
So I guess people become religious because of the unknown.

Er I dont. Im religous because I belive I have a bond with spiritual beings. Im a heathen and heathenism isnt about fear. The Norse people belived that their gods were family.

Sometimes they become scientists and philosophers because of the unknown.

Of course science can be limited and close minded sometimes, but religion can be like this too.

Originally posted by AngryManatee
Ok I'm not a religious person, but I do get into conversations with religious people sometimes. One thing that does bother me though is that some of the people I've talked to appear to have become christian for fear of being condemned to hellfire for eternity, which brings me to ask: Should one be compelled to be become religious, or join a religion, out of fear?

What's your opinion on this?