Fear as the Basis for Religion?

Originally posted by Alliance
Fear can be construed as a primary motivation for most things. However, I don't think you can make the argument that its a primary or dominant motivation.

then how would you say religion was introduced? fear. believe in god and your soul will be saved. otherwise we will torture you here and you will be condemned to hell. sounds PRETTY much like fear is involved

Thats retarded.

If you look at the worlds oldest religions (traditional animisms) you can make the logical guess that humans invented religion by extrapolating a general sense of awe to an explanitory power.

^^ What Alliance said. Myths originated to explain natural phenomenon, and other times to act as guidance for life's struggles or simply provide entertainment.

Awe generally includes an amount of fear (like watching a tornado tear up a house), so it's not surprising that fear worked it's way into the stories of the gods. But it's far from the only motivation.

Originally posted by SpearofDestiny
This again ? You not taking responsibility for your own frustration ? 😬

It's not really a "Christian" ideal to blame others for your own problems.

"Lake of Fire" sounds pretty torturous.

"Eternal Torment" sounds kinda torturous.

"Torment" = noun.
+ "Eternal" = modifier.
______________________
No description of torture.

Hell in itself sounds kind of threatening and unpleasant. Seems like a scare tactic to me 🙂

Are you actually breaking down "eternal torment" into word parts and trying to argue that it doesn't imply torture?! Common sense should slap that argument off the page.

Semantic meanderings aside, it obviously implies suffering and pain of some kind, even if it isn't a traditional torturer/victim scenario.

Nuurh. I was rebutting Urizen's claim that "there are many descriptive tortures in the Books of Revelations [sic]."

Ah. I guess I'll high-tail my context-deficient bum out of here then.

😮

Originally posted by DigiMark007
Ah. I guess I'll high-tail my context-deficient bum out of here then.

😮

in over 50% of the cases it is the primary motivation. in almost 100% of the cases, it is the dominant motivation.

Statistics or it's bullshit.

Again. And, again, you won't provide any...because it's bullshit.

let me ask you sumthing, are you really an idiot or do u just act like it?

OBVIOUSLY there no such thing as statistical records of human being's motivation for beleving in relegion{do u even know how ridiculous that sounds?} . and sumthing like 50% being primary motivation and 100% dominant motivation{two different things}.

for the LESS thick, among us. it is clearly my personal oppinion and those figures are obviously stated as nothing more than my take on the topic.

Actually I remember there being a Bible verse somewhere that said;
"Those that serve God out of fear, would worship The Devil if he revealed himself unto them".

Originally posted by leonheartmm
let me ask you sumthing, are you really an idiot or do u just act like it?

OBVIOUSLY there no such thing as statistical records of human being's motivation for beleving in relegion{do u even know how ridiculous that sounds?} . and sumthing like 50% being primary motivation and 100% dominant motivation{two different things}.

for the LESS thick, among us. it is clearly my personal oppinion and those figures are obviously stated as nothing more than my take on the topic.

kthx

to one, who thinks any1 speaking her/his mind = being full of shit. you must be the only one in your world who isnt full of shit. goodluck with that then.

Originally posted by leonheartmm
to one, who thinks any1 speaking her/his mind = being full of shit. you must be the only one in your world who isnt full of shit. goodluck with that then.

i am not at fault for your inability to discern between statistics and , figures which are obviously implied to show personal oppinion , now am i? ❌

Originally posted by Nellinator
And stay out!!

*walks around*

31

Originally posted by Zeal Ex Nihilo
Statistics or it's bullshit.

Again. And, again, you won't provide any...because it's bullshit.

Do you have stats on that?

...BULLSHIT!

Originally posted by DigiMark007
^^ What Alliance said. Myths originated to explain natural phenomenon, and other times to act as guidance for life's struggles or simply provide entertainment.

Awe generally includes an amount of fear (like watching a tornado tear up a house), so it's not surprising that fear worked it's way into the stories of the gods. But it's far from the only motivation.

The problem is that all the things are innately tied back to a fear.

No matter how you look at it, all monotheistic religions are tied to this idea of eternal incentive ("good" or bad"😉.

It is not to do good simply to reap the benefits of the good done, it is to do good so that you will be rewarded with eternal bliss in some heaven like place. Not to do things based on the principle or to live by a maxim, but to do them so that you will not suffer for eternity.

I can not find a way to separate the actions of a Christian, for example, and their beliefs that they will one day go into heaven (but of course with the "truly believe in God in your heart and still go to Heaven whatever you did" thing it gets sort of flimsy with Christians).

Originally posted by chithappens
No matter how you look at it, all monotheistic religions are tied to this idea of eternal incentive ("good" or bad"😉.

What you MEANT to say, I'm sure, is that its possible to view all religions as tied to fear.

You could say I go grocery shopping out of fear of starvation or that I drive my car to work out of fear of the weather, totally negating the facts that I'm only out of milk and work 35 miles away form my home.