It's the fear of death and hope for something more than this short life that drives it.
The End of The World Delusion
by cassuk11 23 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Heaven
Religions/Cults use fear and guilt to ensnare/trap people and then keep them captive. The End of the World is frightening so religions/cults use it as one of their fear tactics. Then they offer you the solution - join us and you will be saved.
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Pistoff
Followers of Jesus absorbed elements of Zoroastrianism that were present in the region, including the belief in apocalypse/end of days, the division of the worlds into light and dark, etc.
Apocalyptic ideas generally were a characteristic of groups that were in the persecuted minority, like the imagery in the book of Daniel, and Revelation; they imagined an inbreak of God to save them and take vengeance on their enemies.
The idea took on a different, and dangerous feel, obviously, when Christians became the majority and the sanctioned religion.
Today the idea persists, and has poisoned the lives of millions; it causes them to wait for an event that will never happen, and they lose focus on the here and now.
I speak as a long time witness who never looked more than 2 to 5 years down the line; why? Armageddon.
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steve2
There is an appropriate - and I'd suggest largely unavoidable - anxiety required about the need for adults to have learnt to stand on their own two feet and looked their "life" situation squarely in the eye and taken full responsibility for it without crutches and without infantile blood-soaked promises. This thing called adult responsibility evokes necessary anxiety and requires sheer courage to face on a daily basis. There is no avoiding it. The question is: will we collapse under the emotional "awfulness" of it all,scrambling like scared rabbits for special consolation over what is unavoidable OR decide to grow up and start acting like adults? That question is far more helpful that religious impelled simpleton questions like What Happens To Us After We Die? Honey, the question is crazily wrong-headed. How do you take responsibility for your life right now in the here and now?