One of the comments on the blog a couple of weeks ago was about religions using fear to "rule" people or give them guidelines to live. It really hit home with me, because I grew up in the Catholic church, and during the 60s, it was "you'll go to hell, you'll go to hell" if you did this and that. I thought back then as a child, "well, how do you get to Heaven?" Fortunately the fire and brimstone in the Catholic Church died down and was replaced with more positive messages.
- Despite that, I left the Catholic Church years ago because they keep funding political campaigns against gay marriage, and I happily married my partner in 2009. Marriage is a civil right, not a religious right (but that's another story). Atheists, agnostics, Wiccans, elderly and infertile couples marry all the time and shouldn't be ruled by someone else's bible.
- This BLOG, however is about not living in FEAR or instilling fear in others to get what you want. That's in fear of "going to hell" or being afraid of doing things that will make you happy, despite the hurt it would cause others. Believe in yourself.
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- The bottom line is that you simply need to treat others as you would want to be treated. PERIOD. Everyone should be treated with respect and kindness.
- Religions and even governments use fear (remember the Bush Administration?) to scare people into doing things that will benefit the organizations who are inciting it.That is WRONG. Think about it. If you don't do what these people "of authority" tell you - you fear a repercussion. Don't be afraid. People will manipulate you to get what they want and serve their own agenda.
You should never do something hateful against anyone because it WILL come back to you. Karma is a powerful thing. The commenter said " people who are ruled by fear do what they do because they think they will go to hell if they don't. The fear is so real to them, that what happens is, its all for yourself and to save yourself and it doesnt matter what you do to others in order to save yourself. Just make sure YOU dont go to hell." So true.
She went on to say that she's been dealing with anger over being misled by fear-mongers. She realized that leading with or following leaders who use fear is wrong and detrimental to your health and everyone else's health.
I've learned through the messages I've received from those who passed that those people who use fear to manipulate others deal with a lot of regret. In fact, many of them linger as Earth-bound ghosts hoping that those they hurt and manipulated will forgive them. All of the knowledge of their mistakes becomes clear after their die. Don't wait. Treat others as you want to be treated. Do not use fear to get what you want... even if you don't regret it now, you WILL in the afterlife.