Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site uscvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!uscvax!kurtzman From: kurtzman@uscvax.UUCP (Stephen Kurtzman) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: A primary reason for belief in Christ Message-ID: <908@uscvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 18:29:10 EDT Article-I.D.: uscvax.908 Posted: Fri Aug 16 18:29:10 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 21:01:01 EDT Distribution: net Organization: CS&CE Depts, U.S.C., Los Angeles, CA Lines: 33 A recent article on this news group ended with: > Praise be to Christ Jesus, who sets us free from this world of death, and > raises us up alive with Him to be His servants and ambassadors back to > this world. > > Peter Homeier > ARPANET: homeier@aerospace I have always had the feeling that many people choose to believe in the claims of Christianity because it gives an alternative to an eternal death. The excerpt above is a classic example of why I get this feeling - Christ "sets us free from this world of death". Is my feeling justified? Many of the ministers, priests, and tv evangelists/preachers I have heard play upon the inherent fear man has of death. Does anyone know of any Christian sect that does not try to exploit fear of death? A lot of the Christian sects actually go one step further and tell people it is not just death you will experience but eternal damnation. It makes me uneasy and suspicious when someone tries to scare me into doing or believing something. How does it make the Christians and non-Christians on the net feel? What do you think the consequences would be to the Christian churches if they did not play on fear? I believe many would fall apart because it would rapidly become apparent that without fear all they would have left is meaningless dogma. Those Christian communities that have some basis other than fear might indeed find themselves bursting over with true believers. What do the Christians and non-Christians that read this news column think about this possibility? Note that I have not tried to pass judgement on whether or not Christ is (the son of) God. That is irrelevant to my questions.