Religion is for people who fear hell; Spirituality is for people who've been to hell. What does this mean?

Religion is for people who fear hell; Spirituality is for people who've been to hell. What does this mean? Asked by ~*casron*~ 49 months ago Similar questions: Religion people fear hell Spirituality who've Society > Religion & Spirituality.

Similar questions: Religion people fear hell Spirituality who've.

If you've been to hell, you don't need to be afraid of it, you need a way out Some religions try to get people to behave well by making them fear that if they do not behave well, they will end up in hell after they die. For people who experience hell on earth, typically in war situations, where they have been raped, tortured and abused, lived in pain and terror for days, weeks, months, or years, don't need to be afraid of hell, because they've experienced it. They've survived it.

Hell will not motivate them to behave well. In fact, sometimes the experience of hell on earth makes people turn to bad behavior. My guess is that most criminals can tell you stories of the hell they've experienced, and how that experience made them think there is no point to behaving well, because it only gets you hell.

Some people manage another course in response to hell on earth. Some manage to forgive the folk who caused the hell, and to forget, to some degree, the memories and flashbacks about the hellish conditions, and find a way to be productive members of society in spite of the hell they've endured. How do they do it?

One answer is the one suggested in the quote. There are a lot of definitions of spirituality out there, but I have my own definition. For me, spirituality is about taking into account long term consequences of current actions in making decisions about every action you take.It's hard to consider long term consequences for several reasons.

First, it takes a lot of knowledge gained through personal experience. Then it takes a good imagination and good predictive capabilities. You need to have a predictive model that is believable, if not accurate, and it is extremely difficult to develop such a thing.

Many religions have rules they like people to use, but if you've been through hell, you're likely to dismiss the rules of the past, and want to make your own. The lessons of the past didn't work to save you.So there are processes that help people develop good models for assessing the long term consequences of current behavior. Meditation, prayer, dreaming, writing, mental modeling, and other forms of creativity (music, dance, art) can all help one think through things in an intuitive kind of way.

You have to use intuition because you simply don't have enough time to think everything through, step by step. However, the more stepwise you do it, the better you do it. I'm guessing that the saying means that people who experience hell, need to find a way to understand it.

That means taking a very long view, in a kind of dispassionate way. If you take a personal view, you won't get over your hell. You'll be stuck seeking fairness and justice.

The long view shows you that you can't get fairness and justice, at least in one lifetime. The long view shows you that it is still worth trying to create conditions where others can get fairness and justice. And this, to me, is spirituality, and it is the only way I know of coping with hell.

Looking Around for God: The Oddly Reverent Observations of an Unconventional Christian This quote os from page 115 of a book titled: Looking Around for God: The Oddly Reverent Observations of an Unconventional Christian By: James A. Autry, Bill D. Moyers As best as I can tell, in the context within which it was written, the author is quoting someone who helps folks with addiction problems and the author can relate, because he came to Christ for fear of hell himself.

The only review on the book ( on Amazon) states: This is a brilliant little book containing honest observations and stories that left me thinking, discussing, and referring chapters to everyone around me. Autry’s journey to and through faith is unique yet easily recognizable....something identifiable to those of us who struggle with our own theologies. For those of my friends who tend to find solace in an orderly religious life, this is not the book I’d offer.It is unconventional.

But, to my larger group of friends and family, those who tend to circle around, zig-zag, frequently fall back from institutional models of church community while yearning for the Lord’s ongoing presence, this book promises and delivers. It’s a gem, filled to the brim with evidences of God’s grace. --------------------------------------------------------------------- In my opinion, as I look at this profound statement, which has been adopted and attributed to many, including movie director Oliver Stone, who you’ll find if you google this question’s statement, but I find myself, considering that people of organized religion have generally been preached the hell fire and brimstone and even if it’s been sugar coated, the underlying belief that is passed on is that you’re going to spend eternity somewhere, so you better be sure and make it with Jesus in heaven.

ON the latter half of the statement, I was not brought to be aware of my need for Jesus through this typical American dream, raised int eh church process. I found the need as an adult, while serving in the Marine Corps and the burden lifted from my shoulder’s was too weighty for me to continue to haul around.So, having been to hell, so to say, I found my spiritual search, something I believe we all seek to fill, I found it filled by Jesus, after having made all the mistakes a human can make and grown tired of the living hell it created. WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

It means there is more than one approach to the same end. Sources: life in the fast lane EternalOptimist's Recommendations Looking Around for God: The Oddly Reverent Observations of an Unconventional Christian Amazon List Price: $16.00 Used from: $9.19 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 1 reviews) Sowing and Reaping A Fearless Heart: Convicted Not Condemned Amazon List Price: $15.56 Used from: $10.58 Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 20 reviews) .

Allow me to address your question by picking apart some of your words in A Loving Way First Religion means belief, and even in James 2:19 satan himself believes in God and trembles, but NO ONE and I MEAN "NO ONE" will enter into God's Kingdom because they "attempted" to keep God's law because they had fear of hell. John 3:16 is God's response For God The Father "SO" Loved that He gave... and John 14:15 is ours "IF" you Love me then keep my commandments, Hell is a word used one of two ways and only two ways in God's Holy Bible first and most often it is used to describe the grave, last and not very often to describe the place of burning {for the record Rev.22:13, 21:8 The "effects" of Hell is forever NOT the burning The real issue is relationship and as far as "been to hell" this earth is one open grave everyone alive "IS" in Hell that is there own open grave NOW but Praise God through Jesus Christ He has given By the way that word "fear" when God uses that word to address saying to "Fear" God another way to use that is to say "respect" God HAS NEVER wanted s children to be afraid of m now satan see Isaiah 14:12-14 does want you to be afraid of God but why? Find out more free bible lessons www.vop.com God bless you all.

Sources: The Holy Bible .

If you've never known despair, discouragement, persucution, you may a lot about God; but be limited how you know We come to know about God from reading the scriptures, listening to fellow believers and by working through all of the different facts and statements in our minds. Knowing about God is in a mental thing. It is good to know about God... However, the abundant life that Jesus promised contains more than just knowing about God.To be in a real and personal relationship with God we must know m by experiencing m as He exercises different aspects of It is a good thing to know God personally.

Through experience... All Christians know God as Savior from their salvation experience. Most know But unless you’ve known deep dark despair and hopelessness in your life and experienced s comfort and Peace that doesn’t make sense, you are limited in the degree to which you know m as “Comforter in Times of Sorrow”. Unless you’ve been trapped, desperate, with no sight or hope of escape, and then experienced m deliver you from your entrappment, you are limited in the degree to which you know We come to know God as we experience s activity and power in our lives... Religion and religious people place more of their belief and faith in the mental, knowing about category.

Of course they know m as Savior and Lord from personal experience. But for them, their religious life deepens most as they learn more about God. Their focus is the things that are clearly promised and spoken of plainly in the Bible.

The biggest and plainest of these is of course the promise of eternal life and Heaven. .. Religious folk strive to know more about God, for the sake and value of knowing more about God. People who’ve been raised in church environments have been exposed to helpful Bible instruction since early childhood.

It’s hard for these people to understand the difference between knowing about God and knowing m through personal relationship and shared experiences. .. Most people who have not been raised in church still know quite a bit about God, They’re just not interested or see a need for all that religious stuff in their lives. Because churches are more focused on people knowing about God that leading them to know m personally through experience; outsiders looking in, see God and religion as learning a bunch about what you should and should not do.

Independent, free thinking Americans often have little use adding more persons to tell them what they should and should not do. So where do the “knowing God” people come from?.. I only know of two places where a large number of people move from knowing about God into the realm of knowing God... The first fits the description in your question perfectly... “Spirituality is for people who’ve been to hell. What does this mean?

" .. After all knowing God as a real and communicative person active in your life is a spiritual thing. And nothing brings us to the point of seeking more than to just know about God than life experiences that can best be described as “Hell on Earth”. It’s taken several of these to get me to this point in my life.

As painful as these experiences have been; if I had to do it all over again, I’d not skip a single one of them. Knowing m in a real and personal way means that much to me... I know several folk that have come to emphasis the knowing God portion of their life this way... The second way that I’ve seen in Christians involves sharing experiences with other and repeatedly discussing and becoming aware of the possibility that God still interacts in very personal ways with I highly recommend the second approach. It is less painful and leaves fewer scars... I hope this has given you some insight into how I perceive the meaning of the excellent quote that your question has brought to my attention.Thanks.

Sources: my life, other people's lives, scripture, Oswald Chaambers, Henry Blackaby, C. S, Lewis Wimpy's Recommendations The Complete Works of Oswald Chambers Amazon List Price: $42.99 Used from: $22.50 Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5 (based on 22 reviews) In particular "Christian Displines, Volume 1" .

Our interpretations vary It would be inaccurate to put everything into the same category: religion, hell, spirituality. I could say I became spiritual at an early age but later had my share of life's problems, not necessarily hell because I don't believe such a place ever existed, it's open to interpretation. So my direction in life wasn't based on having undergone difficulties that brought me to the point of becoming spiritual, rather just the reverse.

Religion in most cases is based on what we have accepted during our early years of upbringing. If there is a teaching of fear along with it then that's most unfortunate. We do not love God out of fear, surely, that's somewhat outdated.In society religion has its role to play and serves many purposes such as to strengthen the individual and unite the community, etc. I think the universe is unfolding as it should and it is for us to join in and contribute our share in assisting our fellow human beings whoever they may be.

Note the bearing on the current threads re 'organized religion' as contrasted w/ spirituality. " "Why isn't Religion & Spirituality listed under Main categories? I didn't realize the category existed.

" "Why is Religion such a touchy topic? I am a Agnostic and don't see why people get so offended when religion is brought up" "What is the point of religion? What good is it?

How does it help you? What do you want or need religion?" "Your 'Change category' does not work. You put my 'computer' question into 'Religion & Spirituality.

'" ""Religion is for people who are scared of hell, and spirituality is for people who have been through it." comments? " (10 answers) "religion" "What religion are you if any? Would you consider yourself a religious person?

How did you come to be your religion? " "Ultimately, does religion exist because "People need easy answers and they fear death. "" "Why do intelligent and successful people accept kindergarten level spirituality as taught by religions without question?

Note the bearing on the current threads re 'organized religion' as contrasted w/ spirituality.

I am a Agnostic and don't see why people get so offended when religion is brought up.

Your 'Change category' does not work. You put my 'computer' question into 'Religion & Spirituality.

Religion is for people who are scared of hell, and spirituality is for people who have been through it. " comments? " (10 answers).

Ultimately, does religion exist because "People need easy answers and they fear death.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.