The Road to Hell is Paved… With Fear

The Road to Hell is Paved… With Fear

fear

One of the cool things about the Bible is that it contains some very interesting passages that no one seems to read.

Understand, please, that I’m neither promoting a literal interpretation of the Bible nor giving you a sermon. I’m just pointing out a fascinating fact that most everyone seems to have missed, religious folks included.

In this case, I’m referring to a passage that comes at the very end of the book, where a list is given, itemizing the kinds of people who will be condemned to “the second death.”

Who would you expect to stand at the top of the list? Murders? Idolators? Maybe adulterers?

Nope, none of those. The first people heading off to destruction are “the fearful.”

But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Not what you expected?

You can look it up if you like. That’s from Revelation 21:8 (King James Version). And I even checked the original Greek: fearful is the right translation.

Fear as a Tool of Damnation

I’m not going to get into theological engineering here, but yes, this would mean that the promoters of fear are sending people to hell.

And, considering that we live in a fear-based culture, that’s an interesting thought indeed.

Now, if you want to be truly bold, think about this: Who is it that currently promotes fear?

We know the answer, of course. The people who live on fear are the majesties of the age: politicians being chief among them but followed by the entire ‘law enforcement‘ complex, military and intelligence organizations, television news-readers, religious bosses, newspaper operators, and, increasingly, anyone who wants something and has access to the public stage.

If the Bible is correct, people who profit from fear are profiting from the destruction (nay, the damnation!) of their fellow men and women.

Religion Isn’t Necessary, of Course

The conclusion that fear is the enemy of mankind doesn’t require religion, of course. We can reach the same conclusion just by recognizing that fear (and especially the chemicals associated with fear) damage our health.

Literally, people who make you fear are making you sick. (We covered this in issue #38 of Free-Man’s Perspective)

Beyond that, it is clear that fear is the number one tool of manipulators. If you want to get large numbers of men and women to do your will, scare them. Every tyrant in history has known this and used this technique.

What To Do About It

First of all, start paying attention to your feelings and notice when things make you afraid. Stop your thinking and pay attention to the whole fear process. If you do, you can deal with most of these attacks quickly, rather than leaving an indistinct fear to roll around the back of your mind all day.

Second, start analyzing the words that convey fear to you. Are they really true? Is the response the fear merchants deliver to you really the only course of action? The hard part of doing this is that the words come too fast; by the time you’re ready to analyze one statement, another one is halfway complete. Analyzing them in writing is far easier, or getting a live speaker to slow down and go one phrase at a time.

Third, start discounting the people who consistently throw fear at you. If that’s all they have, they’re not worth paying attention to. Turn off the TV; excuse yourself from the conversation; walk away. You don’t have to take it.

Finally, start pointing out these things to other people. They may be defensive at first, but isn’t that worth facing, to clear the minds of your friends and family? Why should they suffer under the lash of fear all their lives?

Paul Rosenberg

[Editor’s Note: Paul Rosenberg is the outside-the-Matrix author of FreemansPerspective.com, a site dedicated to economic freedom, personal independence and privacy. He is also the author of The Great Calendar, a report that breaks down our complex world into an easy-to-understand model. Click here to get your free copy.]

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6 Comments
Stucky
Stucky
October 22, 2013 4:54 pm

The guy makes many good points about “fear” in general, but is pretty far off regarding the specific Bible passage.

First of all, God loves to comfort the fearful. There are too many passages to list. Let’s look at just two.

1) Jeebus gets in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. A tremendous storm arose and the waves covered the ship. The disciples were afraid they were going to die. But, Jeebus slept through it all. The disciples woke Jeebus up, complained (as usual), and Jeebs said, — “Why are ye fearful [same exact word], O ye of little faith?”, and then stilled the storm. Notice … their fear had to do with “little faith”.

2) Jeebus is about to go to trial and be crucified. He’s with his closest friends having a Bud Light, and says to them —– “”Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. [same exact word]” So, in a most tender and intimate moment, Jeebus does not condemn his fearful disciples rather, he gives them peace.

Also, the list states that murderers are cast into hell. But, how can that be? The thief on the cross whom Jeebus forgave was probably a murderer. The Apostle Paul was a murderer before his conversion.

As always, context is important. The passage is from the last book in the Bible … and it’s from the second to last chapter. God is sitting on his throne … he says “It is done”. What exactly is “done”? One thing, for sure, is who enters the Pearly Gates and who gets cast into the Lake of Fire.

God then first lists 8 categories of people who won’t make it in, UNBELIEVERS —- 1) fearful, 2) unbelieving, 3) abominable, 4) murderers 5) whoremongers 6) sorcerer 7) idolaters 8) liars —- and then immediately describes the glories of heaven (pearly gates, streets of gold, trees of life, etc.)

You see, being fearful in and of itself is not a sin. But not having the RIGHT KIND of fear is. The fearful who don’t make it in are those who failed to follow commands from the book of Proverb; —- “ … fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding ……. fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge ……… fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom …….. it is wise to fear GOD an to keep HIS commandments”.

The author says, “Beyond that, it is clear that fear is the number one tool of manipulators.” So true, so true. It is also the number one tool of Satan and Salesmen, followed closely by generating greed.

SSS
SSS
October 22, 2013 5:05 pm

Stucky and some other visitors need to read this article …….. at least 10 times. Then, they need take a long, hard look at some words that trigger their fear, such as:

Nuclear power.

GMO foods.

Fracking (climb aboard the fear train on this one, Admin).

Dead zones in the ocean.

Too many people on the planet (or is it too many babies, Pirate Jo?).

The CIA.

Oil spills.

Zionism and Israel (I threw this one in especially for Zara).

Cops.

Billy Joe Armstrong and Green Day (this one’s just between me and my therapist. Heh.)

Southwest Airlines.

Fat people.

Tax cheats.

And the one word that all of us GENUINELY fear: Obama.

Get the picture? I know you do.

AWD
AWD
October 22, 2013 5:10 pm

SSS was stuck behind a foursome of 85 year old women on the golf course, which delayed him finishing, which made him late, which resulted in him missing the “early bird” senior specials at Golden Corral, which resulted in:

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juan
juan
October 22, 2013 9:40 pm

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Admin had a quote of the day referring to not lying to yourself, because then you would cease to ‘love’. Obviously, since we do not want to be lied to, there is plenty of love and truth seeking in TBP.

juan
juan
October 23, 2013 12:00 am

Stucky says:

“Remember that TheCynic said I am a hateful old fucker.”

he said you were 60+. I thought you was years younger. if you were older, you’d be against legalization, not for it.

sensetti
sensetti
October 23, 2013 12:27 am

I call Bullshit.

The road to hell is paved with normalcy bias and trod by the unprepared.