It’s not very obvious at first glance, but, the running theme in the biblical scenario from Genesis to Revelations is manipulation of the masses through fear. “The fear of God” is mentioned 84 times in the bible. “Fear of God” is mentioned 86 times in the bible. “Fear the Lord” is mentioned 186 times in the bible. “Fear God” is mentioned 134 times in the bible. That’s a total of 490 times! Jesus is reputed to have said, “Fear only God who can destroy both soul and body in Hell”. (Matt. 10:28) And Paul is reputed to have said, “Our chief sin is that we have no fear of God at all”. (Romans 3:18)

Then, if you add up all the descriptive biblical passages of doom and destruction that God had, can or will wreak on humanity, the fear factor skyrockets! Ancient religions built their foundations on fear. If you displease  God, you, your entire nation (in the O.T.) and all of your descendants will suffer severely. If, on the other hand, you manage to please God (not an easy task), you, your nation (again, in the O.T.) and your descendants will be blessed and do well.

So, how to please God? The gateway is always a priest class. And that always costs goods, services and money. In biblical times, once the monarchic establishment and its royally employed priest class was in place, Yahweh became big business. The temple treasury rivaled the national treasury and, for the most part, was the same thing. King David could tap into the temple treasury to fund anything from building projects to war campaigns.

On the other hand, the priest class enjoyed power, prestige and plenty. It was a happy two way street. All that was necessary was to keep instilling a “Fear of the Lord” which is the running theme of the ancient biblical writers who (no surprises here) worked for the temple hierarchy. In the Old Testament, God could or would incur natural or military disasters in retaliation for displeasure. In the New Testament (after Zoroastrian influence following the Babylonian captivity) the stakes got much higher. Displeasure met with damnation! Loss of the immortal soul and/or pain and suffering in nightmarish conditions for eternity … until the end of time. Hell!

I have to mention that I, personally, have had a Near Death Experience many years ago. I’ll talk about that in more detail and how it still affects my life in other blogs. But, for now, I just want to mention that the major part of the experience was indescribable joy and bliss on “going home” to the Light. I have read about many other N.D.Es since then. I have yet to come across a single verifiable account that had even a hint of Hell, the devil, Satan, demons, eternal suffering or any other such nonsense.

Conclusion? The idea of “sin” as a condition that could somehow displease the Universal Force of Life is simply untrue and the figment of sick imaginations or clever mass manipulators.

Today, we’re re-defining “God” as an entity that initiated the Cosmos, permeates Time and is the Prime Mover of vibratory creation. How should we consider the notion where that deity would “get even” with a human being by instilling punishment of a nasty, mean and hellish nature on creatures evolving in accordance with a grand design? Here, on Earth? … on a minuscule spec in the grand scheme of things?

We need better answers.

Thanks to science, technology, logical thinking and (yes) even a more refined sense of intuition, we are in a position, today, to move forward in search of systems to express the spiritual dimension of being without the superstitions and the debilitating factors of fear, guilt, anxiety and frustration that have weighed like a nightmare on humanity for the past several thousand years. In a more enlightened future, the bible will be considered not as a blessing, but, as a barrier to true spiritual growth, world peace and human harmony.

In upcoming blogs, we will explore this line of thought in more detail.

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