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Originally Posted by Morpheus
Errant statement. People, by their own behavior and actions, condemn themselves.
Stemming from ego, and the survival instinct, of which we are all afflicted with, ketzer.
You are no exception.
But, the Lord's purpose is to save.
Salvation was always primary, in the old testament and new, as should be evident.
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Well then, it sounds like we agree, if not with my second post then with my first. We all have our ego, and we all tend to believe that we are that ego, and in this world of predator and prey we all fight to protect the perceived existence of that ego. In the struggle, we often do many things out of fear, anger, and hatred. We do condemn ourselves, not by our actions, but by that which we fill our hearts with, that which drives those actions. If we fill ourselves with fear and hatred then that is what we will experience. The good news is that we don’t need Jesus to forgive our sins. The only one who needs to forgive our sins is us. To do so we must learn compassion and forgiveness for all, including our enemies. Once we learn to forgive the transgressions of others, through love and compassion, instead of just seeing them as evil, we can do the same for ourselves, and thereby free ourselves from the hell we create within. Sin is not crime, sin is an error in action or thought, brought about by erroneous beliefs and understanding. Karma is not punishment, but instead the universe, ourselves, giving us another chance to learn. God is not a terrorist, nor a judge, jury, or executioner. God has infinite unconditional love and patience while waiting for you to learn, grow, and realize the divinity within, finding your way back to where you came from, and seeing it anew and understanding it for the first time.
It seems to me that living in terror of a tyrannical God who is going to condemn one to hell for eternity for whatever crimes they may have committed as they fought through this short but difficult lifetime, spent as a member of the food chain, is a pretty good start on a description of hell, not to mention a pretty awful depiction of God. My advice, is that instead of (or in addition to) finding herbal remedies to deal with the fear and anxiety, one should consider rethinking the erroneous beliefs that are causing it in the first place. Humans tend to fear that which we don’t understand. Perhaps that is why so many have such a fear of God.