Do you have a TRUE sense of security?

I'm not going to elaborate much on this question as not to be long-winded. But I was raised in the Christian church (Pentecostal denomination to be exact), grew up around preachers and preachers' kids. I have probably heard 1,000s of sermons and messages, and read countless articles regarding religious and spiritual ideas.

I don't claim Christianity right now, because I don't believe that I live the life that a true Christian should live, and one of my biggest fears is being seen as a hypocrite. Yet, I cannot bring myself to distancing myself from my Christian upbringing simply because of the fear of ending up in HELL.

Many people will say that this is because of "conditioning" or that my faith is fear-based. My question to this notion is: Is that really a bad thing? What if fear is good when it relates to your eternal destiny? I know that fear in general isn't bad because it was given to us as a signal for danger. What if Hell is real? I know that many people here probably don't believe in it because this board is more geared toward a Universal perspective. But Jesus Christ is quoted in scripture as saying that "broad is the road that leads to destruction (Hell) and many will find it, but narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life (Heaven) but few will enter in." So, what if we actually are complimenting Christians by calling them "narrow minded"? What if being narrow minded is actually a good thing? And what if our unwavering faith that is built upon the "all roads lead to Heaven" and "find and live in your own truth" philosophy is really a false sense of security?

Just a thought. I'm open to any and all responses.

Real progress never feels 'comfortable'. Fear can be an indicator of going to a deeper place and like everything else it is temporally.
In answer to the question. A great big NO in the traditional sense of the word security.
If you are walking a tightrope and they remove the safety net....... just keep going.

[Xan]

It doesn't matter so much what's going on in your mind about death and the hereafter, as it's all just one belief or another.

It's knowing who you are in essence that will give you the true sense of security you are wondering about.

Your inner being, your true self is what lives on after death, so getting to know it now saves a lot of worry


Xan

Originally Posted by Xan

It doesn't matter so much what's going on in your mind about death and the hereafter, as it's all just one belief or another.

It's knowing who you are in essence that will give you the true sense of security you are wondering about.

Your inner being, your true self is what lives on after death, so getting to know it now saves a lot of worry

Xan

As you know our true self is not how we commonly know ourselves, i.e. our ego/ID - how we live/interact with the world. Hence, being totally/starkly honest - whilst I agree with you that our spirit survives death - this is not reassuring to me as a source of security.

[Gem]

Oh, a TRUE sense of security lol

[Native spirit]

Itdoesnt matter what religeous background you come from,there is two common signs that come from both, follow our faith you go to heaven dont follow our faith you go to hell, its wrong there is no such place as hell,there is just the spirit world which consists of levels.the people who need to go to hell as they say,go to the lower levels,until theu heal and aknowledge what they did,
follow your heart if a religeon doesnt feel right dont follow it,the only way you will find peace is to be happy in your own beliefs.

Namaste

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Native spirit

Itdoesnt matter what religeous background you come from,there is two common signs that come from both, follow our faith you go to heaven dont follow our faith you go to hell, its wrong there is no such place as hell,there is just the spirit world which consists of levels.the people who need to go to hell as they say,go to the lower levels,until theu heal and aknowledge what they did,
follow your heart if a religeon doesnt feel right dont follow it,the only way you will find peace is to be happy in your own beliefs.

Namaste

(Bows )

[Miss Hepburn]

I'm so secure, I can't tell ya. Great topic.

Fear is a gift for protection, as in 'The Gift of Fear' by Gaven DeBecker.

But, the Old Testamant wrathful God is a lie.
Fear is 'bad', period. Be happy, don't worry. Enjoy and be abundant as
Jesus or our Father or the Supreme Being would want.

Would anyone want their pet, child or wife live in fear? Of couse not.
Where the cup is filled with fear, anxiety,worry, doubt...there is no room for
Love.
Fear is the trick of Mind, Ego, or the Christian name, the devil or enemy.
There is nothing to fear regarding our loving Creator, here or in the hereafter.
Now, the survival instinct when I see a black widow in my house is a whole other thing!
(As far as I'm concerned, anyway.)

Reading 100 NDEs helped tremendously!!! @ www.nderf.org. (I think, maybe it's .com)

[Lynn]

Hello


I think that we have to step into that place of balance and understanding. We can be raised in one faith but later open to a new faith or no faith. We all land on our feet in the end. It is a good thing to have some fear as long as that fear does not contol us or lead us down the garden path to doign things that are not right .

As a Medium I work with all levels of the living and the dead, and if there was ever a time when I moved along a ghost ( Earth Bound ) to a door of fire ( Hell ) I would never allow me to open to being whom I am again. I have come to work with those that man would call the lowest of socieity and helped them move along, not for me to be the final judge and jury but for me to bless their path in moving along.

We are from such an early age taught to be wary and to have fears, and sadly in the World we live we do have to have our gaurds up, we have to teach our kids to be wary and to be safe. That too is the same in the teachings I had growing up in Sunday School, but looking back now I can take the possitives from there in seeing that those lessons while they were ment to make me follow God, did not maybe do that, but they did show me the path to being a good person and a servent in helping God.

I do not walk with God, I respect that there is a Univeral Life Force but I do not call it God but I respect the basis of the Old Testement words, as there are great moral values inthere if ye can see past the "worship" aspects of it.

Do we have a true sense of security I have to say for me yes, and for most yes, as we have the faith in ourself. We know that we are not alone, even if we feel alone. We are Guided and protected along our paths, and we are secure. We at times just need to say a blessing for ourself and feel that come to us as we are secure in deserving it.


Lynn

I believe we all create our own hell where we think about the bad decisions we made in our life. But hell can't be eternal, and it certainly doesn't involve flames and a goat-devil with a trident.

The Christian hell isn't very logic to me. The few years you spend on earth will determine how your whole eternity will be like? And if you make some "bad" decisions, you'll burn in hell forever. And correct me if I'm wrong, but don't Christians also feel that way about babies who aren't baptized?

Another thing is that I would live in constant fear of dying if I were to believe everything the Bible told us. I wouldn't live at all, I'd exist with a constant reminder that my every move, actions or thoughts would send me straight to eternity of flames.

I wouldn't even send my worst enemy, the most evil creature on this earth to live an eternal life in misery. But I doubt the truth is like that.