[jlogajan]

you have no powerful presence in your life (that you discern, anyway) pushing you to give of yourself to others. I do not have that luxury.

Do you do it because you love people, or because you fear hell? That's an honest question, not a put down of any sort. I think religion is largely motivated out of fear of the hearafter, all lip service to love nothwithstanding.

[jlogajan]

hereafter

[yendu bwam]

Do you do it because you love people, or because you fear hell? That's an honest question, not a put down of any sort. I think religion is largely motivated out of fear of the hearafter, all lip service to love nothwithstanding.

I do it because I believe God loves me deeply, and I love Him. When he tells me I need to do something for my own good, I trust Him in that. The same way a son may take the advice of a loving father on the value of the father's wisdom and love - even if the son is inconvenienced by such.

[yendu bwam]

I think religion is largely motivated out of fear of the hearafter, all lip service to love nothwithstanding.

Religious people fear becoming bad people, and distancing themselves from God by falling into bad and evil acts. Such distancing, on our own accord, IS hell. But Christians believe God works very hard to keep us from doing that, and is willing to forgive bad things we do as long as we truly repent and try our hardest to be better people.