Ah, the correlation was that if fear of God is a sin, it would make God a sin, which would be blasphemy. And if God was a sin, then religion was man-made, and what is man-made can be cleaved asunder and taken down.. hence anarchy, disorder etc etc... Khair..
I didn't say fear is necessary. I don't believe it should be, but I was asking if you thought it was, and seems like you do. I think fear kills orderly thinking.. it distorts and hinders exploration. Agree however, that man should utilize all his faculties to arrive at his decisions or beliefs, rather than blindly jumping into everything everyone else is doing.
Yes your conduit makes sense: it's the message not the messanger. But if we were to turn that argument lopsided... will God accept an offering thru dung? Bear with my convoluted thinking for a bit. I'm not trying to pin down Hinduism... Islamic Hell could very likely be dung, who knows.
Why is God selective in what ways humans can offer Him (this is only an all-encompassing a pronoun) devotion? Why necessarily prayers, chants, shlokas etc... What is the purpose of focusing human thought to one particular genre of worship, discarding the rest. Eating can be a form of worship... you eat to sustain yourself, to flesh out your body and not reduce it to consumptive levels. You recognize that you owe Him that body, and you eat to maintain it. Does He accept this as an offering? I don't think so. He requires a specific type of worship, in my case 5 times a day, in your case, around a fire. Intimidation to devotion in both cases - fire in the hereafter, fire in front of you.
A true supreme being would be exactly that.. 'supreme' and beyond any 'needs' or 'wants'... it's a misconception that 'prayers' and other rituals are for that entity.
Those who understand the essence of these have discovered they are farthest from being a ritual or calisthenics.. it's a form of reflection on who we are, why we are here and acknowledge the supreme being as the One to whom we owe our devotion being His creation.
I think there is a misunderstanding. I am not saying fire is intimidation by god thus instilling fear. I am saying, fire is a manmade counduit for it seems to purge, ( as per our knowledge). For all I know, god could be laughing her ass off, everytime a hindu puts teh samigri in the havan or a muslim rolls out the mat and faces the bathroom because it is int he direction of mecca. The point is that people are revering a force. I am at least...and I am doing it out of love, not fear.
[QUOTE] Originally posted by Chaltahai: *
**For all I know, god could be laughing her ass off, everytime a hindu puts teh samigri in the havan or a muslim rolls out the mat and faces the bathroom because it is int he direction of mecca. The point is that people are revering a force. I am at least...and I am doing it out of love, not fear.*
[/QUOTE]
This shows just how little you know about God.
If you were to do everything in the name of 'love', there would be no social order, as at the end of the day 'God loves you' so He shan't punish you for a murder! What kind of justice is this?
Islaam is a balance between Love, Fear and Hope: Love in God; Fear from His punishment; and Hope in His Mercy.
Look at the Justice ... isn't God simply beautiful?