Selling the assurance of afterlife rewards for believers is an effective financial tactic. By monetizing fear for profit, Western organized religion has built a recession-proof cash flow. Are you a customer? Learn to use this inner spark to fuel a journey of personal and spiritual development instead of being used as a source of income for a religion.
There are many kinds of fear. There is a fear of failure, rejection, abandonment, and loss of relationships, but nothing tops our existential fear of death.
Beliefs about heaven and hell shape our culture. You don’t have to be a follower of an organized religion to have afterlife beliefs. The promises of eternal life are a central element to many philosophies. What is important is the process you go through to choose what you believe.
Most people don’t decide to do research on the afterlife to choose which religion or group to align with. The majority of people acquire their beliefs through indoctrination. This occurs either as children or when they have some type of crisis and need support. At these times, people are vulnerable and easier to manipulate. Many religions and cults use common psychological ploys to manipulate people.
A common ploy starts with a question like, do you know what will happen when you die? The insecurity of death brings up the personal crisis known as the dark night of the soul. It can be a doorway to self-development. But here is where religion turns these fears into a cash flow jackpot. How do they do it?
The Ethics of Selling Afterlife Promises
Ethics are guiding moral principles that tell us what is right or wrong. You find ethical guidelines in many fields. These guidelines discuss issues of fairness and justice and justify these value judgments.
The afterlife is the concept of the continued existence of our being after physical death. The idea is that some aspect of the individual, their consciousness, identity, or soul, lives beyond the physical plane of existence.
Belief in an afterlife is a prominent aspect of Eastern and Western religions and many ancient cultures. These belief systems can be elaborate and involve complex rituals. They explain the mystery of existence and what happens after death. These beliefs and rituals are often based on ancient cultural traditions and divinely inspired texts.
The ethics of selling afterlife promises is complex and controversial. Here are some key considerations:
1. Religions take advantage of peope who are emotionally vulnerable and seeking help for a variety of reasons. Indoctrinating people in crisis exploits this vulnerability. And so it raises ethical concerns about taking advantage of people.
2. The indoctrination of children is seen by many as child abuse. Young children are vulnerable and trusting. This trust is violated when they are indoctrinated into beliefs that program their thinking.
3. Ethical issues arise whenever promises are made that are not based on verifiable facts. Selling afterlife promises involves claims that cannot be substantiated, which is deceptive.
4. There is financial exploitation, where a significant amount of money is given to secure afterlife benefits. This can be problematic if the promises are not fulfilled. Religions thrive by monetizing fear for profit at the expense of the individual and their families.
5. The psychological impact on those who invest in these promises can be significant. It is all too common for people to realize they were deceived into joining a group or religion to receive afterlife benefits. These promises often do not bring the expected comfort or closure.
These points highlight the reasons one should approach the topic with a strong ethical framework. What are your thoughts on this issue?
Loving God By Monetizing Fear for Profit
Religions justify selling this concept because it provides comfort and hope. It provides religion with a way to justify selling all the rituals and appropriating the assets of the deceased.
Questions about death are among the first questions we ask about life. Children as young as two years old ask about what happens when we die. Many philosophers call this our existential fear. Children are open to accepting anything their parent, caregiver, or authority figure tells them.
The moment we realize all things die, including us, can trigger our existential fear. This fear prompts us to seek answers. It’s a critical phase. This innate fear should stimulate our spiritual quest, but here’s where religions step in the antidote to the fear of death. All you need to do is accept their beliefs about heaven and hell.
I have no fear of the Hereafter. An orthodox hell could hardly be more torture than my life has been. — Robert E. Howard
The fear of the unknown and death go hand-in-hand. If you are smart, you can find a way to capitalize on the reality of our demise. Joseph Campbell calls the fear of death the impetus for the Hero’s Journey. (1) It is that part of human nature that awakens when we grasp the reality of our eventual demise. If we face our existential fear of death, we can learn how to make our lives meaningful. Some question the ethics of selling afterlife promises as psychological deception.
Selling the Assurance of Afterlife Rewards for Believers
The sale of afterlife beliefs is a way of monetizing fear for profit. They view their teachings about the afterlife as a source of guidance that provides comfort. These doctrines are often dependent upon following a moral code. For these codes of ethics, religions point to divinely inspired texts for authority. The ethics of selling afterlife promises takes a backseat to making cash.
Religious sects offer afterlife benefits as part of the salvation package. Along with salvation and a celestial paradise, some also grant access to divine healing and monetary prosperity. Afterlife benefits also vary. Some promise a harem of virgins, if that is your thing. Other religions promise mansions and servants. While others say if saved, you will forever be a part of a celestial choir that sings the praises of the creator for eternity. This last scenario doesn’t sound all that appealing.
Organized religions see nothing wrong with monetizing fear for profit. God may have created the universe, but he still needs your money to keep his various religious sects running smoothly.
The promise of something better than their current life helps cover the fear of death. Religion is delighted to offer these answers, but it comes with a price. Some find them comforting, but this comfort is fragile.
Linking Beliefs About Heaven and Hell
The promise of heaven or heavenly rewards is enough of an incentive for many people to follow and support a religion. But there is something that works better than a positive incentive: the fear of eternal punishment. Sadly, the afterlife is not all unicorns and rainbows.
Afterlife promises aren’t just about heaven; they also include hell. If the carrot of heaven doesn’t entice you to buy into the game, stick; the fear of eternal torture and punishment should motivate you. The ethics of selling promises rarely, if ever, comes up during this sales pitch. Selling afterlife rewards for believers goes hand-in-hand with the eternal punishment in hell. The afterlife in heaven is sold by leveraging the fear of hell.
In contrast, some say there is nothing after death. Death is the end. All that awaits is eternal oblivion. The belief that consciousness exists after death is not exclusive to those with religious beliefs.
Our popular culture reinforces this belief system with thousands of supernatural movies and TV shows. The duality of good and evil is programmed and reprogrammed. So, even if your favorite religion doesn’t brainwash you, you’ll get a dose of this mythology in your entertainment. Movies certainly do affect our beliefs about heaven and hell.
Promises of Eternal Life
According to many religions, the good news is that your soul is eternal. It is energy that cannot be deleted, only changed to a new form. You are just like H2O. When water drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it freezes. When water is heated above 212 Fahrenheit, it boils and turns into a gas called steam. So, your consciousness or soul lives forever.
The catch is you are either going to spend eternity in one of two places: heaven or hell. That’s right; believing in a life after death presupposes two mystical realms, heaven and hell. After all, you can’t have a life after death if you’ve nowhere to go. Sadly, we are all going to hell in someone else’s religion.
The religion selling the assurance of afterlife rewards does so with certain conditions. The benefits of heaven are not guaranteed. You must stay in good standing and not lose your place in heaven. You lose your place in heaven and end up being punished forever in hell if you don’t to meet the standards of your belief system.
Eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God’s infinite love. ― Bill Hicks
In order to receive the promises of eternal life, you need to obey whatever your religion tells you to believe and do. You need to make a public declaration of your beliefs. If you do this and pay your weekly tithe, then you are entitled to afterlife benefits.
One thing you can do to protect your spot in heaven and avoid hell. One way is to put heaven on the layaway plan. You can pay the Church indulgences to purchase eternal life. Or you can do special things that please your God, like kill non-believers.
So, if you buy into a religion, does it really provide an antidote to the fear of death? No. The afterlife merely substitutes the fear of death for the fear of hell. You must submit to all the tenets of the belief system if you want the benefits. How successful is this scheme?
Many religions use the afterlife as a recruitment and retention tool. Still, the Abrahamic faiths surpass others in their marketing efforts and use fear to control. The sale of the afterlife is big business and has been for centuries. It is war-proof and recession-proof. (2)
Selling the assurance of afterlife rewards for believers has been lucrative. It has made the Abrahamic religions the richest entities on the planet. The three largest religions by population are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Together, they boast over 4 billion followers. Today, there are over 10,000 versions of these themes. The beliefs about heaven and hell are intertwined with their doctrines.
The afterlife is another idea taken from the mystery religions of ancient Egypt, Babylon, Persian, and Assyrian. This is where the Abrahamic family gets the concepts of angels, devils, and demons, along with hell. The Abrahamic religions did not create these tactics and doctrines; they rebranded them for their own use.
The Effects of Religious Indoctrination
Some religions and political leaders trigger fear and anger continually on purpose. These emotions trigger your fight, flight, or freeze reaction. This emergency state shuts off the higher thinking center of the brain to keep it safe from the adrenalin and other stimulants.
When your higher thinking center is offline, you are easier to manipulate. It doesn’t matter how intelligent you are. The more you expose yourself to this propaganda, the more susceptible you become. This makes you more likely to believe other aspects of superstition. The more afraid and insecure you are, the more vulnerable you are. That makes you a lifelong paying customer.
The primary goal of these systems is to generate income. The Catholic Church is the wealthiest entity on the planet, with more material wealth than most countries. Selling afterlife rewards for believers is extremely profitable.
How rich is the Catholic Church? Its estimated net worth is over 400 billion dollars, including cash, real estate, precious metals, and art. The best part is that there are no customer complaints or refunds.
Knowledge is the Antidote to Fear
It is essential to know how concepts shape your worldview. You’ll learn how your beliefs about the afterlife shape your worldview. Understanding what shapes our worldviews is an important step in understanding ourselves and our culture. When we understand what shapes our worldviews, we are in a position to change them. If we don’t identify them, our beliefs color our choices, and we don’t even realize it. Knowledge is not just power; knowledge is the antidote to fear.
— If you have afterlife beliefs, where did you get them?
— Did you choose your afterlife beliefs after doing research and reviewing the facts? Or were you indoctrinated into religious beliefs as a child or in a personal crisis?
— Are your beliefs about heaven and hell a part of a package with your religious beliefs? Or can you pick from various options?
— How much do you need to pay your religion to maintain life-after-death rewards?
— Are your beliefs based upon the fear that rejecting them would place your soul in jeopardy? Are you a believer in hell?
— Do your afterlife beliefs motivate you to show love, compassion, and friendship? Does this love and mercy extend to others outside your belief system?
— Do your afterlife beliefs interfere with your ability to maintain relationships with others?
— Are your beliefs an antidote for fear? Or do you exchange the anxiety of death for losing afterlife benefits?
— Has your fear of death prompted you on your inner journey apart from organized religion?
Conclusion — The Promises of Eternal Life
The ethics of selling afterlife promises is certainly questionable in the least. Some believe it should be a crime to inflect anyone to the hypnotic control of religious indoctrination.
Think about what you believe. Why do you believe what you believe? Where did these beliefs come from? Are you using fear of death as motivation to explore life and spirituality to the fullest? Or are you choosing the antidote of organized religion?
The concept of eternal existence is a core tenet of many religions, and these beliefs often contain promises of eternal life. Whether or not you believe in such theories, this concept shapes our popular culture. You need to be conscious of its power in your life because religions will continue monetizing fear for profit by selling heaven.
If you have the choice, picking the right beliefs about what happens when we die can be hard. There are so many religious options; which one do you pick? We are all going to hell in someone else’s religion. Are you buying the antidote to the fear of death? Or is the afterlife just an easy way to sidestep a more complicated question?
References
(1) Joseph Campbell’s Book, Historical Atlas of World Mythology. Wikipedia
(2) End of Life and Life After Death — Issues to be addressed. National Library of Medicine