Entry 11: Fear as a Motivator

Many people would agree that fear is one of the most powerful motivators of human behavior. For example, fear of injury makes us wear a helmet, and fear of failure makes us study harder. Describe how in his sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" John Edwards uses fear as a motivating force. Do you think fear is a great motivator? Have you ever been motivated by fear, or has anyone ever tried to scare you into doing what he or she wants? Describe the situation and whether fear worked to get you to conform with his or her wishes.

• In "Sinners in the Hands of Angry God", Edwards uses the idea of burning eternally in fiery pit in hell to motivate other people to believe and obey God, and to accept Christ as their savior and follow Christ's teachings. If people fear burning in hell, then they would work harder to achieve salvation so they won't have to burn in hell eternally. I believe that fear is a great motivator. There have been many different cases of people using fear to control people, such as tyrants and dictators. And of course, I have been motivated by fear before. For example, fear of my parents motivates me to do things that I don't like and am reluctant to do. One example is to do all the chores. I'm afraid of my parents because they threaten me about two things: first, they might not provide food and shelter for me anymore, and this would get me into big trouble; second, they threaten to transfer me back to local school, which is a bad thing for me because I have never been to local school and I never officially learned Chinese before (resulting in writing difficulties; I am, however, fluent in speaking, listening, and reading). Another case where fear motivated me is when I got a bad score on a test, I will put in twice the effort to catch up. I guess this is just my personality, because I get guilty of getting a bad score and I feel fear for getting scolded. However, most of the other things that motivates me is not caused by fear.