fievel I am not arguing that one needs to know there is halacha and violation of halacha is wrong and one is accountable for all there actions. Nor do I think these seforim are outdated. However, in the use of these types of stories, they are used to scare people into doing things with out thinking and feeling, it is a short term scare tactic. WE do not know why Hashem chooses to do things in this world, we can not know if something is a punishment or a test. By claiming that certain things happen as punishment for sin X is not for us to determin. Each person does a personal cheshbon hanefesh and sometimes Rabbonim express their opnions to connect an event with instructions to be mechazek in a certain area. These types of stories which chani posted are not stories being told over by gedolim to instill yiras hachet in our hearts but rather stories being told over by people who want to be the “queen of tznius” and enjoy feeling holier than though. When I said “fear of Punishment” I was referring to these stories which evoke a “fake” sensationistic type of fear as oppsed to yiras shamyim, which means to see Hashem, to see that Hashem is always in front of me and is always with me a sees all my actions and Hashem who loves me, wants me to stay on the right path and if I stray will help me return to the right path and if I don’t get His messages, Hashem will send louder ones, which might be in the form of “punishment” and than if I still don’t get it one will pay the price in olam haba.
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