The Only Thing We Have To Fear

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Franklin Delano Roosevelt
I've never understood Protestant preoccupation with predicting the end of the world, until now. It always seemed an act of futility. After all, if only a select few are going to be Raptured, why bother? In the latest flameout  Harold Camping predicted that 200,000 would be annexed into Heaven. I always figured that the mathematical odds are against me, so why bother?
Then I understood the basis of doomsday predictions. It can be summed up in one word: Fear.
It's fear that keeps followers of such idiots in line and fear that compels the weak minded and easily frightened to join these asinine sects.
"I know why you have come - I have seen it in your faces Sunday after Sunday as I've stood here before you. Fear has brought you here. Horrible, superstitious fear. Fear of divine retribution a bolt of fire from the skies. The vengeance of the Lord and the justice of God...But you forgot about the love of Jesus..." Walter Pidgeon as Mr. Gryffydd in How Green Was My Valley.
Exactly.