So preachers of ALL faiths use the "wrath of god" but there is a better way?
(PS: Is "g-d" pure? I mean specifically with your " - " spelling.)
Well, the threat of Divine punishment can be used to modify people's behavior, to make them behave better, avoid sinful conduct, and even do good deeds. The prospect of Divine reward (in this world or in the World to Come) can also induce a person to do the right thing. However, to a large degree one tends to be "self-focused" when one thinks in terms of personal reward and punishment. In contrast, you can try to do the right thing not not so much to benefit yourself but to benefit vast numbers of people, because our acts can have Divine consequences far beyond ourselves. Another way to be motivated is out of love for G-d. Knowing that the Divine commandments are so important to G-d, to avoid wrongful conduct and to do good deeds, you just
do them out of love. Avoiding wrongful conduct and doing good deeds out of love for G-d to bring the Moshiach is the ultimate expression of this sentiment, because then you are "other-focused" on benefitting the whole of humanity and your motivation is wholly out of love -- both for your fellow human beings and for G-d.
Speaking in terms of "levels" it is understood that doing mitzvahs (good deeds) out of love is a "higher" level than doing good deeds or avoiding sinful conduct out of fear. But the doing of the good deeds and the avoiding of doing wrong things, even motivated by fear of punishment or promise of personal reward, still has merit. Because the deeds are in and of themselves are important. But yes, the ideal is to act out of love.
As to what is G-d? G-d is ineffable. G-d is One. G-d is not comprised of component parts, as that would imply division. No human being can conceptualize G-d. That is why I use the hyphen. The Hebrew four-letter spelling of G-d's name, the Tetragrammaton, is never pronounced when one reads Hebrew. [That word is similar to the first name of the group the J______ Witnesses]. Instead when that word appears we pronounce the word "Hashem" - which translated means "The Name." While when thinking about G-d we think it terms of human attributes, because our minds are limited, and we think and write in the "language of man" we understand that such concepts are more to help us get along, to foster right conduct.
So in answer to your question - preaching "God's wrath" can induce people to obey God's will. But there is a more positive way. To motivate people to do the right thing out of love. To give examples in your sermons of men and women who have done so, who have had to undergo personal or collective challenges to do so, to focus on the collective good that awaits humanity, and to take personal responsibility for bringing that about. Through good needs and acts of loving kindness. The Lubavitcher Rebbe would say, "Just one more Mitzvah can bring Moshiach now!" Just one more good deed can tip the scale for the good.
So yes, I guess I would say ... that that is a better way. But hey, whatever works to get people to do good deeds is also good. Because in reality most of us are not on such a high level that we are always motivated out of altruistic love. Though that is the ideal.
