You hit the nail on the head. Fear separates, love unifies. When God is presented as both pure love and pure fear, we experience cognitive dissonance. But when this happens in a manipulative religion, confusion is used to mind control its masses.

Holding two opposing ideas as truth leads to a breakdown in a person's understanding of themself, god, and reality as a whole.

When we seek for answers outside of ourselves, we are destined to return with unsatisfactory and incomplete answers.