Recipe for Faith:
Conviction of Sin
Hope of Eternal Life
Fear of Eternal Hell?
Does this sum up the Christian Life?
When I tell people that I believe that God will ultimately win every man, woman and child to himself, they often ask, "Then what's the point?"
I know what they mean. They think that the most prominent ingredient for Christianity is the fear of eternal Hell. With out the "anti-carrot", the ultimate punishment, the hard line of demarcation--what would move someone to follow Christ? Of course this presumes several interesting ideas:
1. Membership services are a crucial responsibility of the Believer (How will they hear, etc, if we don't tell them?)
2. Not going to Hell is the most important goal of the Believer.
3. God is love, except when it comes to those who don't follow Him.
I'm going to stop right there. I learned some time ago that unbelievers, though considered blind to a multitude of spiritual things, have an expert knack in recognizing hypocrisy. If you've ever talked to a telemarketer or walked the sales tables at a county fair, you know what I'm talking about. If an unbeliever hears that God loves them, but only if they buy the product, why are we surprised when they treat it as a load of Kansas cow waste?
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." I believe this (and every other truth in the Bible). Genuine judgment, difficulty, pain and despair follow poor choices. Resisting God, rebelling against His will and fighting His kingdom plans can lead to incredibly complicated lives. However, the other end of wisdom is that "perfect love casts out fear." Fear is designed to lead us to God. An "eternal Hell" is neither necessary nor helpful in leading people to know Jesus.
A few years ago the World Wide Church of God faced a major transition. The leaders at that time wanted to move away from some of the Church's long held tenants. One of those tenants was a mandatory 20% tithe. Immediately following this change the Church faced financial crisis. It seems that such giving was never "from the heart" in the first place.
It is interesting that many believers in Jesus are afraid to remove the "eternal Hell" clause for the same reason. Would many find church unnecessary if they knew they didn't need "fire insurance?" What genuine faith is taking place in such hearts? Can they really know and enjoy Jesus in this synthetic salesman environment?
I am confident that more, not less, unbelievers would pursue the Lord should the Gospel be accurately preached. Like many ideas that man handles, they begin to look more like man than God. Is it not man's control and sense of judgment that this "eternal Hell" reflects most?
Confident that God will win every soul, whether in this age or the next,
Tim
Note: This post is a challenge to the tradition of eternal Hell. I personally believe tradition has influenced Christians more than scripture on this topic. However, you will find plenty of posts here investigating the scriptural foundation for Judgment and Hell as well.
Conviction of Sin
Hope of Eternal Life
Fear of Eternal Hell?
Does this sum up the Christian Life?
When I tell people that I believe that God will ultimately win every man, woman and child to himself, they often ask, "Then what's the point?"
I know what they mean. They think that the most prominent ingredient for Christianity is the fear of eternal Hell. With out the "anti-carrot", the ultimate punishment, the hard line of demarcation--what would move someone to follow Christ? Of course this presumes several interesting ideas:
1. Membership services are a crucial responsibility of the Believer (How will they hear, etc, if we don't tell them?)
2. Not going to Hell is the most important goal of the Believer.
3. God is love, except when it comes to those who don't follow Him.
I'm going to stop right there. I learned some time ago that unbelievers, though considered blind to a multitude of spiritual things, have an expert knack in recognizing hypocrisy. If you've ever talked to a telemarketer or walked the sales tables at a county fair, you know what I'm talking about. If an unbeliever hears that God loves them, but only if they buy the product, why are we surprised when they treat it as a load of Kansas cow waste?
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." I believe this (and every other truth in the Bible). Genuine judgment, difficulty, pain and despair follow poor choices. Resisting God, rebelling against His will and fighting His kingdom plans can lead to incredibly complicated lives. However, the other end of wisdom is that "perfect love casts out fear." Fear is designed to lead us to God. An "eternal Hell" is neither necessary nor helpful in leading people to know Jesus.
A few years ago the World Wide Church of God faced a major transition. The leaders at that time wanted to move away from some of the Church's long held tenants. One of those tenants was a mandatory 20% tithe. Immediately following this change the Church faced financial crisis. It seems that such giving was never "from the heart" in the first place.
It is interesting that many believers in Jesus are afraid to remove the "eternal Hell" clause for the same reason. Would many find church unnecessary if they knew they didn't need "fire insurance?" What genuine faith is taking place in such hearts? Can they really know and enjoy Jesus in this synthetic salesman environment?
I am confident that more, not less, unbelievers would pursue the Lord should the Gospel be accurately preached. Like many ideas that man handles, they begin to look more like man than God. Is it not man's control and sense of judgment that this "eternal Hell" reflects most?
Confident that God will win every soul, whether in this age or the next,
Tim
Note: This post is a challenge to the tradition of eternal Hell. I personally believe tradition has influenced Christians more than scripture on this topic. However, you will find plenty of posts here investigating the scriptural foundation for Judgment and Hell as well.
3 comments:
Praise God! Well said Tim.
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10)
Oh, and lest you trip over 1 John 4 again . . .
1) "Perfect Love" toward God is another name for "Mature (Perfect=Telos) Obedience", as He says: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments" (1 John 5:3) That is NOT for the sinner and it is not for the immature.
2) "Perfect Love" toward man is spoken of in the Sermon on the Mount: "Be ye Perfect", referring to our boldness in loving our enemies. Our fear of man is removed when we - seeing the grave danger they are in - rush to win them to Christ. The Fear of the Lord is the very reason we lose our fear of man.
As often as as deeply and as integrally as Scripture commends the Fear of the Lord, it is amazing that you attempt to take a single (1) verse out of context to nullify them all.
Start with your first verse:
Heb 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
You believe the opposite of this. You believe that " . . . for he that cometh to God must believe that He rewards all, whether they diligently, half-heartedly seek Him, or not at all."
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