"THE QUESTION IS COMPELLING. “Do you know where you would end up if you died in a car accident tonight?” The evangelist has already painted the pictures. You could find yourself in an eternal garden of exquisite beauty laced together with winding paths of gold— or writhing in agony amid the leaping sulfuric flames of hell.
If there was ever a choice that defined “no-brainer,” this is it. Once you convince someone that hell and heaven exist, winning a convert is easy. After all, praying for forgiveness and “accepting Jesus” seem like a small price to pay for a get-out-of-hell-free card!
So effective is this appeal to people’s worst fears and insecurities that hell has become the most popular invitation into God’s kingdom. What we have not so critically examined is whether or not threatening people with hell engages them in the relationship God has always wanted with them.
We live in a day when millions of people have made a commitment to Christ and yet few lives are really transformed by his power. It has been said of this generation that our Christianity is a mile wide but only an inch deep. We see effects of it everywhere. People claim to know God but show no evidence of transformation in their daily lives. We challenge them as hypocrites and attempt to badger them into more-righteous lifestyles, but in the end most believers end up as much a part of the world’s ways as their nonbelieving neighbors.
While the threat of hell can stir instant commitments, it does not breed long-term disciples. If you are in this kingdom only because you fear the alternative, you’ve missed the greatest part of what it means to know God."
(He Loves Me. Wayne Jacobsen )
No comments:
Post a Comment