You're going to Hell

You’re going to Hell!

In my high school drivers education class, there was an annual ritual. You heard about it when you got to the school and waited, with a strange kind of anticipation and dread, for the day when we would see ‘the movie.’  It featured gory wrecks from the Ohio Turnpike!  Given the kind of entertainment available today, it seems rather quaint. There on the screen were scenes of mangled bodies,  flashing police lights, and sounds of sirens. These were not actors. It was footage of real fatal accidents and the effect on us was dramatic.  Kids threw up, girls cried, and boys pretended that they were above it all.  The aim of the whole thing was to impress us with the potential dangers that existed for us when we got behind the wheel.  When the lights came back on, we sat with ashen faces, wondering if we really wanted to get our driver’s licenses. A year later we were driving too fast, that fear-filled hour largely forgotten.

Fear moves people. It creates a sense of urgency, drives a person to look for safety and/or relief.  Some churches and ‘evangelism’ programs are built around it. “What would happen to you if you had to face God today?” is a question loaded with the threat of Hell. I believe that  Christians who start a presentation about Christ using fear, are placing the em-pha'-sis on the wrong syl-la'-ble!   It is religion that depends on fear and guilt as primary motivators. True Christianity doesn't!   We don't drive people to Christ Jesus.  We lead them, with a message full of promise, to Him.  The Bible says, "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be  reconciled to God!” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20, NLT)    It's hope, not fear, that is our message to a sinful world.

Fear, as a motivator, has a very short shelf life.   The fear felt in the dark of night evaporates in the morning's sunshine.  The immediate lure of temptation easily overcomes the terror of future judgment.   While a kid growing up in church,  I heard many 'Hell and damnation' sermons.  In Youth rallies the build-up to the “altar call” was long and terrifying!  When the preacher used manipulative techniques to turn up the heat, I made my way to the 'altar' and cried fearful tears begging  God to forgive my sins.  Days, sometimes even hours, later I went out and did the same things again.  Why?    Because, fear is simply too weak to restrain the rebellious and sinful heart.    When God revealed His patience to me, showed me the depths of His love, and let me know that Jesus died on the Cross to reconcile me to the Father, more than to keep me out of Hell - I was changed.   The truth proclaimed in 2 Peter 3:9 became real to me. ". . . He does not want anyone to perish, so he is giving more time for everyone to repent,"  and I discovered the power of transformation by love. 

Love is so much stronger than fear!  If we would see people commit their lives to Christ, it must be for love's sake alone. They must see such an irresistible grace in Him that they will repent and turn from sin to

serve Him wholeheartedly.   The Good News is not 'you're a bunch of awful sinners and you're going to Hell!'     The Gospel is  that "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, NIV)  In Luke 15 there are 3 stories that Jesus told about 'lost' things: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.  In each instance when the lost was found, there was a great celebration. The story of the Prodigal Son is really mis-named. It should be called the story of the Waiting Father. When His way-ward son finally comes home, broken by his own willful sinfulness, the father kisses him, restores him to the family, and celebrates his return. Jesus was telling an 'every-man' story! It is a love story that  I can never tell without becoming full of emotion.  

“You’re going to Hell” may be true, but it’s not my primary message. I am a follower of Christ because I love Him and that is because He loved me first. I follow Him, not to avoid judgment, but to find " life in all its fullness" (John 10:10, NLT) which Jesus Christ promises to me.  How about you?

_____________________

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

that saved a wretch like me,

I once was lost, but now I'm found,

was blind, but now I see.

T'was grace that taught my heart to fear
and grace my fears relieved,
how precious did that grace appear,
the hour I first believed.