"Scare the Hell out of you"

In one of my religion classes we are talking about Hell. My professor discussed several main views of hell, and passages to back each view. For sometime now I haven't been sure what I believe about Hell. I DO NOT believe its the Hollywood image of the red devil with a pitch fork. I do believe there is something, but I'm not sure what. Christ came to save us from our sins, sins that separate us from God. I do believe there is some kind of separation, but I don't know what that is. I struggle to understand the 'forever' part. Its just so hard for me to comes to grips with the idea that God would willingly be separated from us forever! So I don't know what I believe, but that is not the point of this blog. The point is the way Hell is used.

My professor started the lecture by reading some 'cleaver' church signs about Hell.



I completely agree with him when he said "if you believe in Hell, why would you make a joke about it? If you believe people will be separated from God and torturer for all of eternity  why would you make a cute church sign about it?" I get angry when people preach "Gospel at gun point", when they use scare tactics. With Halloween just a few days away, I keep hearing stuff on the radio about churches doing judgement house. And I just want to ask them "so...you are CHARGING people to come to your church, so you can show a distorted view of hell, and scare them into loving Jesus?" Yes, Hell/separation from God is pretty much the most terrifying thing in the world. But people are missing the point when they scare people into Christianity.


Being a Christian isn't about having 'fire insurance'! Its about relationships! Its about a beautiful, wonderful, and loving relationship with our Creator! Its not about escaping something bad. its about embracing something amazing! If we become Christians out of fear of Hell, what  is our foundation built on?  A foundation build on fear crumbles FAST. But a foundation build on love is so incredibly strong.


Please don't think I'm watering down Hell or thinking its not significant. As much as I hate scaring people into church, I also hate sweeping Hell under the rug. I just don't think people should be scared into following Jesus.