Split: One... Fear of hell as motivation for serving God?

[GoldenEagle]

 

We can discuss this further in this split thread if you'd like. Care to respond to my post?

 

God bless,

GE

 

 

 

I think I'll pass. 

 

I am not surprised brother. Have a great day praising the Lord!

[Guest man]

 

 

We can discuss this further in this split thread if you'd like. Care to respond to my post?

 

God bless,

GE

 

 

 

I think I'll pass. 

 

I am not surprised brother. Have a great day praising the Lord!

 

 

 

I see you forgot the last time we did this? And besides, I don't have anyone to answer questions for me.  

[Guest Butero]

I sometimes wonder if some people are reading the same Bible I am?  Of course it is written in a way as to put fear on us.  Jesus was one of the strongest hell, fire and brimstone preachers that ever walked this earth.  Have you ever read the Sermon on the Mount?  Here are a few highlights.

 

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:  I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:  but whosoevers shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:17-20

 

Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee:  for iti is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.  Matthew 5:27-30

 

To come out and tell us in a sermon we would be better off to lose our eyes or hands than to enter into hell comes across as trying to scare us in my opinion.  He is trying to paint a picture in our minds as to how horrible hell is.  Do I even need to bother mentioning the parable of the rich man and Lazarus?  How about all the warnings given to the seven churches in Revelation?  What does the Bible say is the whole duty of man?  Look at Ecclesiastes 12:13,14

 

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God, and keep his commandments:  for this is the whole duty of man.  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

 

It is possible that someone can make the claim that it is an unbalanced message to place all the emphasis on fear, but I believe it is just as unbalanced to make the false claim that God doesn't want us to fear him, and to fear going to hell.  Are there people that believe they can lose their salvation and go to hell, and they still sin?  Of course there are.  Are there people that place a lot of emphasis on hell, and still don't live right?  Of course there are, but that doesn't nullify the fact the Bible gives us warnings about hell and the judgment, and they obviously are designed to scare us.  I will close this post with a word from a man suffering in the flames of hell.

 

Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.  Luke 16:24

 

This isn't designed to cause people to fear going to hell? 

[Guest shiloh357]

It is possible that someone can make the claim that it is an unbalanced message to place all the emphasis on fear, but I believe it is just as unbalanced to make the false claim that God doesn't want us to fear him, and to fear going to hell.

 

No has said that we should not fear God or not fear going to hell.   What we have said is that the Bible doesn't say for us to be afraid or terrified of God.  The Bible says we should fear Him in terms of having a godly reverential atitude of obedience to Him.   In fact, we are that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 

 

The point (for my part) is that fear is never the primary tool the Bible uses to get people saved.

[Guest Butero]

 

It is possible that someone can make the claim that it is an unbalanced message to place all the emphasis on fear, but I believe it is just as unbalanced to make the false claim that God doesn't want us to fear him, and to fear going to hell.

 

No has said that we should not fear God or not fear going to hell.   What we have said is that the Bible doesn't say for us to be afraid or terrified of God.  The Bible says we should fear Him in terms of having a godly reverential atitude of obedience to Him.   In fact, we are that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 

 

The point (for my part) is that fear is never the primary tool the Bible uses to get people saved.

 

Primary tool or not, it is a tool, as I have already shown.  Those things Jesus said were designed to cause people to fear hell.  The only conclusion I can come to is he was using that as a motivation to get right with God so we won't have to go there?  Some people will get saved because you convince them they need Jesus, and through a Jesus loves us sermon, and some will get saved by preaching about the rich man and Lazarus.  Everyone responds to a different type of message.

[Sevenseas]

 

 

The Bible never presents fear of hell as the the motivation for serving God.

I find this interesting and agree in bold. I'd be interested to see possible passages that would contradict this statement.

 

 

Matthew 10

28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

 

 

So what kind of fear actually represents how we should view God?  God also says we are to love Him with all our hearts, all our minds and all  our souls.

 

The Bible also states that perfect love (God's love) casts out fear, so we understand, from context and further Biblical study, that the word fear in  Matthew

as you have quoted, does not mean respond to God out of fear.

 

A further indication that this is so, can be found in the book of Revelation where those who hate God are raising their fists at Him in fear and yet still cursing Him.

 

God is not a fear object in the way you have misrepresented Him.  Reverence, awe, worship, respect and adoration are some of the ways we 'fear' God;  that is, we understand

that He is above all and the one and only true God,  Lord of lords and King of kings, no one before Him and no one after Him.

[Guest shiloh357]

 

 

It is possible that someone can make the claim that it is an unbalanced message to place all the emphasis on fear, but I believe it is just as unbalanced to make the false claim that God doesn't want us to fear him, and to fear going to hell.

 

No has said that we should not fear God or not fear going to hell.   What we have said is that the Bible doesn't say for us to be afraid or terrified of God.  The Bible says we should fear Him in terms of having a godly reverential atitude of obedience to Him.   In fact, we are that God hasn't given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind. 

 

The point (for my part) is that fear is never the primary tool the Bible uses to get people saved.

 

Primary tool or not, it is a tool, as I have already shown.  Those things Jesus said were designed to cause people to fear hell.  The only conclusion I can come to is he was using that as a motivation to get right with God so we won't have to go there?  Some people will get saved because you convince them they need Jesus, and through a Jesus loves us sermon, and some will get saved by preaching about the rich man and Lazarus.  Everyone responds to a different type of message.

 

There is a healthy realization of hell that we all need.  Hell is someplace none of should want to go.   The problem is that what is being promoted is a fearfulness that God is going to send you to hell if you mess up.  It produces a kind of fear that amounts to living in terror of God. 

 

That is not how Jesus preached about hell or about God.

[DanielPatylovesJesus]

Fear no evil, nor embrace it...Fear of God comes from recognizing his might and respecting his commandments, the Goal is to TRY, and have good intent...and God will strengthen you and lead you on the path you need to follow through Faith, devotion and prayer.

[WillfromTexas]

The idea of Hell is so misunderstood that we should all pause to study exactly what the Bible says on the subject.  I use to live in fear of Hell and thought God was some sort of sadistic being waiting to throw us into eternal torment if we messed up.  Little did I know back then that most of those teachings of eternal torment came from medieval times and weren't scriptural.

 

Such as the verse below- it is so misunderstood by many as well as the Lazarus parable.

 

Matthew 10

28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

 

People seem to miss the part about killing the soul.  You see man can't destroy your soul and cause you to cease to exist but God can.  It is indeed speaking of reverencing God with the use of the word fear there.  But it is also saying, don't be stupid!  How dumb it is to fear a man that can't destroy your soul!  If you are going to fear anything it should be God that can blot out your existence!  It doesn't mean to live in fear of God or follow God out of fear.

 

Anyway.  I highly recommend helltruth.com and watching the Amazing Facts series on what the Bible really says about Hell.  Here's the Amazing Facts library with everything you ever wanted to know about Hell.  http://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/media-archives/t/hell/sq/2/o/13/th/t.aspx

 

Let me share this also-

 

The Rich Man & Lazarus

Doesn't the story of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 teach an eternal hell of torment?

No, Indeed! It is simply a parable used to emphasize a point. Many facts make it clear that this is a parable. A few are as follows:

• Abraham's bosom is not heaven (Hebrews 11:8-10, 16)
• People in hell can't talk to those in heaven (Isaiah 65: 17)
• The dead are in their graves (Job 17:13; John 5:28, 29). The rich man was in bodily form with eyes, a tongue, etc., yet we know that the body does not go to hell at death. It is very obvious that the body remains in the grave, as the Bible says. If you'd like to know more about what happens after you die visit The Truth About Death website.
• Men are rewarded at Christ's second coming, not at death (Revelation 22:11, 12)
• The lost are punished in hell at the end of the world, not when they die (Matthew 13:40-42). The point of the story is found in verse 31 of Luke 16. Parables cannot be taken literally. If we took parables literally, then we must believe that trees talk! (See this parable in Judges 9:8-15).

By representing the beggar as being in heaven and the rich man as lost, Jesus taught His hearers that, contrary to the prevailing view, wealth was not necessarily an indicator of divine favor, just as poverty was not a sign of God's judgement upon a person.

Jesus was also seeking to educate the Jews that salvation would not be theirs by birthright. The rich man in torments calls out to "father Abraham," just as the Jews of Jesus' day were mistakenly pointing to heritage as proof of their assurance of salvation.

Furthermore, Jesus was seeking to lead His hearers to understand that only faithfulness to God's Word would prepare them to enter into eternal life. He told them, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke 16:31).

To use the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in order to promote the false doctrine of an eternally burning hell is to misuse God's Word and to misrepresent His character.

[silviawang]

frankly to say,yes

bcs i know how hell will be 

i am frighten by it