Do you know your neighbors? Do you know their names? Have you talked to them? Do they know you are a Christian? If you interact with them at all can they see Christ in your life? If they need help would they call you? One of the losses of affluence is the loss of connection with others around us...we don't really need others so we don't connect, we don't talk to them, we don't know them. It's a loss for us, a loss for our neighbors and a loss for the kingdom of God. Imagine seeing your neighbor at the judgment saying, "but no one ever told me..." and you live next door to them! As Penn Jillette, the magician says, "If you really believe this stuff (that there is a hell and that this is eternal) then you must really hate me to not tell me about Jesus." Let me encourage you to reach out to those around you, first by praying for them, then by talking to them and finally by helping them if the opportunity arises...because it's true that we must really hate them if we believe this stuff is true and don't tell them.
6 comments:
My new neighbor and i visited for a brief moment the other day. Within the first 2 minutes of our chat, he asked me if i was a christian or not because he didnt want me to "burn in hell". He went on to tell me thats how he engages everyone he encounters becasue he loves them so much.
(fitting for your post here)
I appreciated his enthusiam, but kept thinking that maybe he isnt using the best approach to show his so called love. I wonder how many people out there call themsevles christians just becasue they are afraid of "hellfire"? Is "faith" born out of fear even real faith? Isnt that totally selfish to come to God becasue you want fire insurance? And if christians prospetizee using this method, arent they leading poeple towards that kind of "faith"?
Always questioning,
Ward
This is one of the reasons I have such a hard time witnessing. My fear of how the person is reacting to what Im saying. There's a show called "The Way of the Master", with Kirk Cameron and I feel their approach is too confrontational I guess, but for them its effective. I wouldnt witness like this because I wouldnt want the person to think of me the way Ward was thinking of the his neighbor. The approach seems condescending. Just my opinion.
Ward, I can tell you that I for one got the 'hell' scared out of me. I didn't selfishly come to Christ just for fire insurance. When I got a revelation of what hell is, (eternity without God) this made me repent and turn to Christ. In so doing I was instantly delivered from alcoholism and drug addiction and have been striving to live a godly life in Christ ever since.
A lot of people, even Christians seem to neglect the fact that hell even exists and I for one don't see a problem with letting people now the place really exists. It seems to me at this day and age we are in that many people do not fear going to hell. One only has to look around to see they have no fear of this.
Mike,
I am glad for you, a changed life for God is always neat to hear. I wish you well.
I guesss different people need different things to come to God, as your story shows. For me, scare tactics and fear mongering has the opposite effect. I think of my kids and ask myself, would i really want them to "love" me just because i threatened them with being thrown out of my house and life forever? I dont think they would actually be loving me, they would be loving themselves becasue they dont want punished. But thats just my opinion how i see things.
best wishes
ward
This is a difficult balance between punishment and love. Both are taught in scripture. For some it's the fear of punishment that brings them to faith, and then they discover the love of God. For others it's finding out about the love of God that draws them. We need to communicate both the good news- God's love AND the bad news- the results of sin apart from Christ's forgiveness. I don't think anyone can really communicate how wonderful this good news is without talking about both God's love and the results of sin. As you all have noted it's a very difficult subject to discuss well.
Ward, I see where you are coming from. Thanks for your kind words.
Mr Messerli, Good point. We need to talk about both God's love and the result of sin.
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