Fear is your motivator. (Full Version)

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mvic -> Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:24:56 AM)

I often report on this Forum about conversations at work regarding Christianity.

Here's what a non-believer said the other day:

Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.

How would you respond?



Little_1 -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:32:24 AM)

My own personal testimony of coming to faith in Christ was not motivated out of a fear of Hell but out of a longing to know what life was really about; if God really existed and if so did He really care about us humans? Furthermore, the burden of sin in my life weighed me down and I longed for this to stop. God answered my questions and heart longings:

Personal testimony Link



mvic -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:52:42 AM)

Thanx Little_1 for your testimony.

I agree; God does show the way and does bring people into His family.

I wish He'd do it to the non-believers I know. It's so hard watching closed minds that just do not want to listen.



JimboFletch -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:53:42 AM)

Fear is a legitimate means for God to get someone's attention. However, that fear will not be sufficient to produce faithful service and loving devotion to the Lord over the long haul. The momentary fright one might experience from a fire & brimstone message will diminish very quickly and, usually by the next day, will have become a distant memory. The "scare" factor would have to be administered almost continuously to have any lasting impact.

To think that fear is what motivates Chistians is to misunderstand the very basics of salvation. It is not the eloquence of a preacher that produces a faithful Christian. It is the Good News of Jesus Christ paying our sin-debt completely that produces saving faith and leads to a rebirth and a new creation in Christ Jesus.



mvic -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:56:36 AM)

JimboFletch,

Thank you for your wisdom.



deliveredarling -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 9:19:35 AM)

There is no fear in love. Fear of Hell was not my motivating factor. i was already living in hell. Peace, joy, love was everything that I desired to have. I knew back from when I was a child that it was available, yet the lure of the world drew me to it. it wasn't until I had hit the very depths of hell and had no where to look but up that I choose to follow Jesus. I don't fear hell at all, i have concern for my loved ones.... They have the same choice available to them as I did.



HisCovenant -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 9:36:06 AM)

Fear of God is different than fear of hell, and we should have fear of God, and not just because of hell being a part of His plan. It's not popular to say among Christians that we are to fear God and is misunderstood. It has to be taken in balance with loving God and knowing God's grace. Many like to translate it as "respect" for God, which is just fine when you go with the dictionary meaning for respect. However, when you start mixing in our modern usage, you get away from what the Greek and Hebrews meant by fear and what respect (fear) looks like in context of how it is used.

A true Christian who is maturing will quickly come from the motivation of fear of hell into an insightful understanding of love for God and what He has done to make us one with Him. If they don't I would question their relationship with Christ and/or what they are being discipled into. A true believer will have a heart fully His and will include both reverence and love. Your friends may be looking at those claiming Christianity who aren't really God's, at immature Christians, or they may be misunderstanding (taking out of context) remarks made by believers.



atheistinpeace -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 5:41:09 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mvic
Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.


I partly agree with the sentiment of the above statement, but it misses an awful lot.

I do strongly believe that the fear element of religion is important. Fear of punishment is a great way to get people to do things (or not to do other things). And the sheer number of times I hear hell and Satan spoken about convinces me how important the prospect of eternal suffering is to upholding the Christian faith.

I disagree, though, with the idea that no fear = no faith. A lot of people (including several I know) are religious because they want it to be true - or otherwise put, hope it is true. (This is separate from believing it's true - I'm sure some people believe it is true, but would rather it weren't - I may know someone like this.) This aside, there's no doubting that a lot of Christians - even from a non-believer's point of view - take great fulfilment from their faith in God. And I don't think non-believers do themselves many favours in failing to recognise this - I'd imagine it would only strengthen those of faith.

AiP



URForgiven -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 5:42:25 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mvic

I often report on this Forum about conversations at work regarding Christianity.

Here's what a non-believer said the other day:

Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.

How would you respond?


I would tell them there are numerous professing Christians who do not even believe in hell. I am not one of them, but apparently there is enough to cause them to believe without it.

I would also tell them that many Christians, myself included, had no thought of hell whatsoever when we were saved. All we knew was that this life, here and now, was not enough to fill the emptiness that was inside of us. And that only through accepting Christ was that infinite vacuum within us filled.

I didn't accept Christ to get out of hell and into Heaven, I accepted Christ because He showed me that I needed Him out of Heaven and into me.

Peace



KnowJesus -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:41:54 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mvic

I often report on this Forum about conversations at work regarding Christianity.

Here's what a non-believer said the other day:

Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.

How would you respond?



It's obvious that non-believers would say this. Most don't want to believe a hell exists. But, at the same time many people have said a prayer for Salvation so they won't go there.
BUT...for me, hell wasn't the major factor for me turning from my sin and accepting what Christ did for me..........Funny, even eternal life wasn't my focus either. After I came to the Lord...some said (something like this:), "yeah..now you get to go to heaven!." To me heaven was a bonus gift...AFTER His perfect love and forgiveness was revealed to me (24 years ago).



SonInMe1 -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:49:54 PM)

Deut. 28 has 14 verses concerning blessings from God from odediance. It also has 50 some verses on the curses for disobeying God....

that kinda says it all on our psyches....eh?



SomeFineDay -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 8:53:51 PM)

I did not think of Hell at all when I converted all I could feel was God's love covering me. I still don't think of Hell, all I can think of on the topic is that I am so thankful to know I am not separated from him.



KnowJesus -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/10/2008 9:03:33 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SomeFineDay

I did not think of Hell at all when I converted all I could feel was God's love covering me. I still don't think of Hell, all I can think of on the topic is that I am so thankful to know I am not separated from him.



Beautiful!



FurGodWurLivin -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 2:31:58 AM)

My answer to the above question? You better believe fear is a motivator. The wisest man to ever live (Solomon) declared that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. However, that fear drives me to God, and then He shows me His love for me. So yes, fear is my initial motivation, but it doesn't stay there. Were someone to find a way to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Hell did not exist, I would not care.

Adam



ronkie -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 9:47:40 AM)

I think it's incorrect to assume that believers serve God out of fear of going to hell. However, I don't think it's wrong to say that some believers accepted Christ because they feared going to hell. How many times have we all heard sermons about our eternal destiny and the certain destiny of all those who do not accept Christ? How many times have we heard "Do you know for certain where you would spend eternity if you died right now?" It's not hard to see that hearing that hell is a place of eternal torment and eternal separation from God would be an extremely motivating factor for giving your life to Christ since He is the only way to avoid that certain end that awaits unbelievers.



lightshineon -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 9:58:15 AM)

I would say, well not my motivator, because Christians do not go to hell. That ought to confuse, or make him/her think about that for a minute.



mvic -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 1:04:33 PM)

lightshineon,

Good point.

I like your slogan: Be sure you vote for those, whose views you want your children to emulate.

Looking at politicians here in the UK - I won't vote for a long time !!!



DaveW -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 1:11:35 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mvic

Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.
I have known that kind of christian. Many of 'em. I have known preachers that their only evangelical message was to instill fear of hell.

But I would agree that any belief based solely on this kind of fear is insufficient to produce a mature believer.



doinkdom -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 2:01:42 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mvic

I often report on this Forum about conversations at work regarding Christianity.

Here's what a non-believer said the other day:

Christians are only Christians because they fear going to hell. Hell is their greatest motivator. It has nothing to do with God saving them, God loving them or all the other talk and quotes from the Bible. If you could guarantee to Christians that there was no hell they'd soon forget their Christianity.

How would you respond?


I'd be sick and devastated about it.

But since we know that there is no guarantee...it's just another ridiculous "what if" from someone who's heart is not ready for the truth.

There is an old saying (probably from some old guy[;)]) that states:

The fear of loss is greater than the love of gain.


The fear I'd have at losing (or never having had) my relationship with Christ is much more real and greater than my love for anything on this earth. Because without Christ, nothing matters. If I don't have my salvation...I have nothing.



FatElvis -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 5:13:15 PM)

and once again I ask
how do you go from fear to love
I fear hell
I am truly sorry for some of the things I have done
occasionally I catch myself thinking 'isn't god nice to gie us this park etc to play in'
but this unquichable thirst that other have I just dont have it I have no zeal I am not on fire for god sometimes I feel like an imposter in church
I would really like to come into this abundent life
it amazes me when I see people change overnight
where I struggle with some of the same thoughts and desires as before

PS: if you notice 99% of the tracts I am handed always stress hell its rare that any of them talk about gods love in fact there is one that says 'does god love you' then they answer NO
I was just on a website of a pretty famous organization
and they asked 'does god have a wonderfulll plan foryou life?' then they answered NO

so do you understand why people get torn apart in one case they say
he loves you
he wants good things for you
he has a plan for your life
he wants to give you an abundent life
if you come up empty they start yelling 'its not about thats its all turn or burn'



doinkdom -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 5:23:46 PM)

how can you be "saved" if you don't know what you're being saved from?

I don't particular like tracts, but I think there is valid reasoning behind the focus on God's wrath because that is what you are saved from.



earthless -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 5:38:16 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: JimboFletch

Fear is a legitimate means for God to get someone's attention. However, that fear will not be sufficient to produce faithful service and loving devotion to the Lord over the long haul. The momentary fright one might experience from a fire & brimstone message will diminish very quickly and, usually by the next day, will have become a distant memory. The "scare" factor would have to be administered almost continuously to have any lasting impact.

To think that fear is what motivates Chistians is to misunderstand the very basics of salvation. It is not the eloquence of a preacher that produces a faithful Christian. It is the Good News of Jesus Christ paying our sin-debt completely that produces saving faith and leads to a rebirth and a new creation in Christ Jesus.


Exactly..

It's akin to calling someone weak because they take in oxygen every second..



earthless -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 5:39:29 PM)

Once again you ask? That was and is your first post on this message board. [&:]



SonInMe1 -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/11/2008 6:22:01 PM)

If someone told me the only reason why I was a christian was to avoid hell I would tell them....you want to go to hell?

Who would?

If they do not believe in God they do not believe in hell so, they are not worried about it. If hell was a real place to them, I think they would have many concerns. Its a double standard here. They don;t believe and wonder why we do and blame our faith on something they don;t even believe exists.



DaveW -> RE: Fear is your motivator. (6/12/2008 6:44:04 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: doinkdom

how can you be "saved" if you don't know what you're being saved from?

I don't particular like tracts, but I think there is valid reasoning behind the focus on God's wrath because that is what you are saved from.
But is wrath the primary thing we are saved from, or is it the final result of what we are saved from?

We are saved from our sins, from an evil way of life. The wrath of God is the final symptom of the disease of our own rebellion. We are saved from the disease, not just the effects of that disease.



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