What do you think about christians using fear?

[ebia]

I'm surprised that you are just now hearing this. A physical resurrection is part of the Nicene Creed which most Christians hold to as a statement of their beliefs. "I look for the resurrection of the dead."

The Apostle's creed is even clearer - "the resurrection of the body"

 

[Timothew]

It's pretty sad. Yes - Christianity is all about physical resurrection on a renewed, redeemed, earth. A non-physical escape from this world to a spiritual afterlife is not Christianity at all but a semi-Gnosticism.

The Apostle's creed is even clearer - "the resurrection of the body"

 

[selfinflikted]

It's pretty sad. Yes - Christianity is all about physical resurrection on a renewed, redeemed, earth. A non-physical escape from this world to a spiritual afterlife is not Christianity at all but a semi-Gnosticism.

This is definitely not what was taught in my church. Weird, huh?

 

[Timothew]

This is definitely not what was taught in my church. Weird, huh?

Weird, and a little sad.

I've been going through my beliefs, one by one, and comparing them to what the bible actually says. I'm finding lots of surprises.

 

[razeontherock]

And what do you think about the people that try to be christain but wouldn't believe if they weren't threatened by eternal torture? I would really like to hear opinions.

You already know your own: being threatened by eternal torture never made anyone believe. You discovered that yourself, and it's correct.

Therefore, your question(s) doesn't make any sense.

How 'bout this, instead:

did the early Church ever go around telling people they were going to hell unless they accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior? (Hint: no, they did not)

 

[Dave Ellis]

LOL @ the picture! ^.^

Personally I think the fear tactic is beyond pointless. All it does is make someone more defensive and hate christians more. If someone came up to me and said "Your going to hell hethen!" (assuming I wans't christian) I'd tell them to shove it.

I think this is one of many reasons christans clash with people is because we have alot of bad apples in our religion. Like that West Baptist church who insist in on protesting at various events. I don't "hate" them (because I am not supposed to), but I very much despise their tactics and what they do. Its a terrible way to bring people to God. I can respect a atheist/agnostic who disagrees with me more then I can respect one of those church members who do that.

Good to see I agree with you on something Freakazoid

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It's pretty sad. Yes - Christianity is all about physical resurrection on a renewed, redeemed, earth. A non-physical escape from this world to a spiritual afterlife is not Christianity at all but a semi-Gnosticism.

"Those that are his" at his coming will be raised as spirit beings. "The rest of the dead" are raised to another period of physical life during Christ's millenial rule.

 

[Timothew]

"Those that are his" at his coming will be raised as spirit beings. "The rest of the dead" are raised to another period of physical life during Christ's millenial rule.

"Those that are his at his coming will be raised as spirit beings"?
Is this what Ebia was talking about when he said "A non-physical escape from this world to a spiritual afterlife is...semi-Gnosticism." Or I would say a fusion of christian and gnostic belief. I would define gnosticism as the general belief that spirit is good, matter is not good, and the way to be released from matter is through a certain knowledge, or gnosis. In this case, being one of the group that has gnosis of "Christ's" secret return before the last day.

 

[LilBaxter]

This is the reason I left Christianity along with several other factors.

I thought the same as you, without hell being involved I wouldn't be a Christian. I left because I found myself telling people things I didn't agree with and defending things I didn't find worth defending, all because of fear.

 

[razeontherock]

Can you show me where in Scripture Jesus or any of the NT writers used the classic evangelistic formula of "believe in Jesus so you don't go to Hell when you die"?

Proverbs 15:24 The way of life [is] above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."

Just *a little* more ancient than the Apostles ...

 

[razeontherock]

I was a Christian for more than a few years and I have never heard anyone else claim that the eternal life promised in the Bible was anything other than spiritual. So, you think there will be a physical resurrection involved as well? Interesting.

Wow. You know those times where you've asked what went wrong, that G-d didn't show Himself real to you? Well this might have something to do with it. From His POV, you might have been pursuing something completely distinct from Him. What you say here is certainly foreign to me. I almost hate to ask what denom you went to, if it was mainstream ...

 

[razeontherock]

I was raised Church of Christ, and never encountered the term Nicene Creed until I started studying religion in college. Some denominations consider themselves completely separate from Christian history, or branches of mainstream Christianity altogether. The Church of Christ, for instance, believes only members of the Church of Christ will get into Heaven. You Southern Baptists, according to them, would go down down down in a burning ring of fire.

I didn't realize Johnny Cash was CoC

 

[razeontherock]

Weird, and a little sad.

I've been going through my beliefs, one by one, and comparing them to what the bible actually says. I'm finding lots of surprises.

Jesus taught a parable about this:

"Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. (Matthew 13:52) Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe [which is] instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure [things] new and old."

 

[Publius]

One day I was at a fair with friends when a group of christians handing out pamphlets asked me if the life I'm leading was worth going to hell for. This was not the first time that I've had scare tactics being used on me in the name of jesus, as a young kid (I was born into a christain home) I was in constant fear of not being a "good christain" ya know, what if jesus came from the sky and left me here? I was terrified and then one day I realized that if hell wasn't in the equation then I wouldn't have been a christian, I didn't love jesus, I didn't even believe in him. Which made me worry more, I wanted to believe so bad but I just couldn't, and I worried a lot about if jesus was real would he understand? Was I a bad person? I was a little kid at that time, I'm a proud atheist now. But the point I'm trying to get at is do you agree with making people afraid of hell? And what do you think about the people that try to be christain but wouldn't believe if they weren't threatened by eternal torture? I would really like to hear opinions.

Any sane person who rightly understands Hell should be afraid. Telling people about God's wrath and His judgement against sin is not fearmongering, but is warnng people out of love for them.

A doctor who says "If you don't stop change your diet, you're at risk of diabetes and heart disease" is not trying to scare you. He's explaining to you that bad behavior has bad consequences out of concern for your safety and well being.

Yes, I tell people about Hell when I present the Gospel to them because, without punishment for sin, God's judgement is meaningless and, as Alistair Begg says at the beginning of every Wretched Radio show, "Without God's wrath, His mercry is robbed of its meaning".

If I did not explain the danger of Hell to people, then the Gospel would be incomplete and would be just another "be good for goodness' sake" moralistic message and could not save anyone.

 

[dies-l]

Proverbs 15:24 The way of life [is] above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."

Just *a little* more ancient than the Apostles ...

But, not really addressing my question. First, this is not a gospel presentation, but an admonition towards wisdom in general. Second, the Hebrew word here is Sheol, which in your translation is mistranslated as hell. If you check out a parallel translation, you will find that this is a rather uncommon translation. This passage is talking about life death, not about heaven and hell.

 

[razeontherock]

I call that a false dilemma, separating the 2 like that ...

 

[dies-l]

I call that a false dichotomy

I'm really not sure what you mean. Please explain.

Even with the edit, I'm still not sure what you mean.

 

[razeontherock]

How is life / death not speaking of the same thing as heaven / hell, or to be Scriptural about it, resurrection to life vs second death?

 

[selfinflikted]

Wow. You know those times where you've asked what went wrong, that G-d didn't show Himself real to you? Well this might have something to do with it. From His POV, you might have been pursuing something completely distinct from Him. What you say here is certainly foreign to me. I almost hate to ask what denom you went to, if it was mainstream ...

I had no idea that the "eternal life" we are promised in the Bible was anything beyond a spiritual existence. Never been told it was a physical eternal life.

THE SHOCK! THE HORROR! I know. It's all a lot to swallow.

 

[razeontherock]

I had no idea that the "eternal life" we are promised in the Bible was anything beyond a spiritual existence. Never been told it was a physical eternal life.

THE SHOCK! THE HORROR! I know. It's all a lot to swallow.

This is weird. The quote function does not yield what I read in your post that I wanted to respond to. In any event, please don't malign what I have said into pretense for having an answer. I haven't claimed that. I'm just observing a new bit of info, that may or may not be relevant.