Why was the Good News such bad news to me?

[Robby]

As a child, I lived in an "unchurched" household, but in a region soaked with fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity. I imbibed the doctrines early on from the surrounding culture. From the start it was about fear, fear of burning in hell forever. This began when I was five years old. As I grew older this fear followed me through my life, even led me to drop out of college. I was drawn to God, ironically, but the image of him was horrific and cruel.

Decades later I still struggle with this. Tell me again, why do they call it "good news"?

 

[Publius]

As a child, I lived in an "unchurched" household, but in a region soaked with fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity. I imbibed the doctrines early on from the surrounding culture. From the start it was about fear, fear of burning in hell forever. This began when I was five years old. As I grew older this fear followed me through my life, even led me to drop out of college. I was drawn to God, ironically, but the image of him was horrific and cruel.

Decades later I still struggle with this. Tell me again, why do they call it "good news"?

Because sinners can be forgiven, reconciled to God, and made children of God.

 

[Robby]

Because sinners can be forgiven, reconciled to God, and made children of God.

It didn't work. I did seek and did not find. I spent years seeking "salvation" from hell and never, and I mean never got a moment's peace or relief. Why did God reject my desire for salvation, a salvation I was told was "free"?

 

[Publius]

It didn't work.

It can't "not work". It's not something you try and see if it works. It's something God chooses to do.

I think you're confusing Christianity with a Tony Robbins life enhancement program.

I did seek and did not find. I spent years seeking "salvation" from hell and never, and I mean never got a moment's peace or relief. Why did God reject my desire for salvation, a salvation I was told was "free"?

Because nobody was ever saved by a "desire" for salvation.

 

[Robby]

It can't "not work". It's not something you try and see if it works. It's something God chooses to do.

I think you're confusing Christianity with a Tony Robbins life enhancement program.



Because nobody was ever saved by a "desire" for salvation.

So why didn't God choose it for me? What's wrong with me? Does he just hate me?

Because nobody was ever saved by a "desire" for salvation.

But that's all I can do. Why does your God want to hurt me? I've never hurt him.

 

[Publius]

Why does your God want to hurt me? I've never hurt him.

Ah, you got me. I thought you were sincere. Good job!

 

[Robby]

Ah, you got me. I thought you were sincere. Good job!

I am sincere.

 

[ForceofTime]

It didn't work. I did seek and did not find. I spent years seeking "salvation" from hell and never, and I mean never got a moment's peace or relief. Why did God reject my desire for salvation, a salvation I was told was "free"?

Hello Robby,

In my opinion, this might be part of the problem.

Seeking salvation as a means to escape hell makes the Gospel a mere 'get out of hell free' card. Did you ever get to the point where you thought to seek the glory and holiness of God for His sake alone? Seeking to understand that whether or not you get to heaven, He still deserves worship for His sake and not your sake? Seek salvation because God is and you are not.

 

[firstpetertwonine]

Hi Robby, peace be with you.

I’m sorry to hear about your experiences.

It is “good news” for me because as a teenager, when struggling with depression, angst and even some suicidal thoughts, I renewed my relationship with Jesus sincerely (the relationship I was first given in baptism but then had left behind as I'd gotten older) and he promised me that he loves me and will never forsake me, and that all I have to do to spend eternity with him is to trust in him. I couldn’t conceive of more wonderful news.

Why was it not “good news” for you? Well, perhaps the problem wasn’t the product but the presentation. Perhaps sometimes there are well-meaning fundamentalist preachers that put a little too much emphasis on hellfire and punishment. I think maybe you’ve come to think that’s all Christianity is about, and that’s a shame, I’m sorry if that’s the case.

I’m not sure what your answer is, but I urge you to please not give up or stop looking. The very fact that you’re here posting on this site means that God is perhaps still tugging at your heart, wanting to help you.

 

[Nails74]

Decades later I still struggle with this. Tell me again, why do they call it "good news"?

My guess is that you never actually heard the Gospel (good news). If you can tell us what you were told, perhaps we can clear things up.

 

[ALoveDivine]

My guess is that you were looking in all the wrong places. Don't look for a work you can do to earn salvation, there is none. All you can do is come to Christ, and here's the good news, from the word of the Lord;

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
Matt 11:28

This seems to describe you, so rest assured that Jesus IS calling you to himself! But remember, being saved is not about reciting some prayer or cleaning up your life or anything like that. You must come to HIM! Know that you are a sinner and have absolutely no hope in trying to earn salvation. Know that he died for you and suffered the wrath of the father in your place. KNOW that he is offering YOU eternal life in him!

Watch this video, and hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ.
Then, if you feel the conviction in your heart, call on the Lord.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVR1gjR7Tpg

All you must do is cry out to him, acknowledge what he did for you, ask forgiveness for your sins, and surrender your life to him. You do not have to clean up your life first, come as you are, and he will change you. But remember, you are not just asking for forgiveness so you can live in sin and not worry about Hell. You must come to him in repentance, you are giving him your life. Are you willing to surrender, and you willing to let him change you? If so then I urge you to sincerely call on him in repentance.

Know this. The fact that this concerns you indicates the Holy Spirit's work in your heart, so do not think for a moment that God doesn't want you. He does, just come to him, he will not forsake you.

 

[ebia]

As a child, I lived in an "unchurched" household, but in a region soaked with fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity. I imbibed the doctrines early on from the surrounding culture. From the start it was about fear, fear of burning in hell forever. This began when I was five years old. As I grew older this fear followed me through my life, even led me to drop out of college. I was drawn to God, ironically, but the image of him was horrific and cruel.

Decades later I still struggle with this. Tell me again, why do they call it "good news"?

As someone else said, I suspect from your post that what you were told was not the good news - the gospel - but some version of:
You are bad
You will go to hell
But here is how you can escape that and go to heaven

The actual gospel is more like:
Jesus is risen, is now lord of all. Through his life, death and resurrection new creation has begun; God is putting the world to rights.

 

[hedrick]

I think you've picked up the wrong meaning for Gospel. What did Jesus consider it to be? Remember the historical context: the Jewish people lost their nation centuries ago. The prophets predicted that God would eventually intervene and make it right. For Jesus I think the good news was that God was finally doing this, though him. He was doing this by establishing the new covenant of Jer 31:31, in which the people's hearts are renewed. All of Jesus teachings are based on this: He speaks of signs of God's work. He speaks of the Kingdom (God's rule) coming, although currently growing secretly. He says that everything depends upon love for God and others.

Of course this has implications for individuals. We're called to be part of the Kingdom, and are responsible for how we respond. Sin is a barrier to us, which is why Jesus was so concerned about repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation with God.

But Jesus did not preach a God who is out to get us, and unaccountably accepts punishing Jesus instead. While Jesus spoke of hell (sort of – he spoke Gehenna, which was literally a garbage dump, and the outer darkness), it was primarily a place for servants who didn't bear fruit, not people guilty of moral flaws or even unbelievers. His emphasis was on changing people through getting right with God (repentance, forgiveness and love), and on people being fruitful servants of God.

I think this really is good news. My experience in a variety of churches has been mostly good. They really have been places where people support each other, where they try to build good families. Where we do things to help others. And these things are based on loving God and following Jesus.

Sin and repentance is important. Sin really does seriously handicap us as servants. All the most serious problems in the world can be traced to things like selfishness and abuse of other people. But it's only part of the picture. And the whole point of the Gospel is that through Jesus, God is doing something about it, and calling us to be part of that. What's not to like?

I think the most plausible objections are that it's too good to be true (or perhaps that in some sense it's too late -- God shouldn't have allowed the situation to get to this point), not that the vision is a bad one.

 

[ViaCrucis]

As a child, I lived in an "unchurched" household, but in a region soaked with fundamentalist/evangelical Christianity. I imbibed the doctrines early on from the surrounding culture. From the start it was about fear, fear of burning in hell forever. This began when I was five years old. As I grew older this fear followed me through my life, even led me to drop out of college. I was drawn to God, ironically, but the image of him was horrific and cruel.

Decades later I still struggle with this. Tell me again, why do they call it "good news"?

What you describe isn't good news. To quote Tony Campolo,

“Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world, but to save the world. When we come with condemnation, we are not coming with good news about Jesus but laying the bad news on people.”

-CryptoLutheran