What are you afraid of?

Posted February 15th @ 5:18 pm by Andy Print This Post

Michael Spencer is midway through good series of articles on his blog about fear and evangelical culture. His purpose is to explore the different ways that fear influences evangelical thinking and behavior, with an interest in determining whether or not Christianity can or should be considered, as critics often charge, a “religion of fear.” I found his posts about hell and the End Times especially interesting.

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2 Comments

Richard Harty
February 21, 2007 at 05:05

I would say without question, Christianity is based more on fear than faith in its practice today. From my observations, growing up in a Christian culture, of myself and others, I would say that most “conversions” are based on fear of punishment or more subtle a fear of not being enough.

I would say that we could label the methods used to bring people into the church “Salvation by Fear.” We have the threat of hell, the unpardonable sin, the destruction of the earth, God is watching us, Satan is out to get us, what would Jesus do, and a whole list of “requirements” for being TRUELY Christian.

And then there is the pressure to witness to the world all this “good” news. We are taught to be afraid of our own feelings and desires because they might lead us astray. If things go wrong, maybe we didn’t pray right, aren’t committed enough, aren’t giving enough, aren’t reading the Bible enough, and a whole slew of salvation threatening problems.

Its difficult to understand how any Christian could enter into God’s rest or that one could come to the place where perfect love casts out all fear.
April
February 23, 2007 at 08:25

Wow, thank you, Richard. I feel the same way, but you put it so succinctly.

I have recently come to realize that, while there is definitely reason to fear, the fear I have felt all my life is the wrong kind of fear. I had this image of God looking down on me just waiting for me to mess up so he could correct me. (Remember the children’s song “O Be Careful Little Eyes”? I know that wasn’t supposed to be scary, but it was to me. When I hear my kids singing it, it makes me very uncomfortable.) Becoming a parent has helped me understand that he does correct me when I stray, but he ultimately wants me to succeed, and that that is why he corrects me. The problem is finding a way to teach my kids that in a Biblical way.