It seems to me that the preaching of some Churches is distinctly designed to "scare" people into Heaven. Is it just me, or is that truly the case? Take the biggie, for example : Original Sin. As I understand it, this is the concept that when we are born we are "stained" by Eve's "Original Sin." Meaning : when a child comes into this world they already have a "mark" on their records. And some Churches preach that unless that child is "saved" immediately, if something were to happen to them they would spend an eternity in hell. This just seems blasphemous to me, somehow. I cannot fathom a God who would condemn a soul, simply for being unfortunate to have been born to the "wrong" family. Because, apparently a baby born to non-believers suffers a worse fate. I can't believe these Churches have members.
Or how about the teaching of Hell? Hell sounds like such a scary place, nobody WANTS to go there right? Is Hell a literal place? The words for "Hell" in the New Testament are translated "sheol" and "Gehenna." So, do we read the words as "sheol," which means "the grave?" Because, yes we all die. Or what about "Gehenna," which was a literal place outside the city that burned eternally? I believe it was a trash pit? I don't know if Hell is a scare tactic or not, but what about the verse that states "every knee shall bow every tongue confess, everything on the earth and under it..." does it not mean literally everything?
Are there scare tactics that certain Churches had while you were growing up? Care to share them? I don't mean to make light of anything here, it just seems to me that some of the teachings seem less from God, and more from man.....and some seem designed as the ultimate "recruiting tools" left over from the Middle Ages. Seems to me that thinking, intelligent, educated adults nowadays would be able to discern what is from God and what isn't. But maybe not?
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Age old tactic: You don't believe me (or agree with my beliefs) I will kill you.
As times have developed the "I'll kill you" has sometimes been replaced by "You'll go go hell forever."
Hmmm...
Exactly. So why is this prevalent in today's Churches?
Even more important, why do so-called "New" Christians (aka "re-born," or "born-again") actually flock to these Churches? And why do they shove it down the throats of their former compatriots, aka "non-believers?"
Have we ever wondered why the "recruiting" of new Christians is so difficult? We're not only battling their unbelief, we're also battling each other and some (what I consider) wacky beliefs.
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