The Salvation of Fear

I had some VERY enlightening conversations yesterday with a number of people from all walks of life.

I talked to someone who just came out of a cult. I talked with someone who was a witch and practiced Satanism. I talked with someone who didn’t believe in the claims of the Bible yet called himself a Christian. I talked with an elderly artist who has lived an extremely interesting life with prominent figures of Hollywood’s Golden era. I talked to a severely disabled woman bound to the confines of a wheelchair for the rest of her life. And I spoke to a dear friend who is at the threshold of completely loosing the little eyesight she has left. I talked to a few others two, but these are the interactions that stuck out.

One think that’s really going through my mind right now is the young man who doesn’t necessarily believe the claims of the Bible, yet says he’s Christian out of fear.

There was so much about this conversation that I would love to elaborate on but simply don’t have the time. He essentially, though, didn’t want to go to hell -which he thought was only a temporary judgement before all people go to heaven (?)- so he “was Christian” to avoid it.

I explained to him that the Bible says that,” perfect love casts out all fear”- that the purpose of being saved (or being a Christian) was not getting out of hell, but to experience an abundant everlasting relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I let him know that God’s purpose was perfect and abiding in His purpose will lead to a gratifying and fulfilling life for us; better than any life we could live for our own purposes. I told him that I have a relationship with God because God deserves my love, praise, and devotion for what He has done for me and simply for who He is.

I told him that hell was a real eternal place for sinners who do not receive the gift of eternal life through Christ, but that it was certainly not THE reason to become a Christian.

I heard Rick Warren say on his ministry podcast that heaven and hell were no longer the great motivators of evangelism. My wife and I were talking about that several days before I heard Warren on the podcast say the same thing. Another evangelism point of previous generations was creation, where today’s generation doesn’t seem to allow the creation/evolution debate to effect their decision on whether or not one receives Christ.

It was interesting, however, to talk with this young man whose objections to faith had to do with creation and science; and whose desire for faith had to do with hell.

But I shouldn’t be surprised. This guy grew up in a Christian home and attended church all of his life. And one of the prominent messages that the church gives still is that you become a Christian to get into heaven and to avoid going to hell.

I wonder if people who have so called “conversions” based off of these motivators are truly saved. They, after all, are not compelled to become Christians based off of their desire for relationship with or honoring of God. It’s simply to avoid hell. This motivator is self-serving and not Christ-Centered.

God could and can certainly use such motivators to lead to real transformational relationships with Him; but to have such decisions based solely off of the desire to escape hell are questionable at least.

This post is far from containing any full thought about this subject, but like usual, it poses a question: What can we as Christians  do to share the grace, love, and hope we have in Christ with others so that they may experience transformational eternal relationship with Him, without the motivation being self-serving?

And more importantly: Is my relationship with Christ merely self-serving? Is yours?