Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Timmy. Timmy went with a couple of his friends (against his mother's wishes) to a haunted house on Halloween. What they saw in there really scared them! They ran screaming out of the haunted house. Unfortunately, Timmy wasn't watching where he was going and he ran in front of a car and died. When Timmy "came to," he realized that he was in Hell! He would be with the devil in the fire forever. Back on earth, Timmy's friends tried to comfort themselves with the idea that Timmy is "in a better place." But their wise and Biblically educated Sunday School teacher unfortunately had to share the truth with Timmy's friends: Timmy was not in a better place, Timmy was burning in Hell with the Devil. You see, just last Sunday the teacher had shared about Jesus with Timmy and he had said that he would "deal with that when he was older." Unfortunately, Timmy would never get that chance.
Great story, huh? This is from a tract that we found as we cleaned out the office at the HOP earlier this week. It is meant to be handed out to children as they come trick-or-treating to your door.
Okay. I am not denying the reality of Hell (although the details of what it will be exactly like are debatable), but I think that this tract represents about the tackiest way to get people to become Christians. I think that this approach misses the whole "Good News" thing that the Bible talks about.
I could be wrong, though. If any of you have read this story and now want to become a Christian, I will stand corrected.
2 comments:
Hmm...I heard about Hell as a young child, started having nightmares about the devil, and my Dad used words about Heaven and God's love to comfort me. It was then I started asking questions about salvation. So, I guess you could say the idea of Hell scared me enough to want to stay out of it. I guess that's not really the same...
I was scared into salvation. I knew both about Hell and God's love. I was scared from a really bad storm, and I thought I was going to die (hey, I was 6). It wasn't God's love that came to mind, it was fear of Hell!
I agree that the tract you saw was a bad idea. However, I think God uses his own scare tactics (in my instance, a storm) to reach the lost. And I think too many Christians gloss over God's wrath and judgment, which are as much a part of Him as His love.
As with so many things in life, it's a delicate balance. We need to share the love that will never fade, the grace that endures, and the forgiveness for all. Nothing but God can do that. But God's love, grace and forgiveness are moot if there is no Hell and no judgment.
As far as how I choose to react--don't shy away from the truth of Hell, but leave the scare tactics to God.
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