To be honest, I don't really like it when people preach hellfire. A lot of times when I listen to a sermon, I begin thinking, 'If this were my first time at a church, would I want to be hearing these things?' Preaching hellfire is okay, I think, with more mature Christians - it can be used as a warning and a sort of motivation if need be.
But for who don't know much about God or just starting to understand Him, I think preaching hellfire can be very repulsive. First, you hear of a loving God. Then, when you go to church and then someone is standing at the front of the church telling everyone how those who don't believe in God are condemned, lost, eternally dead, etc... It's just not a very good way to jump into this faith, I think. Granted, some people do become Christians because they initially feared going to hell, and then they later discovered that all Christianity comes down to is love. Perhaps the pastors are trying to reach out to these kinds of people?
An example is those supposed Christians who come onto the De Anza campus and preach hellfire for hours on end from time to time - definitely not giving God a good name or glorifying him in any way. For people who don't really know of Christianity, it makes them fear and despise Christianity so much.
Warning about hell is essential, though. If God didn't warn us about it through His word, we would blame him for doing so! Yet when he does, we are still complaining. Like me..
I honestly don't know too much of the demographics of the Valley Church congregation regarding who really is a follower of Christ and who isn't - but I just hope that the pastors are aware that there are new people that come into these doors every week (and I'm pretty sure they are).
1 comment:
I think concerning hell, Christians need to be aware of the reality of it. Preaching it is not a positive way to evangelize since they will repent out of fear which may be necessary at certain times but most of the times it will repulse people and cause them to be more defensive. Most people know about hell anyways.
I think for Christians especially in America, we don't really realize how real hell is and become very nonchalant about evangelizing. If you realize how so many people are going to hell, you will not be sitting around being afraid of telling others of Jesus' love and sacrifice. It's something that I struggle with also.
This is just what I think about hell and preaching about it.
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