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THE SEED OF FEAR
the opinion of Virginia H. Lane
It seems that evangelism is a catch all term for "winning lost souls" to the Lord. The big question is how to go about doing this? Traditional evangelism is telling people about sin and insisting they make a heaven or hell choice. This appears to be effective as it gets many to act. And they may really mean it. But as we all know, it's a "easier to say than to do." One may be sincere but it is so easy to backslide. Then they find themselves feeling guilty. Repenting, sinning, repenting may become a never ending cycle. It has been noted by missionaries that many of the people that are "saved" during this year's evangelism campaign are the same ones who answered the alter call "last year." These people probably came to the altar in fear and find themselves nurturing the wrong seed, the seed of fear. Progress isn't being made if the same people are being saved over and over again. In fact damage is being done. Many eventually say "If I'm going to Hell anyway, I may as well enjoy it" and "this is not good news" so they cease pursuing Christ. Plus now they have become immune to listening at all regarding Jesus' message. To "fear God" doesn't mean to be afraid of him. II Tim 1:7 says that he doesn't give us fear but power, love and sound mind. Planting the seed of Fear of God is like picturing God as an abusive Father. That sort of evangelism in the church literally makes the situation worse, not better. It is no wonder so many people hate "Christians". Stressing an everlasting hell-fire, may get people to the altar. Some lives are changed forever. But others battle with the flesh and try to "be good" because they are supposed to believe in Him and love Him. As sin overtakes them, then they may go in the opposite direction, wanting nothing to do the people they see as either judgmental or hypocritical. Especially as they begin to find out that many so-called Christians don't always practice what they preach. What is your perception of God? Do you view him as a loving God? It's taken me many years to understand his love for me and that I have value to him. I'll give you an example of how my mind was shaped many years ago. I grew up in a legalistic church. Our doctrines included a number of rules which we believed God had made for mankind. Because we zealously adhered to the laws of the church, we believed ourselves to be saved. (Maybe we were, maybe we weren't--I'm not going to debate that.) However, on looking back on it, our home wasn't filled with a loving God who cared for us and would actively be part of our lives if we dwelt in relationship with him. Our home was filled with the "fear of God. I remember a Sabbath Day (we believed "Thou shalt do no work" on the Sabbath) when I unthinkingly picked up my knitting. My mother suddenly noticed and reminded me it was the Sabbath. I dropped the knitting like a hot potato and waited for the zapping I was sure would come because of my sin. I didn't get zapped but I still slunk around the rest of the day in self-condemnation. Is fear of being zapped the proper motivation for obedience to God? I have to say, I was fearful and I didn't feel God's love that day. My feelings on the subject are well expressed in the following quote: For more of our beliefs on how God's truth could be better presented, see the article Planting the Seed of Love . |
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