Scared To Hell (By Leonard Lu Tze Jian)
Separation
from God, it is indeed correct to fear hell, but not because of the pain it
brings, but because it means eternal rejection from our true love.
Fearing
God
While
talking to people about Christ, different comments often surface but there is
one that I keep bugging me, even until today. I was at a youth camp once and a
very smart brother-in-Christ (and I mean really smart) said this when I asked
him about his faith, “It seems to me that people don’t actually believe in God.
They are just afraid of going to hell.
So is it about Christ, or about hell?”
Is that why some Christians are backsliding?
I thought. I obey God, so that He won’t send me to hell. Eventually, I feel
like I am chained and bound unwillingly by God’s high demands. Naturally, I
feel suffocated and vengeful. I’d find ways around His ways. In the end, I am
in worse condition than I was before. Some
Christians are worse than the non-Christians! And I believe this is one of
the reasons why.
Is
fearing God the same as fearing hell? Is a true Christian not afraid of hell?
Is fearing hell a wrong reason to turn to Christ? If there weren’t a hell,
would I still believe in God?
Please take time to think about his because it concerns the foundation on which
we built our faith.
Hell,
the place of unspeakable PAIN
If
you ask anyone about hell or why hell is such a scary place, they would
probably tell you that it is a place of pain, particularly fire and worms. It
is a pain that no other pain can compare. Not only that, it is FOREVER! Can you imagine suffering a pain so great
that you want to die, but couldn’t because you already are?
Is
this really what hell is, unthinkable physical pain? If you were going to live
eternally in pain, won’t it eventually feel numb? If I hit your hand once
everyday, you would probably feel like a touch, rather than a stinging pain
after the 100th time. I believe people find hell an unbearable place
because we cannot imagine ourselves suffering for the rest of our lives. But to
those who are already living in suffering, would hell seem like a terrible
place? If hell is just pain, then it means nothing to them.
The
true price of Sin
I
believe God never intended us to fear hell because of
suffering. Suffering is
merely the punishment for your sins. We should fear hell because it is a place
of eternity without God! (Doesn’t sound that scary, right?) Now imagine your
spirit returning home, where it is supposed to be, only to be forbidden. And
that’s where your soul is going to be eternally, unable to be where it is
supposed to be. I know it’s hard to face unbearable pain, but don’ t you think
eternal loneliness and rejection is worse?
We tend to focus more on the physical side to
God’s truth, rather than the spiritual because we are human. For instance, we
say sin separates us from God. But we only repent after what sin does to us,
such as unforgiveness, hatred, depression and pain. I am not saying this is
wrong, I am only saying that these things are human. But
what we ultimately have to remember in our walk with God is that all these
physical things are only physical manifestations of what hell represents. Separation
from God, it is indeed correct to fear hell, but not because of the pain it
brings, but because it means eternal rejection from our true love.