Christians: Why do many Christians focus on hell when they are trying to evangelize?

Question

It seems like most of the time when a Christian finds out that I am Neo-Pagan they zoom right into talking about hell. They say something similar to, “You realize that you are going to end up in hell.”

Do you think this is an effective tool to convince a person of the veracity (authenticity) of the Christian faith?

Why or why not?

Answer 1

You have stumped them because they are not sure what to say to make you understand or care enough about your existance after death. Hell is only fearful to people who believe in it. NO it is far better to try to encourage a person to accept the Lord as his saviour to change his quality of life here on earth. It is your life and only you can make the choice to deny Christ and his wonderful gift of eternal life. You and you alone have to live with that decision. Good Luck and God bless.

Answer 2

I think their first instinct is to worry about your eternal life. And ultimately, that is where you would go if you don't believe in John 3:16. We are not to judge others........only God has the right to judge his children. Maybe some people are offended by the truth written in the bible......so it may not be a great way to approach a nonbeliever... Christians need to show love and meet the physical needs of a nonbeliever first. Meet them where they are.....and THEN preach the word. They should remember that a nonbeliever is not where they are in their Christian walk with the Lord. Even Christians are on different spiritual levels.
Some are closer to God than others......some are more knowledgeable about scriptures....it is just part of life. And because we are all on different levels of spirituality, no that is probably not a good tool.....to use the threat of Hell. But unfortunately----it is true. Pray about it.

Answer 3

No, I do not believe that is the way to go about it. It is bullying.

It is however the basic premise of their belief but I feel that there are so many better ways to introduce God and Christ into someones life.

I remember when I was younger... I was raised completely viod of any sense of God or religion and then all of a sudden, WHAM... To crazy psycho parents who raised disfunctional, fuc*ked up kids, in a fuc*ked up house became Born again Christians and everything was supposed to just go away because they were right with God? No, I don't think so.

The influence was there after that, but my mom went off on an opposite tangent, a militant hell fire christian message because someone showed her the way via those same means. It is what she knew. It is all perpetuated and continues on and on like that until someone breaks the cycle.

To make a long story short... I fought, refused, was a pagan, a witch, a satanist, EVERYTHING BUT what she was force feeding me by trying to make me fear.

A soft spoken, loving and peacefull person finally touched my heart. A pastor by the name of Dr. wayne Monbleau. He was a musician (still is) he was a drug addict (which I was too by that time) and his life was in the garbage when he was saved and his message was always wise, in that he spoke to people depending upon their spiritual maturity and their understanding. He never force fed anyone anything they couldent handle.

The message is based on a basic scripture. "Chose ye today life or death, blessing or cursing." One way is death to the spirit and life in the here and now while we have it without making space in the afterlife or preparing the spirit for what comes after the body is gone. The other feeds the soul and takes care of the part of us we do not see or attend to while in our earthly concerns.

I honestly can't say that I disagree with them as far as the scripture goes, it does say this... But is that the way to hit someone who doesn't yet understand that to bring them to a loving, supposedly benevolent God? No, I don't believe that it is.

Jesus had a message of love, or grace and of compassion and had I not listened to Wayne Monbleau tell me this. I would have never said the words and dedicated my soul to God, Like a promise, like a prayer, like a breath of life I never knew before that day... It is a beautiful experience, but unfortunately, people are idiots and feel the need to take everything out of context because all through History... Faith has come by bullying.

The word "Fear" from the Hebrew translation means "Respect, reverence and honor," God does not work in the medium of terror and manipulation as they so often present and represent Him. Jesus said "I stand at the door of your heart and knock." If you CHOSE, if you DECIDE to open it, there is is, waiting for you.


It does not say that; if you don't open this God damned door Im going to send you to hell! That.... is what man says in his place. In ignorance of the entire message and in complete and total error.

Answer 4

Hell, in "evangelizing", is used as a tool to shock and instill fear to make the person more open to the message someone is trying to get across.

I don't particularly agree with that approach. I don't think fear is necessarily the message Jesus came to give to us. As a Christian (with influences of other ideologies to help me on my path), I tend to see His message as one of love and compassion, not condemnation.

Unfortunately, some trying to live in the Christian faith tend to take the view that if they don't "convert" you to their view of Christianity, then your immortal soul is lost forever. (They tend to follow the logic that "If what I think is right and you don't see it the same way, you're wrong. And since, I read in the Bible that I'm right and I'm going to Heaven, you are wrong. Therefore, God thinks you are wrong and you're going to Hell.") If those people really reflected on the Message, they might not be quite so quick to judge and might be a little more nervous of their stance comparison with the path set by God and shown to us by Jesus.

Since, I'm not entirely sure what you in particular believe as a "Neo-Pagan", I'm not going to offer an opinion about that subject. As long as you're not hurting people or animals by your practices, I'll just live and let live.

As far as your idea of Christianity.... I would suggest you don't confuse the message with those claiming to be the messengers. If you are really interested, read the Bible yourself and reflect on what the Source offers to you.

Answer 5

Many Christians that I know try to convert by their good example to others. They are concerned about people of little faith because they want everyone they know to go to heaven. Fear of hell is not a good method to use in trying to convince someone that God loves you and is always there for you...)(

Answer 6

I know it's so funny to me....let me try to scare you by threatening you with something you don't even believe in....ooooh makes me want to be a christian again.....NOT! NO I don't think it's an effective tool, I think it makes them look like the un-loving hypocrites that they are...when they say that, it's because they really have nothing of true value to argue with! It's like the ones that try to prove the bible is real by quoting the bible....tell me that's not funny!!! :)

Answer 7

Christianity is a bit of a hateful religion, sorry if this offends but it is.

edit
Strangely it is the very concept of hell that drove me away from christianity.

Answer 8

Uhhh what else would there be to focus on that would make sense?

hey man would you like to be a christian
so you can eat really good food?

Hey man would you like to be a christian
so you can socialize with really nice people?

See my point? The bottom line is that theyre trying to get you to save your soul fromm hell.....

Answer 9

I suppose they are trying to scare people into becoming a Christian, but I don't see how that would ever prove affective.

Answer 10

They have been terrified into believing so they think the same scare tactic will work on others.