One of the evangelism techniques taught is to scare an
individual into believing that they are going to go to hell when they die and
that they need Jesus to get into Heaven.
The thing is, though I don’t know how effective this technique is, it is
reducing Jesus into a ticket to Heaven, or a heavenly insurance policy.
There is a story of an ancient Sufi (Muslim) mystic named Rabia Basri where
she walked through the streets of Basra (now Iraq) carrying a lit torch in one
hand and a bucket of water in the other.
When asked what she was doing, she said that the water was to douse the
fires of hell and the torch was to burn up the rewards of Paradise . That way, people would not serve God to
escape the fires of hell or to get into heaven, but to serve God for the sake of
one’s love for God alone.
Jesus is not a ticket.
He is not an insurance policy.
And, a follower of Christ cannot just say the Sinner’s Prayer or get
baptized and then live however they want knowing that the policy is in the
drawer. Christian faith is not about
heaven or hell, even if they might play a role in it. I am not a Christian for fear of hell or hope
of heaven!
Check back next time for Wrong Answer #3!
No comments:
Post a Comment