(ThyBlackMan.com) Did you grow up afraid to go to hell? I did. Everything bad in the world that you could think to do was attached to going to hell. I remember wondering what heaven must be like, and far too often I found myself drawing a blank because all I could account for was hell. If you don’t clean your room, you might be going to hell. If you disobey your parents, you will die young and go to hell. If you didn’t do well in school, you were disobedient, so you were going to hell. If you were angry you needed to get rid of it because you could find yourself in hell. If you talk back, you are going to hell. If you had sex you were going to hell. If you ran with a bad crowd, they would lead you a stray…and you guessed it, you going to hell. If you didn’t go to church every Sunday God will not be pleased, and you going to hell.
The problem with this is the lie told, the desensitization of hell, and no understanding of heaven. I was once told hell was a place made for Satan, not us and when we focus on hell we are focusing on Satan in a sense. We are literally manifesting hell because there is so much focus on hell. On the other hand, we aren’t as focused on the goodness and promises of God. We are not focused on how much he loves us…and heaven is not on our mind much so we can’t manifest such. This is problematic when you are trying to find your moral compass, the principles that will govern your life, and peace in this life.
Resurrection Sunday will be here again before we know, and everyone will be talking about the finished works of Christ. As I began to mediate on this focus, we put on hell I began to think about Calvary. We are constantly being told about the sacrifice Jesus made so that we could have reconciliation with the Father. We all know about the price paid on Calvary, but maybe we should talk about the three days Christ laid dead in the tomb. If Christ went to hell so that I don’t have to why do I live a life so focused on hell? This is the question I ponder. This is not to say we shouldn’t strive to life right before God, and to honor him with our life. However, the motivation may need to change from, you going to hell…to because you love the Lord. This would mean when we are being taught in church, at home, and within community hell would no longer be used as the scare tactic to make everyone behave. The problem with that scare tactic is folks are living in hell as we speak.
They need deliverance and that requires the love of God. Yes, we know hell is real, and there is a path that leads to it. However, there is more to it than if you mess up you are going to hell. The idea of hell has been a torment for some people to the point they are afraid to live and have anxiety regarding mistakes. Then there are those that are completely desensitized. So, they feel if I’m going to hell no matter what I do then I guess I should be a wild child while I’m on earth. We have to explore this position as we are dealing with crime and violence whereby there seems to be no value for human life. Could it be that part of that comes from a hopelessness regarding life…no matter what I’m damned…so why would someone care?
Let me clarify this position is not one that dismisses bad behavior or sin. With that being said, it is looking at how we help those around us come to JESUS. No one on this earth has a heaven or hell to put anyone in so why are we damning others? This is important because the half truths told about “going to hell” is a lie, ineffective at that, and it needs to stop. If the people would read their bible, they would find it takes more than a mistake to be damned to hell. We are not living in the Old Testament, and we must stop with the misuse of scripture to control others. If you went out there and got pregnant out of wedlock that is not an automatic hell sentence. Do you need to address how the situation happened, yes.
However, no one has the right to sentence you to hell fire, and you shouldn’t stand for it. Even if one’s intentions are good, this method is harmful. In all this time focused on hell, we aren’t focused on the love and kindness that draws us to God. We aren’t focused on howe much our God loves us, wasn’t to protect us, bless us, and see us prosper. We lose the focus, if we ever had it, of honoring a loving God with our life. We know hell is real, but so is heaven. Its time to focus on God.
Staff Writer; Chelle’ St James
May also connect with this sister via Twitter; ChelleStJames.