Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.3 4.3bsd-beta 6/6/85; site topaz.RUTGERS.EDU Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!columbia!topaz!hedrick From: hedrick@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU (Charles Hedrick) Newsgroups: net.religion.christian Subject: Re: A primary reason for belief in Christ Message-ID: <3358@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> Date: Tue, 20-Aug-85 13:08:09 EDT Article-I.D.: topaz.3358 Posted: Tue Aug 20 13:08:09 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 05:39:05 EDT References: <908@uscvax.UUCP> Reply-To: hedrick@topaz.UUCP (Charles Hedrick) Distribution: net Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 31 I don't know what churches you go to, but I have been going to church (mostly Methodist and Presbyterian) all of my life, and have never run into a preacher who used the fear of death as a motivation. Indeed within the more liberal denominations, it is fairly unusual for much emphasis to be placed on life after death. (I can't speak for more conservative churches.) Christians believe that Christ brings us into the Kingdom of God now, in the present. Of course we expect a more visible Kingdom in the future, and we expect to see God more directly after we die. But anyone who is motivated primarily by a fear of death is not likely to make a very good Christian. The comment you objected to, about Christ freeing us from a world of death, was quite likely talking about more than physical death. And the freedom it was referring to was not primarily life after death. Death is often used metaphoically to refer to the whole range of evil. Who is the Twentieth Century can fail to understand someone believing that the world is full of death, as well as lesser forms of evil? The Christian faith cannot, of course, get rid of this evil. However Christians do see God at work in this world. These comments are very quickly going to lead into theodicy, an issue which we have discussed before and which I do not want to reopen. So I will stop here. But the point I am trying to make is that we see God as active in the world against the power of sin and death, and do not confine this to pie in the sky bye and bye. And of course we also expect Christians to be active in this struggle now. It is perhaps ill-advised to use metaphorical language in a newsgroup such as this. I generally try to confine myself to language that will be understood by non-Christians. However this is net.religion.christian, so perhaps we can forgive someone for assuming that readers will have a general familiarity with Biblical language.