Quote:
Originally Posted by PsyOps  When Jesus sent his disciples out to preach the Gospel he told them: “Whoever will not receive you or listen to your words--go outside that house or town and shake the dust from your feet.” He didn’t say “If they don’t listen to you tell them they are going to hell”. He also told them “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” The Christian faith has a long history of FORCING their beliefs on others through oppressive behavior and unforgiving words. How many might have been lost during the Crusades or during the Inquisitions; burning people at the stake, being accused of having the devil in them or being a witch? I’ve been in Churches that their main focus is tell how everyone is going to hell unless I spoke in tongues or exercised some other Pentecostal “gift”. Their message isn’t one of God’s love; but rather a message of God’s wrath. We have to get out of this line of practice. It’s not Christ-like. Those things have their place in the Church, but not rammed down our throats.
I’m not suggesting you don’t tell people about the consequences of not believing; I’m just saying that the Christian faith needs to get back on a track of preaching a message of love and salvation first. This isn’t happening. |
First off, no one was "lost" during the Crusades or Inquisitions. You apparently don't understand the power of God. No one destined for salvation will ever be lost. If they were not saved when they were killed, they weren't going to Heaven in the first place.
You can't compare churches to Jesus. Churches are flawed. The Bible does NOT teach that speaking in tongues is a necessity for salvation. You should have just left and been done with them.
Finally, it seems you've chosen to ignore the other verses. If those you quoted were the only ones in the Bible you'd be right, but they''re not.
Are you reading the Bible with rose colored glasses on? You can't ignore the "bad" verses and only read the "feel good" ones. Many churches do that so their membership will grow. And I do agree that the message of love should always be first.
I see lots of places where Jesus spoke of people's destruction in hell if you're interested:
Matthew 7v13, 14, 21-23, Matthew 8v12, Matthew 13v30, Matthew 18v2-9, Matthew 21v33-45, Matthew 22v13, Matthew 23, Matthew 24v51, Matthew 25v41, 46.
Luke 11v47-52, Luke 12v5, 20, 47, Luke 14v16-24, Luke 16v19-31, Luke 19v20-27, Luke 20v1-19.
John 5v14, 37-47, John 8v39-47.