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Friday Discussion: Is Fear an Appropriate Motivator for the Church?

Is fear an appropriate tool for motivation?

We see it in many segments of society.

Rental car companies use it to sell extras to a rental contract. The skilled agent can make me doubt my insurance. The risk isn’t any larger than when I normally drive, but I sure feel that way after their spill.

We do it to help people lose weight or live healthier. When I see the effects of obesity on the body I’m more inclined to want to stay in shape.

We use fear to get people to wear seat belts, slow down and to deter drinking and driving. The crash dummy has been made famous saving lives by inducing fear.

So, I have a fair question:

Is fear an appropriate motivation tactic for the church?

I would love your thoughts and opinions. I’m a proponent of the “kindness of God leads to repentance” approach to witnessing, but if fear is such a great motivator should we literally be scaring the Hell out of people?

I love a good discussion…so what do you think?

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Ron Edmondson

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Steve Keating's avatar

Steve Keating · 758 weeks ago

It depends on how the "fear" is presented. If the facts, as uncovered in Scrioture cause someone to be in fear of judgment then so be it. Truth can sometimes bring forth fear. But look at the alternative, by not sharing the truth we lead people right into hell. I have a great friend of mine who is fond of saying that most of the people in hell are really nice people who just didn't know the truth. They went to hell for no particular reason - maybe someone didn't want to look like someone spreading fear so they never told them about the only way to heaven. If the truth causes fear then so be it.
But I've also seen, sadly, cases where fear was used as a weapon to motivate people for a Pastor's purpose, not God's. For instance. "If we don't raise 500K for a new sound system we will dishonor God and risk bringing hell upon ourselves." Nice don't you think?
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
Steve Keating's avatar

Steve Keating · 758 weeks ago

Here's one thing I know for sure - I don't want to hear, on my judgment day, "that guy Bob, the one you worked next to everyday, is in hell because you didn't tell him about Me" Why not? At that point I don't think God is going to be interesting in any excuses about spreading fear.
How's that for some serious fear :)
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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If God is love and the gospel is "good news", fear doesn't seem to fit in there very well. You can't have a very good relationship with something that you are afraid of.
3 replies · active 758 weeks ago
When I was 15/ 16 I went to a church that preached fear... I did accept Christ out of "fire insurance". I did not want to burn in hell.

I also realized pretty quick that I could not live a perfect Christian life... So if I couldn't be the perfect Christian, then I was going to be the best sinner I could be and I was for the next 13 years.

Then out of a marriage crisis... I ended back in church. There for the FIRST time I learned that God actually did love me and sent his son to die for my sins. It was when I understood & experienced the love of God that I gave my life completely to Christ.

I understand that feat is more of a reverence for a Holy God that is the creator of all things & he cares and loves me for who I am. The fear of turn & burn theology is actually repelling people instead of drawing people to Christ.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
I think fear and guilt have a place in our spiritual lives when they are attached to specific acts or sins and an understanding of the consequences to ourselves and others, including our relationships with God. Confession, repentance, and the forgiveness of Christ are the solutions to this kind of fear and guilt. I think the thing that is damaging is a nameless, vague fear that isn't attached to anything specific and that isn't relieved by reaching out to God. The love of God is what touches hearts, and when people realize how eager God is to forgive them and relieve them of the burden of their guilt and shame, they know His love is real.

Once, a friend of mine who struggled w/drugs and alcohol, sinned against me in one of the most painful, betraying ways possible. When I was told of her acts against me, even while still in the shock of the news, I felt God's Spirit speak this to me - When you forgive her for this and continue to love her in My name, she will know for certain that I love her. At the time, just moments into the pain, my reply to God went something like, "Yeah, well, I'm not ready yet." But soon, thanks to God, I was and we were reconciled.

Fear and shame were a part of her restoration, in order for her to grasp God's love for her. Even recently, someone did to her what she had done to me, and she came to me in tears, and asked if the way she felt at the betrayal was the way I had felt when she had sinned against me. I said yes, but quickly reminded her of her position in Christ - forgiven and free. Feeling the horror of our sins helps us to understand God's unbelievable love for us.

I do absolutely loath the way fear is being used by "Christian" political leaders/candidates/fans to win people to their side by creating hatred for their opponents or entire people groups. If you can get people to fear others, you can get them to hate them. That may be the way of the world, but it is not, not, not Christ's way!
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
I don't think fear should be our tool of choice. Certainly being confronted with Biblical truth may bring about feelings of fear in the heart of an unsaved person. But to focus that message with the intent of producing fear I think runs contrary to the way Jesus operated. Too often we present the Gospel as a standard of living that ends up just replacing the Law, rather than the life of freedom that it actually is. That said, we should not shy away from preaching the reality of an eternity apart from God. The issue lies with why we do it. If the motivating factor is to get people to make a choice that basically acts (as a previous commenter said) as "fire insurance", then the resulting life can hardly be the abundant one that Christ came to give us.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Ron, great question. From the comments I hear, absolutely not. It (fear & guilt) does not reflect the love of Christ. It keeps many away. The Word is a hospital to the soul. Dispense peace, not fear.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
How many choose Christianity because they dont want hell not that they love Jesus? I have talked to many who seem that they would be perfectly happy in heaven even if Jesus isnt there. How many are running away from something and not to something?

It would be wrong not to mention what will happen to those who choose not to turn to God. But God's character will ravish them if they can see Him for who He truly is.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
I agree with many of the other posts. We need to fear Hell and we need to fear the Lord. And some people will not come to Him just because He is a loving savior; for some it may take fear of the other outcome. But preaching fear, I think, is the wrong thing. The facts need to be presented in a loving manner and the consequences need to be laid out in plain black and white without any sugar-coating. However, I don't think that screaming from the pulpit that you will go to Hell if you don't accept Christ wins many or wins them truly. I grew up in a church that didn't scream Hell and damnation, but one that mixed doing what was right for His sake with guilt about what would happen if you didn't. I found this to be an ineffective tactic. I grew up loving God, but wanting to rebel against the infrastructure which tainted my early interactions with God.

Bottom line is that I think that preaching fear is wrong; preaching Truth is right and however the hearer deals with it is between them and God.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
More people change because they feel the heat than see the light.
3 replies · active 758 weeks ago
Steve- I agree to a point... But I think that for to bring the whole Gospel... It has to be a both/ and.

You have to talk about BOTH the fact that God loves us and he sent his son to die for our sins AND the fact that there is a judgment that is real. A judgment that will have a consequence of hell.

Now that I follow Christ... I am more afraid or fearful that God will tell me I didn't do enough to tell people about him... Than I ever was of not believing at all.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
There are so many reasons not to use fear to draw people to Church, or more accurately to God and Christ. The Bible teaches us that God is Love and that God is perfect, and that Perfect Love cast out fear. Here is what the scripture says exactly...1 John 4:18- "Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love."
That says enough there, people who are brought to Christ because of fear of punishment in hell start off with a wrong foundational understanding of God and a twisted experience of him.
Love changes people, fear only perverts things and magnifies what you fear to be larger than the solution. Jesus said that if he is lifted up he will draw all men unto him, not if you scare people enough they will be drawn to me.
We need to embrace and believe God for a greater revelation of the supernatural in our everyday lives. God loves us and desires to see us made whole and be in peace, if you want to see a person drawn to God then let them see his love manifested in healing and deliverance and freedom, that will draw people because that is Christ in us being lifted up.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
I have been thinking a lot about fear recently because I see so much fear in the church and in society.

I think we are limited in our language to use the same word for "fearing God" and all other types of "fear".

The positives of fear should only be that it should drive us to prayer. Any other response to fear other than prayer, is most likely sin. If we fear loosing our job or that Muslims will invade the US or that our child will be negatively influenced at school, most of the time it is because we do not trust God to do what he has told us he will do. Much of the rest of the time we fear because we have not done what God has told us to do.

So if we fear our child will be negatively influenced at school, but we have not prayed for them, have not had bible study with them, have not helped them find a positive set of friends then our fear is not doing anything beneficial, it is just paralyzing us. Paralyzing fear is sin. The church needs to start addressing this fear as sin. Instead, I see churches encouraging this type of fear regularly. They tell their people to take their kids out of school because public schools are evil. Or they condemn one set of politics or another by asking us to fear the potential result of the other side's politics. Or we are told it is OK to fear the other (whether it be Muslim or Gay or Scientist, etc.) instead of doing what God has repeatedly told us to do (pray for them, ofter them a cup of water in Jesus name, serve them in love, etc.)
3 replies · active 758 weeks ago
I have to work, but will be contributing to this.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Jodi Planck's avatar

Jodi Planck · 758 weeks ago

I did not take the time to read every-bodies comments, b/c I am at work. But I do want to say that fear is not a successful motivator to serve God. If we do not serve Him out of LOVE, then we become religious, and fear and religion are sisters. The true fear of God is not the same kind of fear we are discussing here. The fear that keeps one from parking their car in the middle of a busy freeway, and going for a stroll, is not really the same kind of fear that causes one to cower from the criticisms of man. One is WISDOM and the other is demonic, self-centered, self-preserving fear, that is not from God. The problem in the church is that we have called the later wisdom, while not possessing TRUE WISDOM. True wisdom is a gift from God, and one receives it by asking, and that asking must be in faith {not fear}, or we are double minded, and can expect to receive nothing from God. If have much more to say, but not enough time to say it in, but I am sure you are getting the drift of my message. God Bless, Jodi Planck
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Lloyd Sexton's avatar

Lloyd Sexton · 758 weeks ago

I normally don't weigh in on questions such as this. But I have to. the Bible is very clear:

Reverential awe, or fear, of the Lord is encouraged. This is not the same as the fear which we feel when we worry about things or feel anxiety. THAT fear is discouraged. In fact the body is supposed to edify and encourage one another. Fear does neither. It judges and tears down. Fear is never a motivator. Now, hope on the other hand....
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
In Revelation 1:17-18, we see the Awesome Powerful God, bend down and comfort John who was in fear. I think this passage describes well the tension between fear and peace that is indicative of our faith walk. Understanding the power that held at bay because of love is life-changing.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Deep question and plenty of people have thoughts. So my thoughts is this. Sure fear is ok.
Psalm 9:10 and Psalm 111:10 both say "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". Most people don't come to the saving knowledge of God because they love Him. How can you love someone before you know who they are. But to fear His greatness and His wrath is much easier.
Should we use fear to motivate folks to give their life to Christ. Whatever means it takes I say.There are those that are hardheaded and need to fear the Lord to be moved. There are those who easily love and don't need to be motivated by fear. One of you other commentators said its a both/and situation. I agree.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
I too was a young man scared into looking for "fire insurance" and only years later actually "heard" the love of God in my heart. Once you come to love God, you will fear for the alternative and fear it for others. The only healthy fear for a child of God is fearing that we don't share his message of love to enough people before we leave this earth.
3 replies · active 758 weeks ago
Recently, I passed a cemetery that seemed out of place with the development that surrounded it and was reminded me of a fear that I had as a child. Strange, I had not thought of this for a very long time.

I was less than five years old and the minister at the church that I was attending said that the at the Rapture the dead would rise and walk among us. Those who were not saved would not survive. I envisioned flashes of light, zombies, and my parents who did not attend church with me being swallowed by the earth.

I was scared and my parents immediately took me out of that church. I've always remembered the reason, but had never had the occasion so vividly replayed in my mind until seeing that particular cemetery. More than 40 years later, it still frightens me. For me, fear is not appropriate in a world that promotes a loving and caring God. Fear is not the faith that I embrace.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Mason Stanley's avatar

Mason Stanley · 758 weeks ago

: if you use fear once you will be inclined to use it again. When we as humans see results that the Spirit has produced through us using fear we begin to see fear as a readily available tool in the box for us to use whenever we see fit. Possible consequences with negative connotations are used to express a dyer need for change, this envokes fear, fear envokes change in action. This is where we need to be most cautious. We could be content with a persons change in actions, however it is more advantageous to use this time of changed actions to work on helping the heart to fully follow. Fear under the Holy Spirits guidance is not only beneficial but also neccesary. Until the pain of remaining the same is greater than the pain of change, true heart change will likely not occur.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago
Goes both way. Balance is healthy and people are different. Jesus said repent or perish. Sounds like fear to me. Personally fear of hell brought me to repentance, but I tend to go the route that Jesus loves you and died for you. At any rate in other areas like marriage we mention the consequences of adultery. That's fear. Alcohol consumption, too much. That's fear. Etc.
I think the problem is when we overdo one way. Afterall we can't ignore hell and we certainly can't minimize the love of God. Great topic. Thanks for the conversation. Good way to end the evening on my iPhone.
1 reply · active 758 weeks ago

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