Fire and brimstone is good in its place. But it won’t attract people for the right reasons. Love is always a better motivation than fear. Self interest works too. If you can convince people that if they follow The Manufacturer’s instructions life will go better for them, it’s better than believing He is a Big Shoe waiting to squash them like a bug.
If sex = happiness, we should be one big effing disneyland here, the happiest place on earth. But it’s not and we’re not happier. Seems the more sex people have the more unhappy they are. It takes some people longer to figure that out than others. If all they’re looking for is sex, that’s like eating icing without cake. Yeah, icing is great. But how many of us could sit there and eat a whole jar of it for very long without feeling sick.
We’re not in a modernist age. We’ve moved along to post-Modernism… and we go around the bend long and far enough we’ll be back to where we started…
There’s a lot of good things about celibacy people forget:
no pregnancy worries
no disease worries
limits the stalkers
weeds out the people who only are interested in you for THAT
Keeps you from getting too emotionally bonded to people who aren’t bonded with you as much.
Keeps your head clear to see people as they are
You keep your self respect
You stay close to God…
A relationship not built on a bed of sin stands a firmer chance of succeeding
You have a chance to see how much self control the other person really has
Weeds out the people with a short-timer’s attitude
Easier to break up with the person if you’re not THAT entangled if they turn out to be the wrong one
Gives you something to look forward to with the person if you eventually marry.
Sex addicts will lose interest in you early in the dating process
The fire and brimstone approach works only on people who actually think hell exists and that Hitler and Stalin are not the only people sitting there.
I think people have lost sight not so much of what sin will do to them for all eternity. That’s bad enough. Sadder still is that they don’t believe that sin crucifies Christ all over again. They add to His suffering. Nor do they care.
You don’t do that to people you love.
Fire and brimstone shouldn’t be necessary for people who really had a relationship with Christ.
THAT is the fundamental problem. They’re making other human beings the be all and end all of life, when other people are supposed to be partners and helpmeets on the way to union with Christ.
We aren’t being taught what religion really is. It’s not a set of “dont’s and rules”. RELIGION comes from the Latin word “ligere” meaning “To tie or bind” not “lex, legis,” meaning “Law.” Religion is that relationship that ties us to God. From that all things should flow. We’re actually beyond post-Modernism. I’d call it Neo-paganism.
We’re a world that’s back to worshiping trees and rocks and earth spirits and sex has returned to its most primitive status.
THAT is why your office mates are so miserable. Know Christ, Know Peace. No Christ, No Peace. Simple as that.