A few weeks ago, I encouraged my middle school students to email me or call me they had any questions about anything. I did this because middle school students generally have a million questions but either a) don't feel comfortable asking them or b)think the questions are stupid so they refrain. I always strive in my ministry to create a space where students can ask the tough questions that they all have without fear of being judged or condemned for a lack of faith or whatever.
One of my students called me yesterday. This is a girl who has very little experience with church or Jesus or whatever, but, because of a great family in our church, is being lovingly introduced to it. She asks the best questions on Sunday nights and I genuinely love when she's there. Anyway, here's the question she asked me.
If you don't pray, will you go to hell?
My response? No. When I told her, there was a couple of seconds of silence and then she said, "Oh...okay." I told her I would email her a better and more extended response. I stand by my answer and I would love anyone to argue this point with me biblically (you can't).
I got off the phone and I thought: why does it always boil down to heaven and hell? Let me be very clear about this next point: BEING A CHRISTIAN ISN'T ABOUT GOING TO HEAVEN AND AVOIDING HELL. I can't be any more clear than that (I mean, look at all the caps). Avoiding hell, attaining some heavenly reward has never been, nor will it ever be, the point of following Jesus. The point of following Jesus is to follow his way of life, that just so happens to lead to real life here and now. It's a life of peace, joy, and love. It's a way of life that Jesus describes as a "narrow way" that few find.
This doesn't mean that stuff like prayer, reading your Bible, etc. isn't important. Those things are done as a response to living this way of life, they aren't the way of life itself. Jesus would seem to suggest that the calling card of this way of life is love and love alone. So we pray because we love God, not to garner his love. We pray because we want to, not because we have to to avoid a fiery end.
This girl's question happened for a reason. It happened because, somewhere along the line, she's been given the understanding by the Church that the reason to be a Christian is because, well, it's better than the alternative. That kind of thinking will never lead to the kind of life Jesus lived. It will lead to nothing but a life based on fear. Fear will only get you so far and eventually you'll give up on the whole thing. Jesus never guilted people into following and he never scared them into it either. We probably shouldn't either.
1 comments:
What a great, easy to understand response. Not only can the teens learn from this but I think many adults would find some relief from reading and focusing on this.
Thanks for all you do.
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