Tag: Christianity

You Don’t Outgrow The Fear of Hell

I’ve heard it said that “As you mature in your Christian walk you will be less motivated by the fear of hell and more motivated by a desire to go to heaven.”

This is patently untrue.

And frankly, it is a ridiculous statement that has no foundation in the teachings of the Bible.

The Core

To suggest that one form of motivation [heaven v. hell] is more righteous than another is pharisaical – it is something self-righteous individuals try to bind on others as a religious requirement.

Old Pharisees told the common man that he had to perform specific rituals to be righteous. And those rituals were not found in the Law of God.

Modern Pharisees say you have to be motivated specifically like them if you want to be righteous. You have to feel specific feelings [including the feeling of motivation] to be righteous.

And as we start dissecting this theory, it falls apart immediately.

Motivations differ wildly between people.

What motivates you will not motivate me, and that is perfectly fine. There is nothing wrong with this.

First, the claim that as you mature you will be more motivated by heaven than by hell is unfounded because there is no biblical backing for this idea.

And that really should be the end of the discussion. If there is no biblical backing for an idea, it is just speculation and personal perspective.

And that is all this idea is: speculation and perspective.

Not fact.
Not reality.
Not Bible-based teaching.

Just the whimsical idea of some college-aged Bible major who doesn’t want to be afraid of hell because “it doesn’t feel good”.

If God wanted us to be less motivated by fear of hell over time, He would have stated it.

Everything God wants us to do is clearly articulated in scripture. Everything we do in faith is articulated for us by God [Rom 10:17].

Second, if God was interested in us being unmotivated by hell and more motivated by heaven, then God the Son would not have spent far more time preaching about hell than heaven.

The New Testament teachings of Christ are riddled with warnings about hellfire. Over and over again Christ makes the reality of hell a regular part of His teachings.

Why do you think He does that?

Because hell is MOTIVATING!

Who wants to go to this place called hell as described in the Bible literature? Not a single soul would choose to go there.

The descriptions of hell are vivid. They do generate fear.

But they push the Christians to remain obedient to the commands of God and faithful to the system God has set up.

Hell is operating just as it should have – as a motivator for everyone who is still alive.

Third, hell and heaven are simple motivators operating on the basic human drives – the desire to avoid pain and seek pleasure.

We want to avoid the pain of hell and seek the pain of heaven.

Just like in regular life, either pleasure or pain will motivate us more than the other.

The ratio of motivation will shift day to day, week to week, and year to year. With different seasons of life come different motivating factors. What motivates the young man may not motivate the old man as much.

But the old man should never be so arrogant to think that his specific portfolio of motivation is the correct one.

Neither should the young man, for that matter.

Do not worry about how your motivation portfolio looks right now.

It will change over time and will never be consistent.

All that matters is if you consistently obey the commands and teachings of God. What motivates you to obey is essentially irrelevant based on all available biblical metrics.

Fourth, heaven and hell are not zero-sum motivators – they complement one another.

The motivations to avoid hell and pursue heaven are not opposed. In fact, they are complimentary drives.

We do our best when we simultaneously run from pain and chase down pleasure.

The combination of the motivations leads to the best outcomes.

It does not matter if you are more motivated by heaven or hell or vice versa. All that matters is that you do what is right.

Anyone who suggests that being more motivated by heaven is more noble, righteous, or mature is simply making up nonsense that is not found in scripture.

Bible Verses About War

  1. Strategic Aspect of War:
    • Proverbs 20:18: “Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.”
    • Don’t go to war without a plan. This verse teaches that counsel is a key component of warfighting.

      You need more perspectives than just your own. In life war, business war, spiritual war, or otherwise, gain other perspectives from the warriors around you.

      Attempt to gain information that would help you in your fight. This is called strategic intelligence. Gain as much of it as you can before initiating your campaign.
  2. Positive Aspect of War:
    • Psalm 144:1: “Blessed be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle.”
    • People love to say that war is immoral, even Christians who have not taken the time to read their Bible. God initiated many wars not because He is a warmonger or one who enjoys violence, but because war is a cleansing mechanism by which evil is expelled from a land.

      This was the purpose behind the utter destruction of the Canaanite nations.
      Across the generations God trained His people for war in a figurative sense.

      This aspect of war cannot be overlooked. war is necessary. It cleanses evil. It purges lands and gives relief to the innocent.
  3. Necessity of War:
    • Ecclesiastes 3:8: “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”
    • War is necessary. It is a cleansing tool. As God has articulated, there is a time for it. and if there is a time for it, there is a use for it.
  4. Spiritual War:
    • Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
    • We know that war applies in the spiritual sense. Many separate verses teach this. We are constantly at war with ourselves. Our spiritual nature wars against our physical nature. And the war of a spiritual nature is the war of ages.
  5. Physical War:
    • Joshua 10:25: “Joshua said to them, ‘Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.'”

      God armed His people with the mentality to survive war and to be successful. He armed them for war. God armors the minds. As recorded, when God is for us, who can be against us?
  6. Personal War:
    • 1 Timothy 1:18: “This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare.“

      There is good warfare. Of course, this is the spiritual war of ages though it can be contrasted with physical war.

      We are at war with a physical nature that lends itself to evil based on its frailties.
  7. Warlike Mentality:
    • Jeremiah 51:20: “You are My battle-ax and weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; with you I will destroy kingdoms.”

      What a passage of warlike mentality. God is the weapon of warfare. Incredible. Awe-inspiring.

      And through the power of God, justice is delivered. The mighty engines of war are fired up and do incredible damage to those who oppose the Lord.
  8. Positive War Mentality:
    • Deuteronomy 20:1: “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.“

      When God was fighting for nations and going before them in war, there was less reason to consider the size of the force of the enemy. who cares what the enemy brings when we have God? That should have been their mentality.
  9. Teaching War:
    • 2 Samuel 22:35: “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can break a steel bow.“

      God Himself educates in the art of war. When God wages war, men should fall in line. Though God does not act directly like this anymore, understand it was perfectly within His nature to use the tool of war to spread righteousness and clease evil.
  10. Spiritual War:
  • 2 Corinthians 10:3-4: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.”

    The most important modern war is against the spiritual enemy. We war against sin, against the adversary, and the false philosophies of the world.

    In this war, our weapon is within the mind. the applied word of God is a weapon [Heb 4:12, Eph 6:10-17].
  1. God’s War Nature:
  • Exodus 15:3: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.”

    This is one of my favorite verses in the bible. It shows part of God’s very nature. that He is a man of war. He uses the cleansing fire of war to purge evil. And he is a mighty warrior.
  1. War and Peace:
  • Romans 12:18: “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.“

    Do your part to keep peace. this is the other side of the coin of war. Live at peace, but be always ready for warfare.
  1. Make War With Available Tools:
  • Joel 3:10: “Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.'”

    When you have nothing in your arsenal, then turn what you have into weapons of war. Pick up rocks, sticks, stones, whatever you have, and continue to make war with the enemy.
  1. End of War:
  • Isaiah 2:4: “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.“

    At a certain point, all wars end. One day even the spiritual war will end and the final enemy will be done away with. Until that moment, we are at eternal war.
  1. Civil War:
  • James 4:1: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?“

    Improper wars come from improper desires. Don’t fight for something not worth the cost of war. And don’t fight wars amongst allies. This verse discourages internal warfare and fighting among brothers and sisters. Strain to keep desires in check so they do not lead to civil warfare.
  1. Misapplication of War:
  • Matthew 24:6: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

    Though there is always war, the end of the world is not here yet. Every new war makes some people think the end of the world is at hand. But that is just an emotional thought. Ignore emotions in war. Harness them to do your bidding.
  1. The Hands that Make War
  • Psalm 18:34: “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.“

    And repeat of a verse we had before. We mention this repeat because it is always worth noting when something occurs in scripture twice The Bible is brief compared to what it could be. when God sees fit to record something twice, it’s important to take note.

    God teaches the art of war to His people. then His people apply the purifying fire of war to their enemies.
  1. The Correct Thinking of War:
  • Psalm 68:30: “Rebuke the beasts of the reeds, the herd of bulls, with the calves of the peoples, till everyone submits himself with pieces of silver. Scatter the peoples who delight in war.”
  • War is not supposed to be something that is enjoyed. It is a tool. It is a nasty tool when we are speaking about literal war with men killing other men. But a necessary and even enjoyable tool when used against our evil. As men, we are wired for war. Though most of us won’t go to physical war, we go to war with ourselves, our weaknesses, and sin daily.
  1. Symbolic War:
  • Revelation 12:7: “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought.“
  • Recall that the information contained in the book of Revelation is symbolic in nature. It is not literal and much is misunderstood about that in the text.
  1. Prepare For War:
  • Numbers 31:3: “So Moses spoke to the people, saying, ‘Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on Midian.‘”
  • God Himself was the initiator of many wars. We need to remember this when debating whether or not war is moral or not. It is a tool that God Himself has authorized for the purification of a land. Prepare for war, then go to war. But it must always be with purpose. Not mindlessly done with planning and purpose.

Wise Counsel – Proverbs 11:14

“Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.”

Lessons from Proverbs 11:14

1. The Critical Role of Counsel

Wise decision-making is difficult without counsel from wise individuals. Counsel is the ability to gather information from multiple perspectives of people who are pursuing the same desired outcome. Whether it is generals waging war or business executives on the war lines of business, multiple perspectives are critical to prevent one person from missing critical information when making a decision.  

The lesson is clear, get as many perspectives as you can before making a final decision – but don’t use information gathering as an excuse to procrastinate action. 

2. Avoiding Pitfalls

The negative outcomes of a lack of counsel are obvious. From lost revenues to lost wars to tragic mistakes in our personal lives, we make poor choices when we only rely on our minds to make decisions. 

The Biblical text teaches that to prevent unfortunate outcome outcomes, we need counsel. We need wise input from wise men to make wise decisions. 

3. Multiple Perspectives

Whenever we are taking counsel from people, we need to ensure we are taking a broad view of the information at hand. The more perspectives we can gather the better. And the wiser those perspectives are the better. Don’t limit yourself to a small amount of information. Gather as much intelligence as you can before deciding anything. 

Gather this intelligence as rapidly as you can so you don’t delay taking action. 

4. Community Strength

There is power found in collective wisdom. Though not everyone is wise, and not every opinion should be considered, there is still benefit to gathering the wisest men among you to take counsel of them. If the wisdom from one individual can be valuable, imagine that wisdom compounded across multiple individuals with all of their life experiences and wisdom. You combine all of those perspectives and you have wise counsel. 

5. Decision-Making Due Diligence

We need a rational approach to decision-making, to make the best decisions possible. Otherwise, we run the risk of making decisions before we’re ready or making poor decisions in general. And this is what most people do, they rush into decisions without gathering full information, and because of this, they make poor decisions. 

Taking counsel for multiple men speeds up the process. You now need much less time to gather information because each man contributes a thinking brain [hopefully]. This means each person can think through the situation on his own, think through unique situations, and problem-solve more rapidly. Each man can also run the problem through his personal experience and look for patterns. 

Much of wisdom is pattern recognition. 

6. Risk Mitigation

We cannot mitigate risk in everything. Reducing risk is not always an option. However, we can reduce risk by taking the collective perspectives of wise individuals with any counsel. This is a rational way to take a more measured approach to risk. We all take risks from the time we get out of bed to the time with lay down. None of us are immune to it. But we can mitigate the risk in the bigger decisions by taking advantage of wise counsel and multiple perspectives. Take advantage of all the collective information that you can. 

7. Wisdom in Collaboration

Team efforts don’t always produce valuable outcomes. Often you get dragged down by the weakest performing members of the team. This makes it critical to curate your peer group. You must be highly selective about who is around you. Low performers will certainly drag you down to their level.

It’s very possible to collaborate yourself into oblivion by taking poor perspectives into account. You have to use discretion and ignore people who are not wise. Weed them out and eliminate their negative influence. This is why you have to rationally evaluate each of the perspectives you gather.

Just because someone is an old man doesn’t mean he has a wise opinion nor is it guaranteed that he has gathered wisdom of his own. Wisdom does not always accompany age. But if the collective wisdom of the collaborators is high, counsel and collaboration can be very valuable in any instance. But at no point do we relinquish the ability to think with our rational minds to evaluate the information that we receive with our minds. Don’t believe everything you hear. 

Take advantage of counsel.

A Peculiar People – What does the Bible mean?

What does the Bible mean when it describes Christians as a “peculiar people”?

It doesn’t mean we eat weird food, wear strange clothes, and participate in outlandish rituals.

peculiar people

People mistake the appearance of peculiarity for the thing that caused the peculiarity.

Religious people frequently get into the habit of mistaking how something looks for how something actually is.

They mistake the appearance of Kingly stature for someone’s fitness to be King like Samuel did [1 Samuel 16:6].

Or they mistake the size of enemy forces like Elijah’s servant did [2 Kings 6:14-18].

In the modern day, we mistake the appearance of religiousness or purity for the actual thing.

We should try to get in the habit of not believing everything we see – because our personal perception can cloud reality. Just because people look religious does not mean they truly are.

This happens frequently with a discussion of peculiar people. What does this mean?

The mistake most religious people make is mistaking the peculiarity itself for religion.

They think the weirdness itself is the goal. That if they stand out from the rest of the crowd, they are “doing religion right”.

This is the farthest thing from reality. And it is why so many of us are confused by what we see.

Many people make these mistakes in judgment.

  1. Some mistake a college degree for education or value – but the value is in the skill and knowledge that degree allegedly represents.
  2. Some mistake knowing for understanding.

Peculiarity should be a byproduct of the Christian lifestyle, not a direct goal.

The goal is not to go out in the world purposefully acting weird. The purpose is to simply obey God and we will automatically look strange for that. Remember that the text says they will think that it is strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation [1 Peter 4:4].

We are not running out, making it our goal to be weird people. We are simply doing what is right, and by virtue, of obeying the commandments of God, we look strange compared to the rest of the world.

When the Bible describes Christians as a peculiar people it means that by the way we act, we will stand out from the world.

People mistake this all the time and think that we just need to purposefully act weird or purposefully act religious. They think we need to use weird language and try to stand out.

Standing out from the crowd is not the primary goal – there are many non-biblical ways to stand out from the crowd. It is simply a byproduct of living a Christian lifestyle when we live the way the Bible outlines.

The main point is easy to understand. If you obey the Bible you will be weird enough, There’s no need to make yourself weirder by fabricating religious rituals, behaviors, or language to use out in the world.

If you practice sexual discipline, avoid using profanity, don’t drink, don’t use illicit drugs repay evil with good, and act with kindness towards people around you, then you will be one of the strangest people in this world. No one behaves that way. It is odd.

The people those the world look to maximize their personal pleasure, drink, enjoy drugs, use profanity, repay evil with evil, and cheat and steal at everything they do. That is not the Christian path. Though the Christian stumbles and falls, he still works to live within the confines of the word of God. That is what makes him a peculiar person.

Matthew 28:18 – Lightning Study

All authority was given to Christ in Matthew 28:18. Not partial authority. Nor “most authority”, but every bit of authority.

This authority is one of the foundational building blocks of the church as well as the church government. The way the church is structured follows the outline and command given by Christ. We as Christ’s bride must follow this outline.

matthew 28:18

How many people in this world act as if Christ has no authority? Even people who claim to love Christ and follow what He has to say.

This is true when speaking about many denominations who build religion in their image rather than Chrsists. they decide that their traditions and teachings of men are more important than what Christ had to say about how His church was to be structured.

Matthew 28:18 is an all-inclusive statement outlining the authority of Christ.

What we need to constantly be aware of is the tendency to build religion in our own image. We often want to ignore what Christ has to say because we want to do it our way. This is not the way we were called to live. We have to submit to Christ’s law even when it is inconveneint or we would rather do something else.

We have to submit ourselves to His laws and precepts. And very importantly we have to submit to His strucutre of the church. It is His bride, He gets to create it how He wants.

When choosing a church to attend, make sure that the church follows Christ’s prescription. Does it mean the model provided in the New Testament or does it add a bunch of concepts that you don’t find in scripture? Or perhaps that church takes away multiple requirements of the church, such as regularly partaking of the Lord’s Supper or refusal of the essential nature of baptism.

Whatever you do, make sure you do it in the shadow of the cross. Respect the authority of Christ in all things.

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