bwerb
Hoser/English Translator, eh
I just wanted to reply to something which woke me up in the middle of the night last night...
One of the posts on here highlighted an analogy frequently used by Christian evangelists to try to explain their belief that they need to shout at an unbelieving world. It is of course the burning house analogy. If your house was on fire, wouldnt you want me to wake you up and warn you with as much fervor as I could? Since you are on your way to hell if you dont change your path I am going to continue screaming out warnings.
This analogy has always really bothered me from a personal standpoint, I believe that God is the one who calls out to us, not with a screaming of eternal torment, but with the soft voice of one who loves us. I also look at Jesus and Pauls methods and simply dont see this track lining-up with what they taught. Therefore, the insistence of some that they need to proceed with fire and brimstone just strikes me as a very Man driven methodology.
From an analogy standpoint, it also strikes me as a really bad comparison. I actually woke-up at 4:00 AM with a really clear understanding of how its wrong. My house isnt currently on-fire, I am in no danger at all currently but you believe that you have received a message that my house WILL burn down. So you are basically pounding on my door screaming your house is on fire and you are going to die when there are no flames and smoke to be seen. Instead, you perhaps could mention to me in more general neighbor to neighbor conversation that youve looked at my house and there are a few code violations which perhaps could be upgraded to better protect me. How do you know that I dont have a guy coming to install sprinklers next week?
See what I mean? There is a difference between waking someone up with visions of what could happen and waking someone up at the minute before they die.
The God I believe in stands at the door and knocks He is a patient God, and He is the one who called me not some dude screaming judgement and damnation
One of the posts on here highlighted an analogy frequently used by Christian evangelists to try to explain their belief that they need to shout at an unbelieving world. It is of course the burning house analogy. If your house was on fire, wouldnt you want me to wake you up and warn you with as much fervor as I could? Since you are on your way to hell if you dont change your path I am going to continue screaming out warnings.
This analogy has always really bothered me from a personal standpoint, I believe that God is the one who calls out to us, not with a screaming of eternal torment, but with the soft voice of one who loves us. I also look at Jesus and Pauls methods and simply dont see this track lining-up with what they taught. Therefore, the insistence of some that they need to proceed with fire and brimstone just strikes me as a very Man driven methodology.
From an analogy standpoint, it also strikes me as a really bad comparison. I actually woke-up at 4:00 AM with a really clear understanding of how its wrong. My house isnt currently on-fire, I am in no danger at all currently but you believe that you have received a message that my house WILL burn down. So you are basically pounding on my door screaming your house is on fire and you are going to die when there are no flames and smoke to be seen. Instead, you perhaps could mention to me in more general neighbor to neighbor conversation that youve looked at my house and there are a few code violations which perhaps could be upgraded to better protect me. How do you know that I dont have a guy coming to install sprinklers next week?
See what I mean? There is a difference between waking someone up with visions of what could happen and waking someone up at the minute before they die.
The God I believe in stands at the door and knocks He is a patient God, and He is the one who called me not some dude screaming judgement and damnation
