Have you ever heard a preacher preaching fire and brimstone? All of us have heard such people before: They overemphasize punishment for sin while neglecting the loving nature of God who, by the way, invariably forgives us for our wrongdoings when we repent.
Mind you, there are some very delinquent-like folks who are deep in sin and even delight in their sins, and yeah, they need to hear some stern preaching to learn a lesson. But that is very much the exception and not the rule.
Whenever I go to church, I like to be inspired. I dislike hearing sermons where the preacher, especially one of the conservative Baptist variety, talks about damnation, condemnation for mistakes, etc. Fortunately I go to a denomination that is more theologically liberal.
Frankly, I think that fire and brimstone preaching alienates potential converts to Christianity. It can also be very dissuasive towards people who are already Christian but need inspiration. After all, Jesus is about love; he isn’t about beating people over the head with the Bible. Doesn’t Romans 5:6 say that Christ died for the ungodly?
Why do some preachers feel the need to overemphasize condemnation while not emphasizing the love of Christ enough? It doesn’t seem right to me.
Mind you, there are some very delinquent-like folks who are deep in sin and even delight in their sins, and yeah, they need to hear some stern preaching to learn a lesson. But that is very much the exception and not the rule.
Whenever I go to church, I like to be inspired. I dislike hearing sermons where the preacher, especially one of the conservative Baptist variety, talks about damnation, condemnation for mistakes, etc. Fortunately I go to a denomination that is more theologically liberal.
Frankly, I think that fire and brimstone preaching alienates potential converts to Christianity. It can also be very dissuasive towards people who are already Christian but need inspiration. After all, Jesus is about love; he isn’t about beating people over the head with the Bible. Doesn’t Romans 5:6 say that Christ died for the ungodly?
Why do some preachers feel the need to overemphasize condemnation while not emphasizing the love of Christ enough? It doesn’t seem right to me.
