Helping or Hindering?

Recently when listening to one of our local Christian radio stations I heard something that didn’t really sit well with me. In an advertising segment they talked about how the radio station would be a safe place for families, where they will be able to hear about the love of Jesus Christ and that this will not be a place that will be judged. That initially sounds pretty nice, but to me it didn’t sit well. To me it had a bit of a modern gospel feel to it. My feeling was later confirmed when I read a local Christian newspaper where the station manager for this particular radio station was interviewed and stated,

“There are some stumbling blocks that people have listening to a Christian radio station. The biggest challenge is removing those stumbling blocks. We’re not going to tell people that if you don’t believe like us you’re going to hell. This is not a place where they will be judged, and we’re not going to condemn them. This is a place where we simply show and share the love, hope and forgiveness that Christ showed when He was on earth.”

This initially looks and sounds good and I’m sure well intentioned, but hell and judgment are a part of sharing Jesus Christ with people. This will help them understand why Jesus needed to come in the first place. Fact of the matter: If one doesn’t not repent and trust Jesus Christ for their salvation, they will go to hell. That’s just what the Bible (God’s Word) says. So, when sharing Jesus Christ, if one just tells them that Christ forgives them and loves them, they will think that’s great, but will have no real reason to repent and trust Jesus for their salvation because most people think they are pretty good. [See Good Person Test on this blog.]

The CARM website [see link on this blog] states there are really three components involved when sharing Jesus Christ with others (i.e. evangelism) and they are:

1. God is holy and perfect and He requires holiness and perfection from us.
2. The Law (10 Commandments) is a reflection of the character of God.
3. The Gospel is the good news that the judgment of God upon the person who has broken God's Law can be removed in the person of Jesus.
*Note: Sometimes God & Law & are combined, for God is mentioned when presenting the 10 Commandments.

To see the entire CARM article, please click here: http://www.carm.org/how-to-present-gospel-properly

I thought that article was interesting, but I wanted to conduct a little word search at Bible Gateway to see how the CARM recommendations for sharing the gospel were in line with scripture. I found the following out:

1. The word Law is mentioned or referenced a total of 542 times according to the ESV.
2. The words Judgment & Hell are mentioned or referenced a total of 216 times according to the ESV.
3. The words Gospel & Good News are mentioned or referenced a total of 129 times according to the ESV.

Therefore, one could conclude that the use of the Law and mentioning where one will go without Jesus Christ is important when evangelizing. After all, God’s word mentions Law, Judgment and Hell over and over and way more than just the Gospel and the Good News. I see this as God trying to let us blind people know that we deserve to end up in hell because we are not holy as He is holy. The Law will help people understand why they are not holy (Now this may seem like we would be judging people at this point, but it is not like we made up the rules. We are just pointing out what God has put in place to help people understand that we are not as good as we think we are.); however, once one understands they are not holy as He is holy it can bring people to place of repentance and then the Gospel, the “Good News” of Jesus Christ will make sense and be greatly appreciated. It will make sense because they will understand that someone needed to pay for their sin debt in order for God to see them as holy and allow them to go to heaven.

Why did Jesus need to come into this world, live a perfect life and then eventually die an awful death on the cross? To pay for my sin debt. Now that’s True Love. Someone choosing to die in my place so I don’t have to. Now, to me, that’s good news worth sharing.

I often wonder if someone doesn’t mention the Law, Judgment and Hell when evangelizing whether that individual would truly repent as Jesus commanded and then trust Jesus for their salvation? Or, when they hear that God loves them and forgives them, if that would just confuse them (because, remember they think they are good). But, if someone did decide to try God’s love out, would they just be thinking that Jesus will improve things? After all, God/Jesus loves them and wouldn’t let anything bad happen. Right?

For more information regarding this issue, please see the following article and video:
http://www.gotquestions.org/biblical-evangelism.html

Click here for video: