| October 7, 2005
Right Spirit
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I once read some theology on the bumper of a car in front of me. It said, "If you go to hell, don't blame Jesus!" The slogan apparently was an attempt by the driver to do some evangelism. I gave him credit for trying, but I wondered if those who saw that warning felt it was put there in love.
Reverend Newman Smith had a doctrinal dispute with Baptist preacher Robert Hall. So Smith wrote a stinging pamphlet denouncing Hall. Unable to select an appropriate title, he sent the pamphlet to a friend and asked him for a suggestion.
Smith had previously written a tract called "Come To Jesus." After his friend read his bitter tirade against Hall, he sent it back with a brief note. "The title I suggest for your pamphlet is this: 'Go to Hell' by the author of 'Come To Jesus.'"
One of the most disturbing assertions in the Bible is that men and women who reject Jesus will spend eternity separated from God. Even more unsettling, virtually everything we know about hell comes from the lips of Jesus. Yet when Jesus spoke of hell, He did so with accents of love.
When we witness to our neighbors, we should ask ourselves these questions: "Is this what God wants me to say?" and "Is this how He wants me to say it?" —Haddon Robinson
In everything that I do and say;
I would be loving and kind and true,
Asking myself what Jesus would do. —Hess
Difficult truth should be wrapped in the language of love.
When Anger Burns