Scare young children into accepting Christ

[Rageprophet]

Well I'd like to chime in here if I could and say I hope the church learns a lesson here as well in that even good intentioned people here can make a mess of things, just look at Paul before his conversion. People should be vetted (not sure if thats the right spelling)before being placed in any type of ministry even just speaking a couple times especially to children.

After it was done though while most of us can probably agree it was innapopriate at best it did provide you with a great opportunity to talk to your kid about hell and your beliefs on it and in a way you feel they could comprehend it.

I try to talk to my daughter as much as I can about biblical things and I love when I get ques from the Holy Spirit in the form of everyday circumstances where I can share with her my heart and tell her about God(Driscoll talks a lot
about this...I know I know, not everybody like Driscoll).

I have heard Ravenhill talk about (and I hope this is not inapproriate), a woman who was raped that decided to raise the kid that was conceived in such a heinous crime against her to have him become a pastor. Now if God can take something so incredibly wicked and make it into something so good, I have no doubt he can fix this.

 

[jasoncran]

I agree with this but what I am aming for is that you should tone it down some tho when you are trying to explain hell to kids rather then using adult version 9.0 on it lol. remember kids are softer and more scared easily rather then us who can take the example and put it in our minds rather then a kid who is going to be fearful for there entire lives.

yes but i often wonder how many of those same parents would take ,and this is done, to see any violent movie that a kid shouldnt see.

 

[Danus]

This is something that I do NOT believe in doing. I do not believe into scaring children into accepting Christ. I think a softer approach with young children is better.

Last night at church, I found out that in one of the classrooms, a young man (mid 20's) had told a group of kids age 6-9 all about hell and how they would burn like toast over and over again.

My daughter was scared to death last night. She knew that hell was a bad place, but she also knew she was going to heaven. Now, he's put doubt in her head about her salvation. In a childs mind, they could interpret that as "If I hit my sister, I'm going to hell".

I'm interested to know how many people find the scare tactic helpful in teaching children about the word of God. I just don't see how it's helpful. Someone once tried the scare tactic on me and I got farther away from God because of it. Who wants to hear about all the bad things? I sure don't. I want to hear about the GOOD things that Christ has done for me.

***BTW...sorry if my post doesn't make a lot of sense. I just woke up.

I'm a little late getting into this thread, but I totally agree with you, and maybe even more so.

I sat through many of these types of sermons when I was a kid and it all turned me off from God. I feel that simply avoiding hell is just missing the point.

I'm not just a Christian so I can get to haven. That's not it at all. I'm a Christian for the love, peace, hope and joy that my relationship with Christ brings to my life. That's enough for me personally and I just try my best to return it to God by asking him; "What can I do for you?"

 

[felix]

This is something that I do NOT believe in doing. I do not believe into scaring children into accepting Christ. I think a softer approach with young children is better.

I don't think you need to scare young children by saying about hell. Just tell them about Christ and they will receive Him. However, you must tell them about hell once they are able to discern good and evil, as they need to know a hell is there if they do evil and they are responsible for their actions.

Luke 18:17 "Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it."

 

[BobbyKing]

Using the scare hell tactics to get children to God is indefinitely out of place, in my opinion.

My kids attend Sunday school and/or youth service in church, and I am aware that they are exposed to various kinds of teaching methods about Christianity. While driving home after Church, my wife and I will make special efforts to ask them what they have learned. We try to let them talk about their experiences and thoughts. It's a good 30 minutes journey back home or to some place for lunch, so we usually have a good time exchanging information.

Besides that, I also conduct weekly bible study with them, and usually dwell on Salvation by focusing on the four gospels. They also love Old testament heroes and heroines.

For the last two weeks, we have been discussing about Joshua.