Scare young children into accepting Christ

[Nikki]

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.

 

[dancing queen]

I think that children need to know about hell, but only to a limit extent when little. Not only is it scary, but the lack of comprehension will make it worse.

 

[Nikki]

I think that children need to know about hell, but only to a limit extent when little. Not only is it scary, but the lack of comprehension will make it worse.

That's just it....lack of comprehension. We don't know how many of those kids are exposed to Christianity in the home. We don't know if these children even know what it means to be saved. We don't know the mental level of each of these children. There are a lot of things that you have to take into consideration when talking to children. A simple "Hell is where the devil lives" would have been enough, IMO. Then just focus on teaching how Jesus dies for our sins (some may not even know what "sin" means, so you would have to explain this also) and the process of how to go to heaven.

Many of the children there last night don't even GO to church. If my child went to a VBS at another church and they came home scared to death talking about how they were going to burn like toast, then I would be livid.

 

[Ruth]

Not only that, but isn't it better to create Christians who are focused on love and compassion and convert through actions of a positive and confident nature, than to simply have children grow up to yelling out fire and damnation and insults to others? Which is the best witness for Christ?

 

[Vic C.]

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 totally agree with you, Nikki.

 

[Nikki]

There were some children that didn't come last night. Hmmmm...I wonder why.

 

[Relic]

.

Okay, it happened..... Some children got the hebeejees scared out of them.... and now some children are not showing up. I agree, children should not be taught in such a manner. I remember when I was young.... 7 years old, in catholic school and I was taught about hell. It didn't phase me to the point of being scared so much that it seriously disturbed me. However, what did bother and scare the hebeejeebees out of me was those mean nuns who went around spanking children and smacking them with rulers!


So now, Nikki, Now in the aftermath of it all.... How are you going to handle this now that the damage (improper teaching) was done?

What do you think can be done about it to reassure the children that were frightened so much?

And, what are you going to do about it or, what did you do about it so that it doesn't happen in the future?


.

 

[handy]

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.

I don't think the scare tactic is helpful in reaching out to anyone. However, I do think it's the responsibility of both Christian parents and the church to teach children (age appropriately of course) about hell. It is after all a spiritual truth.

Think about this: Jesus told the disciples that if their hand or foot caused them to stumble, to cut it off; if their eye caused them to sin, pluck it out for it's better to enter eternal life with one eye than to be cast into the hell of fire. (Matthew 18:8-9)

Now think about this: When He was speaking these words, He was doing so with a child standing in their midst. (Matthew 18:2,10)

The topic of hell is a lot like the topic of sex. One that many adults shy away from teaching kids about, so they learn all kinds of misinformation and in ways that aren't appropriate. Frankly, if either of my kids, (9 and 7) had heard the young man talk, they would have been able to balance what he said with what they have already learned about hell. The experience would not have been frightening, and I could just imagine my daughter standing up and interjecting some balance to the discussion. (What can I say, she's a chip off the old block! ;-) )

If I were you, Nikki, I would approach the young man in question and talk with him about more appropriate ways to teach the subject. I would also speak to the pastor of your church, not for the purpose of getting anyone called on the carpet, but just because there may be other complaints. The church should have a discussion with their teachers and leaders on when, where and how to teach a subject such as this.

 

[lovely]

Nikki,

I didn't know that churches, or believers, had to use tactics at all...for any age. Tactics only serve to lead people away from Christ...One may profess belief for a while out of fear, or for some other reason, but it is not sure because it was not built on a foundation of Truth, and a true drawing of the Holy Spirit...it was manipulated. I have seen countless friends walk away from faith, and all religion, because of this error. It's sad, and now their hearts are hardened.

If a child is scared toward God, then they did not come unto Him at all. I don't know why churches feel the need to press children, or anyone, for a decision...and I don't know why the feel the need to separate them from their parents for this purpose. It's a genuine confession that we should be praying for, and waiting for, while sharing the Gospel simply and mostly by example. Children should be learning memory verses, catechisms, memorizing the books of the Bible, Bible facts and events, and songs about God, etc...the rest will come through God Himself. Churches need to care less about the numbers, and more about the True Gospel...and they need to Trust God to do the work.

The Lord bless you, and I am sorry about your girls being frightened.

 

[Nikki]

Update:

The young man that scared the children, told another story on Wednesday night, ended up going back to talking about hell and burning forever, and so many kids got scared that some (including my own) didn't want to go back. I ended up calling the preacher and talking to him. I know that this young man has good intentions and he wants to see everyone accept Christ, but he's got no experience with children and just doesn't know how to go about speaking to them. He's also spent a lot of time in Egypt doing missionary work and I don't know if that's the way they teach over there and he's just picked that up or what.

I've talked to my children and so has the preacher. The preacher also talked to the children and the wonderful things that Jesus has to offer us. I hate that it happened again and that I didn't say anything the first time because the two little boys that had been going with my girls to VBS wouldn't go back after the last speech.

On a positive note, one child did ended up accepting Christ during VBS.
:angel:

 

[Nikki]

It's a genuine confession that we should be praying for, and waiting for, while sharing the Gospel simply and mostly by example. Children should be learning memory verses, catechisms, memorizing the books of the Bible, Bible facts and events, and songs about God, etc...the rest will come through God Himself. Churches need to care less about the numbers, and more about the True Gospel...and they need to Trust God to do the work.

That's exactly how I feel also. When my children accepted Christ, I was shocked (in a good way) because I had NEVER pressured them into getting saved. I told them bible stories, we sang songs and we watched children's bible story movies. They did it all on their own.

Listening to this young man go on and on about hell and "burning like toast" scared my children to death. The young man told them on Wednesday that if they told lies to their parents, fought with their siblings, etc that they would go to hell. That REALLY made me mad because that is NOT true. God forgives. That's what is so wonderful about him. You should NEVER tell a child that they're going to go to hell if they do things like fight with siblings, tell lies, etc. I can't remember if the youn man said something like "If you get saved though, he'll forgive you". Even if he did, the children were so scared by then, that they were no longer listening. My 9 year old said that some children around here were covering their ears.

 

[Vic C.]

Listening to this young man go on and on about hell and "burning like toast" scared my children to death. The young man told them on Wednesday that if they told lies to their parents, fought with their siblings, etc that they would go to hell.

What!? This person needs to be removed from children's ministry. :-?

 

[Nikki]

What!? This person needs to be removed from children's ministry. :-?

He's not involved in the Children's Ministry. He volunteered to help out at VBS and then asked if he could speak to the children on two occasions. He has no experience with them and VBS wasn't a good place to test the waters, IMO. It's a lot easier when you have children of your own. You pretty much know how to talk to children. When a person has no experience with children, I think they need to go through a good amount of training.

This years VBS taught all us workers a LOT. The lady that was in charge of it got up in church yesterday to speak (we did a small recap of it for the church) and she cried and cried. She was so stressed out last week and is still having a hard time getting over everything. It was NOT a smooth running VBS and a lot of things happened that we hope to prevent in the future.

 

[mananmater]

Josh said:

Children should be taught about hell as soon as possible, and should be taught about Jesus dying on the cross, and being resurrected. I'm one of the few who's lived in hell on earth, so I have a VERY good ideal of what hell is, and believe me, you wouldn't even want the guy who killed your mother to go there. :mad2


I am nothing, worthless, but through Christ I am of value. Christ came to save, and to heal, and to take souls from satan. The best way to preach about jesus to children is to give them knowledge to made for children like jesus videos for children and christian videos.


Like smile of a child and chrisitian media for children.


Don't be decieved, Josh

 

[likegiver]

Oh man thats a little to much for me. Like my grandmother taught me hell but she did the basic lighter trick with the whole you see how warm it is now times that all over your body but then she also told me how much jesus loved me and also how much we were doom to fail some aspects of our walk here on earth but as long as we keep christ close everything will be ok. But the whole him scaring your kids like that I would totally bring the preachor to the side and have a talkin to also with the whole asking for this guys ministry documents. Like its cool to spread the word but turn into an extremist almost is a little scary for the church as a whole and also for that class room.

 

[WIP]

I would agree with the OP that there is a line of understanding and maturity involved and one must be careful about how to approach this topic. At the same time, I've often wondered if we've been getting too soft in our approach and as a result we don't fear the wrath of God. Look at how many people are willing to accept the consequences of non-belief because they don't fully comprehend the gravity of what they are willing to accept. Too many churches today neglect teaching about repentance and avoid the reality of hell because it is uncomfortable to talk about it. The church needs to speak about it. The truth must be known and fully understood. We deserve God's wrath and except for the atonement paid by Jesus Christ that gave God the justification He needed we would get exactly what we deserve.

 

[likegiver]

I would agree with the OP that there is a line of understanding and maturity involved and one must be careful about how to approach this topic. At the same time, I've often wondered if we've been getting too soft in our approach and as a result we don't fear the wrath of God. Look at how many people are willing to accept the consequences of non-belief because they don't fully comprehend the gravity of what they are willing to accept. Too many churches today neglect teaching about repentance and avoid the reality of hell because it is uncomfortable to talk about it. The church needs to speak about it. The truth must be known and fully understood. We deserve God's wrath and except for the atonement paid by Jesus Christ that gave God the justification He needed we would get exactly what we deserve.

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.

 

[WIP]

Which is more or less what I said in my opening statement. I personally think a great many of us adults need to be scared straight, as it were. We don't take God seriously enough.

 

[likegiver]

Which is more or less what I said in my opening statement. I personally think a great many of us adults need to be scared straight, as it were. We don't take God seriously enough.

oh oops didnt catch that lol. but I agree yes us adults but not the kiddies lol.:o

 

[reba]

I have posted this story before but it fits here also...

I was about 12 being i was the classic PK trouble sorta followed me around... Mom and i were are the town dump. It was a fire pit, burned most all the time... We had thrown the stuff into the pit and the dirt sorta rolled down the sides to the fire below. We were looking at the fire Mom knowing me quit well Gave me one of those mom shoulder hugs and said "You really dont want to go to hell do ya reba"

That visual kept me from lots of stuff, in the coming teen years...For me it was a good lesson. The same lesson would have scared my brother but it made me think...