Today’s Sunday School podcast is a response to a listener question (quoted below) on whether Christianity is a religion of fear.
UPDATE: Jake, the questioner, has a fitness coaching Instagram here. Please check it out.
Is Christianity a Religion of Fear?
From the mailbox:
Pat,
I’ve loved your appearances on Mike Matthew’s podcast.
My name is Jake and I am a 25 year old online fitness coach from Nebraska.
I’m curious to dig into your spiritual journey as I myself have had such a hard time recently reconciling with some of what I see as the downsides to organized Christianity.
I have learned to lead from love instead of fear recently and it seems a lot of what christianity is predicted on is fear, as in “do this or God will punish you!”
At what age and why did you turn from a non-believer into a devout follower of Christ and how do you deal with cognitive dissonance like I’m speaking of, if you can relate?
Thanks,
Response: Jake, this is a great email, and I thank you for it. Aside from what I discuss in the podcast, here are some of the key things I’d like to say about this:
- First, it was a delight to chat with MM. That he’d allow me the opportunity to make the case for religion on his Muscle for Life Platform really says something, especially in our contemporary climate where conversations surrounding religious topics don’t always go particularly well. I’m glad to hear you found our exchange fruitful.
- Regarding fear, here’s how I would like to frame the conversation. I have four children who I often remind to be mindful of the road in front of our house when they are playing outside. I warn them and try to instill fear by explaining what could happen if they wander haplessly into the street. Does this scare them a little? I should hope so. Not because I want them to be scared simply for the sake of “doing what Daddy says,” but because I care for them and know better than they do of the real possibility of tragic car accidents involving children. It is not because I don’t love my children that I support some of my rules through fear, but because I do love them and want to do everything I can to ensure they’re safe while granting them autonomy. Instilling fear is not opposed to love, is the point, and fear is not a bad thing of itself. (In fact, what’s bad is to lack fear in situations where it should apply!) Many acts of love are aimed at getting people to be appropriately concerned about some real potential danger in their lives that they might otherwise be ignorant of or refuse to acknowledge.
- When it comes to Christianity, then, one can only expect you are talking about warnings of Hell. The question here is not whether there is fear and warnings involved in Christianity — obviously, there are. (Providentially perhaps, today’s Gospel was the famous passage in Matthew of Christ separating the sheep from the goats.) The question is whether the fear and warnings are appropriate and loving. The tie in from the example of children should be obvious: If there is a possibility of people becoming eternally separated by God by falling permanently into their own sinful behavior and narcissistic self-isolation, then surely it is within the prerogative of an all-loving God to warn us of this tragic possibility and to do so in no unclear or uncertain terms. In fact, if that possibility exists, then it would not only be unloving, but utterly neglectful and cruel, not to do everything to bring us to our senses on the issue. It would be like a parent who lets their children wander around a busy street completely unaware of the dangers it entails.
- However, we cannot answer the question about warnings in Christianity without considering the truth of Christianity (and I would argue Catholicism) itself. So we are back to what I believe is always the most fundamental question. Not how something is taught but whether something is true. If Christianity is true and Hell is a possibility, then it would be unwise to abandon the faith and thus ignore the warnings that were there for that very reason!
- Admittedly — and here I can’t speak for all denominations of Christianity — but some denominations probably overemphasize Hell and should get on with other business, primarily, the Good News of the Gospel. But here I would say abuse does not negate proper use, that the bad apples don’t spoil the lot, whatever other cliche you want to fit in.
- Next, here’s one other potential misunderstanding I want to head off. We are meant to heed warnings, but not live constantly in fear of them. It is true that if I live an unhealthy life my doctor should warn me of the consequences and encourage me to workout and make better eating decisions. Might she appeal to situations that I fear, such as a future heart attack or whatever? Very probably, and I don’t for a second think that would be inappropriate. To me, such warnings would show she cared and was willing to have hard conversations for the sake of MY health. But suppose I then begin working out and seeing the benefits of exercise and healthy eating. Hopefully, what was first motivated by fear has now become something exciting and beautiful — something I experience as really and truly good and that I enjoy doing in and of itself. Fear might have got me started, but appreciation of the good itself is what kept me going. Same, here, I would say of faith. The warnings can serve their purpose, and shouldn’t be ignored. They may, in fact, be what gets a person going. But ultimately you pursue the life of holiness because that is what it means to flourish as a human being, and because there is no better life a person could live. You do it because it is good and because it is what you were made for.
- Final thought. The term organized religion gets thrown around a lot as a pergerorative. But if Christ really left us with a Church that was visible, hierarchical, sacramental, etc, founded on the first Pope Peter — a Church he gave his authority to, alongside the ability to bind and loose, and so on — in short, if Christ said “here is how I want to to have a relationship with me,” then we should do so, and recognize that the organizational visibility of the Church is a gift from God, which bespeaks to our communal natural and the way God intends to save us. In other words, it’s not that Christianity is either an organized religion or a personal relationship. It’s both. It’s by joining Christ’s Church and participating in the sacramental life that we are most intimately brought into communion with Him.
Related Episodes and Mentioned Resources
Answering the Rapture Challenge
Pat Flynn on Why You Should (Re-)Consider Religion on The Muscle for Life Podcast
The Mystery of Evil, Providence, and Human Freedom with Dr. Michael Torre
Chik-Fil-A, Predestination, and Human Freedom with Fr. Gregory Pine
The Pat Flynn Show
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