Reply #107: Further responses...

[Danger Mouse]

'Not in my church.' I'm not saying in all churches. Not in my church either. Hell, I never even hear about Hell in my church! But a lot do.

As to how many were Christians of love and not fear? Think of the time of the Spanish Inqusition, the Dark Ages, even the Middle Ages. The Salem Witch Trials. Purtianism. These are environments where there is no room for questioning or alternative thoughts. To question is to put yourself at risk of death. In those times, people were VERY superstitious...and that superstition often tied in heavily with religious beliefs. That which is not 'of God'...which seems strange...was of the Devil.
Fear has ALWAYS been a major factor in Christianity, because people have used it as a tool to control the masses from day one. Religion cuts to the core of the human heart, and the best way to control the people is to manipulate their heart, and there is no better tool for that than religion.
And it has done so through fear. Like I said, fear is not the only motivation, and for many (most?) people...it is not their only motivation.
But it's there. and it's big.

I'm not calling fear motivation 'shallow.' I don't think it's shallow. I think it's quite sincere, and very tragic. And I'm not saying it's the only motivation either. I think in their own misguided way, they really believe what they preach. But fear is DEFINITELY a big underlying factor in a lot of fundies.

'Reaching the lost.' Missionary work is well and good, but there are good missionaries and bad ones. It's a slippery slope. Sure, lots of people hear about Jesus and Christianity. But in a country like China where religion is HEAVILY frowned upon by the government, it's hard for all of those millions of people to get into Christianity when all they hear is a passing reference. It's just not that easy, not that simple.

By your logic, most people in the world are damned. But you seem to have a limit as to where a person should've been able to convert but didn't.
But you also imply that lack of faith, or lack of Christian faith, is a concsious rejection of God. You use the word 'Rebelling.'
But a Jew or a Muslim would not agree that they are rebelling against God. In fact, they might figure themselves quite devout, and you to be the one who is rebelling.

Okay, that's enough for one night. Any more and my brain will start to hurt -_-