Short

One of the churches I drive past regularly on my way to and from work recently had this message on its sign: 

Time is short,

hell is hot. 

Jesus is coming,

ready or not. 

The sign's sentiments seem to indicate:

(1) an attempt to scare heaven into passersby; and

(2) our religious-cultural generation's focus on securing an individual spot in a divinely favored afterlife. 

In my experience, you can scare the hell out of people, at least briefly, but heaven - or more significantly, love - cannot be instilled by fear, even for a little while. 

When fear of afterlife outcomes becomes the starting point and the focus, at the expense of living the grace of Jesus Christ in the here and now, congregations and institutional religion will continue to decline. The church that nurtures faith in the long run will be the one that offers hope and grace to a world of people who have been declared unacceptable by a culture of judgment and competition. 

My sign would offer this alternative:

Life is short, 

live what you've got. 

Grace abounds,

 noticed or not. 

© 2016 Todd Jenkins

Old Stone Fort Archaeological Park
Manchester, TN