(February 11, 2010 at 1:02 am)chatpilot Wrote: Basing myself on my own personal feelings and experiences when I was a fundie, I can say that I too was afraid of death. I was always concerned about my eternal salvation and the question "If I died today would god find me worthy of inheriting a place in his kingdom?" Was all of my efforts in ministry, preaching, and gaining converts enough for me to warrant eternal salvation in Christ? I was overly concerned with everything I said and did and even thought. As soon as bad thoughts or inappropriate thoughts crept into my mind I was asking the lord for forgiveness and rebuking Satan all at once. That is why I always say that when I left the church it took me years to get over the fear of god. I dreaded the idea of spending eternity in hell which to me was as real as this world.
It seems from this post that your view of Christianity when you were a fundie was that somehow you had to do enough to please God in order to get to heaven. That somehow you could work your way into eternal salvation. I must say, that is not my view of Christianity nor do I think that is what the Bible teaches (although I know a lot of churches teach such things). I think the Biblical view of Christianity is that we can do nothing to merit eternal salvation. We are sinful creatures that could never meet God's standards so that our works would never be pleasing enough to God. That is why Jesus came and died for our sins (past, present, and future) in our place and offers eternal salvation to all that trust in Jesus and what He did. So all you need to do is trust in Jesus. As for good works, I think the Biblical view is that Christians should be doing good works because they are saved, not in order to be saved.
As for death, I do not fear it. While I look forward to heaven, it is God's prerogative when I go. So I will leave my death in His hands.
