I have been told by a Christian friend that fear of hell is a good motivator to be a good person. Here is my question, if you are nice to others because of the fear of hell, what reason will you have to be nice to people once you are in Heaven?
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disonthoughts 
This is not true, thankfully.
“There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” 1 John 4:18
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How about Revelations 14:7? “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” The Greek word is Phobēthēte, and the meaning is unambiguous. Does this verse affect your perspective?
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No, because this is a warning for nonbelievers. If you are a believer and a true believer, you need not to be warned, because you already believe that Christ died for you, and loves you, and that he will be coming again… which, if you are a believer, is not something to be afraid of! Remember, the aim here is to gain more believers so that as many as possible will have everlasting life… especially this verse being in Revelations, which is essentially all about the end coming.
Also keep in mind, “fear” in the bible means to “respect”, or to be aware of God’s power.
The book of Revelations is warning nonbelievers to repent, because he is coming back with judgement for those who did not repent, so it would make sense that it would say to “Fear God”… because he is coming to judge the Earth, and he does not want you to be one of the judged!
The whole New Testament is written for nonbelievers, the ones that need Christ. Luke 5:32 says “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners who need to repent.”
Did this help at all? I truly want to help you understand!
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Why will judgement matter if there won’t be a resurrection? ” But man dieth, and is laid low: Yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, And the river wasteth and drieth up; So man lieth down and riseth not: Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, Nor be roused out of their sleep. (Job 14:10-12 ASV)
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“Man” here links to “Geber” in Hebrew, which means “the mighty man”. Essentially here it is saying “even the mightiest of men will die”. “Drieth up” refers to the fruit and the vine decaying. This is talking about this physical body in decay, not the spiritual.
Remember, this is when Job was in immense pain and pretty depressed. “River” here links to the Nile, which is where he lives. essentially, this verse is about Job dying and hoping to not wake up in this life.
Man may the more claim a peaceful life, since, when separated from it by death, he never returns to it. This does not deny a future life, but a return to the present condition of life. Job plainly hopes for a future state ( Job 14:13 , Job 7:2 ). Still, it is but vague and trembling hope, not assurance; excepting the one bright glimpse in Job 19:25 . The Gospel revelation was needed to change fears, hopes, and glimpses into clear and definite certainties.
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It’s starting to seem like you can’t understand the bible unless you read it in the respective hebrew or greek. Do you think people interested in Christianity and the Bible should learn the original languages of the Bible?
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Euphrates* Job lived near the Euphrates, which links to the “sea” that will dry up. Forgive me. This is linked to his own vague personal hope to die and not wake up.
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Absolutely.
You can understand the surface, but the surface is not nearly enough to gain a full understanding of the bible.
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Or, rather, be willing to spend time translating verses. Just stopping at the surface with not just the bible, but anything, is ignorance! How can you understand something or someone by just reading the surface?
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Yes I totally agree, but doesn’t that mean that poor people and people without the leisure to study the ancient languages, textual, historical, and form criticism have no chance of fully understanding the bible and or christian theology? Do we all have to study the early crhistian debates during the canon formation and doctrinal formation? Do we all need to read Josephus and Origen, and Tacitus, Clement etc?
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That is true, yes, and thats why we have missionaries going to all ends to the earth trying to spread the gospel, even in dangerous places such as North Korea. Though, I do think that our missionaries should be more knowledgeable on the Hebrew and Greek translations of the Bible before they go to witness to the world. After all, the bible is much more than just “jesus died for you”.
And no, considering I’ve never really looked into religious debates more than occasionally, I don’t think you absolutely NEED to read them. As a believer, do I think you should? Definitely. But as a necessity? No.
Remember, God is looking for believers, not necessarily scholars. Should a believer gain so much knowledge about Scripture that he or she should be considered one? Yes. The bible says to have an answer for every question concerning God or the bible (1 Peter 3:15). But God is not going to send you to Hell for not having as much knowledge as the brilliant biblical scholars there are out there. I’m an American so I can learn as much as I want. But what about the North Koreans or the Chinese, who will get killed for wanting knowledge about God? Will God be angry with them? No.
Pardon my blabbering (I have a tendancy of doing that) let me get back to my point. Do I think that you HAVE yo read religious debates etc? No, Jesus is the main point of the entire bible, from the beginning to the end, prophecies and all. Knowledge doesn’t lead to Salvation, Jesus Christ does. As long as you have faith in Jesus Christ, you’re good. Do I think that you SHOULD read them? Yes!
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