Perfect Fear casts out Love This is a quote from 1 John 4:18 Well not quite...The reverse is how it reads: "Perfect Love casts out Fear". But going by the idea taught in most churches as 'good news'...well it might as well read as "Perfect Fear....." cos for some reason they think they telling people they are going to literally burn forever (and i mean trillions upon trillions of years is just the beginning) if they don't make a wise choice is somehow giving them good news..? Huh? Tell me - what good news is there in this if everything regarding eternity is up to you ultimately. This is the "ultimate no brainer" - Ie - people are given the option of going to hell forever or to a place of peace and being known they are totally accepted....Now of course what would you do if someone came along and told you " You have 2 options " I throw u into that furnace over there OR you can come to this great pool party where all your friends and loved ones will be" ...It's obvious! Yet this is seen as the good news in churches everywhere. Good news implies that something is announced! It is not called "good possibility if you make a wise choice" etc....Perfect Fear is what the idea of a literal hell/lake of fire is all about....There can be no more complete sense of fear than what is implied by unbearable physical torment forever and ever.
The above picture is from the back of a magazine I subscribe to ‘Heaven’s Metal’ fanzine – which focuses on the Christian heavy metal scene. Although I like the musical content of this magazine this picture highlights the terrible Arminian theology that permeates much of the Western world, and especially the USA. This picture perfectly shows the idea of “perfect fear casts out love” and it appeals to man’s basest fear of pain. It also infers that people aren’t living up to the pre expected standards of what Arminian theology teaches, and therefore by default leaves open ‘irredeemable guilt’ for not “living like it was true”. It doesn’t give people a sense of free will in the end anyway because I have yet to meet someone who actually wants to put their body into a lake of fire. True free will is when someone can choose from options that don’t have threats attached to them. I would argue that one can only choose freely when love has freed a person.
The above picture is from the back of a magazine I subscribe to ‘Heaven’s Metal’ fanzine – which focuses on the Christian heavy metal scene. Although I like the musical content of this magazine this picture highlights the terrible Arminian theology that permeates much of the Western world, and especially the USA. This picture perfectly shows the idea of “perfect fear casts out love” and it appeals to man’s basest fear of pain. It also infers that people aren’t living up to the pre expected standards of what Arminian theology teaches, and therefore by default leaves open ‘irredeemable guilt’ for not “living like it was true”. It doesn’t give people a sense of free will in the end anyway because I have yet to meet someone who actually wants to put their body into a lake of fire. True free will is when someone can choose from options that don’t have threats attached to them. I would argue that one can only choose freely when love has freed a person.
