Frightening warnings of a hell to come have been effective at calling many to repentance. But I wonder…how PERMANENT is this type of choice? Shouldn't a relationship bound in love last forever?

My kids are grown so through the years, I've seen alot of "repentance", begging, wheeling and dealing for forgiveness…it's funny now, but still interesting. My own relationship with my parents included alot of this when I was young, but then it changed one day.

I remember begging my parents' forgiveness–in tears–because I knew I had done wrong. I was sorry. And I hoped they would grant me a pardon. And I knew if they would just not punish me, I planned to never never be bad again!! (yeah, right!)

I also remember begging my parents' forgiveness–in tears– because I knew I had done wrong. I was sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry. But this time, the punishment was not my concern. I could see I hurt my parents through my disobedience. And I loved them so much, I wouldv'e done anything to take back what I'd done. That's when our relationship changed. When I recognized their love for me, how my disobedience affected them and my love for them drove me to "LASTING repentance".

Chuck knows who I am, and we have discussed this many times. As for sharing the gospel, I do that as well. Why do you assume that I don't? (I don't do "altar calls", but that is for another discussion).

Furthermore, why is it that those who hold to biblical worship are the one who sow discord? What about those who refer to puritans as "hateful", "arrogant", "judgmental" and "harsh[ness] of their spirit". That's not exactly "positive", nor was your post.

In any case, I have said my peace. Remember that those who teach will be held accountable for the souls that they oversee. We will never win the world by seeking to immitate it. The world does worldly things better than the church does.

Ther is nothing hateful or arrogant about preaching the truth of Sin, Hell, and Repentance (and if Jesus thought that entertainment was a good avenue for evangelism, why didn't he use it. There was no shortage of such in the Roman Empire). According to Paul, true arrogance is a church boasting of it's membership numbers while refusing to deal with sin (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). This generation needs the same thing that every generation needs, the true gospel. If the sinner is not confronted with his sinfulness and called to repent, he is not saved, no matter how many times he goes to an altar to repeat a prayer.

There are two opposing schools of thought concerning evangelism. The modern pragmatist holds that it is the duty of the church to change it methods (as well as it's message) in order to meet the "felt needs" of the unsaved. There are even churches who send out questionaires asking unbelievers what it would take to get them into church. Such methods may be good for growing large churches, but that's all that they are good for. Dead people (Ephesians 2:1) are a poor judge of their own needs.

According to the Scriptures, it is the unbeliever who needs to be changed, it is the gospel that effects such change, and it is the "foolishness of preaching" that God has ordained as the means by which this gospel is spread. Try as we might, we cannot improve upon God's methods or His message. Best of all, the preaching of the Great Awakening brought revival. Our modern "methods" do not bring revival. Why would we not go with what works.

Concern for the lost does not mean that we should capitulate to their excuses. They should serve Christ, and there is no excuse for them not to serve Christ (Romans 1:20). Every unbeliever has a self-justified reason why they don't serve Christ. For some, the church doesn't entertain them enough. For others, there are too many "hypocrites" in the church. Still others may justify their unbelief through science or philosophy. Whatever the reason, we must approach the sinner with the idea that he needs to be born of the Spirit of God, not the idea that we need to satisfy his excuses. Our Lord's response to excuses was sharp and pointed. "Let the dead bury the dead" (Matthew 8:22).