Stott notes that 1 John 4:19 indicates that the church’s great characteristic is love, not fear.
That is, it should be. Is it? Hardly. Read the next piece of direct mail you get from a Christian advocacy group. Look at the listings in a Christian book catalogue or bookstore. Analyze the rhetoric of your favorite Christian political figure. Think of the conspiracy-mongering that gets mixed up with Christianity in many circles. How many dozens of Christian ministries continue to exist only because of the fear they are able to generate?
As Jesus didn’t say: You can tell a Christian by his fear.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
