{"id":3503,"date":"2008-04-21T00:30:39","date_gmt":"2008-04-21T00:30:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2008\/04\/fear-about-fear.html"},"modified":"2008-04-21T00:30:39","modified_gmt":"2008-04-21T00:30:39","slug":"fear-about-fear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/04\/fear-about-fear.html","title":{"rendered":"Fear about Fear"},"content":{"rendered":"

A reader writes me this set of questions and I’ve cobbled together two exchanges with him about this issue… but the words are his:
\nWhat is the proper role of fear — using fear — in the Christian life?
\nMy stepfather used to give me graphic examples of how hot, and how long hell would be. I also grew up in a Plymouth Brethren church heavy into pretribulation rapture theology. My wife and I have reacted against that and joined an ELCA church where rapture and hell aren’t mentioned. To me rapture theology and hell is about fear.
\nIs some of that proper? If so how much? When is it to much?
\n[SMcK: Do you think “hell” should be used in evangelism?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A reader writes me this set of questions and I’ve cobbled together two exchanges with him about this issue… but the words are his:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nFear about Fear - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/04\/fear-about-fear.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear about Fear - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A reader writes me this set of questions and I’ve cobbled together two exchanges with him about this issue… but the words are his:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2008\/04\/fear-about-fear.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-04-21T00:30:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"xscot mcknight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fear about Fear - 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